title: Chris Hardwick

text: Christopher Ryan Hardwick was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on November 23, 1971, the son of Billy Hardwick (1941–2013), a professional ten-pin bowler, and Sharon Hills (née Facente), a real estate agent in Pasadena, California. His maternal grandfather was Italian-American, and opened a bowling alley where Hardwick's parents first met. Hardwick was raised in his mother's Roman Catholic faith. At age four, he met comedian Joan Rivers and they became lifelong friends. Hardwick grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was the 1983 Memphis City Junior High Chess Champion. He later attended St. Benedict at Auburndale before moving to Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, Colorado, and spent his senior year at Loyola High School in Los Angeles. He studied philosophy at UCLA, where he was a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity during his freshman year and graduated in 1993. He was roommates with Wil Wheaton, whom he had met at a screening of "Arachnophobia" in Burbank, California.


title: Chris Hardwick

text: Hardwick was a DJ on Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM during the mid-1990s. In the fall of 1998, he starred in the UPN comedy "Guys Like Us"; the show aired 12 episodes before it was cancelled in January 1999.


title: Chris Hardwick

text: Hardwick appeared in Rob Zombie's horror films "House of 1000 Corpses" and "Halloween II". He also made a small appearance in "". In 2010, he was featured in the film "The Mother of Invention". He made guest appearances on such shows as "", "Married... with Children", "Boy Meets World" and "Zoey 101", and was a guest commentator on VH1's "I Love the '90s", which aired in 2005. He appeared as a television host on hip hop group Little Brother's 2005 album, "The Minstrel Show".


title: Chris Hardwick

text: Hardwick is a contributing writer for "Wired" (since 2007), wrote for "Web Soup" and "Back at the Barnyard", and he made regular appearances on "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" and "Chelsea Lately". As part of what Hardwick calls his "nerd media empire", he ran Nerdist Theater, an entertainment space at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles. He entered into an equity partnership with GeekChicDaily in June 2011 to form Nerdist Industries.


title: Chris Hardwick

text: Hardwick published a self-help book, "The Nerdist Way: How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Life)", with Penguin Publishing, in late 2011. In February 2012, GeekChicDaily fully merged with Nerdist Industries and became Nerdist News, with Hardwick operating as Chief Creative Officer.


title: Chris Hardwick

text: On July 10, 2012, Nerdist Industries was acquired by Legendary Entertainment. Hardwick was given the title of co-president of Legendary's digital business.


title: Chris Hardwick

text: In February 2018, Hardwick announced that he would be rebranding "The Nerdist Podcast" to "ID10T" and that he would be leaving Nerdist since the contract with Legendary came to an end in 2017.


title: Chris Hardwick

text: Hardwick voiced Alexander Hamilton in "The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd" and Otis the Cow in the "Barnyard" series (the character was originally voiced by actor Kevin James in the movie "Barnyard: The Original Party Animals").


title: Chris Hardwick

text: He provided the voice for Green Arrow/Oliver Queen on "The Batman" and "Lego Dimensions", Glowface in "The X's", and Sokka in "The Legend of Korra", as well as voice work for "The Minstrel Show" from the rap group Little Brother, and narration for the introduction video for the Flash animation game "George Plimpton's Video Falconry". Between May 2013 and July 2016, he voiced "Craig the Snake" on "Sanjay and Craig". He also voiced the character Vaughn in Telltale Games's "Tales from the Borderlands", reprising his role in the "Borderlands 2" DLC "Commander Lilith and the Fight for Sanctuary" and in "Borderlands 3".


title: Chris Hardwick

text: In 2017, Hardwick guest-voiced the villain Klaxxon for a special episode of "Futurama" released on the Nerdist podcast.


title: Chris Hardwick

text: In 1993, Hardwick hosted the MTV game show "Trashed", in which contestants would answer trivia questions or risk some of their belongings being destroyed. From 1995 to 1998, he co-hosted with Jenny McCarthy the MTV dating game show "Singled Out", in which the main contestant selects from a pool of 50 people based on their attributes without seeing them. While working on "Singled Out", he met fellow MTV personality Jacinda Barrett, to whom he became engaged but never married. Later, he hosted the syndicated dating show "Shipmates".


title: Chris Hardwick

text: From October through December 2007, Hardwick hosted the weekly series "Wired Science" on PBS, while writing for "Wired" magazine. On June 7, 2009, he became the host of G4's "Web Soup", a spinoff of E!'s "The Soup". Hardwick had previously guest-hosted "The Soup"s predecessor, "Talk Soup".


title: Chris Hardwick

text: Since February 2010, Hardwick has been producing the "Nerdist" podcast, which he hosts with Jonah Ray and Matt Mira. The podcast was named one of 2010's best by "The A.V. Club" and one of the 10 best comedy podcasts by "Rolling Stone".


title: Chris Hardwick

text: In May 2011, Hardwick signed a contract with BBC America to host a pilot of a panel talk show for the network based on the podcast. The pilot also included Hardwick doing intros and outros for BBC America's new Saturday-night "Ministry of Laughs" comedy block of Britcoms.


title: Chris Hardwick

text: In 2011, Hardwick began hosting "Talking Dead", a live half-hour (later expanded to one hour) aftershow to AMC's series "The Walking Dead". Hardwick interviews celebrity fans of "The Walking Dead" as well as members of its cast and crew, interacts with the studio audience, re-airs clips of the episode, plays games with and polls the viewers via the Internet, and offers exclusive clips of the next episode.


title: Chris Hardwick

text: In August 2013, Hardwick began hosting "Talking Bad", a live half-hour (later expanded to one hour on the final episode) talk show companion series to the final eight episodes of the AMC series "Breaking Bad". In February 2016, Hardwick began hosting "Talking Saul", a live one-hour talk show companion series to the season two premiere and finale of the AMC series "Better Call Saul".


title: Chris Hardwick

text: On December 24, 2011, BBC America aired "", a comedy special hosted by Hardwick in Los Angeles. In August 2012, he hosted a special episode of "The Nerdist" on BBC America to "debate" the effects of time and space with other friends and celebrity nerds. The episode was really an effort to promote the network's upcoming September 1 seventh-season premiere of the series "Doctor Who".


title: Chris Hardwick

text: On April 30, 2013, Comedy Central announced that Hardwick would host a half-hour comedic panel show called "@midnight with Chris Hardwick". Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant, formerly of "Reno 911!", served as executive producers/showrunners. It premiered on October 21, 2013.


title: Chris Hardwick

text: On November 7, 2014, he hosted the "Talent, Art, Movie and Costume" section of the BlizzCon gaming convention.


title: Chris Hardwick

text: Hardwick is also a stand-up comedian and performs with Mike Phirman in the music comedy duo Hard 'n Phirm, whose half-hour comedy special "Comedy Central Presents: Hard 'n Phirm" premiered in January 2008.


title: Chris Hardwick

text: In 2004, Comedy Central used some of his material for an animated series called "Shorties Watchin' Shorties". In 2007, both his solo standup and duo act were featured on the comedy compilation CD "Comedy Death Ray". Hard 'n Phirm completed several songs for the 2009 Rob Zombie animated movie "The Haunted World of El Superbeasto". Hardwick announced plans to do a live stand-up album from his 2009 tour. He has toured as a featured comedian for Joel McHale. In 2010, he appeared as a stand-up comic on "John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show" twice. In the same year, Hardwick performed on the Comedy Central show "The Benson Interruption".


title: Chris Hardwick

text: On February 17, 2012, Hardwick filmed "Mandroid", his first one-hour stand-up special for Comedy Central in New York City. Jonah Ray was his unaired opener. The special aired on Comedy Central on November 10, 2012, and was well received. Extended and uncensored DVD, CD, and digital versions were released January 22, 2013.


title: Chris Hardwick

text: Hardwick has said his influences include Steve Martin, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Sam Kinison, Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Hicks, Emo Philips, and Bill Cosby.


title: Chris Hardwick

text: Hardwick was previously engaged to model and actress Jacinda Barrett, and had a relationship with actress Andrea Savage. In 2004, He married actress and comedian Janet Varney and they had been married for 7 years until their divorce in 2011. Shortly after, he would go on to date Chloe Dykstra (from late 2011 to July 2014). He became engaged to model and actress Lydia Hearst on September 12, 2015, and the two married on August 20, 2016, in Pasadena, California. In August 2021, they announced that they were expecting their first child together. On January 29, 2022, they announced the arrival of their daughter.


title: Chris Hardwick

text: Hardwick is a recovering alcoholic and says he has been sober since October 2003. A former co-worker said that Hardwick "replaced his alcoholism with workaholism".


title: Chris Hardwick

text: Hardwick's ex-girlfriend Chloe Dykstra published an essay on Medium on June 14, 2018, in which she alleged that she had been subjected to emotional and sexual abuse by an unnamed ex-boyfriend, and claimed that she was subject to career blacklisting in retaliation for ending the relationship. The essay did not name the abuser, but the timing and several key details led readers to conclude it was Hardwick. In response, Nerdist removed all mentions of Hardwick from its website while AMC announced that further episodes of "Talking with Chris Hardwick" would be pulled. Hardwick also stepped away from moderating all AMC and BBC America panels at San Diego Comic-Con.


