Pharyngula::I feel a great disturbance in the force

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Wednesday, April 20, 2005

I feel a great disturbance in the force

PZ Myers • 25 Comments (last page)

Jason Mathews sent along a link to an article which you will read with ever-growing disbelief. NASA has sent up a probe to smack into a comet, which will help them understand the structure of the object. There's a small snag, though.

Now, the last thing NASA expected was a lawsuit from Russia.
But Russian astrologist Marina Bai gave it a try, and, according to her lawyer Alexander Molokhov, it looks like she may just pull it off. In a lawsuit she filed last month with the Presnensky district court in Moscow, Bai is demanding that NASA call off its $311 million operation, with the spacecraft already in its cruise phase. She also wants 8.7 billion rubles (the ruble equivalent of the entire cost of the mission) in compensation for moral damages.

Whoa. "Astrologist"? What's that? Could it be what I fear it is?

Yes, it is.

"The actions of NASA infringe upon my system of spiritual and life values, in particular on the values of every element of creation, upon the unacceptability of barbarically interfering with the natural life of the universe, and the violation of the natural balance of the Universe," Bai said in her claim.

"Astrologist" is just a fancy word for astrologer—and this crackpot believes putting a crater in a ball of ice will disrupt the flow of the universe. She doesn't seem to recognize that new craters are being put in things bouncing about in space all the time, and that this little exercise by NASA is definitely small potatoes.

Don't believe her? Ask a physicist AND professional astrologist.

"Imagine leaving Moscow, then returning to find everything’s changed," says Vladimir Portnov, a physicist and a professional astrologist. "Of course, everyday people will feel the implications of destroying a comet."

According to Portnov, even something as "minor" as comets play a role in creating humanity’s psychic environment. By wantonly destroying a comet, NASA will inevitably disrupt that environment — with the most likely result being mass anxiety.

1) NASA will not be destroying a comet—they will be putting a crater in one. 2) Comets are destroyed all the time, and debris is bouncing off of them and us constantly. Have they never heard of Comet Shoemaker-Levy? Did the world end in July of 1994? 3) Astrologists are morons.

Trackback url: http://pharyngula.org/index/trackback/2194/v65x5J6y/

Comments:

#22491: DarkSyde — 04/20 at 03:45 PM
Oh mercy...that's awful. LOL

#22492: — 04/20 at 03:51 PM
Ah, but you see, there's no moral difference between putting a crater in a comet and destroying one (sungrazing comets are a special case: they were obviously suicidal, hence sinful in and of themselves).

Similarly, there's no moral difference between denting the plaster in the wall of your living room and blowing up the city. Therefore, I expect a massive round of terrorism cases to be brought against DIYers, decorators, carpenters, plasterers, builders and demolitions experts any day now.

#22493: — 04/20 at 03:57 PM
Did the world end in July of 1994?

Come to think of it, things have been going downhill since November 1994, when the Repubs took control of the House.

Seriously though - if Terry Schiavo was finally able to get that feeding tube removed above all the vociferous objections of a slew of grandstanding Republicans and the Christian Right, surely NASA can go ahead with its innocuous comet experiment above the objections of one loony, who lives in another country no less.

#22495: — 04/20 at 04:11 PM
I have a vague recollection of a Shinto (?) group filing suit against NASA for desecrating the moon by landing on it and removing rock samples. Not sure if it ever even made it to court.

#22496: decrepitoldfool — 04/20 at 04:15 PM
I've read that pseudoscience is big business in Russia so there's a chance they'll find a judge who would listen sympathetically.

I sure am glad to live in the US where we're logical and scientific. We wouldn't have, for instance, a president who consults an astrologer. Oh, wait...

#22499: — 04/20 at 04:21 PM
Did the world end in July of 1994?

If you happened to be a giant sentient gasbag floating through certain parts of Jupiter, then yeah, it sure did.

Rrawr!

#22500: fwiffo — 04/20 at 04:33 PM
Oh the poor Slylandro!

#22502: — 04/20 at 05:12 PM
Wow. That's stupid. Really stupid.

So now I have to post that link to sci.skeptic
and alt.astrology, of course.

#22504: — 04/20 at 05:25 PM
Fwiffo: I KNEW it!

Ah, sweet lovely SC2, how I miss you...

#22505: Virge — 04/20 at 05:34 PM
"But Russian astrologist Marina Bai gave it a try, and, according to her lawyer Alexander Molokhov, it looks like she may just pull it off."

Is there anyone other than her lawyer who thinks this case will succeed?

For the gullible astrologist: my condescension.
For the lawyer who's encouraging her: my disgust.

