Category: Philosophy

The Country With the Most Vegetarians Per Capita and the First Notation of Vegetarianism Within Western Literature

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The country with the most vegetarians per capita is India, with 39% of the country identifying as vegetarian and/or vegan, a value which equates to 276,000,000 (276 million) people. This is primarily due to the dominant religion within India which is Hinduism, a faith which 79.8% of the country subscribes to, and to a lesser extent, Sikhism, a faith which promotes vegetarianism and is subscribed to by 1.7% of the country. Mexico trails India for the second spot internationally with 19% of the country identifying as vegetarian and Brazil takes the third spot with 14% having adopted this diet. The first time vegetarianism is mentioned within recorded western history is by the Ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras around 500 BC, however it is unclear if this is the first recorded text worldwide

The Reason American Executive Sam Altman Carries a Blue Backpack Wherever He Goes

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Sam Altman, the Chief Executive Officer of OpenAI which is the organization that created ChatGPT and GPT4, carries a small light blue backpack virtually everywhere he goes. This backpack serves a single function, to act as a remote detonator if ChatGPT and/or GPT4 suddenly becomes rogue and starts causing immense damage to human beings and society as a whole (e.g. causing self-driving vehicles to purposefully crash etc.). Because artificial intelligence has yet to be developed to the level that OpenAI has achieved, it is unknown as to the full potential benefits as well as risks and harms artificial intelligence may develop as more data sets are fed into it in an attempt to increase and expand upon what has already been accomplished. Despite this glaring risk, many teams around the world are working to create and improve different variations of artificial intelligence

The Possibility of Jesus Christ Having a Wife

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There is a fragmented piece of papyrus which clearly indicates that Jesus Christ had a wife. The text is written in Coptic, an Ancient Egyptian form of writing. Coptic is the last form of Egyptian, descended from hieroglyphics, and is essentially Greek with a number of additional letters dependent of the dialect. The fragmented piece abbreviated the name of Christ in the exact same way that virtually all Greek texts write Christ’s name, which includes the first letter “iota”, the last letter “sigma”, and a line over top of both letters. The possessive pronoun “ta” is used in front of the term “sahima” always refers to a wife, never a woman who is known as a friend or a family member. The fragment lists Mary Magdalene as the wife of Christ, the person who was present during Christ’s crucifixion, his burial, and was the first person Christ seen upon his resurrection

The Correlation Between International Conflict and the White Supremacist Movement

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Throughout U.S. history, there has always remained a correlation between the aftermath of conflict and vigilante and revolutionary violence connected to the White Supremacist movement. Surges of Ku Klux Klan membership align more closely with veterans of combat and the aftermath of war than they do with anti-immigration, populism, economic hardship, or any of the other political factors experts have traditionally relied upon to explain sudden spikes of membership affiliation. White supremacist activity always have a direct link to post war periods, including notable individuals such as George Lincoln Rockwell who was a World War II veteran and founder of the American Nazi Party, Richard Butler who was also a World War II veteran and founder of the Aryan Nations, Louis Beam who was a Vietnam War veteran and Grand Dragon of the Klux Klux Klan, and Timothy McVeigh who was a Gulf War Veteran and responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995

The Reason Hindu Deities are Provided Offerings

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Within the Hindu religion it is believed that a sculpture or depiction of a god is not abstract, rather the sculpture or image is actually the deity depicted which has been manifested. This means that to view a depiction of a Hindu god as an artifact or a piece of artwork is to imprison that god in an enclosed structure like a prison. This is why Hindus feel the need to touch and provide offerings to depictions of gods, as they believe that the depiction is just as real and authentic as a human being of whom they are face to face with. It is highly common to see sculptures bedecked in finery and provided offerings like milk, yogurt, and sweets

The Origin of the Ku Klux Klan Uniform

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Surprisingly, it was not the Ku Klux Klan that created the insignia of the ghostly white hooded robe as the uniform of the Ku Klux Klan as Hollywood was the first to portray this ensemble in the 1915 film The Birth of a Nation. The film was directed by David Wark Griffith, who wanted to portray the infamous Ku Klux Klan as modern Knights of the Round Table, directing his costume department to invent a rather frightening, single piece outfit with knight insignia (e.g. the Knights Templar crucifix etc.). These costumes were based upon the Christian flagellant society of Spain, who donned the capirote (pronounced “kah-pee-row-tay”), a pointed hooded headware worn during Easter processions as a means of penance. The costume became immensely popular and could be ordered from a catalog which Griffith setup to sell within. Shortly afterward, the Ku Klux Klan adopted these textiles as their official uniform

The Scandinavian Concept of Ragnarök

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In Scandinavian mythology, Ragnarök is composed of a series of events and catastrophes which after having occurred, will ultimately lead to the end of civilization and the world. Ragnarök culminates as a final battle between the gods, demons, and giants, ending in the death of virtually all gods therefore ending in the end of the worlds existence. From this outcome, a new pantheon of deities is created and from this, a new world order. The term “Ragnarök” often stands to represent “the last great battle”

The Use and Misuse of the U.S. Constitution’s 5th Amendment and Canada’s Section 13 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

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Although Canada does not have a 5th Amendment like the U.S., it does have the ability to invoke Section 13 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees that “a witness who testifies in any proceedings has the right not to have any incriminating evidence so given used to incriminate that witness in any other proceedings, except in a prosecution for perjury or for the giving of contradictory evidence”. Although the 5th Amendment does not exist in Canada, a collection of laws that function as the same purpose do exist affording both Canadian and U.S. citizens the right to make no statement so as not to incriminate themselves when being questioned. An individual cannot use the 5th Amendment or Section 13 as an absolute and unwavering protectionary device from any statement however. Discretion is provided dependent upon whether or not the person being questioned reasonably believes that disclosure of information could be utilized in a criminal prosecution or that it could lead to other evidence that may be used against that person in the future. In the US, an individual who has been convicted of a crime and sentenced cannot invoke the 5th Amendment. When an individual is able to leverage the 5th Amendment, their silence or refusal to answer questions cannot be used against them in a criminal case meaning a prosecutor cannot argue to a judge or jury that the defendant’s silence implies guilt. In Canada, Section 13 only protects against the use to incriminate prior compelled testimony and is not valid against the use of testimony previously voluntarily supplied

The First Time a Woman and a Queen Illegally Published a Book in England

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Queen Catherine Parr was an outspoken evangelist and believed that God had selected her to marry King Henry VIII so that she could spread the good news of the new religion of Protestantism, even going so far as to publish a book entitled “Prayers of Meditations” in 1545 which consisted of a collection of Latin religious texts translated into English, an unprecedented act as it marked the first time a book was published in English by a woman, compounded by the fact that this was the first time a book was published by an English queen. The book became a best seller instantaneously but the publishing of this book was technically illegal as women were not permitted to spread the word of God, and especially not in the English language

The Choice of February as Black History Month

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In the 1920’s, African American historian Carter Godwin Woodson chose February as Black History Month because it coincided with both Abraham Lincoln who emancipated all slaves, and Frederick Douglass’ birthday. The original focus of Black History Month was to illustrate black contributions to American life and to celebrate black excellence, however in contrast to this narrative, over the course of the past few decades, slavery and civil rights have become highly focused conversation points