Arjun: Bro, I found a really nice flat in Tiong Bahru. Two bedrooms, renovated kitchen, good MRT access. The price is also surprisingly reasonable.
Daniel: That sounds perfect. So what’s the catch?
Arjun: It faces east-west.
Daniel: …And?
Arjun: You know what that means.
Daniel: That you can see the sunrise and sunset?
Arjun: No, lah. East-west facing flats are considered bad. People living inside can become hotheaded and quarrelsome.
Daniel: The flat comes with free anger?
Arjun: Don’t joke. My aunt specifically told me never to buy an east-west facing unit.
Daniel: Your aunt has conducted a controlled study?
Arjun: Very funny.
Daniel: I’m serious. How would the direction of a flat make someone quarrelsome?
Arjun: It’s an old belief. The energy and environment of the home affect the people living there. If the orientation isn’t favourable, it can create tension.
Daniel: Okay, but let’s separate two things. The environment can absolutely affect people. Temperature, noise, lighting, crowding—all of these can influence stress and mood. But that’s very different from saying east-west orientation itself makes people quarrel.
Arjun: Why are you so sure?
Daniel: Because if the claim is true, we’d expect people in east-west flats to consistently have more arguments than people in north-south flats. That’s testable.
Arjun: Not everything can be measured.
Daniel: True. But if someone makes a claim about what causes human behaviour, evidence is a pretty good place to start.
Arjun: My cousin’s family lived in an east-facing flat. They fought all the time.
Daniel: And my neighbours lived in a north-south flat and argued every weekend.
Arjun: Maybe their flat was different.
Daniel: Exactly. That’s the problem. One family having arguments doesn’t tell us what caused them.
Arjun: But there are patterns. Older people have noticed these things for generations.
Daniel: Sometimes traditions preserve useful observations. But sometimes they preserve explanations that sounded reasonable before we understood the actual causes.
Arjun: So you think everyone before us was stupid?
Daniel: Not at all. Humans are incredibly good at noticing patterns. We’re also incredibly good at seeing patterns that aren’t actually there.
Arjun: Give me an example.
Daniel: Imagine you move into an east-west flat. For six months, everything is fine. Then one month you have three big arguments with your wife. You remember the orientation immediately: “Aha! East-west.”
Arjun: Makes sense.
Daniel: But you forget the other hundred things happening at the same time—work stress, lack of sleep, money problems, renovation noise, maybe your mother-in-law visiting for three weeks.
Arjun: Hey. Leave my mother-in-law out of this.
Daniel: I’m trying to save the marriage, bro.
Arjun: Fair enough.
Daniel: Also, there’s a more ordinary environmental issue. In Singapore, an east- or west-facing window can receive strong direct sunlight at certain times of day. That can make a room hotter or more uncomfortable depending on the design, shading, ventilation and windows.
Arjun: So you’re saying the superstition could have come from something real?
Daniel: Possibly. That’s actually the interesting part.
Arjun: Explain.
Daniel: Suppose older homes had poor insulation, fewer effective blinds, weaker air-conditioning or poorer ventilation. A badly designed west-facing room could get extremely hot in the afternoon. If people were uncomfortable and irritable, someone might notice: “People in these homes seem more quarrelsome.” Over generations, the practical observation could turn into a belief that the direction itself causes anger.
Arjun: Hmm.
Daniel: But even then, the actual mechanism would be heat and discomfort—not some mysterious property of east-west orientation.
Arjun: But my grandmother always says, “Never choose a house that brings bad energy.”
Daniel: Your grandmother probably also knows how to identify a good watermelon by tapping it.
Arjun: She does.
Daniel: Does science support that?
Arjun: Don’t insult my grandmother’s watermelon skills.
Daniel: I’m not. I’m saying traditional knowledge sometimes gets things right, but we should still ask why.
Arjun: Okay, but here’s another example. My friend Kelvin moved into an east-west unit last year. Before moving there, he was very calm. After moving in, he started fighting with his girlfriend constantly.
Daniel: Did he sleep well?
Arjun: I don’t know.
Daniel: Work stress?
Arjun: Probably.
Daniel: Relationship problems before moving?
Arjun: Maybe.
Daniel: Air-conditioning?
Arjun: Actually, his air-con was terrible.
Daniel: There you go.
Arjun: You really want to blame the air-con for everything.
Daniel: In Singapore? Honestly, it’s a strong candidate.
Arjun: But what if the direction really does matter in some way science hasn’t discovered yet?
Daniel: That’s a fair question. Science doesn’t say, “We have investigated every possible thing in the universe.” It says: If there’s a real effect, let’s find a reliable way to detect it.
Arjun: So you’d happily live in an east-west flat?
Daniel: If the flat is good, yes.
Arjun: Even if your mother told you it causes quarrels?
Daniel: My mother could tell me the flat causes quarrels because Mercury is angry with me. I’d still check the ventilation, temperature, noise, neighbours and monthly maintenance fees.
Arjun: You’d actually ignore the tradition?
Daniel: I’d respect the tradition without treating it as a scientific fact.
Arjun: That’s difficult. When you grow up hearing something repeatedly, it feels true.
Daniel: Exactly. And that’s why these beliefs are powerful. Familiarity can feel like evidence.
Arjun: You know, I don’t necessarily believe east-west flats magically make people angry.
Daniel: Progress.
Arjun: But if I have two identical flats—one north-south and one east-west—and they’re the same price, I might still choose north-south.
Daniel: That’s completely fine.
Arjun: Why?
Daniel: Because you’re allowed to make a personal choice based on tradition. The problem starts when we say, “People in east-west flats are objectively more quarrelsome.” That’s a factual claim, and it needs evidence.
Arjun: So you’re saying I can keep my superstition as long as I don’t confuse it with science.
Daniel: Pretty much.
Arjun: Hmm. Maybe I’ll visit the flat again.
Daniel: Good.
Arjun: Check the temperature, ventilation, noise, sunlight…
Daniel: Exactly.
Arjun: And the direction.
Daniel: Fine. Check the direction too.
Arjun: East-west.
Daniel: Oh no. The flat is angry already.
Arjun: See? I told you.
Daniel: Bro, that’s the agent’s air-conditioner making that noise.
Arjun: …Maybe the air-con is hotheaded too.
Daniel: Finally, a scientifically plausible superstition.
Science Vs Superstition 
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