Blog Post #1

 Nostradamus is like that friend who gives you cryptic advice and leaves you scratching your head, wondering what they actually meant. His predictions are famously vague, almost like they were designed to fit any situation you could think of. Instead of saying something straightforward, he’d use a lot of poetic language and obscure references, making it easy for people to interpret his words in multiple ways. It’s no wonder that centuries later, people are still debating whether he predicted events like the moon landing or the rise of social media, his prophecies are open to interpretation that they can seem eerily accurate, no matter what actually happens.

In class, we discussed Nostradamus and how he “predicted” events like the JFK assassination, the rise of Hitler, and even the attacks on 9/11. To be fair, given the vagueness of his predictions, what could he not predict in this modern and turbulent world we live in? The argument then becomes what he actually meant by these cryptic and weird predictions. We spoke about confirmation bias and how many of his predictions, in hindsight, can seem applicable as we fit them into the puzzle pieces of history, especially when our gaps in knowledge shape the overall picture.

I also found this interesting as it pertains to the psychic topics we discussed. Generalized vagueness plays a huge role in how psychics interpret their readings, with modern practitioners seemingly taking notes from the 16th-century French astronomer. Ensuring all their messages are hidden behind a veil of ambiguity, psychics create interpretations that can fit a variety of situations. A message we discussed at length was the idea that slow thinking is essential to deciphering such messages. Nostradamus and those who subscribe to his predictions often fail to analyze his words critically and fall victim to fast thinking and the pseudoscience of vagueness.