[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
CMV:PUA (game or pick up artistry) is a terrible idea

When you hear top PUAs talking about their success numbers, they are actually surprisingly low. There is no 'control' situation to test how effective PUA is, it might well simply be a numbers game.

If you read any of the classic PUA manuals, they carry with them values, ideals, templates for how to be, how to act, how to think. One has to 'take on', values, beliefs, behaviours etc. congruent with this in order for the guidelines to work and make sense-which causes problems if they do not chime with you.For example, there are a lot of indications about materialism, dominance etc. This presents a problem, what if you don't want to be a materialistic douchebag insecurely obsessed with 'being on top'?

Aside from this, it is actually quite draining and tiring to 'keep up the act', if the lifetstyle of 'PUA' does not match you.Another thing to mention here is that there can be a 'sef-hating' or masochistic vibe with Game. You get a lot of men being hard on themselves and deferring to other men who are raised up as gurus. This is classic cult behaviour.

Another entailment of the above is that PUA can lead you to put your actual personality into a strait-jacket which might either turn off or even horrify women who would otherwise be interested in, or attracted to you.

The conceptions of what a man is, that reign in this world are so narrow, so pompous, so dumb, so crassly materialistic and shallow that it makes me ill just thinking about it. Try to imagine the worst issue of Cosmo, then make it about men, and pick the worst ideal type it propagates, and this would be the persona to aspire to

It actually ends up putting women on a pedestal by making YOUR ENTIRE LIFE about picking up women, or doing things that enhance this

 Its portrayals of women are, if anything, even worse.The manuals portray women as cardboard cut-out histrionics with no self-control or sense of responsibility, and it speaks an awful lot about 'quality women' but this only ever refers to women who are good looking.practically everything else does not matter.

Contrary to popular belief, these manuals usually DO NOT teach you to feel entitled to women, or to feel you deserve women.They teach you the opposite, that if you ever fail to pick up a woman ever, it is YOUR FAULT and you need to go back and work on your game. Apart from being ridiculous and dumb, this turns you into a machine for getting numbers, getting 'lays' and so on...without any genuine purpose behind it.If you really are a confident, ambitious charming man, why are you treating these women like conquests in an atari game?

 A lot of the people I have seen that are into this stuff and continue with it seem very 'disconnected' and not integrated people.They seem to struggle with any kinds of intimate or long lasting relationships.

One of the biggest problems, and one I don't see critiqued enough, is that this stuff teaches you to expect that women will resist your advances and it presumes they will not have the hots for you.You will have to 'create attraction' and 'win her over'. Now I got a little lucky in that I was born with above average but not movie-star looks, and I have always had interested women around, I presume due to that, but even if you are average, why assume that no woman will ever desire you and that you have to always find a way to win her over or seduce her, or change her mind? It is not very kind to men and not fair to women who are perfectly capable of desiring men without being manipulated into it.

 I could go on forever but the final con I will give is the manipulative aspect. A lot of these manuals start out with weasel words about how manipulation is not a bad thing, or about how women are judged mainly on looks and look how dishonest they are by wearing makeup etc, if you are judged mainly on personality, whats wrong with adding a little sparkle or 'faking it till you make it'. I think the problem with this is, it violates what most normal people know to be true, your belief about yourself feeds into your positive self-regard and authenticity.If you are walking around tricking people and trying to deceive yourself , your not going to come across as genuinely happy, genuinely congruent and you are not going to think of yourself as a fundamentally good person.

I think  PUA is a terrible idea for these and for many reasons too numerous to include here.Change my view!

[Assistant] Game is literally just the male version of countless female guides on how to attract, pick up, pleasure, and keep men that have been around for decades. If anyone, guy or girl, is interested in these things, what's wrong with reading guides laid out by other people who have had success in the areas that they want to be successful In?


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
How are space telescopes shielded against cosmic rays?

Space telescopes usually record photons as counts by converting their energy into an electric signal. But seeing as how cosmic rays may register as counts as well, I'm assuming they somehow need to be kept out of the equation. But how is this usually achieved?

[Assistant] You can't avoid it, it is a background. It doesn't make single bright spots, so it is usually easy to take into account. You look for objects brighter than the general background noise (which comes from other sources as well, e.g. thermal noise).


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
How does NASA liquefy such large amounts of Hydrogen?

I understand that you need lots and lots of pressure to lower the temperature enough to liquefy hydrogen. In fact I figured for a 20 Liter tank you would need around 50atm of pressure, or 722 PSI. How does NASA achieve such large amounts of pressure for even greater fuel tank sizes?

[Assistant]
Cryogenic refrigerators don't (for many reasons including the reason you stated) liquefy in one stage (even when it is possible). Generally, the working gas is repeatedly compressed and cooled (5 -10 times). The compression raises the temperature of the gas, making it easier to extract its thermal energy, and when it's cooled the gas pressure drops again. Repeated cycles get you down to the liquefaction temperature.

While I've looked for schematics that demonstrate this, most of them are quite complex. The basic plant cycle goes like this:

1) Fill the warm system with hydrogen gas and start running the compressors.