title: Chris Hardwick

text: On July 25, 2018, AMC announced that a comprehensive investigation conducted alongside law firm Loeb & Loeb had failed to confirm Dykstra's allegations and that Hardwick would return as host of "Talking Dead" and "Talking with Chris Hardwick". Their statement read, "We take these matters very seriously and given the information available to us after a very careful review, including interviews with numerous individuals, we believe returning Chris to work is the appropriate step." Dykstra, who refused to cooperate in the investigation, stated two days later on Twitter, "I chose not to participate in the investigation of the person I spoke of. I do not believe in an eye for an eye." She also stated that she "originally wrote [her] essay so [she] could move on with [her] life, and now [she] intend[s] to do so". On July 31, 2018, NBC announced that Hardwick would return as host of "The Wall" following its own investigation. On August 10, 2018, his name was returned to Nerdist's website after their own investigation.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: A third film was initially teased in November 2020 with a key visual featuring Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugo, and Shoto Todoroki. One week after it was first announced, the film was officially confirmed for a 2021 release. Its full title was revealed in March 2021 along with the announcement of the release date. Horikoshi was credited for the original story in the film and the original characters' designs.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: The film premiered in Japan on August 6, 2021, and was released in the United States and Canada on October 29. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the animation and plot but criticized the character development. The film grossed over million worldwide and received a nomination at the Newtype Anime Awards.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: A doomsday cult known as Humarise believes that Quirks will eventually become so powerful that they will bring about the extinction of humanity. Because of this, they have planted bombs all over the world filled with "Trigger" gas which kills Quirk users by driving their Quirks out of control and dying in the process. Their leader, Flect Turn, plans to use these bombs to save humanity by killing the Quirk population. After Humarise detonates its first Trigger Bomb, the World Heroes Association dispatches Pro Heroes and U.A. High Hero Course students to Humarise's targets in hopes of disarming the remaining bombs. Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugo, and Shoto Todoroki are among those sent to Humarise's supposed main headquarters in the country of Otheon. None of the Heroes find any trace of Humarise and they are put on standby.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: During an outing, Midoriya, Bakugo and Todoroki encounter a jewel robbery in progress. Todoroki and Bakugo pursue the thieves while Midoriya gives chase to their courier, Rody Soul, a street urchin who took the job to provide for his younger siblings. Meanwhile, Allan Kay, a Humarise scientist, flees with an important briefcase but is attacked by a Humarise agent, Beros, and he crashes his car in the midst of Midoriya and Rody's chase. Rody accidentally grabs Kay's briefcase shortly before Midoriya catches him. They are soon attacked by the police, but Midoriya escapes with Rody using Blackwhip.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: Midoriya is publicly accused of mass murder by Otheon's chief of police, who is a member of Humarise, and goes off the grid per Todoroki's advice. Midoriya and Rody make their way to the neighboring country of Klayd, where the Otheon police will not have jurisdiction. Midoriya sends a coded message about his new destination to Todoroki, who heads off with Bakugo to join him there. That night, Rody becomes homesick and secretly reports the briefcase to the police. The officers that arrive turn out to be Humarise agents, who attack him. Midoriya, having been woken up by Rody's bird companion, Pino, saves him, but is wounded by Beros during the fight. Rody apologizes to Midoriya while patching him up, explaining that his father abandoned the family to join Humarise, and that he and his siblings were ostracized as a result.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: The two are attacked at the Klayd border by Beros, but are saved by Bakugo and Todoroki, while Beros commits suicide in order to evade capture. In the aftermath, Midoriya discovers a hidden compartment in the briefcase containing a puzzle which Rody played with as a kid. Rody solves it and finds a USB device and a data disk inside. The disk contains a message from Kay, who reveals that he and Eddy Soul, Rody's father, were forced by Humarise to create the Trigger bombs. The device contains a kill code for the bombs created by Kay and Eddy. Humarise announces that they will detonate their remaining bombs in two hours, forcing the deployed Heroes to work through the ensuing global panic to find them.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: Midoriya and the others head to Humarise's headquarters with the device on a plane piloted by Rody. Bakugo and Todoroki deal with high-ranking Humarise goons, while Midoriya faces Flect Turn, whose Quirk reflects whatever comes into contact with him. Midoriya is overwhelmed by Flect Turn's natural defenses, as well as his laser barrage. Rody arrives and seemingly betrays Midoriya by handing over the device in exchange for his siblings' safety. However, thanks to Pino, who is actually Rody's sentient Quirk which expresses his true feelings and intentions, Midoriya realizes it is a feint and catches Flect Turn off guard. Realizing that Flect Turn's Quirk has a limit to how much damage it can take, Midoriya uses One for All Full Cowl at 100%, to defeat Flect Turn with a barrage of attacks. Meanwhile, Rody heads for the Trigger Bombs' control system, and despite being wounded by the laser defense system, he and Pino barely manage to insert the device in time, preventing the Trigger Bombs from activating.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: In the aftermath, Humarise's surviving members are arrested, while the Heroes are healed at the hospital. As Midoriya heads back to Japan, he and Rody bid a tearful goodbye to each other. Class 1-A reunites back at U.A., while Rody gets a job as a bartender and pursues his dream of becoming a pilot.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: Before the release of "" in December 2019, "My Hero Academia" manga creator Kōhei Horikoshi stated in July that "[probably] there won't be a third film", believing that the second film of the franchise was the "kind of finale for "My Hero Academia". That is because its story uses one of the concepts [I] had wanted to use in the manga's final battle." In November 2020, each of the official Twitter accounts for "My Hero Academia" manga, anime series, and films posted tweets that could be combined to form the sentence "He will meet the three musketeers". Each tweet had links that would lead to images of Katsuki Bakugo, Izuku Midoriya, and Shoto Todoroki which could be combined to form a teaser visual for the third film of the franchise. After a week, the latest issue of "Weekly Shōnen Jump" magazine officially confirmed the film for a summer release.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: In March 2021, the title of the film was revealed as "My Hero Academia the Movie: World Heroes' Mission", which would be based on an original story, with Horikoshi serving as its chief supervisor and the original character designer. Additionally, Kenji Nagasaki was also revealed to be directing the film at Bones along with Yousuke Kuroda as the screenwriter and Yoshihiko Umakoshi as the character designer. The designs for "stealth suit" outfits of Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki in the film were revealed in May 2021.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: Ryo Yoshizawa joined the cast of the film as the original character named Rody Soul in May 2021, as did Kazuya Nakai and Megumi Hayashibara in June as the leader of an organization that threatens the world named Flect Turn and the trusted partner of Rody named Pino, respectively. Additional cast for the film were revealed in July 2021, including Mariya Ise as Belos, Junya Enoki as Sir Pentas, Yūichirō Umehara as Shidero, Shogo Sakata as Leviathan, Hirofumi Nojima as Allen Kay, and Yōko Honna as Claire Voyance.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: Yuki Hayashi was revealed to be composing "My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission" in March 2021, after previously doing so for "My Hero Academia" anime series and the franchise's films "" (2018) and "" (2019). In June 2021, Asian Kung-Fu Generation was revealed to be performing the theme music for the film titled . The following month, the 35th issue of "Weekly Shōnen Jump" magazine revealed the insert song in the film titled , also performed by the same band. The film's original soundtrack was released in Japan by Toho Animation Records and in the United States by Milan Records on August 6, 2021. Milan Records released the original soundtrack on vinyl records in the United States in July 2022. That month, Anime Limited announced the release of the original soundtrack on vinyl records in the United Kingdom and Ireland.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: A teaser trailer and the key visual drawn by Umakoshi for "My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission" were released in March 2021. A new visual for the film was released in June 2021. A bonus manga by Horikoshi titled "My Hero Academia Vol. World Heroes" was given to the first one million people who viewed the film in theaters in Japan. It was also given to the moviegoers who saw the film in theaters in the United States. A novel based on the film written by Anri Takahashi was published in Japan by Shueisha on August 6, 2021.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: Promotional partners for the film included the sushi restaurant chain Kura Sushi; Tsutaya, which released their membership card T Card with designs based on Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki; the bento take-out chain Hokka Hokka Tei; the steakhouse Ikinari Steak; the variety store Thank You Mart; the karaoke brand Joysound; and Good Smile Company, which released Nendoroids of Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki wearing their stealth suits in the film.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: "My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission" was released in Japan on August 6, 2021, and received 4D screenings on August 28. The film held its American premiere at the Animation Is Film Festival in Los Angeles' TCL Chinese Theatre on October 24, 2021. It was released in Australia and New Zealand on October 28, 2021. The film was screened in the United States and Canada by Funimation, and in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Columbia Pictures on October 29, 2021.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: "My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission" was released on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan on February 16, 2022. The "Plus Ultra" edition contains an original video animation titled , which is based on the chapter "No.XXX Hawks: SOOTHE" from "Vol. World Heroes" manga, and follows Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki as they encounter Hawks in an airport terminal. The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD in the United States and Canada by Crunchyroll on August 23, 2022, and in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Funimation on September 26.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: "My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission" grossed million in Japan and million in other territories, for a worldwide total of million. It is the tenth highest-grossing domestic film of 2021 in Japan.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: The film earned million on its opening day in Japan, 229.2% more than "" (2019) did on its premiere. In its opening weekend, the film earned million, ranking second behind "F9" (2021). The film reached the one-billion-yen mark in its second weekend and grossed billion (million) in its third weekend, becoming the highest-grossing film of the franchise. It placed first in its fourth weekend, fourth in its fifth weekend, and first again in its sixth weekend. The film reached the three-billion-yen mark in its seventh weekend, with its ranking dropping to sixth. It rose to fifth in its eighth weekend with , but it fell to eighth in its ninth weekend after earning and dropped out of the ranking in its tenth weekend after earning .


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: Outside Japan, the film earned million in its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, placing fourth behind "No Time to Die" (2021). In Australia, the film grossed in its opening weekend, ranking fifth at the box office. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the film made from 260 theaters.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 86% based on 29 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Fun for newcomers and existing fans alike, "My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission" is an entertaining interlude between seasons of the series." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100 based on 4 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". "Cinema Today" reported that the film's audience had more females than the targeted male demographic, comprising 76.5%.


