00:11
So I was asked by my friend, because I'm one of her only scientist friends, that if I believe in
fortune tellers, tarot reading, タロットカードとか占い全体的に, do you believe in it?
I was asked that, and obviously I don't, but I also didn't want to be like, it was an
interesting discussion where it was me, one other person who was very skeptical about it, and then
two other people who were like, well, I don't fully believe in it, but it's kind of fun to learn
and fun to know, and what's wrong in that kind of thing. So I had my thoughts, but I thought it
was interesting to hear what you would think about it. I also personally don't believe in
占い in general, and I also had a very bad experience in 手相, hand reading, when I was a
high school student. So when I was walking down the street with my friend, and there used to be like a
占い師 on the street, like, how would you say, it's like a hand reading booth.
I'm just like picturing like, you know, 池袋の母, 新宿の母, something like that, exactly.
And then, so my friend wanted to stop by, she wanted her to read her, you know, hand
手相. And then, but I wasn't really particularly interested, but because my friend insisted she
wanted to do, we went there. And then, I can't remember what her results were, but when it was
my turn, this 占い師 made like a しかめ面して, and then she said, okay, you'll be,
you know, あなたはすべての人に見放され、いずれ一人ぼっちになるでしょう。
高校生なんでしょうか。
Yeah, I was a high school student. It was so, it was so sad and terrible. And yeah, so since then,
03:08
I've never went to any 占い, you know, place. Yeah, and, but...
Well, fair enough.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And お正月, you know, the beginning of the year, we go to shrine, and then
初詣。
初詣, yeah, yeah. And we have this おみくじ thing, right? It's okay, it's kind of a cultural
thing. So we all, like my family, we all do that, you know, 大吉、中吉。
Yeah, no, we do that as well, yeah.
Yeah, that's a different thing. It's just a cultural family event.
Well, like, it's interesting because I immediately think about, sort of,
what are the statistical chances that this person can tell me about my personality, my future,
whatever, right? Because it kind of all boils down to that, like, statistical, like, likelihood
of someone saying something about yourself. And, like, my pet peeve is that you can say
anything generic about anyone, and it will probably fit in. Like, for instance,
if somebody says,
you are a friendly person, but deep inside, you're, like, very tired of 人間関係。 I'm like,
that applies to, like, 90% of people. Or, yeah, like, things like that. And it just, it's so easy,
but, like, by making it deliver in a way that sounds convincing, or, like, you can say it,
you know, it's the atmosphere of the 占い spot, right? Like you said, it's, like, you know,
it has, like, a dark curtain, and, like, maybe some incense going on, and you feel like this person
has some idea, but, like, what they're saying is, like, super generic. Like, oh, you're, like,
yes, I am a little bit tired, but who isn't? You know, it's not because the universe is,
like, against me. It's because I just didn't get enough sleep last night.
So that's my only, sort of, like, weirdness about this. I don't know. So in my friend's
discussion, it was mainly around horoscopes. 星座の星座占い。 And so they claimed, my friends,
06:06
that horoscope is a little bit more involved statistically than I gave them credit for,
because I was, like, how is it possible that an entire population can be divided into 12 types,
you know, based on a general time of the year that you were born? And, like,
it just seemed really unlikely. And so my friends were, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no. But my friends
were saying that it is, sort of, it's not just those 12 types. It's, like, the time you were born,
like, it's specific year you were born, and all these other things that goes into, sort of,
the statistical things about horoscopes. And I'm still okay. Like, it just, it doesn't give me
much other than, huh, that's good to know. You know, it doesn't really help me more than that.
That I find it stupid to, like, 気分が上がったり下がったりする because of 占い, you know?
If they tell me that today is my lucky day, like, sure, that's going to make me feel better. And that
might let me, you know, be in a good mood and, like, some kind of placebo effect or something.