2) As the plant runs, the gas on the input side gets colder and the gas coming up the output side (which is cold) is used to cool the input side gas. This is generally assisted with turbo expanders (basically backwards compressors).

3) This process boot straps itself down in temperature until you start making liquid.

4) As you make liquid, the pressure in the system drops, and you have to keep topping it off with warm gas.

5) With this process, you'll make liquid at some rate until you have as much as you want.

This is the basic idea behind any large scale cryogenic plant for hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, etc. From the volume that NASA needs, I'd bet they run their own cryogenics plant for this purpose.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Superpowers] Effects of a taking a superpowered punch

In reality, what would happen if a normal person were to take a punch to the gut from a person with superhuman strength? Not quite superman levels of strength, but super super powerful nontheless. What separates that punch from either punching a hole straight through your abdomen and getting knocked back through three walls? And is it dependent on the power or speed of the punch, or both?

[Assistant]
Speed factors into power. There's a lot of other stuff that factors in as well, but generally a stronger hit over a smaller surface area will be more likely to punch a hole rather than throw someone.

If you were just standing there and Superman decided to punch you with everything, he's not just going to make a hole. You wouldn't really die *of* anything, exactly. You'd just stop being biology and start being physics.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: when a transgender person is put in a gender specific institution such as prison, how is it determined which facility is appropriate?

[Assistant] They assign them according to birth sex.  No matter how long they have identified as the other.  If they have had surgery they assign them according to their reassigned sex.  Ones that have not has surgery are at high risk in prisons so they are generally "administratively segregated" from the general population.   And it really depends on what prison system they go to.  Some are even allowed to continue hormone therapy.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why it's very hard to open the freezer right after you close it?

With 'right after' I mean something like 'a minute or 2'. It happens when I take an ice cream out of it (freezer) and then put it back in the freezer.

[Assistant]
The freezer is full of cold air, if you open it, some warm hair gets in.

Close the freezer again, and the warm air inside it cools down, somewhat quickly. That means, it shrinks and uses less room.

You create a low pressure environment inside your freezer, so it's harder to open the door than usual. Over time, more air will leak into the freezer until the pressure evens out with the outside.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] Do defenders of Kant's political philosophy of 'right' have anything to say about the striking coincidence entailed in the fact that pure transcendental reason turns out to support political institutions and values which began to pop up around the time Kant was writing? If so, what do they say?

[Assistant] Generally the idea is that the Enlightenment is around the time some European governments began to cotton on to the idea of individual rights in any serious sort of way, so we should expect that to the extent these things found their way into government they would align with Kant's philosophy of right. Certainly much of what Kant said was critical of existing institutions so obviously he wasn't just reifying what was already there.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: What is the riemann zeta function and is (3) so important?

[Assistant]
Without going into specifics (it is ELI5 after all), the zeta function is a differentiable (read: nice) function living on the complex plane (read: put in a complex number, get out a complex number). The definition for some of the points is nothing spectacular, however, you can show that the zeta function has very odd and unexpected connections to other areas of Mathematics, even connecting areas of Mathematics that no one would have expected to be able to connect. Prime numbers are one example of this. In fact, the connection that the zeta function brings (or would bring if we knew Riemann's conjecture to be true) is so strong you could compare the influence of the discovery of that proof to mathematicians to the discovery of the Higgs boson for physicists.

Due to the nature of the function it is exceedingly hard to know more than "it exists and it relates to that" (even for the explicitly defined values you can tell little more), but since for real values greater than one the function is defined in a really simple way you can unsurprisingly find connections to some areas (especially for real or even integers values). Since the zeta function relates to prime numbers (zeta(s) is also denoted as the product of (1/1-p\^(-s)) of all prime numbers p) and those make up all of our security systems (RSA - if you want to search) and since knowledge about the zeta function equals knowledge about prime numbers (specifically, you can show that 1/zeta(3) is the probability that iirc. 3 randomly chosen integers are at least co-prime) any such knowledge is very important to everyday life (if RSA were suddenly solvable or more easily computable, most of the internet communication would need a complete restructure to function).

Apart from the connection to prime numbers the zeta function (especially t -> z(1+it)) may have connections to highly chaotic systems, but i don't know enough about that to make a qualified statement on that.

TL;DR: The definition is mostly simple, it relates to prime numbers, we know nothing about prime numbers, if we know more about zeta we konw more about prime numbers.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] Intelligence Quotient / IQ, what exactly is it and what are its criticisms? Why is it potentially wrong?

[Assistant]
IQ is a measure of how 'intelligent' you are compared to the average person your age where you live.

Having an IQ of 100 by definition means that you are exactly average for your age and area.

A 20 year old and 12 year old writing the same test and marking the exact same answers would get different results. The 12 year old having answered everything the same as the 20 year old would get a higher IQ because older people are expected to get more answers right than children.

Similarly the test is reclibrated based on region, but this is not a big difference in practice. The result however is that the average IQ in the US is exactly the same as the average IQ in for example Pakistan: 100 because that is how the whole thing is defined.

