Are Astrology Devotees SubHuman?

[PairTheBoard]

I once had a nice jewish girlfriend whose sister was a 2200 rated tournament chess player and whose father was some kind of financial genius. Unfortunately she was a hard core Astrologer/Numerologist with a specialty in numerology. She was very nice in every way except for how she brought numerology into everything we did. "Oh did you see the 17 leaves on the 9th branch of that tree? Do you know what THAT means"? I quickly found this intollerable. However I would have much preferred her for a girlfriend than a practicing heroin addict.

From what I've seen of serious Astrology Practitioners they seem little harmed by it. They are happy in their little circles of fellow believers. They certainly will never go anyplace in reputable academia but they aren't likely to die of hot doses, dirty needles, or unusually common obstruction of the bowels.

I do not know if they have reasonable answers to the statistical studies. I imagine they come up with something that takes the discussion out of the realm of hard science and into the realm of mysticism, but I'm no expert. If the language they use is understood as mystical rather than scientific then they are like any other religion. If they insist they have science that contradicts evidence then the psychological state they are in is either strange or dishonest or maybe strangely dishonest. Whatever it is, they seem to enjoy it and people seem attracted to it.

Here's the thing though. Just as I could not tollerate a girlfriend who constantly brought numerology into everything, I doubt I could tollerate a girlfriend who constantly brought technical issues of logic and EV into everything. Sometimes it's healthy to give logic a rest and engage in a little whimsy. Some people like that direction so much they devote themselves to it, study it, develop it, teach it, and live it. There is much more to being a human being than logic and EV. Part of humanity's strength is the way different people specialize in different aspects of the human condition. Sitting on top of the tower of your specialty and calling those exhibiting other aspects of the human condition subhuman, or imbiciles, just shows a lack of understanding of what it means to be human.

PairTheBoard