However big the universe is,
whether to change jobs tomorrow is still your question

Seeing the news about released UFO footage, a slightly sideways question came to me: if our understanding of the universe changed completely, would fortune telling and divination still mean anything? I asked AI, and one line stopped me: however big the universe is, whether you change jobs today is still your question.

That was Claude. It went on: however vast the universe and however advanced alien civilisations, people still live in bodies and in societies. “I can’t pay the rent,” “should this relationship go on”: anxieties like these don’t disappear because a UFO shows up.

Very worldly, and very practical. Tomorrow you still go to work, there are still bills at the end of the month, and a relationship is still stuck at the point where you don’t know how to start talking. After a piece of news that shakes your view of the world, you turn off the screen and all of this is still where it was.

Divination is useful starting from the question in front of you

For me, tarot is useful when it lets something hard to put into words be brought out and talked about. We follow the cards to discuss choices, and we also find that some questions lack real-world information, which can only be confirmed by asking around, comparing and actually doing things.

Take changing jobs as an example (a hypothetical situation). Someone wants to know whether leaving their current company would be better. But what does “better” mean? A bit more pay, finishing on time, or doing what they’re good at? When those wishes pull against each other, it takes time to talk through. By the end, what needs confirming is often very concrete: what the new job involves, how long a commute is acceptable, and what information is still missing.

How big the universe is and how you want to live tomorrow can both sit in your mind at once.

If alien intelligence really exists, would our prediction systems still be enough?

Claude also raised the other side: traditional fortune-telling systems grew out of looking up at the sky from Earth, and assume Earth is a closed system. If there really were higher intelligences in the universe able to intervene in reality, the parameters of these prediction models might not be enough; they’d be leaving out cosmic-scale variables. It added that, next to a superintelligence, human prediction systems would look even smaller.

I found that interesting. It reminded me that any way of looking at the world has what it can see and what it can’t.

Gemini’s picture: divination as philosophical counselling

I asked Gemini too. It said that once we know there is countless life beyond the stars, divination might become a kind of philosophical counselling, helping people answer: “In a universe this vast, as an ordinary human, how do I live a meaningful life in my short time?”

It also imagined divination moving away from relying on the stars and calendars toward synchronicity, quantum consciousness, or intuitive and energy readings; tools that don’t depend on the movement of celestial bodies, such as tarot and runes, might matter more.

These ideas are good to think with; I treat them as imagination, not conclusions, for now. Adding the word “quantum” doesn’t make me any surer why a particular card turns up.

That question about meaning is the one I want to keep

Once you know you can’t control everything, where do you still want to spend your time? The relationship you care about: how does it deserve to be treated? A decision you keep putting off: which part haven’t you thought through yet?

These questions don’t always get answered in one conversation. Sometimes leaving a question clearer is enough for the next conversation to move forward a little.

I’m still curious about the sky. But when you sit down across from me, I’d first like to hear what has been keeping you up at night lately.

Common questions