Some criticisms are based on the age thing. Some children develop faster than other which might lead to having fantastically high IQs as children which later when they reach adulthood go down to only normal 'very smart'.

Other somewhat controversial criticisms are for example about the fact that IQ test are supposedly culturally biased in some way or another.

Even more controversial theories attack the concept of intelligence itself and demand that it be more inclusive. Some people believe that certain other skills and abilities such be seen as forms of intelligence, that for example someone who is not good with numbers or words or spatial reasoning or abstract ideas but is a really good dancer should be considered to be 'intelligent' in that area. While there might be some kernel of a rational and worthwhile argument at the core of this theory it has been pretty much co-opted by people who use it unintelligently like parents who refuse to admit that their child has below average intelligence and insists that he is merely differently intelligent as evident by the fact that he is good at sports.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why do we "shush" people to try to quiet them?

[Assistant]
The "S" sound is very high frequency, so is easier to place in three dimensional space. The purpose of "Shush" is to draw attention to your face, so that you can convey to the noisy person your displeasure in their conduct (via the means of a stern gaze).

The need for a high frequency sound is so that you can do this without yourself creating much noise and becoming an offender, and subsequently shushed by someone else.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Star Trek Deep Space Nine] What was the likely reaction to Jake Sisko's published writing about his account of the battle on the Federation colony in which he initially reacted cowardly under fire?

Would this have been an embarrassment of the Emissary's son or likely some understanding as he was a civilian?

[Assistant]
No-one outside of Bajor cares that he's the Emissary's son.  On Bajor, most of the population had firsthand experience with the horrors of war, and probably went through a similar experience themselves when first exposed to combat.

The only people who would consider his reaction embarrassing are people who have never been there, and their opinion doesn't count for much.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] If a woman's eggs are fully formed at birth, why does having children later in life increase the risk of developmental disabilities?

[Assistant]
source: biomedical sciences major with a few courses in genetics.

the simple answer is, eggs aren't fully formed at birth. i believe they become arrested at... metaphase I? then after menstruation, eggs continue to go through the first phase of meiosis and stop again into meiosis II until fertilization does (or doesn't) happen. therefore, eggs still have a lot of work to do, and damage early on (the normal course of a woman's life) can affect them quite a bit later on down the road. the ova that a woman has at 35 have been exposed to a lot more chemicals and what-have-you han a man's sperm when he's 35, because he will constantly produce new sperm while her eggs have been beaten up by life for 35 years.

hope that makes sense.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Star Trek] What exactly is latinum, and why does it need to be pressed in gold?

[Assistant] Latinum is a non-replicatable liquid that is used as a currency among many Alpha Quadrant powers, notably the Ferengi Alliance. It is often infused in blocks of gold for handling and transportation. Gold, being worthless, is used probably for its historical associations with wealth and currency.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why do single person restrooms often have a male and female one?

I don't understand because it's not like there's gonna be anyone else in the bathroom but you. Also they both have a toilet and sink so there's basically no difference exept if there's a men's urinal, which you don't have to use if you don't want to or can't.

[Assistant]
Both men and women are gross when it comes to public restrooms. That's not something associated to one gender.

I would say the actual answer is that people expect public toilets to have a mens and a womens, societal standards calls for it. If they didn't put labels people would probably complain about men going in after a woman and vice versa. Or they might be confused and constantly ask staff which is which.

Putting labels on it prevents confusion and prevents complaints.

Short answer, they put labels on them because people expect it.

If anybody were to go to the single person toilet and find no gender label on it, and there was a second toilet, I'd bet there's a significant probability the person checks the second door for a sign to make sure they're not using the wrong one, even though it ultimately doesn't matter.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Batman] How many years did it take Bruce to become Batman?

[Assistant]
Batman was born that night in Crime Alley... but if we don't want to be pretentious about it

But apparently his time training abroad took something like six to twelve years, during which time he explored a lot of the United States and spent time in central Europe, Brazil, and eastern Asia before finishing his education in Alaska.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: What is the difference between a progressive and a liberal?

[Assistant]
Progressive is the more appropriate opposite to conservative.  A conservative looks at the world moving forward and yells, "Stop!  You're going too fast!  You'll disrupt our tradition of being who we are and what makes us great."  A progressive, as simply indicated by its name, says, "Full steam ahead!  Move forward because we'll get left behind if we tarry and then we'll no longer be as great."

The question becomes *how* you want to stay put or move forward.  The "Progressive Era," the presidencies of Teddy Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson, actually saw different parties taking up the progressive label (Roosevelt and Taft were Republicans [what we'd call left wing today] and Wilson was a Democrat [what we'd call right wing today]).  Left wing denotes a more liberal use of the government, whereas right wing denotes a more conservative use of the government.

