Hunter Keaster

Hello, everybody, welcome to this week’s EYE 2 EYE podcast. I’m Hunter Keaster. And I’m here with Chase Willet.

Hunter Keaster

Recently, me and chase both wrote opposing opinions about astrology for an AI to AI article. And we’re here today to just kind of discuss our thoughts and our positions on the phenomenon of astrology. So first Chase, what was your main argument that was pro-astrology.

Chase Willet

So my main argument was not necessarily for that, like, all the planets align, and it definitely determines how people are. But mine was more based on belief systems and there. It’s like, connection to the world as a whole. So and what I was saying is, like, any type of belief system throughout history has been to explain something in our world. Like, no matter if you believe in it or not, like, there are explanations for things we did not understand. Yeah, earlier within every single belief system, and for me, astrology I feel gives explanations for things that are still unknown to a lot of people which are like human interaction. And so that’s kind of how I viewed it. And that would be a positive in someone’s life to use that. Not necessarily as a crutch, but for lack of a better term.

Hunter Keaster

Yeah. Well, and even if, even if it’s not, like, scientifically provable, it’s just that if it’s someone’s belief, it’s almost like religion, it’s like, right, yeah. Like it can be given the

Chase Willet

right like, even though it’s like not like strict religion, it’s still a belief system that can act in the same way. And I also said that the planetary and universal nature of it, I feel increases the not only like, a sense of self within like a larger picture, but also helps people to be less self centered at the same time, if that makes sense seeing the universe as a larger scale. And then within it,

Hunter Keaster

yeah, yeah, for sure. And I mean, I don’t even necessarily disagree with that point. Like, if somebody you know, wants to use astrology as like a fun thing, or if they actually believe in it, but it just gives them comfort, I didn’t really take so much issue with that the main point that I tried to get out was kind of the business side of astrology. Because what did kind of irked me was, you know, when I went on the app store, and I just typed in astrology, the very first app was $10 a month. And so it’s like, if these apps were marketing themselves as just like, oh, a fun way to you know, like, just have a harmless, you know, it’s like, kind of like a game. Like, I wouldn’t really have a problem with that. But my issue was that they were kind of portraying themselves as, like, these omniscient predictors, and you should be begging to pay $10 a month to you know, hear what the stars Yeah. And so I more, I took aim at kind of the, the businesses because at the end of the day, I also argued that it’s just not real, and that it’s fake. So to me, it was like, the businesses are kind of profiting off manipulating people’s emotions, you know?

Chase Willet

Yeah. And I’d agree with that, like, you see, a lot today thing that’s, like, very similar, are things like, like crystals that have like, a connection to the universe, but then like, people will just go and buy them not necessarily like for comfort, but like, as a commodity? Yeah. Not like using them. Like, as a belief system. Like, it becomes like a style. Yeah, at some point, you know?

Hunter Keaster

Yeah. Like, it’s kind of like an aesthetic to be into that. And so and also like, because there are some people that would treat it as an aesthetic. And then to me, I also feel like there are some people where maybe their emotions are genuinely getting affected and manipulated by you know, their horoscope. And so it’s like, when these companies have this power, and then, you know, they can toy with people’s emotions and then make them pay $10 a month for it. To me that sounded kind of just ludicrous. But yeah, so I don’t really have as much of a problem with individuals that believe in Yeah,

Chase Willet

I agree with that. But also going along with like your timeout like if someone reads their horoscope like it can like, impact their emotions. I feel like for those who believe in it, I feel like that could possibly be beneficial if their horoscope like kind of like a fake it till you make it thing again, like,

Chase Willet

they’re still having to pay for these things well, and there may or may not be real

Hunter Keaster

free ones too so I’m not trying to Yeah, there’s hope.

