We present a cross-cultural analysis showing that the presence of an active or moral High God in societies varies generally along a continuum from lesser to greater technological complexity and subsistence productivity. Foragers are least likely to have High Gods. Horticulturalists and agriculturalists are more likely. Pastoralists are most likely, though they are less easily positioned along t...

It may have been Chebyshev who said that in the olden days the mathematical problems were posed by the gods, later by the demi-gods (Gauss, etc.) and nowadays by the technician. Modern demands by technology are growing and often (paradoxically) lamented by designers of courses and syllabi. Arguments that fundamentals have to be established rst, leave the fear that applications and philosophical...

In ancient Mayan texts cocoa is considered a gift of the gods: Pre-Columbian populations used chocolate as medicine, too. After the discovery of America, chocolate was introduced in Europe, but Christian Europe looked to this new exhilarating drink with extreme suspiciousness and criticism. From this reaction, the necessity derived to appeal to the reasons of health, with which doctors and scie...