Astrology and Sagan

> > Carl Sagan's refutation of astrology: the gravitational force of the
> > obstetrician is greater than that of a moon or planet, at the moment of
> > your birth. 8-)>
> my impression of the field is that there are forces much larger/deeper
> that act on all things, including the stars and planets used by
astrologers.

As you would expect for a scientist, Sagan's response to that sort of
claim would have been, "can you identify and characterize those alleged
forces?"

The context of Carl Sagan's comment there went something like this (this
particular episode of Cosmos I happen to know especially well):

"As it turns out, Astrologers can't even agree among themselves what a
given horoscope means. In careful tests they have been unable to predict
the lives of people about whom they know only the time and place of birth.


And besides how could it possibly work? How could the rising of Mars at
the time of my birth affect me, then or now? I was born in a closed room.
Light from Mars couldn't affect me. The only influence of Mars that could
have had any effect upon me was its gravity. But the gravitational
attraction of the obstetrician was much greater than the gravitation of
Mars. Mars is more massive, but he obstetrician was a lot closer."


Do I personally agree with that philosophy? I'll take a more or less
functional approach to that question: If you can point me to some benefit
from Astrology, then I'll give it a whirl, but I have yet to find any
benefits from Astrology. It hasn't helped my music, career, or
interpersonal relationships. And I'd be very amazed if I ever will find
any benefit from it, because the best model of the Universe we know has
nothing in the slightest to do with Astrology. But I certainly won't rule
out the possibility categorically.

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