Chase Willet

Yeah, I’m saying like speaking in generalities, they’d still have to pay for this but it could be could work as kind of like a fake it till you make it point of view where if they keep reading like this month Libras gonna their mental health is gonna thrive or whatever and they believe in astrology that could positively affect Yeah, their emotions but I also see the opposite where it’s like, oh, such and such sign is gonna fall into a depression this month they might read into that well, yeah and caused them yeah so it can go either way

Hunter Keaster

that was like what I was kind of asking in the article because I was like if somebody actually does fully believe in their horoscope, that would mean that you can’t just take the positive things like you can’t just believe it when it’s like, oh, you’re gonna have a good day? Like, what if it’s telling you that this month you’re gonna have a horrible month? Like, do you? Do you subconsciously, like have the confirmation bias and make yourself have a bad month? Because you think you’re gonna have a bad month? Because of your horse? Yeah, it’s like, it’s kind of like a cycle. That was,

Chase Willet

yeah, I talked about that too. But obviously, like, opposite perspective, like, you probably said, Oh, that’ll happen. But you can also take the positives, I said you could take the positives, but also the negatives will happen. So like, yeah, yeah, it

Hunter Keaster

is definitely a give and take. And then on the point of like, I also the another main point of my article was just talking about how to me, I’m a non believer in astrology, I just think it’s made up. And it’s kind of fake. So I brought up how, you know, there’s been a lot of scientific studies that not only don’t show the effectiveness of astrology, but show that it’s actually ineffective. So like the end, again, I’m trying to think more aimed at the people that make a career out of this, not people that believe in it. So like, for example, there are astrologers who make a career saying that, you know, they know the stars, predictive power, and they can read these charts. But then when they actually put the astrologers to the test, and like a double blind study, they actually score worse than chance. So it’s like, they’re guessing, like, like, yeah, you and I could have made it up. So it’s like, to me, I get it, if somebody’s reading their predictions, and they believe and it’s like, okay, like, you have the right to believe whatever you want to believe, but to the person that’s knowingly like, because if the astrologers score and less than chance, they know themselves that they are making it up, like, you know, to me, it seems like kind of like a trickster kind of thing. And at some point, like,

Chase Willet

if that happens continuously, like, it comes off as like, manipulative of the people who are trying to actually gain some sort of guidance where they could find it somewhere else, where it’s not just like, straight guessing.

Hunter Keaster

Well, exactly. Like there are people if you actually need help, like with, you know, therapeutics, they’re people that are like, scientifically trained and methods that are proven effective in studies. So it’s like, to me, it just seems kind of like, yeah, like, it’s not too real. But then another issue that I had was that I actually, like, in my research, I couldn’t find anybody explaining how astrology works. So from the standpoint of Yes, there’s like the argument of, oh, when the stars align, like, this happens, but it’s like, okay, what’s the actual physical, you know, interaction that’s taking place that’s causing that, like, if they said, like, Oh, it’s the gravitational pull that manipulates the neural chemistry. Like if they tried to come up with something. If there was just like a hint of like, Oh, you know, this is what happens. But when I went to the top website, on the it’s about page, it’s called stars like, u.com, you guys can go to this website. They say, quote, no one knows how or why it works. And so to me, it’s like, then how am I supposed to believe this? It’s like, if I told you, you know, the price of kosher hotdogs at the supermarket has an effect on the events of your life. And then you ask me how that works? And I’m like, I don’t know. Nobody really knows. Like.

Chase Willet

Yeah, just sort of, like blind faith.

Hunter Keaster

Yeah. And I mean, again, I think that I mean, in some areas there are there that that is necessary for some people. So yeah, yeah.

Chase Willet

That was the stance that I took that like the benefits of like feeling connected, even though it may not necessarily be true. I mean, because no one knows how it works. Or basically what I was arguing is that like, for certain people that need to feel connected greatly outweighs the need for physical.

Hunter Keaster

Yeah, proof. What it’s kind of like Life of Pi, if any, yeah, any of you seniors are listening APC. It’s like it’s the better story. So Yeah, it’s worth believing in it anyway, even if you grab it. Yeah. So I definitely do see that side too.

Chase Willet

Right. Like, is that messed up that like, businesses are taking advantage of this belief? Yeah. But are people feeling that they’re gaining something spiritually?

Hunter Keaster

Well, exactly. I mean, if people are feeling like they’re gaining something, are, are their businesses really being manipulative? Because at the end of the day, even if it’s placebo, they’re still benefiting from it.

Chase Willet

They’re still feeling exactly so I mean,

Hunter Keaster

that is that is kind of a, you know, a hard point to get over. Yeah, for sure. But I’m, so we’re coming up on the end here. So this has been the eye to eye podcast. I’m Hunter Keaster. And I’m chase Willett. And we’ll see you guys next time.