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: Rafael Motamayor gave "My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission" 8 out of 10 for "IGN", praising its visuals that "out-Marvels the " and the villains' motives that he noted were inspired by the graphic novel "". He felt that the film "captures the heart of early Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Spider-Man comics", particularly the "grounded approach" to Deku with his newfound power and its "sheer optimism in the face of great stakes". Hayes Madsen of "ComingSoon.net" also gave the film 8 out of 10, noting the "bigger emphasis on exaggerated expressions for characters and action scenes". He praised its "sense of scale and gravitas that the past two films simply didn't have" due to the expanding world of the franchise but felt that the villain's development was "lacking".


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: Richard Eisenbeis of Anime News Network graded the film 'C+', praising its animation and plot hook while criticizing the characters and their development. Writing for "/Film", Caroline Cao felt that the film was "solid enough in its watchability, crowdpleasing action, sight gags, and core relationship" but criticized its lack of scope. Despite noting Deku's shiny relationship with Rody, she found the film did "little overtly novel with Deku's drive to become a Hero".


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: Maya Phillips of "The New York Times" was critical of the film, particularly its "rapid cuts and camera shifts [that] makes it dizzying to witness", the characters being ignored "for the sake of a formulaic plot and forgettable antagonist", and the final fight she described as "long and... perfunctory". She felt that the film was a "missable third film" of the franchise and had "little to offer veteran fans of the series or new viewers". Richard Whittaker of "The Austin Chronicle" gave the film two out of five stars, stating that it "never quite balances the darkness with the inherent plucky optimism and sporadic goofiness that makes the series so popular". He felt that "World Heroes Mission" would work better if it was a television series rather than a film "since the last 40 minutes is one big punch-a-thon, with most of the supporting cast yet again busy offscreen".


title: My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission

text: In December 2021, "My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission" was among the Top 100 Favorites nominated for the Anime of the Year at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2022. In October 2022, the film was nominated for Best Picture (Film) Award at the Newtype Anime Awards.


title: Morality

text: Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of conduct from a particular philosophy, religion or culture, or it can derive from a standard that a person believes should be universal. Morality may also be specifically synonymous with "goodness" or "rightness".


title: Morality

text: Moral philosophy includes meta-ethics, which studies abstract issues such as moral ontology and moral epistemology, and normative ethics, which studies more concrete systems of moral decision-making such as deontological ethics and consequentialism. An example of normative ethical philosophy is the Golden Rule, which states: "One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself."


title: Morality

text: Immorality is the active opposition to morality (i.e. opposition to that which is good or right), while amorality is variously defined as an unawareness of, indifference toward, or disbelief in any particular set of moral standards or principles.


title: Morality

text: Ethics (also known as moral philosophy) is the branch of philosophy which addresses questions of morality. The word "ethics" is "commonly used interchangeably with 'morality', and sometimes it is used more narrowly to mean the moral principles of a particular tradition, group, or individual." Likewise, certain types of ethical theories, especially deontological ethics, sometimes distinguish between ethics and morals: "Although the morality of people and their ethics amounts to the same thing, there is a usage that restricts morality to systems such as that of Immanuel Kant, based on notions such as duty, obligation, and principles of conduct, reserving ethics for the more Aristotelian approach to practical reasoning, based on the notion of a virtue, and generally avoiding the separation of 'moral' considerations from other practical considerations."


title: Morality

text: In its descriptive sense, "morality" refers to personal or cultural values, codes of conduct or social mores from a society that provides these codes of conduct in which it applies and is accepted by an individual. It does not connote objective claims of right or wrong, but only refers to that which is considered right or wrong. Descriptive ethics is the branch of philosophy which studies morality in this sense.


title: Morality

text: In its normative sense, "morality" refers to whatever (if anything) is "actually" right or wrong, which may be independent of the values or mores held by any particular peoples or cultures. Normative ethics is the branch of philosophy which studies morality in this sense.


title: Morality

text: Philosophical theories on the nature and origins of morality (that is, theories of meta-ethics) are broadly divided into two classes:


title: Morality

text: Some forms of non-cognitivism and ethical subjectivism, while considered anti-realist in the robust sense used here, are considered realist in the sense synonymous with moral universalism. For example, universal prescriptivism is a universalist form of non-cognitivism which claims that morality is derived from reasoning about implied imperatives, and divine command theory and ideal observer theory are universalist forms of ethical subjectivism which claim that morality is derived from the edicts of a god or the hypothetical decrees of a perfectly rational being, respectively.


title: Morality

text: Practical reason is necessary for the moral agency but it is not a sufficient condition for moral agency. Real life issues that need solutions do need both rationality and emotion to be sufficiently moral. One uses rationality as a pathway to the ultimate decision, but the environment and emotions towards the environment at the moment must be a factor for the result to be truly moral, as morality is subject to culture. Something can only be morally acceptable if the culture as a whole has accepted this to be true. Practical reason and relevant emotional considerations are both considered important for a decision to be moral.


title: Morality

text: Celia Green made a distinction between tribal and territorial morality. She characterizes the latter as predominantly negative and proscriptive: it defines a person's territory, including his or her property and dependents, which is not to be damaged or interfered with. Apart from these proscriptions, territorial morality is permissive, allowing the individual whatever behaviour does not interfere with the territory of another. By contrast, tribal morality is prescriptive, imposing the norms of the collective on the individual. These norms will be arbitrary, culturally dependent and 'flexible', whereas territorial morality aims at rules which are universal and absolute, such as Kant's 'categorical imperative' and Geisler's graded absolutism. Green relates the development of territorial morality to the rise of the concept of private property, and the ascendancy of contract over status.


title: Morality

text: Some observers hold that individuals apply distinct sets of moral rules to people depending on their membership of an "in-group" (the individual and those they believe to be of the same group) or an "out-group" (people not entitled to be treated according to the same rules). Some biologists, anthropologists and evolutionary psychologists believe this in-group/out-group discrimination has evolved because it enhances group survival. This belief has been confirmed by simple computational models of evolution. In simulations this discrimination can result in both unexpected cooperation towards the in-group and irrational hostility towards the out-group. Gary R. Johnson and V.S. Falger have argued that nationalism and patriotism are forms of this in-group/out-group boundary. Jonathan Haidt has noted that experimental observation indicating an in-group criterion provides one moral foundation substantially used by conservatives, but far less so by liberals.


title: Morality

text: In-group preference is also helpful at the individual level for the passing on of one's genes. For example, a mother who favors her own children more highly than the children of other people will give greater resources to her children than she will to strangers', thus heightening her children's chances of survival and her own gene's chances of being perpetuated. Due to this, within a population, there is substantial selection pressure exerted toward this kind of self-interest, such that eventually, all parents wind up favoring their own children (the in-group) over other children (the out-group).


title: Morality

text: Peterson and Seligman approach the anthropological view looking across cultures, geo-cultural areas and across millennia. They conclude that certain virtues have prevailed in all cultures they examined. The major virtues they identified include "wisdom / knowledge; courage; humanity; justice; temperance; and transcendence". Each of these includes several divisions. For instance "humanity" includes "love", "kindness", and "social intelligence".


title: Morality

text: Still, others theorize that morality is not always absolute, contending that moral issues often differ along cultural lines. A 2014 PEW research study among several nations illuminates significant cultural differences among issues commonly related to morality, including divorce, extramarital affairs, homosexuality, gambling, abortion, alcohol use, contraceptive use, and premarital sex. Each of the 40 countries in this study has a range of percentages according to what percentage of each country believes the common moral issues are acceptable, unacceptable, or not moral issues at all. Each percentage regarding the significance of the moral issue varies greatly on the culture in which the moral issue is presented.


title: Morality

text: Advocates of a theory known as moral relativism subscribe to the notion that moral virtues are right or wrong only within the context of a certain standpoint (e.g., cultural community). In other words, what is morally acceptable in one culture may be taboo in another. They further contend that no moral virtue can objectively be proven right or wrong Critics of moral relativism point to historical atrocities such as infanticide, slavery, or genocide as counter arguments, noting the difficulty in accepting these actions simply through cultural lenses.


title: Morality

text: Fons Trompenaars, author of "Did the Pedestrian Die?", tested members of different cultures with various moral dilemmas. One of these was whether the driver of a car would have his friend, a passenger riding in the car, lie in order to protect the driver from the consequences of driving too fast and hitting a pedestrian. Trompenaars found that different cultures had quite different expectations, from none to definite.


title: Morality

text: The development of modern morality is a process closely tied to sociocultural evolution. Some evolutionary biologists, particularly sociobiologists, believe that morality is a product of evolutionary forces acting at an individual level and also at the group level through group selection (although to what degree this actually occurs is a controversial topic in evolutionary theory). Some sociobiologists contend that the set of behaviors that constitute morality evolved largely because they provided possible survival or reproductive benefits (i.e. increased evolutionary success). Humans consequently evolved "pro-social" emotions, such as feelings of empathy or guilt, in response to these moral behaviors.


title: Morality

text: On this understanding, moralities are sets of self-perpetuating and biologically driven behaviors which encourage human cooperation. Biologists contend that all social animals, from ants to elephants, have modified their behaviors, by restraining immediate selfishness in order to improve their evolutionary fitness. Human morality, although sophisticated and complex relative to the moralities of other animals, is essentially a natural phenomenon that evolved to restrict excessive individualism that could undermine a group's cohesion and thereby reducing the individuals' fitness.


title: Morality

text: On this view, moral codes are ultimately founded on emotional instincts and intuitions that were selected for in the past because they aided survival and reproduction (inclusive fitness). Examples: the maternal bond is selected for because it improves the survival of offspring; the Westermarck effect, where close proximity during early years reduces mutual sexual attraction, underpins taboos against incest because it decreases the likelihood of genetically risky behaviour such as inbreeding.


