ideasthesia

Sign in Subscribe

religion-practice

Nostradamus and Pattern-Matching: Why We See Prophecy

Nostradamus and Pattern-Matching: Why We See Prophecy

Series: Anomalous Cognition | Part: 6 of 9 Primary Tag: FRONTIER SCIENCE Keywords: prophecy, Nostradamus, hindsight bias, confirmation bias, pattern recognition Nostradamus predicted Hitler. He predicted 9/11. He predicted the COVID pandemic. Or did he? The 16th-century French astrologer wrote nearly a thousand quatrains—vague, symbolic, often deliberately obscure verses.

The I Ching: 3,000 Years of Structured Randomness

The I Ching: 3,000 Years of Structured Randomness

Sometime around 1000 BCE, someone in ancient China had an idea that would outlast empires. Take 50 yarrow stalks. Divide them according to a specific algorithm—set one aside, split the rest randomly, count off by fours, track the remainders. Do this three times to generate one line. Do it

Why Divination Works (Psychologically)

Why Divination Works (Psychologically)

In 1948, psychologist Bertram Forer gave his students a personality test. Then he gave each one a "unique" personality analysis based on their results. The analysis said things like: "You have a great need for other people to like and admire you. You have a tendency to

The Science of Divination

The Science of Divination

Humans have been asking the future for answers since before we had writing to record the questions. Bones cracked over fire. Entrails inspected for omens. Yarrow stalks cast according to ancient algorithms. Cards shuffled and laid in spreads. Stars mapped onto personality and fate. In every culture, in every era,

Oracles and Randomization: From Delphi to Decision Theory

Oracles and Randomization: From Delphi to Decision Theory

The Oracle at Delphi was the most powerful woman in the ancient world. For over a thousand years—from roughly 800 BCE to 400 CE—the Pythia sat on a tripod over a chasm in the Temple of Apollo and channeled prophecies. Kings consulted her before wars. Cities sought guidance

Astrology: The Persistence of an Unfalsifiable System

Astrology: The Persistence of an Unfalsifiable System

In 1985, physicist Shawn Carlson published a double-blind experiment in Nature—one of the world's most prestigious scientific journals. He gave astrologers natal charts and asked them to match each chart to the correct personality profile from a set of three options. The astrologers selected the subjects. They

Tarot: How 78 Cards Became a Mirror

Tarot: How 78 Cards Became a Mirror

In 1440s Milan, a duke commissioned a set of illustrated playing cards. The Visconti-Sforza deck wasn't meant for divination. It was meant for games—specifically, a game called tarocchi, probably similar to modern bridge. The cards had four suits (cups, coins, swords, batons) plus a fifth suit of