Today, a notification from Co-Star pops up on my phone; "Power in thinking & creativity: consider the possibility of an honest mess." Ever since I downloaded that application to my phone, it keeps sending me reminders that surely makes me wary of what might happen today as they provide information regarding 'today at glance'; what am I pressured of at the moment, what should I prepare for, what desirable for me, down to the dos and don'ts. There's a point in my life where I was addicted to what Co-Star has to say. On the other hand, my friend Anastasya harbors her heart in another application, Pattern. It provides a more in-depth explanation regarding one's characteristics and behavior patterns based on the moon, the stars, and the planets as well. It surely makes you wonder, just how do they come up with this?
When signing up into Co-Star, you are asked to fill in your date of birth along with the time and location. From there, a natal chart is generated and the entire information in regards to your natal chart will be dispatched into an AI algorithm, prompting you 'day at a glance' and a list of your current challenges. The CEO of Co-Star, Banu Guler, reveals how data from NASA is utilized to pinpoint the positioning of the planets and the stars, from the day you were born until today. The transit of planets can affect a user based on their birth chart which is then translated into natural language horoscopes based on the significance of certain transits. Therefore, while the substances of Co-Star are determined by the stars, their conveyance results from human input. "We assign astrological meanings to the different relationships in this data and our program generates text based on those meanings," Guler explains.
The content team of Co-Star is not creating personalized horoscopes for every user from scratch every day, of course. They merge astrology with psychology and literature to create different snippets that are mapped to various planets, houses, and signs which are then assembled by AI. Ona Mirkinson, a lead content writer for Co-Star discloses that the team uses varied references from multiple books, social media, blogs, even words on the street in producing content of the application.
A social psychologist from the University of Vienna, Andreas Hergovich explains the connection between psychology and astrology. He states that the structure of astrology and algorithms is linear. "Normal psychological counseling is sold astrologically; modern astrology is a form of psychological astrology whereas during a conversation, what the other person is saying is felt and reinforced by signs of approval." This suggests that anyone who seeks answers in constellations of stars is primarily seeking confirmation. Especially, since the global pandemic hits, marking a time of crisis for most of us, astrology becomes even more appealing because there's a necessity to control things that aren't controlled. That's why applications like Co-Star, Patterns, and Sanctuary bloomed in early 2020.
Gen Z, especially, has incorporated horoscopes into their ways of thinking. Through these applications, one's behavior becomes reasonable even more﹣"His Venus is in Libra, no wonder why he's a huge romantic!" As to why these applications can interpret one's behavior accurately, it may refer to the psychological reason that people believe what they want to believe. If you like to be pampered with daily affirmations and longing for cosmic guidance provided by these apps, go big or go home baby!
(HAI/MEL)