Astrology, is there a scientific basis?

Around the 5th century BC, astronomers in Babylon imagined the whole sky as a big ball divided into 12 stars. 1 century BC, astrology was established accordingly. The definition of astrology in the Encyclopedia Britannica is that celestial bodies can determine or realize the changes of the world in some way. The history of astronomy before about17th century is almost the same as the history of astrology development. This situation continued until the17th century. When Galileo pointed his telescope at the sky, astrology and astronomy, as a pair of conjoined twins, were together for thousands of years, and finally separated. With the establishment of Heliocentrism and the rise of modern science, astrology has become a crystal ball for street performers to make a living.

1935, the philosopher of science Popper published the book The Logic of Research, which regarded astrology as a typical pseudoscience. He pointed out that astrologers always make their explanations and predictions so vague that any unfavorable evidence can be vaguely explained afterwards, so astrology is always right. Real science must be testable and possibly wrong. So astrology is not a science.

Astrologers responded to this. They say that any practical science, such as meteorology and medicine, will have prediction errors, but in probability, even if the prediction can be denied, astrology theory is scientific. Since the 1960s, the "cultural rebellion" in the United States-including the hippie movement, the women's liberation movement, the new left movement and leprosy-has caused religious rebound. This also brought a prosperous climax to astrology. 1975 years later, astrologers began to use computers to construct horoscopes of human birth, which made astrology more prosperous in the United States. This caused strong opposition from scientists. In 1975, 186 famous scientists, including 18 Nobel Prize winners, led by Boucher, Jerome and Courths, published a statement attacking humanist astrology. The statement holds that astrology is pseudoscience for three reasons: first, it used to be witchcraft; Second, the lack of physical foundation; Third, people think it is only for comfort.

The attitude of scientists has aroused strong dissatisfaction among astrologers. They believe that because theories without the support of existing physics can still become science (for example, the theory of continental drift did not solve the problem of the motive force of drift when it was put forward, but this did not prevent it from becoming science), people are required to treat astrology with a fair attitude.

Shawn Carlson of the University of California conducted a double-blind experiment on astrology in 1985, which proved that the astrologer's prediction was wrong. Before 2000, this experiment lasted dozens of times, and every time it did not support astrologers! So Popper's attack on astrology is still correct, and astrology is still unprovable. Astrology is really not science!

Although the unscientific nature of astrology has been confirmed by countless scientists, it does not prevent it from being accepted and developed in modern society. In most American TV and newspapers, there are columns of astrologers, and relevant predictions are published every day; From presidents (such as former President Reagan) to ordinary people, they often consult astrologers when they encounter difficult decisions. In China, which also has a history of divination for thousands of years, this "hot stars" has been getting hotter and hotter since it began to contact astrology.

Hong Kong, which was deeply influenced by European and American cultures, and Taiwan Province Province, which was deeply influenced by Japanese culture, first came into contact with this upsurge, and the direct reason was the movement of merging East and West cultures (the "New Era Movement") which took place in the 1960s. The disseminator of "Star Red Fever" in mainland China is Masami Kurumada, a Hong Kong and Taiwan movie star and Japanese cartoonist, whose masterpiece "Saint saint seiya" flooded into mainland China in the late1980s to fill the cultural gap.

In the days when stars and saints are all the rage, most young people in the city discuss hot topics such as what constellation Andy Lau is and how powerful Sharjah is in Virgo, and consult the calendar carefully, so that in addition to writing down the name, age and blood type, they can accurately fill in an extra column of constellations in the graduation yearbook.

Later, fast food astrology began to flood major websites, and various fashion media followed suit, posing as a "high-tech" style and earnestly urging people: Do you want to know tomorrow's fortune? Want to know who your true lover is? Want to know about your other playboy? Come on, just click a few mouse clicks or turn over a few pages of newsprint, and all the predictions will appear before your eyes.

In the new century, the intelligence and wisdom of China people have been fully exerted in this respect: the diet philosophy of the twelve constellations, the love index between teachers and students of the twelve constellations, the twelve constellations and inviting guests to dinner, the reconciliation of the twelve constellations' boyfriends, the deadly speed match of the twelve constellations, and the discharge chart of the twelve constellations ... China people have everything they like. At this time, astrology has quietly changed from the mystery of the Oracle to the lovely elf in the game world.