As a result, it is considered pseudoscience.
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Is it true that astrology is a data science?
“What good is studying astrology if I don’t believe in it?” I wondered. “Astrology is a tremendously mathematical science, and you excel at it. As a result, you’ll have a great time with it “She retorted, avoiding the question.
We got into a long conversation about the beginnings of astrology and how it led to early breakthroughs in astronomy (required for precisely determining the position of planets) and other topics. The debate became engrossing, with numerous digressions, as such discussions frequently do. And, as is customary in such situations, Priyanka threw a curveball: “You say you’re launching a company based on data analysis. Isn’t astrology similar to data analysis?”
I was perplexed (OK, I realize I’m mixing sports metaphors here), and that was the end of the conversation. However, I remained unconvinced, and I eventually forgot about the conversation. For the record, I spent my newly acquired spare time learning Western classical music.
Machine learning is, at its most basic level, a pattern recognition exercise. The system modifies a set of parameters in a mathematical formula given a set of inputs and outputs so that the outputs may be anticipated as accurately as possible given the inputs (I’m massively oversimplifying here, but this captures the spirit for this topic).
Machine learning has the advantage of being able to spot patterns that are not readily obvious to the human eye. The most prominent example of this has been in the realm of medical imaging, where algorithms have repeatedly been demonstrated to beat human experts in picture analysis.
In February of last year, a group of Stanford University researchers demonstrated that a deep learning algorithm they developed could detect skin cancer as well as a team of professional doctors. Another Stanford team developed an algorithm to diagnose heart arrhythmia using electrocardiograms in July, and shown that it surpassed the average cardiologist. More recently, algorithms have been demonstrated to outperform expert clinicians in detecting pneumonia and breast cancer.
With huge collections of photos including both positive and negative cases of the condition to be identified, all of these techniques calibrate parameters of a mathematical formula so that patterns leading to positive and negative cases may be discriminated. Then, when they’re fed fresh images, they use these formulae along with the calibrated parameters to classify them.
While applications such as medical imaging may lead us to believe that machine learning will take over the world, we must remember that if left to their own devices, machines can go horribly wrong. Google, for example, got into problems in 2015 when it labeled photographs of black women as “gorillas.”
Google admits to making a mistake and that the classification was “inappropriate,” but it appears that its engineers were powerless to stop it. The Guardian reported last month that Google has solved the problem by eliminating tags like “gorilla,” “chimp,” and “monkey” from its database.
The ability of machine learning to detect patterns that are not visible to humans might also be its undoing. Aside from the gorilla issue, the challenge with recognizing patterns that aren’t obvious or natural to humans is that meaningless patterns can also be picked up and exaggerated. This is referred to as “spurious correlations” in statistics.
And when we work with larger and larger data sets, the chances of misleading correlations arising from pure chance rise. In 2013, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan, predicted that “big data” would result in “huge errors.”
This is also true of modern machine learning algorithms that rely on a large amount of data. A group of researchers from New York University, for example, demonstrated that traffic sign detection algorithms may be deceived by simply introducing an additional set of training photos with an unclear pattern in the corner. More crucially, they demonstrated how a hostile opponent might carefully select these additional photos so that the misclassification would go undetected while the model was being trained.
The most common way of avoiding misleading associations has traditionally been for statisticians (or data scientists) to evaluate their models and ensure that they make “intuitive sense.” In other words, the models are permitted to uncover patterns, which are subsequently validated by a domain expert. In the event that the patterns don’t make sense, data scientists have altered their algorithms to provide more meaningful outcomes.
Another strategy taken by statisticians is to select models that are most appropriate for the data at hand. Different mathematical models excel in detecting patterns in various types of data, and choosing the proper technique for the data minimizes spurious pattern recognition.
Modern machine learning algorithms, on the other hand, have models that are difficult to verify and understand. It’s impossible, for example, to examine the calibrated parameters of a deep learning system to determine whether the patterns it detects are meaningful. Indeed, the “explainability” of artificial intelligence algorithms has piqued the curiosity of academics.
Because the algorithms are difficult to explain, the average data scientist treats them as black boxes. Furthermore, selecting the best model for a given data set is more of an art than a science, requiring visual inspection of the data as well as a comprehension of the arithmetic behind the models.
Data scientists have gotten past this “issue” by utilizing standardized packages to do the maths in a “cheap” manner (a Python module called Scikit Learn allows data scientists to create just about any machine learning model using three very similar appearing lines of code).
A huge number of data scientists tackle an issue by taking a data collection and applying all of the available machine learning approaches to it. They then choose the model that produces the best results on the given data set. There is no attempt to comprehend why the provided inputs lead to the outputs or whether the patterns “physically make sense.” This is analogous like stirring a pile of answers until they start looking right, as this XKCD cartoon puts it.