title: Morality

text: The phenomenon of reciprocity in nature is seen by evolutionary biologists as one way to begin to understand human morality. Its function is typically to ensure a reliable supply of essential resources, especially for animals living in a habitat where food quantity or quality fluctuates unpredictably. For example, some vampire bats fail to feed on prey some nights while others manage to consume a surplus. Bats that did eat will then regurgitate part of their blood meal to save a conspecific from starvation. Since these animals live in close-knit groups over many years, an individual can count on other group members to return the favor on nights when it goes hungry (Wilkinson, 1984)


title: Morality

text: Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce (2009) have argued that morality is a suite of behavioral capacities likely shared by all mammals living in complex social groups (e.g., wolves, coyotes, elephants, dolphins, rats, chimpanzees). They define morality as "a suite of interrelated other-regarding behaviors that cultivate and regulate complex interactions within social groups." This suite of behaviors includes empathy, reciprocity, altruism, cooperation, and a sense of fairness. In related work, it has been convincingly demonstrated that chimpanzees show empathy for each other in a wide variety of contexts. They also possess the ability to engage in deception, and a level of social politics prototypical of our own tendencies for gossip and reputation management.


title: Morality

text: Christopher Boehm (1982) has hypothesized that the incremental development of moral complexity throughout hominid evolution was due to the increasing need to avoid disputes and injuries in moving to open savanna and developing stone weapons. Other theories are that increasing complexity was simply a correlate of increasing group size and brain size, and in particular the development of theory of mind abilities.


title: Morality

text: In modern moral psychology, morality is sometimes considered to change through personal development. Several psychologists have produced theories on the development of morals, usually going through stages of different morals. Lawrence Kohlberg, Jean Piaget, and Elliot Turiel have cognitive-developmental approaches to moral development; to these theorists morality forms in a series of constructive stages or domains. In the Ethics of care approach established by Carol Gilligan, moral development occurs in the context of caring, mutually responsive relationships which are based on interdependence, particularly in parenting but also in social relationships generally. Social psychologists such as Martin Hoffman and Jonathan Haidt emphasize social and emotional development based on biology, such as empathy. Moral identity theorists, such as William Damon and Mordechai Nisan, see moral commitment as arising from the development of a self-identity that is defined by moral purposes: this moral self-identity leads to a sense of responsibility to pursue such purposes. Of historical interest in psychology are the theories of psychoanalysts such as Sigmund Freud, who believe that moral development is the product of aspects of the super-ego as guilt-shame avoidance. Theories of moral development therefore tend to regard it as positive moral development: the higher stages are morally higher, though this, naturally, involves a circular argument. The higher stages are better because they are higher, but the better higher because they are better.


title: Morality

text: As an alternative to viewing morality as an individual trait, some sociologists as well as social- and discursive psychologists have taken upon themselves to study the "in-vivo" aspects of morality by examining how persons conduct themselves in social interaction.


title: Morality

text: Moral cognition refers to cognitive processes implicated in moral judgment and decision making, and moral action. It consists of several domain-general cognitive processes, ranging from perception of a morally salient stimulus to reasoning when faced with a moral dilemma. While it's important to mention that there is not a single cognitive faculty dedicated exclusively to moral cognition, characterizing the contributions of domain-general processes to moral behavior is a critical scientific endeavor to understand how morality works and how it can be improved.


title: Morality

text: Cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists investigate the inputs to these cognitive processes and their interactions, as well as how these contribute to moral behavior by running controlled experiments. In these experiments putatively moral versus nonmoral stimuli are compared to each other, while controlling for other variables such as content or working memory load. Often, the differential neural response to specifically moral statements or scenes, are examined using functional neuroimaging experiments.


title: Morality

text: Critically, the specific cognitive processes that are involved depend on the prototypical situation that a person encounters. For instance, while situations that require an active decision on a moral dilemma may require active reasoning, an immediate reaction to a shocking moral violation may involve quick, affect-laden processes. Nonetheless, certain cognitive skills such as being able to attribute mental states—beliefs, intents, desires, emotions to oneself, and others is a common feature of a broad range of prototypical situations. In line with this, a meta-analysis found overlapping activity between moral emotion and moral reasoning tasks, suggesting a shared neural network for both tasks. The results of this meta-analysis, however, also demonstrated that the processing of moral input is affected by task demands.


title: Morality

text: Regarding the issues of morality in video games, some scholars believe that because players appear in video games as actors, they maintain a distance between their sense of self and the role of the game in terms of imagination. Therefore, the decision-making and moral behavior of players in the game are not representing player's Moral dogma.


title: Morality

text: It has been recently found that moral judgment consists in concurrent evaluations of three different components that align with precepts from three dominant moral theories (virtue ethics, deontology, and consequentialism): the character of a person (Agent-component, A); their actions (Deed-component, D); and the consequences brought about in the situation (Consequences-component, C). This, implies that various inputs of the situation a person encounters affect moral cognition.


title: Morality

text: The brain areas that are consistently involved when humans reason about moral issues have been investigated by multiple quantitative large-scale meta-analyses of the brain activity changes reported in the moral neuroscience literature. The neural network underlying moral decisions overlaps with the network pertaining to representing others' intentions (i.e., theory of mind) and the network pertaining to representing others' (vicariously experienced) emotional states (i.e., empathy). This supports the notion that moral reasoning is related to both seeing things from other persons' points of view and to grasping others' feelings. These results provide evidence that the neural network underlying moral decisions is probably domain-global (i.e., there might be no such things as a "moral module" in the human brain) and might be dissociable into cognitive and affective sub-systems.


title: Morality

text: An essential, shared component of moral judgment involves the capacity to detect morally salient content within a given social context. Recent research implicated the salience network in this initial detection of moral content. The salience network responds to behaviorally salient events and may be critical to modulate downstream default and frontal control network interactions in the service of complex moral reasoning and decision-making processes.


title: Morality

text: The explicit making of moral right and wrong judgments coincides with activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC) while intuitive reactions to situations containing implicit moral issues activates the temporoparietal junction area.


title: Morality

text: Stimulation of the VMPC by transcranial magnetic stimulation, has been shown to inhibit the ability of human subjects to take into account intent when forming a moral judgment. According to this investigation, TMS did not disrupt participants' ability to make any moral judgment. On the contrary, moral judgments of intentional harms and non-harms were unaffected by TMS to either the RTPJ or the control site; presumably, however, people typically make moral judgments of intentional harms by considering not only the action's harmful outcome but the agent's intentions and beliefs. So why were moral judgments of intentional harms not affected by TMS to the RTPJ? One possibility is that moral judgments typically reflect a weighted function of any morally relevant information that is available at the time. Based on this view, when information concerning the agent's belief is unavailable or degraded, the resulting moral judgment simply reflects a higher weighting of other


title: Morality

text: morally relevant factors (e.g., outcome). Alternatively, following TMS to the RTPJ, moral judgments might be made via an abnormal processing route that does not take belief into account. On either account, when belief information is degraded or unavailable, moral judgments are shifted toward other morally relevant factors (e.g., outcome). For intentional harms and non-harms, however, the outcome suggests the same moral judgment as to the intention. Thus, the researchers suggest that TMS to the RTPJ disrupted the processing of negative beliefs for both intentional harms and attempted harms, but the current design allowed the investigators to detect this effect only in the case of attempted harms, in which the neutral outcomes did not afford harsh moral judgments on their own.


title: Morality

text: Similarly VMPC-impaired persons will judge an action purely on its outcome and are unable to take into account the intent of that action.


title: Morality

text: Mirror neurons are neurons in the brain that fire when another person is observed doing a certain action. The neurons fire in imitation of the action being observed, causing the same muscles to act minutely in the observer as are acting grossly in the person actually performing the action. Research on mirror neurons, since their discovery in 1996, suggests that they may have a role to play not only in action understanding, but also in emotion sharing empathy. Cognitive neuroscientist Jean Decety thinks that the ability to recognize and vicariously experience what another individual is undergoing was a key step forward in the evolution of social behavior, and ultimately, morality. The inability to feel empathy is one of the defining characteristics of psychopathy, and this would appear to lend support to Decety's view.


title: Morality

text: Moral intuitions may have genetic bases. A 2022 study conducted by scholars Michael Zakharin and Timothy C. Bates, and published by the "European Journal of Personality", found that moral foundations have significant genetic bases. Another study, conducted by Smith and Hatemi, similarly found significant evidence in support of moral heritability by looking at and comparing the answers of moral dilemmas between twins.


title: Morality

text: If morality is the answer to the question 'how ought we to live' at the individual level, politics can be seen as addressing the same question at the social level, though the political sphere raises additional problems and challenges. It is therefore unsurprising that evidence has been found of a relationship between attitudes in morality and politics. Moral foundations theory, authored by Jonathan Haidt and colleagues, has been used to study the differences between liberals and conservatives, in this regard. Haidt found that Americans who identified as liberals tended to value care and fairness higher than loyalty, respect and purity. Self-identified conservative Americans valued care and fairness less and the remaining three values more. Both groups gave care the highest over-all weighting, but conservatives valued fairness the lowest, whereas liberals valued purity the lowest. Haidt also hypothesizes that the origin of this division in the United States can be traced to geo-historical factors, with conservatism strongest in closely knit, ethnically homogenous communities, in contrast to port-cities, where the cultural mix is greater, thus requiring more liberalism.


