computer readings

[inomminate]

While I love actual decks I also use computer readings. By this I mean letting the computer draw cards from a virtual deck. It does not give an interpretation that is something I do myself. The program I use is the orphalese tarot. It is shareware and you can see it here:

http://orphalese.net/

This lets me scan my own decks and use them in the program. It lets me input spreads card notes ect. I almost didn't want these readings to work but they did. I am not quite sure what I think about computer readings and wonder what others feel about them.

[Diana]

I am not quite sure what I think about computer readings and wonder what others feel about them.

I missed this thread when it was written. This is one of my pet peeves and I know it can hurt some people's feelings if they have designed their own computer readings and believe in them. My intention is not to hurt anyone's feelings.

I cannot believe that the randomness of a digital draw can ever come up even to the knee of shuffling the cards oneself, by feeling them in our hands, by pondering our question while we are shuffling, or even meditating while doing it. The whole process of taking out one's cards, shuffling, choosing those cards.... hesitating... is it that one on the right that's slightly hidden behind another card... or is it hidden because I should not choose it? Slowly slowly we enter into a kind of symbioses with the cards, they're no longer exterior to us but become inner living "beings".

No cold AI programme can do this. Not yet. Maybe robots will be able to do Tarot readings in the future but at the moment, computer software is far off from real communication with a robot (it's not like in the movie "Her" with Keanu Reeves when he falls in love with his artificial intelligence virtual assistant - that was such a sad movie anyway so maybe it's better we stick with live people.)

But of course, I reckon that WHATEVER card we draw from the Tarot can give us some kind of insight into our day or advice. Each card probably contains within it the essence of all the other cards. So of course, one can always give a meaning to any draw we make and relate it to our daily lives. That's probably what is at work in computer generated readings. But it is a sort of one-fit-suits-all kind of method. Sort of like the Card of the Day that Joan-Marie offers us each day. I love them. And 95 percent of the time, they give me a good message for the day. But she didn't pull them for me. However... they work and sometimes splendidly.

There. I'm through.

(Where is inomminate anyway ?? On holiday I hope to rejoin us soon.)

[katrinka]

I cannot believe that the randomness of a digital draw can ever come up even to the knee of shuffling the cards oneself, by feeling them in our hands, by pondering our question while we are shuffling, or even meditating while doing it. The whole process of taking out one's cards, shuffling, choosing those cards.... hesitating... is it that one on the right that's slightly hidden behind another card... or is it hidden because I should not choose it? Slowly slowly we enter into a kind of symbioses with the cards, they're no longer exterior to us but become inner living "beings".

I can agree that digital draws lack the tactile element (obviously!)
I prefer using physical decks. But I can't objectively say that they perform better than digital ones.
I have several Tarot apps on my phone that I use when I'm away from the house and they work as well as the physical versions. The only drawback is that I'm limited to the spreads provided in the app.

No cold AI programme can do this. Not yet. Maybe robots will be able to do Tarot readings in the future but at the moment, computer software is far off from real communication with a robot (it's not like in the movie "Her" with Keanu Reeves when he falls in love with his artificial intelligence virtual assistant - that was such a sad movie anyway so maybe it's better we stick with live people.)

They can't communicate at that level, but they are able to communicate. Most robots work by communicating with software. It's like the communication between your hands and brain. Before things were so computerized, robots were simply mechanical and there wasn't any practical use for them. Now we're starting to see them everywhere.

We have disembodied robot arms with sensor "eyes" all over my workplace. They do assembly tasks - the software program tells them how to move, where to pick up a part, where to put it, etc. If they get hold of nonconforming material, or some part needs to be replenished, the robot lets the computer know. Then the computer stops the process, there's an alarm, and an error message on the monitor saying what needs to be corrected.

All of this is real communication between robots and software. It lacks emotion, abstract reasoning, and other elements, but it's communication nonetheless.

But of course, I reckon that WHATEVER card we draw from the Tarot can give us some kind of insight into our day or advice. Each card probably contains within it the essence of all the other cards. So of course, one can always give a meaning to any draw we make and relate it to our daily lives. That's probably what is at work in computer generated readings. But it is a sort of one-fit-suits-all kind of method. Sort of like the Card of the Day that Joan-Marie offers us each day. I love them. And 95 percent of the time, they give me a good message for the day. But she didn't pull them for me. However... they work and sometimes splendidly.

A Card of the Day is like finding a penny heads up or down - you know it's good or bad, but you often can't be sure how it applies. I think of it as a small augury along the way, rather than a reading. You run into the same issues doing it with a physical deck: daily single cards lack context.

[Joan Marie]

This thread reminded me of something I heard Bjork say years ago when she was asked about her heavy use of electronic synthesisers instead of "real" instruments in her music and didn't she feel that there was some sort of authenticity lacking in synthetic music.

She responded using a sweet motherly tone you might take to defend a child and she said something like, "They can not help it if they are not real. It isn't their fault."

I never forgot that. What she was saying (I think) is that they do what they do, as they are, and it is we who, with love and understanding, make them real.

I think there is a value to computer readings. But it is not the same at all as a "genuine" one.

I mean, consider this conversation we are having now. Is it real? Yes I would very much love to be sitting with you right now having this over a nice cup of tea, but here we are. It's really not so bad. And it adds a lot to my life as it is.

But back to the cards, I think there is a place for reading apps. Maybe for practice. Maybe for fun. And maybe you find one that does speak to you, somehow. And then it can become a little part of your day, something that adds that bit of magic when you need it.

[BlueStar]

I've pondered this topic a few times in the past. Here's my theory, as devils' advocate (not sure I can explain well what I mean so please bear with me):

What if the readings are just as valid as a card reading as the person is interacting or tapping into 'something'? They choose to be online at that particular time, they choose the particular deck and/or spread (or whatever the options) at that time, the question is in their mind , so they have intention, and then they are mentally connecting in some unseen way to generate the outcome, or get a reply from Spirit or whatever/where ever they believe the answer comes from), whether through matter across time and space, quantum physics, whatever...I don't know.

I mean people divine with all sorts of thing, sticks, stones, pieces of paper. It's not about the actual vehicle for the message. Granted they are holding those things, but with esoteric subjects we just don't know fully what's possible. So why not be able to tap into the 'something' which gives us our messages via bytes of data sent (which is really electricity flow being switched on and off in a computer) which ends up looking like images on a screen?

It would be interesting to run some 'experiments' on this to see how accurate the readings were.

Great food for thought!!

[Diana]

It would indeed be interesting to do an experiment on this. Maybe we could organise something as a group activity.

[Amoroso]

I sometimes use a smartphone app like when I'm on the go. The Galaxy Tarot is pretty accurate.

[Joan Marie]

It would indeed be interesting to do an experiment on this. Maybe we could organise something as a group activity.

I would be up for that. It's a good idea.

Maybe we could utilise that app I got for doing computer draws. I could load a deck into it and set it up for a 3-card draw (or whatever we want) and set up some kind of experiment.

Anyone have any ideas how we could do it?