Nobel laureate, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan has sparked off a debate by calling homeopathy and astrology useless and harmful practices. The scientist came down heavily on the two, saying real science is far more interesting than “bogus” fields.
What’s more: Ramakrishnan also clarified that contrary to the general notion that homeopathy originated in India, it was a practice started by a German.
Pointing out that India is the only country where a constitution asks for promoting scientific temper, the chemistry scientist said India needs a more rational outlook on such practices.
Explaining that astrology evolved from the human tendency to look for “patterns, generalise and believe”, Ramakrishnan said, “There is no scientific basis for how movement of planets and stars can influence our fate. There is no reason for time of birth to influence events years later. The predictions made are either obvious or shown to be random.”
“Once beliefs take root, they are hard to eradicate,” he commented, adding, “A culture based on superstitions will do worse than one based on scientific knowledge and rational thoughts.”
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