title: Morality

text: Group morality develops from shared concepts and beliefs and is often codified to regulate behavior within a culture or community. Various defined actions come to be called moral or immoral. Individuals who choose moral action are popularly held to possess "moral fiber", whereas those who indulge in immoral behavior may be labeled as socially degenerate. The continued existence of a group may depend on widespread conformity to codes of morality; an inability to adjust moral codes in response to new challenges is sometimes credited with the demise of a community (a positive example would be the function of Cistercian reform in reviving monasticism; a negative example would be the role of the Dowager Empress in the subjugation of China to European interests). Within nationalist movements, there has been some tendency to feel that a nation will not survive or prosper without acknowledging one common morality, regardless of its content.


title: Morality

text: Political morality is also relevant to the behavior internationally of national governments, and to the support they receive from their host population. The Sentience Institute, co-founded by Jacy Reese Anthis, analyzes the trajectory of moral progress in society via the framework of an expanding moral circle. Noam Chomsky states that


title: Morality

text: ... if we adopt the principle of universality: if an action is right (or wrong) for others, it is right (or wrong) for us. Those who do not rise to the minimal moral level of applying to themselves the standards they apply to others—more stringent ones, in fact—plainly cannot be taken seriously when they speak of appropriateness of response; or of right and wrong, good and evil.


title: Morality

text: In fact, one of them, maybe the most, elementary of moral principles is that of universality, that is, If something's right for me, it's right for you; if it's wrong for you, it's wrong for me. Any moral code that is even worth looking at has that at its core somehow.


title: Morality

text: Religion and morality are not synonymous. Morality does not depend upon religion although for some this is "an almost automatic assumption". According to "The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics", religion and morality "are to be defined differently and have no definitional connections with each other. Conceptually and in principle, morality and a religious value system are two distinct kinds of value systems or action guides."


title: Morality

text: Within the wide range of moral traditions, religious value systems co-exist with contemporary secular frameworks such as consequentialism, freethought, humanism, utilitarianism, and others. There are many types of religious value systems. Modern monotheistic religions, such as Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and to a certain degree others such as Sikhism and Zoroastrianism, define right and wrong by the laws and rules set forth by their respective scriptures and as interpreted by religious leaders within the respective faith. Other religions spanning pantheistic to nontheistic tend to be less absolute. For example, within Buddhism, the intention of the individual and the circumstances should be accounted for in the form of Merit, to determine if an action is right or wrong termed. A further disparity between the values of religious traditions is pointed out by Barbara Stoler Miller, who states that, in Hinduism, "practically, right and wrong are decided according to the categories of social rank, kinship, and stages of life. For modern Westerners, who have been raised on ideals of universality and egalitarianism, this relativity of values and obligations is the aspect of Hinduism most difficult to understand".


title: Morality

text: Religions provide different ways of dealing with moral dilemmas. For example, there is no absolute prohibition on killing in Hinduism, which recognizes that it "may be inevitable and indeed necessary" in certain circumstances. In monotheistic traditions, certain acts are viewed in more absolute terms, such as abortion or divorce. Religion is not always positively associated with morality. Philosopher David Hume stated that, "the greatest crimes have been found, in many instances, to be compatible with a superstitious piety and devotion; Hence it is justly regarded as unsafe to draw any inference in favor of a man's morals, from the fervor or strictness of his religious exercises, even though he himself believe them sincere."


title: Morality

text: Religious value systems can also be used to justify acts that are contrary to contemporary morality, such as massacres, misogyny and slavery. For example, Simon Blackburn states that "apologists for Hinduism defend or explain away its involvement with the caste system, and apologists for Islam defend or explain away its harsh penal code or its attitude to women and infidels". In regard to Christianity, he states that the "Bible can be read as giving us a carte blanche for harsh attitudes to children, the mentally handicapped, animals, the environment, the divorced, unbelievers, people with various sexual habits, and elderly women", and notes morally suspect themes in the Bible's New Testament as well. Elizabeth Anderson likewise holds that "the Bible contains both good and evil teachings", and it is "morally inconsistent". Christian apologists address Blackburn's viewpoints and construe that Jewish laws in the Hebrew Bible showed the evolution of moral standards towards protecting the vulnerable, imposing a death penalty on those pursuing slavery and treating slaves as persons and not property. Humanists like Paul Kurtz believe that we can identify moral values across cultures, even if we do not appeal to a supernatural or universalist understanding of principles – values including integrity, trustworthiness, benevolence, and fairness. These values can be resources for finding common ground between believers and nonbelievers.


title: Morality

text: Several studies have been conducted on the empirics of morality in various countries, and the overall relationship between faith and crime is unclear. A 2001 review of studies on this topic found "The existing evidence surrounding the effect of religion on crime is varied, contested, and inconclusive, and currently, no persuasive answer exists as to the empirical relationship between religion and crime." Phil Zuckerman's 2008 book, "Society without God", based on studies conducted during 14 months in Scandinavia in 2005–2006, notes that Denmark and Sweden, "which are probably the least religious countries in the world, and possibly in the history of the world", enjoy "among the lowest violent crime rates in the world [and] the lowest levels of corruption in the world".


title: Morality

text: Dozens of studies have been conducted on this topic since the twentieth century. A 2005 study by Gregory S. Paul published in the "Journal of Religion and Society" stated that, "In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortion in the prosperous democracies," and "In all secular developing democracies a centuries long-term trend has seen homicide rates drop to historical lows" with the exceptions being the United States (with a high religiosity level) and "theistic" Portugal. In a response, Gary Jensen builds on and refines Paul's study. he concludes that a "complex relationship" exists between religiosity and homicide "with some dimensions of religiosity encouraging homicide and other dimensions discouraging it". In April 2012, the results of a study which tested their subjects' pro-social sentiments were published in the "Social Psychological and Personality Science" journal in which non-religious people had higher scores showing that they were more motivated by their own compassion to perform pro-social behaviors. Religious people were found to be less motivated by compassion to be charitable than by an inner sense of moral obligation.


title: Hans Zimmer discography

text: Award-winning German composer and music producer Hans Zimmer has composed and produced over one hundred soundtracks and film scores. Of them, about 50 soundtracks and songs were nominated for awards. He has won two Academy Awards ("The Lion King", "Dune"), four Satellite Awards ("The Thin Red Line", "Gladiator", "The Last Samurai", ""), three Golden Globe Awards ("The Lion King", "Gladiator", "Dune"), four Grammy Awards (two prizes for "The Lion King", "Crimson Tide", "The Dark Knight"), three Saturn Awards ("The Dark Knight", "Inception", "Interstellar"), two Annie Awards ("Kung Fu Panda", "Secrets of the Furious Five"), and two WAFCA Awards ("Inception", "Dune").


title: Hans Zimmer discography

text: These are for films and other media which Zimmer did not compose the score, but for which he produced the soundtrack.


title: Hans Zimmer discography

text: These are for films which Zimmer did not serve as main composer, but still contributed original music to the score


title: ITC Limited

text: ITC Limited is an Indian conglomerate company headquartered in Kolkata. ITC has a diversified presence across industries such as FMCG, hotels, software, packaging, paperboards, specialty papers and agribusiness. The company has 13 businesses in 5 segments. It exports its products in 90 countries. Its products are available in 6 million retail outlets.


title: ITC Limited

text: As of 2019–20, ITC had an annual turnover of US$10.74 billion and a market capitalisation of US$35 billion. In December 2022, their market cap stood at Rs. 4,22,447.30 crore. It employs 36,500 people at more than 60 locations across India.


title: ITC Limited

text: "ITC Limited" was originally named "Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited", succeeding W.D. & H.O. Wills on 24 August 1910 as a British-owned company registered in Kolkata. Since the company was primarily based on agricultural resources, it ventured into partnerships in 1911 with farmers from the southern part of India to source leaf tobacco. Under the company's umbrella, the "Indian Leaf Tobacco Development Company Limited" was formed in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh in 1912. The first cigarette factory of the company was set up in 1913 in Bangalore.


title: ITC Limited

text: In 1928, construction began for the company's headquarters, the 'Virginia House' at Calcutta. ITC acquired Carreras Tobacco Company's factory at Kidderpore in 1935 to further strengthen its presence. ITC helped set up an indigenous cigarette tissue-paper-making plant in 1946 to reduce import costs significantly. Then, a factory for printing and packaging was set up in Madras in 1949. The company acquired the manufacturing business of Tobacco Manufacturers (India) Limited and the complementary lithographic printing business of Printers (India) Limited in 1953.


title: ITC Limited

text: The company was converted into a Public Limited Company on 27 October 1954. The first step towards Indianization was taken in the same year with 6% of the Indian shareholding of the company. ITC also became the first Indian company to foray into consumer research during this time. During the 1960s, technology was given more focus on setting up cigarette machinery and filter-rod manufacturing facilities aimed at achieving self-sufficiency in cigarette-making.


title: ITC Limited

text: Ajit Narain Haskar became the company's first Indian chairman in 1969 and this was crucial in building up the Indian management for the company. As the company's ownership was progressively Indianised, under Haskar's leadership, the name of the company was changed from "Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited" to "India Tobacco Company Limited" in 1970. ITC also became the first company in India to start from the 1971 Scissor's Cup. Innovative market campaigns and electronic data processing were started in the 1970s.


title: ITC Limited

text: In 1973, ITC set up its integrated research center in Bangalore, aimed at diversification and venturing into newer businesses with research and development. With the unfolding diversification plans, the name of the company was changed to 'I.T.C. Limited' in 1974. The Indian shareholding grew further to 40% during this time. ITC entered into the hospitality sector with hotel business in 1975 with the acquisition renaming of ITC Welcomgroup Hotel Chola in Madras. ITC chose the hospitality sector for its potential to earn high levels of foreign exchange, create tourism infrastructure and generate large-scale direct and indirect employment.