And this is why it gets a little confusing.  We use "conservative" to mean two different, albeit related, things.  We use it in one sense as "to conserve the status quo" - this is the foil to progressive; but we also use it in the sense of "restrained, careful not to overstep" - this is the foil to liberal.  To see why these aren't necessarily equivalent definitions, you could think of a situation where the government, through tremendous oversight, can make us maintain the status quo - halting any innovation, stifling social progress, mandating today's traditions be followed, etc.  In American politics though, due to the inherently dichotomous party system, this (ostensibly allegedly) isn't an important distinction and conservative can simultaneously have both definitions and progressive/liberal be flipsides of the same coin.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
If neutrons only have a half life of 10 minutes, why don't neutron stars just disappear after this time?

I'm currently studying particle physics in my Physics A level and I found out yesterday that neutrons only have a mean half life of around 800 seconds. This made me wonder why neutron stars don't decay after 10 minutes because they are made purely of neutrons. I asked my Physics teacher the same question and he brushed the question off in an "I don't really know" kind of way.

[Assistant]
Free neutrons will have different half lives to bound neutrons, like this in an atom. (Otherwise, all atoms would decay quickly).

A neutron star is basically enough neutrons bound together as if they were an atom to the point that it is the size of a small star. While there is a lot of activity because it is so large, decay is relatively slow within the star.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[DC] How would Lex take it if Superman just forgot his name for like 5 seconds?

No special circumstances, Superman has a lot on his mind, has a brain fart and forgets Lexs name. How would he take it?

[Assistant]
Lex would assume that Superman was being inexplicably childish with this lame attempt to piss him off. Which might confuse him a little

Lex knows Superman has an amazing intelligence, and is capable of incredible feats of data processing. He also knows that hes one of Supermans most prominent rivals, definitely somewhere in the top 5.

Its understandable if Superman has been active for millennia, and Lex is just the latest in a long line of enemies - but in most continuities Superman burst onto the scene no more than 2 decades ago, and has shown clear signs of growth since his early years.

Theres no way in heck Superman just forgets his name, and deliberately forgetting Lexs name as part a childish taunt is a little bit out of character.

Lex would immediately start considering various possibilities - a shape shifter posing as Superman, Superman under the influence of some mind altering spell, Superman shaking off the effects of Jokers laughing gas, a hologram, an alternate universe Superman, a malfunctioning Superman android, brainwashed Superman, mind wiped Superman, the possibility that Lex was gassed with a very weak dose of fear toxin and this is all a not-particularly-frightening hallucination, Superman taking banter lessons from the Flash and failing miserably etc.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why do personal computers, smartphones and tablets become slower over time even after cleaning hard drives, but game consoles like the NES and PlayStation 2 still play their games at full speed and show no signs of slowdown?

Why do personal computers, smartphones and tablets become slower over time even after cleaning hard drives, but game consoles like the NES and PlayStation 2 still play their games at full speed and show no signs of slowdown?

[Assistant]
In general, computers *don't* get slower over time.  The difference comes from two main sources:

1. You often install all kinds of stuff on a computer.  The various applications that are running all have to be allocated memory and processor time.  With a console, it's only ever running the current game.  So the longer you've had a computer, the more crap you will have installed on it, and thus the less responsive it becomes.  Reinstalling the OS from scratch will fix this.

2. Newer versions of PC software will be designed to be more powerful.  So every time you upgrade a program to the latest version, it's probably going to use a little more RAM, for instance.  This is done because software developers know that computers are getting more and more powerful, and thus have more and more resources at their disposal.  Contrast that with a console, whose specs are set in stone.

So if you were to wipe your hard drive, reinstall an old version of Windows that existed when you first got the computer (without any of the updates released since then), and installed old versions of all of your software, it would be exactly as fast as when you first got it.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Eli5: Why did civilizations such as the Pre Dorset, Thule, and Inuit not migrate south if their environments were so harsh and extreme?

I read a few articles where some of these civilizations main focus was keeping warm because they were located so far north. So why would they not migrate more south?

[Assistant]
It's a matter of specialization.

In nature, there's a concept called "niche partitioning". If two species are competing for the same resources (food, living space, etc). There are ultimately 2 outcomes:

1) One of the creatures gets progressively better than the other, outcompeting them to extinction.

2) Both creatures specialise into different areas, allowing them to live without having to compete against eachother as much, if at all.

A similar situation can be seen in cultures.

War between different groups was common in the Americas, even before European settlement, and understandably so.

If you're a hunter-gatherer society, and your population is growing, you are going to need more land to hunt in, and you hunting there means others can't. (This is a concept known as scarcity)

Since humans are always the most dangerous predator around, and niceties are only afforded when survival isn't an issue, other people are always a significant problem.

Cultures like the Inuit survived because they understood this, and decided that they'd learn to follow the food, wherever it may be.

There was a choice: Either fight others to maintain hunting territory, or go somewhere that no one wanted to hunt in. They chose the latter, and went further North. They learned how to survive up there when others didn't care to try, and they were lucky enough to succeed.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: If heat kills food germs, why is it normal for Japanese to eat raw food?

[Assistant]
If it's high quality, inspected, and super fresh you can eat almost anything raw.

