> At 09:25 AM 10/17/97 -0700, Richard B. wrote:
>
> >What makes you think that following the advice of a horoscope would lead
> to poor choices of actions?
>
> If the advice of a horoscope is really based on positions of planets etc.,
> then I think it is more or less random relative to things that actually
> have effects on our lives. Take my example of cancelling an important
> business trip because of a horoscope's advice of not to travel... now,
> there may be good reasons for cancelling the trip (perhaps I don't trust
> the airline's safety record), but I don't think that there's any evidence
> that planetary positions will affect that or any other factor of the trip.
Working from the assumption that astrological advice will be random in its
fit to our actual daily lives, I dredge up the following association from
memory: Some Alaska native peoples used to (and may still, for all I
know) choose the best direction to hunt caribou in by studying the cracks
in a burnt caribou shoulder blade. If we presume this technique will have
random results, then the overall effect will be to send the hunting party
in a random direction. At least they won't overhunt some single area that
way.
Eva