And placebo effect, I believe, is real, right? Because that's just a scientific thing. And
there's nothing wrong against, sort of, taking advantage of placebo effect or just, sort of, like,
having a framework in your head that gives a positive outlook on your life. But, like,
I'm not about to let some algorithmically generated words to ruin my day, you know? If
they tell me that I am the 十二 of the 十二星座, like, I'm not going to let it ruin my day.
But maybe, you know, for, like, a confirmation biases, like, if I did happen to spill a coffee
on myself on the day that I was 十二, I might be, like, eh, too bad. It was not a lucky day.
You know? And, like, so, it just seems, like, while it's harmless, I don't think
it does anything to me. And it is just funny how, like, the mindset works. And I also read
an interesting thing that in when the world is, sort of, unstable, like it is now, you know,
um, 占い becomes popular again. Like, when it's, when it's 平和, and when people have no problem
busy living their lives, that doesn't become popular. It's really in the times when people
09:04
are uncertain about their future that 占い kind of comes back in popularity. And that makes total
sense. As humans, you know, we want to know what happens to us. And when we are scared. Yeah,
yeah, like, you want some kind of guidance, whether it's good or bad.
So, that's that. Having said that, now that I've dissed all about my 占い and how I don't believe
in it, there is a book, 誕生日占い, or 誕生日大全, or something like that. It has,
like, entry for every single day. So, it's, like, 365 entries of the birthdays. And my,
my mom or my dad got a copy, like, just the pages of the, our birthdays copy from, like,
their work friends or something. And we read it. It was funny and accurate in some parts. And
it wasn't generic. It was okay. It was pretty generic still. But it did feel like some parts
of it, it felt like they were looking at me and talking about it. And
they said that I am driven by thrill and risk-taking.
And that, like, sometimes I chase thrills too much.
And I think, I forgot what exactly they said about me and, like, the family members. I think
we had a good laugh about my dad's entry. Because it was very much him. And I think in that book,
they said that if I was born on, like, end of the day, I should look also at the entry of the next
day. Like, next birthdays or something. Yeah. Again, exactly. I forgot. But it was, it was
really funny. And it's very dense. It's not just, like, a couple of lines. But then again, like,
if you write more, you have more chances of hitting one of the qualities that you have.
So maybe it's not a good bias. Like, it's completely not that interesting in terms of,
like, how accurate it is. But maybe it's in our human nature to want to be told what we are.
Yeah. Yeah. What do you think about the, yeah, what do you think about the
ketsueki-gata? There are only four types. It's an extreme case.
So I think in, like, when I was... Many Japanese people.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, when I was in shougakusei, I think, it was all the rage. That's when,
that's when, like, ketsueki-gata bitsu no toriatsukai setsumeshou came out or something.
My family is entirely the type O. So we were always, like, it's funny how, like, O-gata is
12:05
always, like, O-zappa and all these other things. We're just like, okay, sure, like, we kind of are.
But then later, I think in middle school, I learned that the blood types are based on the
sugar molecules on the surface of the cell. And, you know, it just means, like, just like the
recognition molecules for it's either type A, type B, or you have neither or both. And
that felt, oh, there's no freaking way these little sugar molecules on the surface of my
blood cells are impacting my personality. There are nice people in all blood types,
and there are assholes in all blood types. It was funny how time and time again, we keep
wanting to categorize people into different, like, a few types that we can identify. And,
yeah, it goes to show that maybe as humanity, we're not that full of variation, but at the same time,
so each one of us are unique, and that there's difficulty generalizing anything. But,
yeah, it is funny. It's funny to see how many people believe in it. I am a little bit worried
about people who invest a lot of money in it. But, you know, if you know that it's for fun,
and if you don't let your life be dictated by this, yeah, like omikuji every year. What's wrong
with that? It's like, how many people actually remember what was written in omikuji after,
like, two weeks anyway? Yeah, that's about it. Yeah. That's it for the show today. Thanks for
listening, and find us at EigoDeScience on Twitter, that is E-I-G-O-D-E-S-C-I-E-N-C-E.
See you next time!
