hsf@hlexa.UUCP (Henry Friedman) (04/05/84)
Michael Shallis and his publisher (Schocken) claim that he is a serious astrophysicist, astronomer and physics teacher and that he is affiliated with Oxford. The first few chapters of his book "On Time" present the most down-to-earth, straightforward presentation of time and relativity that you would want to read. But after a transitional chapter on chance versus causality, he quickly heads for the wild blue yonder. He ends up supporting astrology as a valid synchronistic (acausally ordered) phenomenon-- an expression of a symbolic reality system that rivals ordinary reality. Shallis even claims that there are other serious astronomers who also believe in astrology and synchronicity. Now far be it for me to object to this, as the above almost exactly supports the position I took in my Time and Immortality series, published on the net (with respect to synchronicity, multiple realities, and astrology). He even further gratified me by expressing one of my pet peeves: Even tribal witch doctors divining the future by reading animal entrails and even palm readers aren't accused of believing in a causal relationship between their system of divination and ensuing events. But astrologers are always presumed to believe in such causal links. But my own impression notwithstanding, most of you would no doubt want to quickly relieve him of his observatory privileges and key to the faculty lounge.