This is why it's normal for them to eat some food raw. The delicate flavors of fish are destroyed by cooking for example.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Why does burnt food like milk stick to the bottom of the pot and why is it almost impossible to remove?

Also what are some easy scientific methods of removal besides "scraping"?

[Assistant]
The milk contains proteins and sugar.  The excessive heat applied to the pan caused the proteins to coagulate and bind to the source of the heat.  The first amount of protein has thermal insulating properties that allow the pan to get even hotter, since less of the heat gets transferred to the water content of the milk.  The higher heat of the pan causes the proteins and sugars to brown then burn through partial pyrolysis and caramelisation (Maillard reaction).    You can remove the protein without scraping several ways.  You can remove the liquid and heat the pan even more, generating huge amounts of smoke and stink until the pyrolysis is complete and the proteins turn to ash.  Ash is easy to wash and rince away.  Or you can use solvents and heat to dissolve the proteins and sugars.   Water is a good solvent.  Leaving the pan soaking overnight in water will hydrate most of food particles enough to clean the pan with light scrubbing.  You can also alternate soaking, heating, and light scrubbing for several repeated cycles.  You can also use an acid like vinegar or home strength hydrogen peroxide to soak for a while.  The acid will react and dissolve the protein very well.  That's why hydrogen peroxide is used in a lot of soft contact lens cleaners - to dissolve proteins that have built up.  Acids are a bit less safe to use around kids, pets, and ignorant adults.

Don't heat milk over excessive heat.  Heat slowly and continue to stir constantly, not leaving it unattended for a second.  When you're heating milk, what else is so goddamned important that you have to leave it?  Pretty much nothing.  If someone needs emergency assistance while you're heating milk, turn off the heat source, move the pan off the heat to a safe place to cool, then go administer the aid and call 911.  Better yet, microwave the milk in a microwave safe container for one minute.  At least it has a timer to shut itself off.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Westworld] How badly can a troll guest ruin everything?

Given the analogues made in Westworld to MMORPGs, it's surprising how trolling is not discussed. The guests on the show mostly maintain RP when talking to hosts, but what's to stop a guest from just shouting out YOU ARE NOT HUMANS YOU ARE A ROBOT IN A PARK FOR OUR ENTERTAINMENT?

To further the MMORPG trolling analogy, what's to stop guests from spawncamping hosts, especially with literal god mode?

[Assistant]
Probably not very badly. Imagine if someone came into your office and shouted the same thing: you would think they were crazy.

The robots are programmed to think they're humans in the 1800's, not hosts. They don't know the host/guest relationship, they just know relationships.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5 How does space debris not hit and damage the ISS since we know the moon sustains tons of damage from space debris.

[Assistant]
The ISS has whipple shields, which are designed to reduce the impact of space debris.

If there's something coming that's too big for the shields, or it's at risk of hitting a vulnerable part (like the solar panels,) the ISS can undertake some evasive maneuvers.

The moon is much, much, much larger than the ISS. And it doesn't have shields. And it can't undertake evasive maneuvers.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[General Fiction] There's a prophecy about my reign of terror and my general just messed it up...

I will make no illusions to the fact that I am, as some would refer to me as, a tyrant; someone who uses fear, intimidation and - if need be - extreme violence in order to maintain the peace.

A soothsayer has predicted that, in her words, "Our tyrant king's reign will end to a child born on the dawn between a full moon and a solar eclipse, by the bend of the river under a tree of Yew." I have confirmation that a child *was* born at the river bend in a hut just under the village of Yewtree.

Knowing how these prophecies work (and to ensure I don't end up murdered), my intention was to have the babe and its family captured and delivered to my palace with the intention of training the child to be a just, wise and kind ruler to whom I will abdicate. *Unfortunately*, my foolheaded general has massacred the village in order to kill the child which has since been smuggled to safety.

It is unwise to go against prophecies; I *have* read MacBeth, after all. So, how would I be able to salvage the situation?

[Assistant]
That kid is going to come after you with a magic sword or something, no doubt about it.  But if you'd have adopted the kid, they'd just have accidentally left a roller skate at the top of a staircase or something.  That's the thing about prophecies: they'll get you in the end.

Honestly?  Forget about the prophecy and make the most of the time you have left.  Maintain the peace as violently as you want; build a maternity ward next to the nearest river bend and transplant all the yew trees next to it, then burn the whole thing down with everyone in it; take up crochet; whatever, go nuts.  You're fucked anyway, so you might as well live life to the full.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: What's going on with my body when I'm laughing so hard but no sound comes out?

[Assistant]
When you're laughing so hard but no sound is made, your diaphragm is contracting in the laughing motion but, your lungs don't have enough air to stimulate the vocal cords. Probably because you laughed it all out! Either that or you're holding in the air. If you let the air out, or have sufficient air in the lungs, you will make a sound!

Think of squeezing an empty whoopy cushion, not gonna do much. Fill it with air? FOOOWOOOMP!


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: how do the time differences between planets work in Interstellar?

