Why astrology is a pseudoscience

Astrology: This name needs no introduction world wide,especially in India. From people living in common households to super rich business men and politicians,everyone believes it. The purpose of this blog is to scientifically prove that this widespread belief is nothing but a pseudoscience,to simply put. I have two options to do so. I can go length and breadth into mocking the exploitation of astrologers that is happening in various forms or else state scientific facts as to why astrology doesn't work and leave it there for the audience to figure out the rest. I choose the second option and fiddle around with first one at the end.

Why Astrology doesn't work:

Before jumping into the technical details,I hope that the reader is familiar with the idea of astrology that it is a theory which believes that celestial objects,the time of birth and horoscopes can influence human life. 

Ok now back to reasoning. The first(and the main) reason astrology doesn't work is because it is based on the approach of Ptolemy's geocentric theory,which tells that the Earth is the center of the solar system and all planets including the Sun revolve around it. That is precisely the reason  thinkers who framed the Indian version astrology didn't include Earth in their list of 9 planets(Navagrahas). Not only that,they have included Sun and Moon in their list of navagrahas,along with two fictional planets called Rahu and Kethu. We know today for sure that Geocentric theory is not correct and Planets revolve around the sun in their orbits,not the other way around. Also that is the reason why Saturn can't go into Leo constellation that is some light years away from our solar system. It has to revolve around the Sun in a bounded potential where it is revolving around stable equilibrium point. If you're smart enough,you can easily see that Astrology doesn't take into account the effects of planets like Uranus,Neptune and Pluto. That is because Saturn is the last planet we can see from Earth,through our naked eyes.So their theory flawed in this sense.

Another crucial point why Astrology doesn't qualify to be called as a scientific theory is because Science also looks for causation along with correlation. Let me explain what I mean to say. If I make a statement that "Coffee causes Cancer" by making an observation that number of persons who drink coffee are in direct proportion to the number of cancer patients in this world, that doesn't immediately qualify to be a Scientific statement. My statement becomes scientific only when there is a solid evidence backing up my statement that coffee is indeed responsible for causing the cancer/ it has carcinogens that are responsible for bringing the disease. So the vague statements made by astrologers are rejected on the similar grounds. So If some Astrologer says that India will win a cricket match against Pakistan because M.S.Dhoni's planets are favoring him and if India wins,we cannot credit the astrologer. His statements are nothing but Hocus Pocus,just like any other predictions you see in astrology columns in newspapers. 

TEST IT YOURSELF...!

Now that you are equipped with Scientific facts, I hope I have convinced you that astrology is nothing but a bogus claim. Still if you are not convinced,there is a wonderful experiment to test its efficacy. All the apparatus you need for this experiment is one famous Astrologer and a newspaper cutting. Now gear up.!

STEP 1: Take any newspaper which gives astrology predictions and cut each Zodiac sign's prediction. Note down all the predictions in a separate paper discretely,without their Zodiac signs on top of the predictions.

STEP 2: Call any astrologer (other than the one who wrote the prediction) and hand over him your sheet of predictions which you've written down without zodiac signs. Ask him to match those predictions with their respective Zodiac signs. He must at least score 10/12. 

STEP 3:  Compare the results and decide yourself. This experiment has been done numerous times world wide and no one could pass the test,which means that they themselves don't know what their subject says. If you still think that your astrologer made a mistake,call any other astrologer and repeat the same experiment with him/her.

Okay, it is not scientific. But why can't we just let people believe whatever they want? Why do we have to question their beliefs?

Because it is not just a belief,but a social evil which destroys people's lives when it is left alone. 

Astrology is a business worth 250 crores annually in India. But astrologers who exploit people doesn't pay any taxes. Not only that,they discharge unprecedented authority over people in every possible way. They tell us what to eat/what not to eat, they won't let pregnant ladies out during an eclipse. They tell you not to marry someone because their horoscope doesn't match. They decide how to build your house and what sits in which corner. In 2018,they even went to an extent that they advised people of India not to speak on January 27th and not to travel in airlines anywhere in the world on that particular day. Isn't it mockery against basic fundamental rights of a citizen? 

Now in 2020 when entire country is in lock down,astrologers (including their 11 year old child like ABHIGYA) are giving mindless predictions onto when pandemic due to Corona ends and which zodiac signs will it affect the most. There are millions of views for these peoples videos on You Tube and What'sapp. If people believe in this nonsense and do something stupid like coming out of their house etc,it is fatal not only for them,for the entire nation.