title: ITC Limited

text: The shareholding went over 60% in 1976 and more hotels were started by the company in the following years. ITC Sangeet Research Academy was set up at Calcutta in 1977. In 1979, ITC entered the paperboards business by promoting ITC Bhadrachalam Paperboards Limited. J N Sapru took over as the company's chairman in 1983 and the international expansion started with the acquisition of Surya Nepal Private Limited in 1985. The year 1986 saw vigorous moves from the company with the opening of an Indian restaurant in the city of New York, acquisition and renaming of Vishvarama Hotels to ITC Hotels Limited, setting up of two new ventures – the ITC Classic Finance Limited and ITC Agro Tech Limited under its umbrella. ITC also entered into the edible oils industry with the launch of the Sundrop brand of cooking oils in 1988. Tribeni Tissues Limited was acquired in 1990. K L Chugh assumed the role of chairman in 1991 and ITC Global Holding Private limited was started as an international trading company in Singapore in 1992. In 1994, all the hotels under the company were transferred into the listed subsidiary company ITC Hotels Limited. ITC, through the brand Wills, sponsored the 1996 Cricket World Cup.


title: ITC Limited

text: Y.C. Deveshwar took over as the company's chairman in 1996 and the corporate governance structure was re-crafted to support the effective management of multiple businesses. ITC exited from edible oils business and financial services; sold the ITC Classic Finance Limited to ICICI Limited and handled the Sundrop business to ConAgra Foods Limited in 1998. In the year 2000, an innovative initiative for farmers called "e-Choupal" was started in Madhya Pradesh 2000. The same year witnessed the launch of ITC's Wills Sport range of casual wear with its first retail outlet in New Delhi and ITC's entry into stationery products and gifting business introducing the 'Expressions' range of greeting cards and Classmate notebooks. A wholly owned information technology subsidiary, ITC Infotech India Limited was also started in 2000 and the ITC Bhadrachalam Paperboards Limited was merged into ITC Limited. The name of the company was changed to "ITC Limited" omitting the dots and adapting the strategy "No stops for ITC" in 2001. An employee stock option scheme was introduced for the first time and a web portal for the company was launched. Subsidiaries for ITC Infotech were set up in the United Kingdom and the USA.


title: ITC Limited

text: Established in 1910 as the Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited, the company was renamed as the India Tobacco Company Limited in 1970 and later to I.T.C. Limited in 1974. The company now stands renamed ITC Limited, where "ITC" today is no longer an acronym.


title: ITC Limited

text: ITC's equity shares are listed on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE). The company's Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) are listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. ITC is a constituent of two major stock market indices of India: BSE SENSEX and NIFTY 50 of NSE.


title: ITC Limited

text: As per the Annual report of the company, it had 28000+ employees as on 31 March 2020. It spent 2,145 crores on Employee benefits during the FY 2012–13. During the same year, its attrition rate was 12%.


title: ITC Limited

text: ITC's Chairman Yogesh Chandra Deveshwar (d. 2019) won renowned awards and recognition including Padma Bhushan from Govt. of India 2005–09, by Boston Consulting Group and seventh-best-performing CEO in the world by Harvard Business Review.


title: ITC Limited

text: Meera Shankar, Indian ambassador to the USA between 2009 and 2011, joined the board of ITC Limited in 2012 as the first woman director in its history. She is an additional non-executive director of the company.


title: Elias Koteas

text: Elias Koteas (; ; born March 11, 1961) is a Canadian actor. He is known for playing Alvin "Al" Olinsky in the "Chicago" franchise, as well as appearing in lead and supporting roles in numerous films. He won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film "Ararat" (2002). He appeared in such films as "Some Kind of Wonderful" (1987), "The Adjuster" (1991), "Exotica" (1994), "The Prophecy" (1995), "Crash" (1996), "Living Out Loud" (1998), "Fallen" (1998), "The Thin Red Line" (1998), "Harrison's Flowers" (2002), "Collateral Damage" (2002), "Shooter" (2007), "Zodiac" (2007), "Skinwalkers" (2007), "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (2008), and "Shutter Island" (2010). He also portrayed Casey Jones in two of the original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" films.


title: Elias Koteas

text: Koteas was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to a father who worked as a mechanic for the Canadian National Railways and a milliner mother. His parents are both of Greek descent. Koteas is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York as well as Vanier College in Montreal.


title: Elias Koteas

text: Koteas has played major roles in "Some Kind of Wonderful" (1987), "The Adjuster" (1991), "Exotica" (1994), "Crash" (1996), "Fallen" (1998), and "The Thin Red Line" (1998), among other films. Koteas is also known for playing the lead role of Thomas Daggett in the American film "The Prophecy" (1995) and for portraying sports-crazed vigilante Casey Jones in two of the original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" films. In 2010, he played major roles in "Let Me In" and "Defendor", a Canadian superhero film starring Woody Harrelson.


title: Elias Koteas

text: On television, he appeared in Season Four of "The Sopranos" as Dominic Palladino and in the Season Two finale of "House" as a man who shoots Dr. Gregory House. From 2014 to 2018, Koteas starred on the NBC "Chicago Fire" spin-off "Chicago P.D." where he played Alvin "Al" Olinsky, a longtime undercover detective in the Intelligence Unit. He also appeared in all other "Chicago franchise" series.


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: Ghajini is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film written and directed by A. R. Murugadoss, jointly produced by Allu Aravind, Tagore Madhu and Madhu Mantena. A remake of Murugadoss's own 2005 Tamil film of the same name which itself is inspired by the 2000 film "Memento", the film stars Asin Thottumkal (who reprising her role from original, in her Hindi film debut) and Aamir Khan with Jiah Khan and Pradeep Rawat in the pivotal roles. The score and soundtrack were composed by A. R. Rahman, while Aamir co-wrote an altered climax. Murugadoss, had written half of the film's story when he watched "Memento", and claimed to merely use the character due to his short-term memory loss condition. In the film, a businessman suffering from anterograde amnesia sets out to avenge his girlfriend with the aid of photographs from a Polaroid Instant camera and permanent tattoos on his body.


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: Released theatrically on 25 December 2008, "Ghajini" became the highest-grossing Indian film of the year, and the first Bollywood film to cross the 100 crore mark domestically, creating the 100 Crore Club. "Ghajini"'s paid preview collections were 2.7crore. It went on to become the highest-grossing Indian film of all time, until it was surpassed by Aamir's next, "3 Idiots" (2009), the following year and then by Shah Rukh Khan's "Chennai Express" (2013). Aamir's character was featured in a 3D video game titled "Ghajini – The Game", which is based on the film.


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: Sunita, a medical student, is investigating the anterograde amnesia case of Sanjay Singhania, the chairman of Air Voice, a telecommunications company. She does so against her professor Dr. Debkumar Mitra's wishes, in spite of Sanjay being under criminal investigation. Sanjay, who loses his memory every 15 minutes, uses a system of photographs, notes, and tattoos on his body to recover his memory and remember his mission of avenging the murder of his fiancé Kalpana Shetty, who was killed by a criminal kingpin, Ghajini Dharmatma.


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: Police officer Arjun Yadav, who is investigating a murder that Sanjay committed knocks Sanjay unconscious in a scuffle at his apartment and finds two diaries in his drawer. He learns that Sanjay who is an successful entrepreneur met Kalpana, a struggling model, after he planned on installing an advertising billboard above her apartment. When his agents arrive at Kalpana's shooting site to negotiate with her about it, Kalpana's boss, advertising veteran Satveer Kohli, misinterprets this as a romantic advance and, in a view of fame and fortune, encourages Kalpana to accept the overture. Kalpana also decides to pose as Sanjay's girlfriend. As soon as Sanjay finds out about the false rumor, he plans to meet Kalpana to confront her but fails, as he starts to like her after seeing her altruistic nature. He poses as Sachin Chauhan, a newcomer model, and lies to Kalpana about himself. Soon, he falls deeper in love with her. At the end of the first diary, on 31 December, Sanjay, still playing Sachin, proposes to Kalpana who, taken aback by such a sudden gesture, asks for the night to think over it. He decides that if she would agree, then he would reveal his true identity to her, but, if not, then he would quietly walk away from her life as Sachin.


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: As Arjun starts reading the second diary, Sanjay attacks him and ties him up. Sunita locates the apartment, finds Arjun and learns of Sanjay's murder plot. She steals his diaries and frees Arjun. As she and Arjun escape, Arjun is hit by a bus. Sunita then informs Ghajini about the fact that Sanjay is coming to him to kill him. Sanjay finds out about this and goes to attack her at her dormitory, where he is arrested and given a sedative. Ghajini is informed by the police about Sanjay's belongings and he poses as Sanjay's friend. Soon Sanjay's employees and doctor arrive and take him home. There, Ghajini and his men destroy his pictures and cover his tattoos, thus leaving him with no memory of the past.


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: After Sanjay gets arrested, Sunita reads the diaries. She finds out about Kalpana. In the second diary, Kalpana accepts the proposal, but on the condition that she marry only after she purchases three ambassador cars, due to a past commitment. One thing leads to another and Sanjay decides on telling her the truth about himself later. The diary ends abruptly when Sanjay has to go overseas for a few days.


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: After some research, Sunita eventually learns Kalpana travelled to Goa, where she stumbled across and freed a group of girls from a sex trafficking ring racketeered by Ghajini. Sanjay returns home and finds Kalpana stabbed. Ghajini hits Sanjay in the head with an iron rod which results in brain injury, before killing Kalpana with the same rod, in front of him. Feeling guilty of doubting him, Sunita reminds Sanjay of Kalpana's murder and helps him track Ghajini to his local area. Sanjay then kills his men but has a memory loss fit while searching for Ghajini, who takes advantage of the situation and stabs Sanjay. As he prepares to kill Sunita the same way he killed Kalpana, Sanjay recovers his memory and kills Ghajini with the iron rod.


