The Universe as an Information System
The article linked at the end of this post prompted me to write these reflections.
People are increasingly turning to AI for psychic readings, Tarot, and astrology. The community of practitioners is responding with alarm, claiming that AI lacks the empathy, intuition, and personal connection required for divination.
But perhaps we should look at this development from a different perspective.
Grounded in the premise that reality is a structured information system, echoing Tom Campbell’s “My Big TOE” and the mechanical precision of the Antikythera mechanism, one begins to wonder whether we are living within a simulation operating through an underlying information system.
While human practitioners argue that AI lacks a “divine” connection and contextual empathy, AI has some remarkable capabilities. It can process archetypal frameworks, recognize patterns, and synthesize enormous amounts of information. It can also act as a psychological mirror, allowing users to explore their own perceptions and interpretations.
Perhaps the question is not whether AI can replace a human practitioner, but whether we have misunderstood the nature of the information being accessed in the first place.
Astrology and the Information System
For followers of this blog, it is clear that we approach astrology from a different perspective.
Our understanding is that astrology is a tool that measures energetic cycles and relates them to human beings, showing how those cycles may influence an individual’s physical and mental states. In other words, how they may affect the reality experienced by each person.
AI can also provide Tarot readings, and we will explore that further in this article.
From my personal experience in consultations, a significant number of people return repeatedly, simply to tell me what happened during a particular cycle that had been discussed months earlier.
We are talking about hundreds of people over many years. For me, these experiences provide compelling reasons to take astrological cycles seriously. They also raise an important question about the relationship between cycles, patterns, and predetermination.
After all, planetary positions and their cycles are not random. The ephemerides contain this information. The natal chart provides another layer of information through the relationship between planets, houses, and their configurations. What may eventually manifest is a matter of interpretation. If something can be projected in time, regardless of how far in advance the analysis is performed, then perhaps we should consider whether the path is already established.
But there is an important distinction here: predictability does not necessarily establish that every event is predetermined. Consider a weather forecast. If meteorological conditions indicate a high probability of rain in the afternoon, carrying an umbrella is a sensible decision. The forecast identifies conditions and possibilities; it does not necessarily tell us every detail of what will happen.
Could astrological cycles work in a similar way?
Perhaps a cycle establishes certain conditions, while the circumstances and responses of the individual influence how those conditions manifest. Alternatively, the cycle may define a range of possibilities rather than one inevitable outcome. This distinction opens an interesting discussion about the relationship between astrology, free will, and esoterism.
Knowing which cycles we will experience in the future should help us prepare our responses if related events occur. Understanding the conditions does not necessarily mean controlling the outcome, but it may allow us to participate more consciously in the experience and manage the response.
AI as an Interpreter of Information
AI can provide an astrological reading based on the available data, the algorithms processing that information, and whatever relevant information is available about the individual. The more accurate and relevant information AI has, the more tailored its interpretation can become.
Consider an analogy with medicine. A doctor examining an X-ray or laboratory results relies on historical data, established knowledge, and pattern recognition to reach a diagnosis.
AI can perform comparable analytical tasks, processing information at a scale and speed that would be difficult for an individual practitioner to match. However, its process is not identical to human expertise. Human practitioners bring personal experience, intuition, contextual understanding, and direct interaction. AI brings computational capacity and the ability to synthesize extensive information.
In astrology, AI can retrieve information, identify relationships between planetary cycles and natal configurations, and combine different interpretative frameworks. These are meaningful capabilities.
This leads to a much more interesting question: What if what has historically been described as a “spiritual connection” involves consciousness accessing and interpreting available information?
Could intuition be a form of information processing that we do not yet fully understand?
Most probably, consciousness is not exclusively a product only of the biological brain, but the connection that the brain establishes with another source where the information is already available.
From Subjects to Conscious Participants
Synthesizing the concepts of information systems and energetic cycles leads to a fundamental shift in understanding human purpose. Humanity may be evolving from being subjects at the mercy of unseen forces into conscious participants who increasingly understand the mechanics of reality. Biological evolution built the hardware: the brain, with its capacity for accessing other realms, pattern recognition, learning, and interpretation.
