Has Astronomy surpassed Astrology

A few hundred years ago the Earth was considered to be flat. Then came a day when it was known to be a sphere. It was also understood that the Earth was the centre of the universe. Then it was Sun’s turn to be at the centre of the universe. Until now when we have come to know that the Universe began with a Big-Bang 13.4 billion years ago and since then it has evolved billions of galaxies which move farther and farther away as time elapses. These galaxies have various shapes and sizes and sizes and have billions of stars in them.
In the mean time Copernicus was defied his theory of the Earth moving around the Sun and Galileo did not attend an inquisition motion in Rome citing health reasons. He carried forward and showed that the earth did move around the Sun. In the year 1600 when Galileo was still working on the Copernican theory Giordano Bruno was burnt alive with his tongue tied by the Roman church since he too was of the opinion that the Earth moved around the Sun in the Solar system.
How do planets and stars influence humans? First it was the Moon’s influence on tides and waves. Then it was the position of groups of stars heralding seasons that brought drought and floods. These were generic in nature. A logic was applied to arrive at linkages to affect humans and hence the term Astrology.
In the 20th century calendars were the source of horoscopes. The western calendars were based on the Sun’s position throughout the year whereas the Arabs, Chinese and the Indians based their horoscope based on movements of the basic 12 constellations in the sky with respect to the Moon. Good and bad days, marriage days, house warming ceremonies, festivals etc were decided by the church and pundits based on almanacs and astrology.
Today we know that the Sun is positioned in the spur of the Orion arm of our Milky Way Galaxy in the Local Group. The Hubble Space Telescope positioned in Low Earth Orbit sends undistorted high resolution pictures of the observable universe. We are thus able to see 1000 of light years in space and that is how we came to the conclusion that the universe is expanding. Chandra Xray observatory, Spitzer Space Telescopes, Compton Gama Observatory all have contributed to make this Earth a very small place in the cosmic set-up. We have now geographically plotted all the Planets and their Moon’s. We know that there is summer on the planet Mars and it is raining Methane on Titan, the beautiful Saturn’s Moon.
In such a milieu has Astronomy overtaken Astrology? Scientifically the mind is a mish-mash of mythology and our own perception of modern living. It suggests we do not have total control of ourself. We may set up colonies on the Moon and have settlements on Mars . We may go beyond the solar system but uncertainty will drive us back to horoscopes. Today there is no newspaper in India that doesn’t publish weekly/monthly horoscopes. As long as we are groping in the darkness and in search of the truth Astrology is here to stay!

Virtual Realism and Mind Over Matter

If you can control an activity with your mind you can work wonders. This is what exactly Ukrainian scientist Nataliya Kosmyna has done. She has developed software that can recognize and interpret brains electrical impulses. She may have evolved such software for the sake of disabled people. Yet this may have very strong repercussions if able people were to use it without somebody knowing who the user is. Here instead of the fingers in your two hands you use your mind to move the drone. The drone is the means to achieve a function like switching a light on or fetching a towel for you. Drones are installed with camera to shoot a live match for sky vision or enemy launch pads to detect movement closely.
Scientists elsewhere have tracked human thought by imaging rapidly fluctuating brain activity using fast fMRI. This can map the brain function and then you would be in a position to control actions and dementia the most hazardous disease on earth.
Imagine a conference sitting around a table with one flipping pages with a gadget, another controlling air-conditioning and another drone adding insufficient chairs to the room. Another drone fetches a file the Managing Director wants, and yet another adjusts the venetian blinds.
I see a further development gradually these gadgets would be reduced to size micro and in the next stage would completely vanish. Then I see mind completely taking over and instead mind games happening. May be you will then reach the Moon and Mars and beyond with your mind physically remaining immobile. This would prove virtual reality like never before. The western ‘’ matrix’’ would be proved and the eastern ‘’maya’’ (illusion) would be proved and we will get back in time and begin again.