THIS POST IS A PRESENTATION OF WHAT BENJAMIN RADFORD AND MANY OTHERS HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT WHAT ARE THOUGHT TO BE CORRECT PREDICTIONS OF NOSTRADAMUS BUT WHAT ARE IN FACT OUR POST HOC INTERPRETATION OF EVENTS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE QUATRAINS OF NOSTRADAMUS. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR THIS METHODOLOGY TO REVEAL PREDICTION.

IT IS A CASE OF CIRCULAR REASONING WHERE THE QUATRAINS ARE SCANNED TO FIND SOMETHING THAT WOULD FIT AN EVENT THAT HAS ALREADY OCCURRED AND OF WHICH WE WERE NOT FORE-WARNED EX ANTE BY THOSE QUATRAINS BUT THOSE SELECTED QUATRAINS ARE THEN THOUGHT TO FIT SO THAT THOSE QUATRAINS CAN THEN BE PRESENTED IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EVENT AND THEN TAKEN TO BE A CORRECT PREDICTION OF THAT EVENT.

THIS KIND OF MATCHING OF QUATRAINS WITH EVENTS OF WHICH WE WERE NOT FOREWARNED BY THE QUATRAINS BUT FOR WHICH WE COULD FIND QUATRAINS THAT FIT POST HOC CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD AS PREDICTION BUT AS CONFIRMATION BIAS CIRCULAR REASONING, AS IN RELIGION AND IN CLIMATE SCIENCE. SOME EXAMPLES OF SUCH FAUX PREDICTION ARE PROVIDED BY BENJAMIN RADFORD AND THEY ARE PRESENTED BELOW.

EXAMPLE#1: IT IS CLAIMED THAT NOSTRADAMUS QUATRAINS CORRECTLY PREDICTED THE 9/11/2001 TERRORIST ATTACKS ON THE WORLD TRADE CENTER. YET, WE WERE NOT FOREWARNED OF THESE EVENTS BY THOSE QUATRAINS. POST HOC, AFTER THE EVENT HAD ALREADY OCCURRED, SOME QUATRAINS WERE FOUND THAT COULD BE INTERPRETED IN TERMS OF THE 911 EVENTS. THAT POST HOC COMFIRMATION BIAS FIT IS NOT PREDICTION BUT CIRCULAR REASONING. HERE IS THE QUATRAIN THAT WAS FOUND TO FIT POST HOC: THIS LOGIC IS USED NOT JUST FOR NOSTRADAMUS BUT IS STANDARD PRACTICE FOR THE INTERPRETATION OF PSYCHIC PREDICTIONS BY THE FAITHFUL.

“Two steel birds will fall from the sky on the Metropolis The sky will burn at forty-five degrees latitude. Fire approaches the great new city / Immediately a huge, scattered flame leaps up / Within months, rivers will flow with blood / The undead will roam the earth for little time.

IN THIS EXAMPLE, BEN RADFORD POINTS OUT THAT THE QUOTED QUATRAIN IS ITSELF A FALSEHOOD BECAUSE OF THE USE OF THE WORD “STEEL” ATTRIBUTED TO NOSTRADAMUS BECAUSE STEEL WAS INVENTED 200 YEARS AFTER NOSTRADAMUS HAD PASSED AWAY.

YET ANOTHER QUATRAIN THAT WAS PROPOSED AS A PREDICTION FOR 9/11 WAS THIS ONE: “IN THE CITY OF GOD THERE WILL BE A GREAT THUNDER / TWO BROTHERS TORN APART BY CHAOS WHILE THE FORTRESS ENDURES. THE GREAT LEADER WILL SUCCUMB. THE THIRD BIG WAR WILL BEGIN WHEN THE BIG CITY IS BURNING”. AS IT TURNS OUT NOT JUST THESE VERSES BUT ONCE 9/11 HAD HAPPENED, THE NOSTRADAMUS ZEALONTS HAD FOUND DOZENS NOSTRADAMUS QUATRAINS THAT WERE PROPOSED AS THE PREDICTION OF 911 TERRORIST ATTACKS.

IN HIS BOOK ABOUT NOSTRADAMUS, PETER LEMESURIER POINTS OUT THAT THERE IS A QUATRAIN THAT COULD BE TRANSLATED AS “EARTH SHAKING FLAMES FROM THE WORLD’S CENTER ROAR AND MAKE THE EARTH AROUND A NEW CITY QUIVER. AND THAT TOO COULD BE INTEPRETED IN TERMS OF 9/11 AND AS IT TURNS OUT, NOSTRADAMUS FOLLOWERS HAVE PROPOSED MANY OTHER QUATRAINS AS THE PREDICTION OF 9/11. AS FOR THE “EARTH SHAKING FLAMES”, WHAT WERE THEY? THE EXPLOSIONS FROM THE TWIN TOWERS? AND HOW WAS THE FRENCH PHRASE NEUFVE TRANSLATED TO NEW CITY TO FIT NEW YORK? IT COULD MEAN LOT OF OTHER THINGS AND SO WHAT WE SEE IS A PASSIONATE ZEAL TO FIND AND INTERPRET A QUATRAIN TO FIND A FIT WITH THE 911 EVENT. THIS IS THE ESSENCE OF THE CIRCULAR REASONING ARGUMENT FOR MATCHING EVENTS WITH QUATRAINS POST HOC WHERE HE OBJECTIVE IS TO MATCH QUATRAINS TO EVENTS POST HOC.

THIS KIND OF MATCHING OF QUATRAINS TO EVENTS POST HOC ARE MEANINGFUL TO THE NOSTRADAMUS FAITHFUL BUT THEY CANNOT BE VALIDATED BY NOSTRADAMUS DENIERS BECAUSE DENIERS DO NOT START OUT WITH THE FAITH REQUIRED AND THEY DO NOT FAITHFULLY FOLLOW THE CIRCULAR REASONING AND CONFIRMATION BIAS PROCEDURE NEEDED TO VALIDATE NOSTRASAMUS. THIS CRITICAL VIEW OF NOSTRADAMUS BY NOSTRADAMUS DENIERS CONTAINS SURPRISING PARALLELS WITH THE CRITICAL VIEW OF CLIMATE SCIENCE BY CLIMATE SCIENCE DENIERS.

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