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I’m both horrified and fascinated by the

astrology blowback. Astrology is clearly bullshit, and I’m confused by why that would be controversial. Did a bunch of people adopt the astrology religion when I wasn’t looking? If so… why?

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I think the blowback isn't because of "Astrology is bullshit", but "Astrology is bullshit... and I will not tolerate anyone who believes it". This is an attempt to remove slack from others. Very hostile and dangerous

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I don't see where Aella said she wouldn't tolerate anyone who believes it: she said she thinks people who believe in it are uniquely bad at thinking. But tolerating a belief doesn't require that we continue to think highly of those that believe it.

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to be fair I did say I am wary of emotional closeness with ppl who literally believe in astrology cause I don't trust them to have skepticism enough to look past their own projections to see me

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I wouldn't naturally think of tolerance but it does seem to fit the notion of "cutting people slack". I think I cut people this kind of slack if their belief in astrology doesn't seem literal, but I think you gave the same kind of caveat.

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yeah if it's not literal I have much much more leeway with it, not even in the same ballpark

12:04 AM · Dec 28, 2021

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Michel -astrologizer-

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She commented more than once on the cognitive skills of and the perils of associating with people who actually believe in astrology. People got defensive because she was gratuitously offensive towards beliefs she has almost no understanding of. Ignorant insults are the worst.

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To avoid misunderstanding, what is the form of the hypothesis astrology (akin to “the relative position of celestial bodies has a causal influence on X via mechanism Y”) that you consider the most empirically defensible?

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