• AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    7 months ago

    That’s like saying Huckleberry Finn doesn’t exist. Just because it’s made-up doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It exists as a concept which billions of people understand.

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      7 months ago

      I think it is pretty clear in the context of the joke that they weren’t saying the concept doesn’t exist they were saying the attributes of the concept doesn’t exist.

    • frightful_hobgoblin@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      7 months ago

      The Sun’s position on the ecliptic at the vernal equinox is not a “concept”, it’s a physical reality, recognised by the International Astronomical Union.

      • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        7 months ago

        And the astrology signs exist as a concept as recognized by thousands of years of human history dating back to Babylonia 2 BCE. Yes we understand that they’re likely completely bogus, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.

  • zxqwas@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    Turns out you can make up any arbitrary distinctions and they just start existing. The question is if they severe any useful purpose.

    I can make zodiac 2.0 exist by adding shoe size to distinguish between regular aquarius and aquarius without platypus (above EU 42 is with). So now the Zodiac 2.0 exists with the same predictive power as 1.0.

  • cuerdo@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    7 months ago

    I would argue that the zodiac is the proto-science of psychology.

    This is people trying to find behavioral patterns

    • GravitySpoiled@lemmy.mlOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      7 months ago

      You don’t have to steel it. It’s a virtual picture. You can download it and share it with everyone, as often as you like, whenever you want. There’s no cost attached in sharing data other than hardware and energy