The Anthropomorphism of Satan

Early Christians did not personify Satan, in fact it was not until the Medieval period that Satan became anthropomorphized into the image which is commonly understood during the modern day (e.g. red skin, horned head, tail etc.). Initially, Satan was predicated upon pagan mythological figures who Christian’s then viewed as demons and/or part of a larger demonic evil outside the boundaries of Christianity. Prior to this, there was no consensus among artists and theologians as to how Satan should be depicted within religious artwork. Often throughout history, Satan has been illustrated as a blue angel, a male figure with blue skin and white hair. The color blue was chosen as it is symbolic of the night and the unknown, adding emotional and spiritual ambiguity, intended to inspire fear not through grotesquery but rather through an uncanny yet elegant emulation. In addition to this portrayal, Satan has also been represented as a figure with 3 goats, designed as a direct counter balance to Jesus Christ who is often portrayed within religious artwork in possession of 3 lambs which represent humanity. More specifically these 3 lambs represent purity, sacrifice, and redemption. In contrast to this, the 3 goats of Satan were meant to represent demonic entities, more specifically rebellion, deception, and spiritual corruption. This triadic symbolism was intentional as it created a theological and visual counter weight for Christ, casting Satan not only as the antithesis of Christ, but as a distorted reflection of him within the mirror of divine structure and purpose

The Evolution of Primitive and Sophisticated Neural Networks

The human brain has 100,000,000,000,000 (100 trillion) connections and 86,000,000,000 (86 billion) neurons, which is more connections and neurons than there are stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. Ironically, the majority of the most successful creatures on Earth do not have a brain; organisms like plants, coral, and jellyfish. The sea squirt is a primary example as it has just 200 neurons, allowing it only to perceive and display simple interaction with the environment by sensing light and moving its flagellum. The sea squirt moves around until it finds a rock, then it dumps its tail and uses those once dedicated neurons for different applications, staying anchored to this spot for the rest of its life. Neurons were originally designed to allow for simple motion and movement, but as evolution progressed steadily, neural networks began to build and design intelligent life which is capable of consciousness and a sense of self but also more abstract concepts like art, mathematics, and science