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: Six months later, Sanjay returns as the chairman of Air Voice and is volunteering at an orphanage named after Kalpana, helping everyone like she did, and trying to heal. Sunita gifts him the cement pad with Sanjay and Kalpana's foot impressions and he feels Kalpana beside him, as the screen pans out in a fading sunset.


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: It was rumoured earlier that the film was titled "Kajri". It is a remake of the Tamil film, "Ghajini" (2005). Aamir Khan, who had never before made a remake film in his career, was initially hesitant to do the film, but was convinced by Suriya, the original star of the Tamil "Ghajini", who told him he was "the only one who could do justice to the character." Suriya was a fan of Khan, and had some involvement in the film's development, discussing minute details with Khan for two years during the film's development. Priyanka Chopra was offered a lead role in the film, but Khan preferred Asin Thottumkal over her as he loved her performance in original film.


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: Khan was involved in the film's creative writing process, deciding what should remain from the original Tamil "Ghajini" and what changes should be made. Murugadoss revealed that the altered climax of the film was rewritten by Khan. According to Murugadoss:


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: Murdagoss's original 2005 Tamil version of "Ghajini" was inspired by the American film "Memento" (2000), which itself was adapted from the short story "Memento Mori". The film stars Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby, a former insurance fraud investigator searching for the man he believes raped and killed his wife during a burglary. Leonard suffers from anterograde amnesia, which he contracted from severe head trauma during the attack on his wife. Certain concepts like writing notes behind instant Polaroid photographs and tattooing facts on his body are also similar. According to Khan, ""Ghajini" is not a remake or even slightly inspired by "Memento", but rather a remake of the Tamil film, "Ghajini"". However, he acknowledged that Murgadoss's original Tamil film was at least partly inspired by "Memento", stating, "Murgadoss had heard about a film called "Memento" and the concept had really fascinated him. Without having seen the film he went ahead and wrote his own version of the script and screenplay. Having finished his script, he then saw "Memento", found it very different from what he had written, and went ahead and made "Ghajini"."


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: The CGI opening brain sequence was inspired by the 1999 film "Fight Club" by David Fincher. This sequence was also used in the Tamil version of the film.


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: The film's title is a reference to Mahmud of Ghazni, the tenth-century Sultan of Ghaznavid Empire whose name is pronounced "Ghajini" in Tamil. Several comical scenes in the film are similar to "Happy Go Lovely" (1951). The scene where Kalpana (Asin Thottumkal) helps a blind man to cross the road is similar to the French film "Amélie".


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: Shooting started in Chennai in May 2007. Climax was shot in Old City, Hyderabad. Other filming locations included Bangalore, Cape Town in South Africa, the Deadpan Desert in Namibia and Mumbai. Aamir Khan had spent a year working out at the gym, training for his role. This film marked the Bollywood debut for Asin. The film's production budget was .


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: "Ghajini" was released on 25 December 2008 with an estimated 1,500 prints worldwide, including 1,200 prints (digital and analogue versions) in the domestic market, making it the largest Bollywood release at that time. The domestic rights were sold to Geetha Arts for , while satellite, overseas and home media rights were sold at a total of , breaking the records of Shah Rukh Khan's film "Om Shanti Om"'s .


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: The overseas distributors, Reliance Entertainment released the film with 300 prints in 22 countries, including 112 prints in the US and Canada, 65 prints in the UK and 36 prints in the UAE. "Ghajini" was also released in Norway, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. It had around 650 paid previews which fetched it around .


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: The two-disc collector's edition DVD was manufactured by Big Home Video and distributed by international distributor, Adlabs Films Ltd (New name is Reliance MediaWorks) on 13 March 2009.


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: A PC video game based on the film was manufactured and produced by FXLabs Studios Pvt Ltd and Geetha Arts, and marketed and distributed by Eros Home Entertainment: "Ghajini – The Game". It is a third-person action game consisting of five levels of play; here the player controlled the protagonist Sanjay to accomplish missions using martial arts, weapons, and artefacts. It was hailed as India's first true 3D PC game with an MSRP of US$14.99. Although never officially rated, the distributor recommends that 15+ year old players partake in the game.


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: Director A. R. Murugadoss was arrested shortly before the film's completion. According to Salem Chandrasekhar, the producer of the Tamil original, he had not bought the rights to remake the film in Hindi.


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: Rajeev Masand of "CNN IBN" gave 3 stars writing, "Ghajini isn't a particularly good film, but entertainment it delivers by the bucketful." Martin D'Souza of "Bollywood Trade News Network" gave 3.5 stars, noting the flaws in screenplay, while praising the action. Taran Adarsh of "Bollywood Hungama" remarked that the movie "is a winner all the way" and gave it 4.5 stars. Nikhat Kazmi of "The Times of India" praised the performance by Aamir Khan as its high point and awarded 3.5 stars.


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: "Zee News" described Aamir's performance as his best to date. Sukanya Verma of "Rediff" gave the movie 3.5 stars, while describing the film as "a sleek album of dark memories, which are terrifying to relive and shattering to experience". Noyon Jyoti Parasara of "AOL India" said, "Most comparisons often point out that a remake is not as worthy."Ghajini" however succeeds when it is compared to the Tamil version directed by the same director." Anupama Chopra of "NDTV" said "Ghajini isn't a great film or even a very good one but I recommend that you see it. It is, as we used to say in the old days, paisa vasool. Kaveree Bamzai of "India Today" said that "This is brutality, choreographed by a poet, and therefore that much more compelling." giving it 3.5 stars.


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: The film received some mixed and negative reviews. Gaurav Malani of "Indiatimes" gave 2 stars, criticising its length while praising the performance of the cast. Raja Sen of "Rediff" rated the movie 2.5/5 and criticised the performance of Asin while concluding, "overwhelming feeling is one of regret". Shubhra Gupta of "Express India" concluded that "Ghajini" is too long, too violent, and criticised Jiah Khan's acting and dancing skills, but praised the performances of Aamir Khan and Asin. "Hindustan Times" gave it 2 stars and said "You'd like to give Ghajini a long-term memory loss. Kya, kyon, kahan? Murugadoss.? Aamir? Asin? Who? Got to jog my memory... maybe after 15 minutes."


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: "Ghajini" released worldwide on 25 December 2008, on Christmas Day. The film became the first-ever Bollywood film to open in double digits, collecting ₹102 million ($1.27 million) on its opening day, followed by ₹118 million ($1.47 million), ₹102.5 million ($1.28 million) and ₹87.5 million ($1.09 million), taking its four-day opening weekend collection to ₹410 million ($5.13 million). The film went past ₹1 billion ($12.5 million) domestically in its fourth week, thus becoming the first ever Bollywood film to cross ₹100 crore domestically. It was the first Bollywood film to enter the 100 crore club.


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: "Ghajini" became the highest-grossing Indian film ever at the time, and was declared an "All Time Blockbuster". Its record was eventually surpassed a year later by another Aamir Khan film, "3 Idiots" (2009).


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: The film has six songs, including two remixes, composed by A. R. Rahman and with lyrics penned by Prasoon Joshi.


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: "Bollywood Hungama" wrote, "The music of Ghajini is all set to make waves way into 2009 after the Christmas release of the film. When 'best of the best' list would be compiled at the year end, it would be hard to ignore Ghajini."


title: Ghajini (2008 film)

text: "Rediff.com" gave it the highest possible rating of five stars with the reviewer praising Rahman saying, "This could just be one of his finest albums ever. Not just are the tracks great, but each one segues into the next with perfect unpredictability." According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, the soundtrack album sold about 1.9million units, making it the year's best selling Bollywood music soundtrack album.


title: Currency

text: A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins.


title: Currency

text: A more general definition is that a currency is a "system of money" in common use within a specific environment over time, especially for people in a nation state. Under this definition, the British Pound Sterling (£), euros (€), Japanese yen (¥), and U.S. dollars (US$)) are examples of (government-issued) fiat currencies. Currencies may act as stores of value and be traded between nations in foreign exchange markets, which determine the relative values of the different currencies. Currencies in this sense are either chosen by users or decreed by governments, and each type has limited boundaries of acceptance - i.e. legal tender laws may require a particular unit of account for payments to government agencies.


title: Currency

text: Other definitions of the term "currency" appear in the respective synonymous articles: banknote, coin, and money. This article uses the definition which focuses on the currency systems of countries.


title: Currency

text: One can classify currencies into three monetary systems: fiat money, commodity money, and representative money, depending on what guarantees a currency's value (the economy at large vs. the government's physical metal reserves). Some currencies function as legal tender in certain jurisdictions, or for specific purposes, such as payment to a government (taxes), or government agencies (fees, fines). Others simply get traded for their economic value.


title: Currency

text: Digital currency has arisen with the popularity of computers and the Internet. Whether digital notes and coins will be successfully developed remains dubious. Decentralized digital currencies, such as cryptocurrencies are different as they are not issued by a government monetary authority. Many warnings issued by various countries note the opportunities that cryptocurrencies create for illegal activities, such as money laundering and terrorism.


title: Currency

text: In 2014 the United States IRS issued a statement explaining that virtual currency is treated as property for Federal income-tax purposes and providing examples of how longstanding tax principles applicable to transactions involving property apply to virtual currency.


title: Currency

text: Originally currency was a form of receipt, representing grain stored in temple granaries in Sumer in ancient Mesopotamia and in Ancient Egypt.


title: Currency

text: In this first stage of currency, metals were used as symbols to represent value stored in the form of commodities. This formed the basis of trade in the Fertile Crescent for over 1500 years. However, the collapse of the Near Eastern trading system pointed to a flaw: in an era where there was no place that was safe to store value, the value of a circulating medium could only be as sound as the forces that defended that store. A trade could only reach as far as the credibility of that military. By the late Bronze Age, however, a series of treaties had established safe passage for merchants around the Eastern Mediterranean, spreading from Minoan Crete and Mycenae in the northwest to Elam and Bahrain in the southeast. It is not known what was used as a currency for these exchanges, but it is thought that ox-hide shaped ingots of copper, produced in Cyprus, may have functioned as a currency.