And this isn’t that dissimilar to how astrology works. There are several predictor factors (the positions of several “planets” in various sections of the “sky”) as well as observed variables (whether some disaster happened or not, in most cases). Then some of our forefathers did some data analysis on it, attempting to uncover combinations of predictors that predicted the outcome (unfortunately, they lacked the power of statistics or computers, so the models were limited in this regard). Then they just accepted the results without questioning why it makes sense that Jupiter’s location at the time of a wedding determines how a marriage will go.
With this knowledge, I recently brought up the subject of astrology and data science with my wife, informing her that “after careful consideration, I admit that astrology is the earliest type of data science.”
“I didn’t say that,” Priyanka responded. “I stated data science is new-age astrology, not the other way around,” said the author.
Is astrology based on science?
Is astrology accurate? Reading horoscopes is a popular pastime, but is there any scientific evidence that they are accurate?
When you’re enticed by a familiar interruption and your willpower weakens, problems can occur.
Every day, up to 70 million Americans consult their horoscopes. At least, that’s what the American Federation of Astrologers claims. According to a Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life poll conducted twenty years ago, 25% of Americans believe that the positions of the stars and planets have an impact on our daily life. In 2012, the General Social Survey indicated that 34% of Americans think astrology is “extremely” or “kind of scientific,” with the percentage of individuals who think astrology is “not at all scientific” dropping from two-thirds to about half.
Astrology is the concept that astronomical phenomena, such as the stars over your head when you were born or the fact that Mercury is retrograde, have the potential to influence our daily lives and personality traits. Of course, this is distinct from astronomy, which is the scientific study of celestial objects, space, and the physics of the cosmos.
A particular facet of astrology, the foretelling of a person’s future or the provision of daily counsel via horoscopes, is gaining in popularity. The Cut, for example, recorded a 150 percent rise in horoscope page views in 2017 compared to 2016.
Clearly, a lot of people are trying to figure out how to read the stars for guidance. Understanding the positions of the stars is the foundation of astrology, which appears to be a scientific discipline in and of itself. Is there any scientific evidence that astrology has an impact on our personalities and lives?
But, since I still have five minutes of this six-minute podcast to fill, let’s take a look at how astrology has been put to the test.
Is astrology an astronomical branch?
Astronomy is the study of celestial bodies outside of the earth’s atmosphere, such as planets, stars, asteroids, and galaxies, as well as their attributes and relationships. Astronomers conduct their study and observations. Astrology, on the other hand, is the notion that the positions of the stars and planets have an impact on how events unfold on the planet. Astronomy is the field to consider if you’re interested in the solar system and planets, other celestial objects such as asteroids and comets, other galaxies and the rest of the universe, what makes up space, and the possibility of alien life or space travel.
What is the relationship between astrology and psychology?
Psychological astrology combines psychology with astrology in order to better comprehend our potentials and challenges, as well as to overcome obstacles and live a more pleasant and fulfilling life via self-awareness and practice.
According to psychological astrology, each person is born with certain tendencies, strengths, and liabilities. It’s a means of figuring out what our current “life school” is: where we’re intended to explore and learn, as well as where we’re naturally strongest. Understanding our own birth charts allows us to live into the fullness of our unique identities while also helping us to accept and understand the uniqueness and potential of others.
Why is astrology classified as a science?
Astrology may appear scientific in some aspects. It employs scientific understanding of celestial bodies as well as scientific-sounding instruments such as star charts. Some people use astrology to build expectations about future events and people’s characteristics in the same way as scientific theories do.
What was Jesus’ take on astrology?
I believe that God created astrology as a tool for us to better understand ourselves and to use as a spiritual tool. Numerous bible texts, in my opinion, support astrology. As a Christian, I try to remember what Jesus said. “There shall be signs in the sun, moon, and stars,” Christ predicted in Luke 21:25, referring to the importance of astrology. He explains the value of astrology with his pupils, as well as how it might be used as a sign of his return. Why would Jesus provide us this critical knowledge if we are not intended to understand the energies of the planets and signs, and if he was actually against it? Just as the three wise men knew Jesus would be born under the star in the sky that led them to him lying in the manger, Jesus warned us that when he returns, there will be signals in the sky.
Is astrology a scientific discipline?
The cosmic weather seemed promising on the morning of the International Society for Astrological Research’s Certification of Astrological Proficiency (ISAR CAP) exam, which was held at a Marriott in Chicago on a warm May morning. The moon was in Sagittarius, the most learned of the zodiac signs, and Mercury, the communication planet, had just entered Gemini, the most quick-witted.
Yes. Multiple tough exams are available in 2018 to assess one’s skill to read the stars.
And, while it may seem unusual to apply very technical standards to an abstract spiritual exercise, it has been done before. Astrology has been around in some form since at least ancient Babylonian times, and for a long time, it was seen to be a totally logical way of understanding the world. Astrology was assigned to the domain of the mystical and ludicrous until the 19th century, when rationalism became fashionable.
What is the foundation of astrology?