[Assistant] It's a consequence of General Relativity.  It's called gravitational time dilation.  What it means is an object's mass (or it's ability to warp the space time fabric) will effect how that object experiences time compared to a difference reference frame.  The gravitational force of that planet is so large that for anything moving through that field time slows (it doesn't mechanically move slower) it just does compared to something else that is not in that gravitational field.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5:Why are so many Americans against national healthcare?

[Assistant]
None of the reasons are good. Here are the most important, in order:

1) People prefer the devil they know over the one they don't. Most Americans haven't traveled outside the U.S., and automatically believe that Americans have it better than people from other countries. Since we have private healthcare and other countries have public healthcare, that's automatically proof that private is better.

2) Corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money in American elections. Healthcare companies have a LOT of money.

3) Everyone over 65 already has free national healthcare called Medicare. These people are also very reliable voters. Most are desperately afraid that giving the same healthcare to *everyone* will reduce the standard of their own care. Republicans won big in 2010 by telling older voters (wrongly) that the Affordable Care Act would steal money from Medicare to give to "those" people (see below).

4) There is a lot of racism in the U.S., and many especially older white voters (most of whom are on Medicare, remember) do not want to pay taxes so that members of other races can have healthcare.

5) Many Americans have been told (mostly untrue) horror stories about long waiting times for healthcare in other countries. One advantage of the American system is that if you have money, you can get elective surgeries almost immediately. IF you have money, of course.

6) Many people believe that they will not be able to choose their own doctor if we get national healthcare.

7) Depending on how you read the polling, about or over half of Americans would like for us to have national healthcare. But our system of government makes it very difficult to pass laws, especially ones big corporations don't like (the President, 60% of Senators and 51% of Representatives must agree--and most of the time our government is divided.) Combine that with the fact that the Republican Party views even the moderate reforms of the Affordable Care Act as equivalent to fascism, and it's almost impossible to pass a law to get universal healthcare even if most of the people are in favor of it.

TLDR: Lots of political corruption, and lots of people who believe that they are privileged, and that having national healthcare will mean reducing their own level of care to benefit someone who doesn't "deserve" it.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: How are bees attracted to a beekeeper's artificial hive? Do they find the space accidentally? Or do you use something to attract them?

[Assistant]
Bee hives are generally started by purchasing or otherwise obtaining a queen bee and then splitting a hive, with some portion of the bees now serving the new queen and her hive. This simulates the natural process of a hive reaching a critical size where new queens will develop wings, a swarm of bees travels some distance, and finally settles in a new location.

Beekeepers don't just construct hives and put them out in a field hoping that bees will just magically appear. That would be like a cattle farmer fencing off a pasture and crossing their fingers that cows showed up.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
cmv: Biden isnt doing a bad job as president

This is an unpopular opinion, and very much so. According to 538, only 42% of the nations approves of Bidens job. According to RCP, its lower. But I stand with the minority who thinks that hes actually doing pretty well.

First of all, one of the main arguments I hear against him from those who disapprove is that Biden said he had a COVID plan and didnt. But thing is, he did. Get everyone vaccinated, and have people social distance and use masks. Problem is, those same people who criticize Bidens COVID policy are the ones refusing to get vaccinated, or get masked, or social distance. Biden has a science based COVID plan, and the people criticizing his lack of a plan are the reason his plan isnt working.

Another argument I hear from those who disapprove of Biden is inflation; this argument seems flawed in a lot of ways. Firstly, the inflation here is predictable and can be simply explained through supply and demand; during COVID, there was less demand for things like gas and restaurant food, and companies werent able or willing to produce as much. But recently, as the pandemic (seemingly temporarily) started to die down, people started doing stuff and buying stuff more, and we had high demand with low supply. This can be seen in increasing inflation worldwide. And a side note; on gas prices specifically, Biden cant control the raising. But IMO, he has helped with the current lowering by issuing the investigation into oil companys, who it turns out were withholding products so that they could raise prices.

Besides that, Bidens had a good deal of other accomplishments:

The infrastructure bill

The rescue plan

An incredible amount of various executive orders

And drastically reduced unemployment (4.2% rn)

So, in conclusion, I approve of Bidens job. But I want to hear some opposing viewpoints. So please; cmv.

[Assistant]
> Problem is, those same people who criticize Bidens COVID policy are the ones refusing to get vaccinated, or get masked, or social distance. Biden has a science based COVID plan, and the people criticizing his lack of a plan are the reason his plan isnt working.

That's baked into the cake of evaluating leaders: their ability to persuade. His plan requires persuasion, but he hasn't been able to in a sufficient manner to execute the plan.

That may not be "fair", but it's certainly not unusual. Whoever is in the chair gets credit for good outcomes just as they get blame for bad outcomes where their own contribution may be negligible.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Warhammer 40k] Why is the main land force of the Imperium of Man called the "Imperial Guard" and not the "Imperial Army"?

[Assistant]
They were originally known by that name. Transition came mostly in the wake of the Horus Heresy as the Imperial Army was broken up and restributed to different branches, creating the Imperial Navy, Imperial Guard, and the other minor branches intended to limit overall authority and compartmentalize forces to prevent something like the Heresy from happening again.