title: Currency

text: It is thought that the increase in piracy and raiding associated with the Bronze Age collapse, possibly produced by the Peoples of the Sea, brought the trading system of oxhide ingots to an end. It was only the recovery of Phoenician trade in the 10th and 9th centuries BC that led to a return to prosperity, and the appearance of real coinage, possibly first in Anatolia with Croesus of Lydia and subsequently with the Greeks and Persians. In Africa, many forms of value store have been used, including beads, ingots, ivory, various forms of weapons, livestock, the manilla currency, and ochre and other earth oxides. The manilla rings of West Africa were one of the currencies used from the 15th century onwards to sell slaves. African currency is still notable for its variety, and in many places, various forms of barter still apply.


title: Currency

text: The prevalence of metal coins possibly led to the metal itself being the store of value: first copper, then both silver and gold, and at one point also bronze. Today other non-precious metals are used for coins. Metals were mined, weighed, and stamped into coins. This was to assure the individual accepting the coin that he was getting a certain known weight of precious metal. Coins could be counterfeited, but the existence of standard coins also created a new unit of account, which helped lead to banking. Archimedes' principle provided the next link: coins could now be easily tested for their fine weight of the metal, and thus the value of a coin could be determined, even if it had been shaved, debased or otherwise tampered with (see Numismatics).


title: Currency

text: Most major economies using coinage had several tiers of coins of different values, made of copper, silver, and gold. Gold coins were the most valuable and were used for large purchases, payment of the military, and backing of state activities. Units of account were often defined as the value of a particular type of gold coin. Silver coins were used for midsized transactions, and sometimes also defined a unit of account, while coins of copper or silver, or some mixture of them (see debasement), might be used for everyday transactions. This system had been used in ancient India since the time of the Mahajanapadas. The exact ratios between the values of the three metals varied greatly between different eras and places; for example, the opening of silver mines in the Harz mountains of central Europe made silver relatively less valuable, as did the flood of New World silver after the Spanish conquests. However, the rarity of gold consistently made it more valuable than silver, and likewise silver was consistently worth more than copper.


title: Currency

text: In premodern China, the need for lending and for a medium of exchange that was less physically cumbersome than large numbers of copper coins led to the introduction of paper money, i.e. banknotes. Their introduction was a gradual process that lasted from the late Tang dynasty (618–907) into the Song dynasty (960–1279). It began as a means for merchants to exchange heavy coinage for receipts of deposit issued as promissory notes by wholesalers' shops. These notes were valid for temporary use in a small regional territory. In the 10th century, the Song dynasty government began to circulate these notes amongst the traders in its monopolized salt industry. The Song government granted several shops the right to issue banknotes, and in the early 12th century the government finally took over these shops to produce state-issued currency. Yet the banknotes issued were still only locally and temporarily valid: it was not until the mid 13th century that a standard and uniform government issue of paper money became an acceptable nationwide currency. The already widespread methods of woodblock printing and then Bi Sheng's movable type printing by the 11th century were the impetus for the mass production of paper money in premodern China.


title: Currency

text: At around the same time in the medieval Islamic world, a vigorous monetary economy was created during the 7th–12th centuries on the basis of the expanding levels of circulation of a stable high-value currency (the dinar). Innovations introduced by Muslim economists, traders and merchants include the earliest uses of credit, cheques, promissory notes, savings accounts, transaction accounts, loaning, trusts, exchange rates, the transfer of credit and debt, and banking institutions for loans and deposits.


title: Currency

text: In Europe, paper currency was first introduced on a regular basis in Sweden in 1661 (although Washington Irving records an earlier emergency use of it, by the Spanish in a siege during the Conquest of Granada). As Sweden was rich in copper, many copper coins were in circulation, but its relatively low value necessitated extraordinarily big coins, often weighing several kilograms.


title: Currency

text: The advantages of paper currency were numerous: it reduced the need to transport gold and silver, which was risky; it facilitated loans of gold or silver at interest, since the underlying specie (money in the form of gold or silver coins rather than notes) never left the possession of the lender until someone else redeemed the note; and it allowed a division of currency into credit- and specie-backed forms. It enabled the sale of stock in joint-stock companies and the redemption of those shares in a paper.


title: Currency

text: But there were also disadvantages. First, since a note has no intrinsic value, there was nothing to stop issuing authorities from printing more notes than they had specie to back them with. Second, because this increased the money supply, it increased inflationary pressures, a fact observed by David Hume in the 18th century. Thus paper money would often lead to an inflationary bubble, which could collapse if people began demanding hard money, causing the demand for paper notes to fall to zero. The printing of paper money was also associated with wars, and financing of wars, and therefore regarded as part of maintaining a standing army. For these reasons, paper currency was held in suspicion and hostility in Europe and America. It was also addictive since the speculative profits of trade and capital creation were quite large. Major nations established mints to print money and mint coins, and branches of their treasury to collect taxes and hold gold and silver stock.


title: Currency

text: At that time, both silver and gold were considered a legal tender and accepted by governments for taxes. However, the instability in the exchange rate between the two grew over the course of the 19th century, with the increases both in the supply of these metals, particularly silver, and in trade. The parallel use of both metals is called bimetallism, and the attempt to create a bimetallic standard where both gold and silver backed currency remained in circulation occupied the efforts of inflationists. Governments at this point could use currency as an instrument of policy, printing paper currency such as the United States greenback, to pay for military expenditures. They could also set the terms at which they would redeem notes for specie, by limiting the amount of purchase, or the minimum amount that could be redeemed.


title: Currency

text: By 1900, most of the industrializing nations were on some form of gold standard, with paper notes and silver coins constituting the circulating medium. Private banks and governments across the world followed Gresham's law: keeping the gold and silver they received but paying out in notes. This did not happen all around the world at the same time, but occurred sporadically, generally in times of war or financial crisis, beginning in the early 20th century and continuing across the world until the late 20th century, when the regime of floating fiat currencies came into force. One of the last countries to break away from the gold standard was the United States in 1971, an action which was known as the Nixon shock. No country has an enforceable gold standard or silver standard currency system.


title: Currency

text: A banknote or bill is a type of currency and is commonly used as legal tender in many jurisdictions. Together with coins, banknotes make up the cash form of a currency. Banknotes were initially mostly paper, but Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation developed a polymer currency in the 1980s; it went into circulation on the nation's bicentenary in 1988. Polymer banknotes had already been introduced in the Isle of Man in 1983. As of 2016, polymer currency is used in over 20 countries (over 40 if counting commemorative issues), and dramatically increases the life span of banknotes and reduces counterfeiting.


title: Currency

text: The currency used is based on the concept of lex monetae; that a sovereign state decides which currency it shall use. The International Organization for Standardization has introduced a system of three-letter codes (ISO 4217) to denote currency (as opposed to simple names or currency signs), in order to remove the confusion arising because there are dozens of currencies called the dollar and several called the franc. Even the "pound" is used in nearly a dozen different countries; most of these are tied to the pound sterling, while the remainder has varying values. In general, the three-letter code uses the ISO 3166-1 country code for the first two letters and the first letter of the name of the currency (D for dollar, for example) as the third letter. United States currency, for instance, is globally referred to as USD. Currencies such as the pound sterling have different codes, as the first two letters denote not the exact country name but an alternative name also used to describe the country. The pound's code is GBP where "GB" denotes Great Britain instead of the United Kingdom.


title: Currency

text: Distinct from centrally controlled government-issued currencies, private decentralized trust-reduced networks support alternative currencies such as Cardano (blockchain platform), bitcoin, Ethereum's ether, Litecoin, Monero, Peercoin, or Dogecoin, which are classified as cryptocurrency since the transfer of value is assured through cryptographic signatures validated by all users. There are also branded currencies, for example 'obligation' based stores of value, such as quasi-regulated BarterCard, Loyalty Points (Credit Cards, Airlines) or Game-Credits (MMO games) that are based on reputation of commercial products, or highly regulated 'asset-backed' 'alternative currencies' such as mobile-money schemes like MPESA (called E-Money Issuance).


title: Currency

text: The currency may be Internet-based and digital, for instance, bitcoin is not tied to any specific country, or the IMF's SDR that is based on a basket of currencies (and assets held).


title: Currency

text: Possession and sale of alternative forms of currencies is often outlawed by governments in order to preserve the legitimacy of the constitutional currency for the benefit of all citizens. For example, Article I, section 8, clause 5 of the United States Constitution delegates to Congress the power to coin money and to regulate the value thereof. This power was delegated to Congress in order to establish and preserve a uniform standard of value and to insure a singular monetary system for all purchases and debts in the United States, public and private. Along with the power to coin money, the United States Congress has the concurrent power to restrain the circulation of money which is not issued under its own authority in order to protect and preserve the constitutional currency. It is a violation of federal law for individuals, or organizations to create private coin or currency systems to compete with the official coinage and currency of the United States.


title: Currency

text: In most cases, a central bank has the exclusive power to issue all forms of currency, including coins and banknotes (fiat money), and to restrain the circulation alternative currencies for its own area of circulation (a country or group of countries); it regulates the production of currency by banks (credit) through monetary policy.


title: Currency

text: An exchange rate is a price at which two currencies can be exchanged against each other. This is used for trade between the two currency zones. Exchange rates can be classified as either floating or fixed. In the former, day-to-day movements in exchange rates are determined by the market; in the latter, governments intervene in the market to buy or sell their currency to balance supply and demand at a static exchange rate.