{"id":5199,"date":"2011-01-01T22:32:02","date_gmt":"2011-01-01T22:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/?p=5199"},"modified":"2011-01-01T22:32:02","modified_gmt":"2011-01-01T22:32:02","slug":"ghosts-machines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/ghosts-machines\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghosts &#038; Machines"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/fortune-teller.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/fortune-teller-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"fortune-teller\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-5202\" \/><\/a>One <em>New York Times<\/em> journalist <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/12\/29\/world\/asia\/29iht-ghost29.html?_r=1&#038;scp=1&#038;sq=thais&#038;st=cse\">seemed <\/a>surprised by this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Those who might have predicted a few decades ago that the rise of science and technology would eventually blot out Thailand\u2019s longstanding preoccupation with the supernatural can walk into one of the country\u2019s thousands of 7-Eleven convenience stores. Amulets meant to protect and bring good luck sell next to breath mints. Horoscope books are mixed in with instant noodles and junk food. <\/p>\n<p>There are YouTube channels devoted to fortune telling, home-shopping television shows hawking amulets and computer programs like \u201cFeng Shui Master,\u201d which is advertised as helping divine the future of gold prices. <\/p>\n<p>Luck Rakanithes, a fortune teller who started out two decades ago dispensing horoscopes the old-fashioned way (face-to-face in a corner of an obscure Bangkok hotel) now runs a call center with a room full of fortune tellers sitting in cubicles and wearing headsets as if they were selling credit cards or offering tech support. They dish out celestial advice for 15 baht, or 50 cents, a minute. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Sounds a lot like America (or anywhere else, for that matter) to me\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One New York Times journalist seemed surprised by this: Those who might have predicted a few decades ago that the rise of science and technology would eventually blot out Thailand\u2019s longstanding preoccupation with the supernatural can walk into one of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/ghosts-machines\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[250,692],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5199"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5199"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5204,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5199\/revisions\/5204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}