JUPITERASC
Well-known member
The topic of the thread is not whether or not astrology is or is not a scienceYou know, JA, we could unpack the status of astrology in India-- where it is changing. With amniocentesis for the purpose of aborting girl babies now illegal, some parents are turning to astrologers to predict the sex of their unborn child. Are you OK with this?
The legal case you mention was fascinating. Re: the judge saying that, "Astrology is a science" the case is actually far more complicated than this simple statement lets on. What the judge actually ruled was that astrologers cannot be prosecuted under India's Drugs and Magical Remedies Act. The prosecution actually introduced evidence of signal errors by prominent Indian astrologers, and the big concern was with fraudsters-- whom I don't think any of us would affirm as members of a "respected science."
This doesn't mean their death predictions are infallible, as shown by the astrologer (article linked above) who didn't like his own death prediction, so he committed suicide. If Indian astrology were correct, this should have been impossible.
The case you mention arose precisely because of the fraudsters in Indian astrology.
What is pernicious about your argument is the iimplied cultural rip-off. Most people on this forum are amateurs (according to Marinka) not professionals trained at the standards of a skilled Indian astrologer. I think it is insulting to these professionals to suggest that simply because they have a particular tradition, it necessarily spills over-- come-one, come all-- onto rank amateurs on an Internet forum with no Vedic/jyotish experience whatsoever.
So far as I know, the amount of professional Chinese astrological prediction on this site is negligible. But again, just because China has an astrological tradition doesn't mean the majority of the amateurs on this forum somehow partake of it.
A case for Indian or Chinese astrology holus-bolus is not even a case for western astrology. Which would include Vettius Valens.
NOR whether the majority of amateurs on this forum are proficient in Chinese astrological prediction or not
NOR whether amateurs ought or ought not predict death
The thread topic concerns the Morality of Predicting Death