There is some indication that the title of Imperial Army was still in use after this restructuring, but was replaced with the honorific Imperial Guard, after an unknown battle in which service members distinguished themselves as guardians of the Imperium.

Whatever the case though, the title is ultimately an honorific. Just like the Astartes are the Angels of Death, it's not an official name, but an earned title. They are the Imperial Guard because they are the stalwart guardians of the Imperium of Man.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Harry Potter] Has the Prime Minister ever reached out to the Minister for Magic for help?

To help with a food shortage or something along those lines?

[Assistant]
Most PMs receive visits from the Minister for Magic rarely if ever after the initial welcoming/introduction visit after taking office. As such many are able to convince themselves that the whole experience is just a strange dream resulting from too much stress and dozing off at their desk. And of those that do believe, most are too terrified to consider seeking out a meeting.

Churchill almost certainly would've been willing to coordinate with his magical counterpart during WWII. Of course, we can't be sure about who approached who first, as Grindelwald was just as big a concern for the magical community as Hitler was for muggles. Likely they kept one another informed, but for the most part let the Ministry of Magic deal with the magical side of the conflict, and let the muggle government coordinate it's own effort.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[General Fiction] What are some of the most powerful weapons in fiction that are for hand to hand combat?

I personally don't know of any fantastical ones myself (besides the generic Mjolnir response), so I was curious what was out there.

By hand to hand, I simply mean for close range battles.

I'd love to know of any, ranging from moderately powerful to so powerful it's just stupid (provided it's written and handled well), as well as what makes them so powerful.

[Assistant] The Possible Sword (from China Mieville's *The Scar*) bridges multiple timelines. Even if you swing it just once, it will hit everything every version of you *would* have hit. Wielding it is a very peculiar martial art: an unskilled swordsman will maim themselves instantly, because some of their future timelines are "critical failures." But if the swordsman's technique is *too* refined and precise, they'll hit the same spot in every timeline and it's no better than a normal sword. Using it well requires the wielder to be very very technically skilled but still somewhat loose and unpredictable, even to themselves.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Does the Surface Tension of Water change (increase/decrease), as the surface area changes?

 Does the Surface Tension of Water change (increase/decrease), as the surface area changes?  Does Temperature also have any factor in this.

E.G. : The Surface Tension of a Graduated Cylinder compared to a Lake.

[Assistant]
No but the ratio of the effects of surface area can change as the volume increases.

Temperature does affect surface tension. Surface tension is a result of molecules of water forming stronger bonds with other water molecules than with air. Therefore, breaking the surface of the water requires breaking some of those bonds. The bonds between water molecules are weaker when the water molecules move around really fast and spend less time bonded - as in hot water. Once water is boiling, all of the heat energy goes to breaking the water bonds and the surface tension is zero.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Futurama] Why does Hedonism Bot exist?

Most of the robots exist for obvious, usually industrial, reasons. But I can't think of a reason as to why someone would build a robot based around self indulgence.

[Assistant]
Have you ever tried to host a party but no one wanted to dance to your Peruvian flute music? Hedonismbot will arrive and order his manservants to do it for his amusement. And when people see Hedonismbot having a good time, they will too.

Have you tried organizing a Venusian wine tasting event but everyone was too hot and afraid of the sulfuric liquid in their cups? Hedonismbot will arrive, drink it and belch such amazing flames that your guests will immediately perk up and enjoy their evening.

Are you a member of the obese body painting society but find yourself alone because no one else wants to paint horribly obese bodies? Hedonismbot considers fat art to be the only kind of art that gives him pleasure these days and will hire a dozen people to join you as you make a fat guy blue.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5 : Why and how do sea animals get stranded on the beach?

[Assistant] Hunting animals in the shallows, underwater noise causes them to be confused or panic, they are ill, they have become detached from their group. There isn't one reason it could be any of these or even a combination.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Is it possible for a digital camera to perfectly mimic what we see?

Most digital cameras I've used, while they may take great pictures, don't quite replicate everything it is that I am seeing.
Is this just due to the technical limitations of the device or are there more fundamental differences between how our eyes and cameras work that prevent us from capturing a perfect image?

[Assistant]
Your eyes don't capture a "perfect image," there's lotsa stuff that's filled in (or subtracted) by the brain.

The human eye is really only sharply in focus over the fovea, the rest is blurred or degraded to some degree. However, in concert with small, unnoticed and unconscious eye movements, the brain fills in the illusion of an image that's sharp edge-to-edge.

And the subject of color rendering is a whole 'nother can-o-worms.

There are commercial digital sensors that can outperform the human eye in terms of resolution, but they're mostly used in high-end scientific work.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Mass Effect] I toss enemies off the map with biotics. Why don't enemies do the same to me?

My favorite class in the game is the adept. I love being able to toss enemies around like rag dolls.

But why am I, Commander Shepard, the only one doing this? Surely Cerberus or the Reapers would've considered using this strategy.

