I have extremely limited knowledge about astrology or more specifically on horoscopes, which most of the predictions in India are based on. I am not going to pretend to write a critique on the prediction methodologies, but in a way I am just going to give my take on horoscopes based predictions.
I recently was watching a talk show on one of the Tamil channels where they had a discussion about astrology in general. They had brought two of the most prominent astrologers in town and a staunch non-believer of astrology to the table. Just for convenience lets call him the non believer NA. Just as an outsider with very little sway to either side my observation was that the points that were brought out by NA made good logical sense and I did find that the answers given by the astrologers for some of the questions that NA posed, was far from convincing. For example, at the very beginning of the show, one of the astrologers made a very emphatic statement that "astrology is a pure science and hence it is undeniable". NA's argument was equally emphatic- he brought out that there is no denying the fact that astrology is as old as John McCain (er...rocks) but whether it is a science or not is up for debate. Astrology is based on the assumption that earth is at the center of the universe and sun is considered to be one of the stars revolving around the earth(geo-centric theory)(to which both of the astrologers agreed but then they changed their tune to say that astrology is only based on science and not a science by itself).That is why in most of the Hindu horoscopes you do not see earth as a planetary position and there are no prediction based on its position whereas Sun features very prominently. But it is a very well known fact that universe is based on the helio-centric theory - that Sun is at the center of the universe and the earth revolves around it.
This discussion interested me and after hearing some of the arguments I did a little bit of research myself. I found that the basis for horoscopes is the time of birth. But the question is how can we all be sure about the time of birth and who notes this time down. At least in India, since the dad is not allowed during the actual delivery of the baby only the doctor and the respective nurses are around. So who really notes the time down? In the cases of emergency deliveries, even after the birth of the kid I would think doctors' propensity would be make sure BOTH mom and the kid are okay and not take time to note the birth-time down. So the very foundation of the horoscopes seem to be on soggy soil.
To me there is no central authority for these astrologers, to say whether they are right or wrong. I would like to equate astrologers to doctors in that they have people's lives in their hands except that astrologers are not accountable for any of their prognosis and remedies (generally to compensate for a particularly unfavorable planetary position). I say that astrologers have people's life in their hands because lot of families take major decisions based on astrology. I have a friend of mine whose father forced him to take the Commerce group after the tenth grade because he was "destined to become an chartered accountant" as per predictions from a very well known astrologer. This was done despite the guy not having any interest in accounting. That he could not even come close to finishing his Chartered Accountancy is an issue hard to ignore. I also have a very close relative of mine whose horoscope was matched not by one but three astrologers and after getting a collective thumbs up from all, her marriage took place with a lot of fan fare.Her husband died three months of her marriage and she has been single and struggling ever since. I am not naive to squarely blame her situation on astrology but if the predictions are all too powerful why did not any of them see it coming? This is what I mean by they not being accountable for. Can you go back to the astrologers and ask them on why this happened and where it all went wrong? They can very easily turn back and tell you that the birth time or the horoscope itself was incorrect i.e predictions are only as good as the data that is provided to them.
If a doctor's diagnosis and his treatment is incorrect there is at least a possibility of a patient suing him. If an astrologer's prediction and its consequences go wrong why is that we only then do bring fate into the picture ? So in my opinion astrologers need to be bound by a central law of their own and the law should be known to public so that they can see where each of them is going wrong or at least we can confirm their findings. Though it is a long shot ideally I would like every astrologer to give their predictions in writing with a clause that if the predictions do not turn out to be true they can be sued :).
The bottom line is this, astrology may not necessarily be a science and it is up for interpretation. I am not against it but make sure it is at least accountable to a certain extent. I am positive that this is a message lot of people already know but are hesitant to accept.
I am not going blatantly lie saying that I am not interested in knowing my future.I seriously do.But the methodology that is being used today for predictions forces me to rethink. Do I have a better idea than horoscope and astrology? No. Can I live without knowing what is in store? Hell yes!!!
.....Will be bak