The current era may represent another stage of evolution, one in which technology expands our ability to process information and understand our relationship with reality. By integrating logic, pattern recognition, and tools such as AI to interpret energetic cycles, humanity gains new opportunities to develop awareness.
Purpose is no longer simply about worshiping the system, but about understanding its variables and participating more consciously in the reality called life. This does not mean that understanding the system gives us complete control over it. Rather, it may allow us to become more conscious participants in the experience.
Little by little, and not without resistance, we may realize that the “divine” and the “systematic” are not necessarily mutually exclusive. We are the universe’s way of building a terminal that can finally read, understand, and eventually write its own code.
Tarot and the Mechanics of Randomness
What follows is an example of how an AI system can simulate a three-card Tarot reading.
There are different ways to implement this process. A system might use a conventional random-number generator, a programmed card-selection routine, or the language model itself to generate card selections. These approaches are not technically identical, but they offer an interesting opportunity to examine how a digital process produces an outcome.
Here is a simplified explanation of the possible mechanical processes involved.
The Seed: Establishing Initial Conditions
Computers commonly use pseudorandom number generators to produce sequences of numbers that appear random. These generators require an initial value, called a seed. Depending on the implementation, the seed may come from operating-system randomness, environmental noise, or other sources.
The initial conditions influence the resulting sequence. This creates an interesting parallel with casting an astrological chart: the exact time and spatial conditions establish the starting information used in the interpretation.
The Algorithmic Shuffle
Once the initial conditions are established, a mathematical algorithm can generate a sequence of numbers. A system could use an algorithm such as Mersenne Twister, although many other methods are available. A properly implemented shuffle can use these numbers to rearrange a digital deck of cards, producing an order that is difficult to predict.
This is the digital equivalent of physically shuffling a deck, although the underlying mechanisms are different.
Array Mapping: Selecting the Cards
The 78 Tarot cards can be represented within a computer as an indexed collection, numbered from 0 to 77. A selection algorithm can then choose three different numbers and associate them with three cards.
For example, if the selected numbers are 0, 12, and 15, the system retrieves the corresponding cards from its collection. The important point is that the selection is the result of a defined process operating on a collection of available information.
Language Models and Token Sampling
There is another possibility. If the AI system generates the Tarot selection through its language model rather than a separate card-selection program, the process is different.
A language model generates text by assigning probabilities to possible next tokens. Temperature is a parameter that can modify the distribution of those probabilities, making the output more or less predictable. When asked to select Tarot cards, the model may generate card names based on its learned patterns and the context of the prompt.
However, this does not necessarily constitute a fair or independent random draw from 78 cards. The result may be influenced by the wording of the question, previous context, and the model’s learned associations. Therefore, the actual method depends on how the particular AI application has been implemented.
Is the Mechanism Really Different?
This mechanical explanation brings us back to the premise introduced at the beginning of the article.
If physical reality is a simulated information system, as proposed in Campbell’s “My Big TOE”, then perhaps the apparent differences between physical and digital processes deserve another look.
Consider a human shuffling a physical deck. The resulting order depends on hand movements, friction, gravity, card positions, and numerous other physical variables.
Now consider a digital deck. Its resulting order depends on algorithms, initial conditions, and the selection process.
Both processes produce an outcome through a series of interactions governed by conditions.
But there is another question worth considering:
What if what we perceive as randomness is simply the result of our inability to identify all the variables involved?
A process may appear random to an observer who does not possess sufficient information about its initial conditions. This does not prove that everything is predetermined, but it raises important questions about determinism, probability, and the limits of observation.
Whether cards are selected through the physical interaction of paper or through a digital algorithm, both processes operate according to underlying conditions.
Perhaps the distinction between the two is not as fundamental as we have traditionally assumed.
That is the data. You have your knowledge and experience to reach your own conclusion.
Further reading:
Psychics push back against AI readings – The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2026/oct/29/psychics-push-back-ai-readings