From: ldo@nz.invalid   
      
   On Wed, 18 Feb 2026 10:13:23 -0500 (EST), James Nicoll wrote:   
      
   > One Way to Immunize Yourself Against Pseudoscience and Other   
   > Nonsense   
      
   Learn to ask questions like a scientist.   
      
   E.g. astrologers believe the motions of the planets have an influence   
   on human character and affairs; each planet emits its own particular   
   influences.   
      
   Of course, for consistency, they have to ascribe new categories of   
   influences to more newly-discovered planets, that were unknown to the   
   ancients. Otherwise their “science” would look even more arbitrary   
   than it already is ...   
      
   The scientific question is: does this work both ways? Can you use   
   particular aspects of human character or human affairs, not as yet   
   accounted for by the influence of any known planets, to predict the   
   existence of new, as-yet-undiscovered ones?   
      
   Because science is all about making connections, and the interesting   
   thing about connections is they connect both ways.   
      
   I did try asking this of an astrologer on Bluesky a few weeks ago.   
   Their response was, shall we say, a little on the passive-aggressive   
   side ...   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)