Many societies have valued astronomical occurrences, and the Indians, Chinese, and Maya built sophisticated systems for forecasting terrestrial events based on celestial observations. The most common kind of astrology in the West is a system of horoscopes that claim to explain parts of a person’s personality and forecast future events in their lives based on the positions of the sun, moon, and other celestial objects at the time of their birth. Such systems are used by the majority of professional astrologers.
Who is the inventor of astrology?
Jones stated, “This is possibly older than any other known case.” “It’s also older than any of the written-down horoscopes from the Greco-Roman period,” he said, adding, “we have a number of horoscopes written down as a kind of document on papyrus or on a wall, but none of them as old as this.”
The discovery was presented in the most recent edition of the Journal for the History of Astronomy by Jones and StaoForenbaher, a researcher at the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb.
Forenbaher told LiveScience that the crew was working near the entrance of a Croatian cave in 1999, a site well known to archaeologists and residents of the surrounding hamlet of Nakovana who simply named it “Spila,” which means “the cave.”
Nobody realized at the time, however, that the cave featured a part that had been locked for over 2,000 years. Forenbaher’s girlfriend (now his wife) dug under the rubble and discovered a broad, low passageway that ran for over 33 feet in the dark (10 meters). “The unique King Tut experience, arriving to a spot where nobody has been for a couple of thousand years,” Forenbaher said of passing down the corridor.
When Forenbaher entered the cavern, “there was a very thin limestone crust on the surface that was splitting under your boots,” indicating that “nobody had gone there in a very, very, long time,” he added.
The researchers eventually discovered that it had been blocked off in the first century B.C., presumably as a result of a Roman military effort against the locals.
The archaeologists discovered a phallic-shaped stalagmite, as well as countless drinking containers deposited over hundreds of years and something more. “These very small bits and pieces of ivory came out in the course of that dig,” Forenbaher explained, “and we didn’t even recognize what we had at the time.”
The group got to work. “It took years to piece them together, find more bits and pieces, and figure out what they were,” Forenbaher explained. They ended there staring at the ruins of the world’s oldest known astrologer’s board.
Archaeologists aren’t sure how the board got inside the cave or where it came from. The Babylonians developed their own version of horoscopes around 2,400 years ago, which is where astrology began in antiquity.
Then, around 2,100 years ago, astrology went to the eastern Mediterranean, where it became popular in Egypt, which was ruled by a dynasty of Greek monarchs at the time.
Jones explained, “It gets transformed very much into what we think of as the Greek style of astrology, which is really the present type of astrology.” “The Greek style of astrology is the foundation of astrology that spans the Middle Ages, modern Europe, modern India, and beyond.”
The ivory used to produce the zodiac images dates back to 2,200 years, just before the advent of this new kind of astrology, according to radiocarbon dating.
The location of the board’s manufacture is unknown, though Egypt is a possibility. They believe the ivory came from an elephant that was slain or died in the area around that period. Because ivory is such a valuable commodity, it would have been preserved for decades, if not a century, before being utilized to make the zodiac. These signs would have been adhered to a flat (probably wooden) surface to form the board, which could have featured other features that did not survive.
It could have been loaded onto a ship sailing through the Adriatic Sea, a vital trade route that the cave overlooks. Illyrians were the people who resided in Croatia at the time. Despite the fact that ancient writers had a negative view of them, archaeological evidence reveals that they interacted with surrounding Greek colonies and were a vital part of the Mediterranean civilization.
An astrologer from one of the Greek colonies may have visited the cave to make a prediction. A consultation in the cavern’s flickering light would have been a powerful experience, if not particularly convenient for the astrologer.
Jones commented, “It doesn’t sound like a very practical site for performing horoscope homework like calculating planetary placements.”
Another hypothesis is that the Illyrians acquired or stole the astrological board without fully comprehending its use. The board, along with the drinking containers, would have been presented as an offering to an unknown deity worshipped in the cave.
“This astrologer’s board could have shown up as an offering along with other exceptional items that were either bought or robbed from a passing ship,” Forenbaher speculated. He noted that the drinking cups discovered in the cave had been chosen with care. They were made in another country, and only a few cruder amphora storage vessels were discovered with them.
“It nearly appears that someone was bringing out wine there, pouring it, and then discarding the amphora away because they weren’t good enough for the gods, or to be deposited in the shrine,” Forenbaher said.
The phallic-shaped stalagmite, which may have formed naturally on the site, appears to have served as a focal point for these offerings and rituals held in the cavern. Forenbaher cautioned that all stalagmites appear phallic in some way, and it’s difficult to know what significance it had to the cave’s inhabitants. “It had to mean something significant,” he said.
“This is a spot where goods of local importance were deposited with some type of supernatural power, transcendental being, or whatever.”
Why is astrology not considered a science?
Astrology is a collection of belief systems that assert that there is a connection between astrological phenomena and events or personality traits in the human world. The scientific community has dismissed astrology as having no explanatory power for describing the universe. Scientific testing has discovered no evidence to back up the astrological traditions’ premises or alleged effects.