Strange7 comments on Overconfident Pessimism - Less Wrong

25 Post author: lukeprog 24 November 2012 12:47AM

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Comment author: Strange7 27 November 2012 11:10:41PM 2 points [-]

What time of year you're born can have an impact on personality, due to environmental factors on early development. Also, newspaper horoscopes are a potentially useful source of nonspecific but authoritative-sounding advice to go out and do something. Enough people might need to be told that on a regular basis to justify the societal costs involved.

Comment author: devas 28 November 2012 11:12:50AM 0 points [-]

True, but I don't think the people writing horoscopes know or care about the influences your date of birth has or will have in your life. And as for the societal costs...I think they're worse than they appear at first glance, since they foster an attitude of "magic has been proven not to exist, but who cares, let's believe in it anyway!" of which I'm afraid

Comment author: wedrifid 28 November 2012 03:16:33AM -1 points [-]

What time of year you're born can have an impact on personality, due to environmental factors on early development.

Totally. I was born near Christmas. This means I on average got slightly less presents. I may have been scarred for life. Or perhaps the trivial hardship prepared me for challenges and contributed to me accepting the unfairness of life. Something.