#22515: — 04/20 at 06:31 PM
Hee hee hee, SC2 references. This makes *sliding* for the *happy* *campers*.

#22521: — 04/20 at 07:37 PM
Yes! I am a *happy* *camper.* This is too much! I am *expanding!*

#22529: judgeMC — 04/20 at 08:56 PM
Russians file frivolous lawsuits too! I thought only materialistic Americans did that.

Mars must be in retrograde.

#22561: — 04/21 at 01:00 AM
Assuming for the moment that a Russian court did find in her favor, how does she expect the judgement to be enforced? Well, at least she got her name in the papers, and perhaps can expect some more business from the free (?) advertising. Minus the lawyer's fee, of course.

#22565: — 04/21 at 01:22 AM
Even something as "minor" as comets play a role in creating humanity’s psychic environment. By wantonly destroying a comet, NASA will inevitably disrupt that environment — with the most likely result being mass anxiety.

Well, yes. It sure could cause anxiety to those believing that the moon, the comets and other celestial bodies affect their lives. NASA may need to hire a in-house astrologist to answer these profound worries of the public, and to propound that puncturing that comet would in fact improve humanity's psychic environment.

#22570: — 04/21 at 04:39 AM
"By wantonly destroying a comet, NASA will inevitably disrupt that environment — with the most likely result being mass anxiety"

Gosh, that's a bold prediction. After all, it's not as if mass anxiety is the malaise de nos jours.

#22571: — 04/21 at 05:45 AM
Cet astrologue russe est un pauvre diable, il n'a pas vol d'imagination. A real astrologer should be able to specify that due to NASA's unprovoked sortie against heavenly bodies, Capricorns should avoid the poker table next week. Which is not only true, but also a good advice.

#22577: Mutant Cat — 04/21 at 07:18 AM
The words, "she gave it a try" tell a lot. People all over the world hear about all the loopy things that Americans sue successfully for and maybe she thought she can score a ridiculous sum of money with her scheme. Either that or she's just a complete loony which is totally believable.

#22578: DarkSyde — 04/21 at 07:28 AM
Somebody really ought to run that by the IDCists, they're big on 'non-natural' phenomena. Myabe they could tell us how to determine the validity of the claim?

Trackback: The loony astrologist Tracked on: kaisare.net (64.246.54.74) at 2005 04 21 09:33:11
PZ Myers, a biology professor whom I respect immensely rips apart a Russian astrologist who filed a lawsuit against NASA claiming that its act of sending a probe to create a crater in a comet infringes upon her system of spiritual and life values. The ...

#22603: kelley b. — 04/21 at 11:52 AM
Just the kind of tool the Luddites have been looking for.

If they can't legistlate us back to the dark ages, they'll try to sue us back.

#22617: — 04/21 at 01:39 PM
I'm sure that the lawsuit will go all the way up to.... well, however far Putin will allow, and then it will be crushed.

Trackback: Russian astrologer nutcase sues NASA over Deep Impact. Tracked on: Stupid Evil Bastard (63.247.143.6) at 2005 04 21 15:36:24
Every now and then after I post an entry about some delusional twit who's carrying on about some form of pseudoscience or another I'll get a couple of angry emails from people who demand to know just who the hell I think I am to ridicule someone just because they're a flaming idiot? "So what if they believe in [insert nutball belief here]?!" they demand in angry tones, "As long as they're not hurting anybody then what's the harm?" It's a hard case……

#22661: Jay Manifold — 04/21 at 05:39 PM
You can't make this stuff up. Is Russia the new Southern California? Actual headline at MOSNEWS.com when I grazed over there to read the "Russian Astrologist" article:

Rally for the “Motherland” With Clowns and Bears
Orthodox Christians and nationalists protest new reforms

But never mind that, whatever it is. Perhaps the most remarkable sentence in the article actually under discussion is this:

According to Portnov, even something as "minor" as comets play a role in creating humanity’s psychic environment.

In true stopped-clock-is-right-twice-a-day fashion, what we have here is an entirely inadvertent insight into the cometary role in 1) getting the dinosaurs out of the way so that mammals, and eventually us, would proliferate and 2) the very real emotional effect of historical comets (Isti mirant stella, anyone?).

Then there's this:

So, what would an astrologist say about destroying a comet to save humanity?

“I think it’s acceptable to try,” Vladimir Portnov says. Then he smiles: “But I think it’s impossible.”

Impossible for "astrologists," perhaps. But we have "astronomists" now.

#23023: — 04/25 at 07:03 PM
"Russians file frivolous lawsuits too!"
-- that's true, but only against capitalist entities...

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Wednesday, April 20, 2005

I feel a great disturbance in the force

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