[Assistant]
It all boils down to just the kind of person Commander Shepard *is*.  Headcanon aside, s/he is a stubborn git.

By ME2, s/he is also probably the single most augmented person in the galaxy, using state of the art technology.  S/he probably is simply *capable* of the feats, and most foes aren't.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] If I direct light on to a shadow from another light, why is the shadow still there?

[Assistant]
A shadow is formed because of a difference in brightness. If you shine a light on a shadow, both the shadow and surrounding area get brighter, leaving the difference still present.

If the light is bright enough, you could perceive the shadow disappearing.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Avatar] thermodynamics in bending?

How do water benders make ice instantly or fire benders making lighting?

[Assistant] Any conservation-of-energy problems in the Avatarverse can be easily explained by remembering that it has an exotic form of energy: namely, the chi of living beings and spirits. All bending is based around the redistribution of existing energy in the form of chi. Firebending does so directly in the form of converting the chi into heat, but an expert firebender can also turn it into static electricity, creating lightning. In the case of waterbending, forming ice is a similar process of converting the thermal energy of the water into chi.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Star Trek/Star Wars] How might a bored member of the Q continuum go about entertaining themselves while taking a vacation a long time ago in a galaxy far far away?

[Assistant] I mean, it's pretty clear they already have gone and messed up the physics and history of the far far away galaxy. *Laser Swords*?  *Water-cored planets*? *Mystical magic that allows users to, among other things, lift objects of any size remotely, conjure electricity, and accelerate rapidly*? Sounds like a Q that never cleaned up his mess to me.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: If you were in a spacecraft moving at 1000 miles/hour in outer space and you turned off the engines, what would happen to the speed and direction of your spacecraft & why?

[Assistant]
Nothing. First law of motion: and object in motion stays in motion, in a straight line, until acted upon by another force.

So until a force acts upon your space craft it will continue moving at 1000 miles/hour in the same direction.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
eli5: Im trying to understand when a musician plays in a key of e.. what exactly does that mean?

What determines a songs key note?

[Assistant]
A long time ago, musicians in Europe agreed to name notes, and eventually the english letters A, B, C, D, E, F, and G were chosen as the names.

They also agreed that there would be notes in between some of the other notes, specifically between A and B, C and D, D and E,  F and G, and G and A.  These they eventually referred to as flats and sharps.

Now, it turns out, and not by accident, that the difference in sounds between (most of) the letter notes are identical. In other words, the difference between and A and B is the same as the difference between D and E, and the difference between D and D sharp is the same as between A and A sharp, and so on.  These differences between notes are called "intervals"

Now these intervals are literally scientifically similar. If you measure the frequency of vibrations between these notes, the frequency differences are equal.  Now most importantly, and not surprisingly the intervals sound the same as well.  The interval between an F and an A sounds exactly the same as the interval between a C and an E.

Sequences of intervals are called "scales".  Each scale has a first and last name.  There are many different scales, depending on the first note of the scale.  This note is the scale's first name, and the sequence of intervals that follows it determines its last name.  Some examples are A pentatonic, B major, D minor.

The choice of which scale to use has to do with the both the emotions you're trying to express through the music, but also the "voice" of your instrument, i.e., how high and low it can sing, and how easy or hard it is to play all the notes in the scale.

Now you can compose a song and play it without ever writing it down, and if your bandmates have really good hearing they'll be able to play along with your song without ever knowing what the notes are called or what scales you based it on.

However, if you want to express your song to people who can't hear you play, you have to write it down using musical notation, and that's really where these note names matter.  You decide which scale to base it on, and in so doing, you automatically pick the "key".  The "key," in the simplest and common cases, is the same as the name of the scale.

So, if you choose to write a song that is based on the E Major scale, you write musical notation that indicates this, and thus your song is said to be in the key of E.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
CMV: Ending friendships or relationships over politics is healthy

I hear a common refrain that it is inherently bad to live in an "echo chamber" and that we should therefore befriend people from multiple political points of view. I disagree. When I think of friendships and relationships, I'm looking for a respite where I get to hang out with people who make me happy and whose company I enjoy. If I want to debate politics, I'll join a debate club (or look at this subreddit), but I do not expect, nor want, this quality in friends. Ending relationships over politics does not automatically mean one is in an echo chamber or that one is unopen to listening to other perspectives. It simply means you are curating your social circle and maximizing the quality of your friendships and relationships, so that your social circle is more compatible and less combative.

 It should be considered a healthy practice that we nurture the relationships and friendships that give us comfort and joy, and let go of the ones that cause friction and hostility. I am not saying this is the solution for every person, but rather it should be seen as a generally good thing if people do decide to end relationships over contentious issues, such as politics.

[Assistant]
There might be a difference between what is healthy and what is euphoric (makes you happy).

Some healthy things are a bit bitter or painful.

For hypothetical example, if your community of friends is all incels (or some other bad demographic of people), you might not want to leave your friend circle. Your friend circle is safe and makes you feel happy/good about yourself.

However, if you were like 16 years old or generally a young kid/teen (or anyone with prospects for a better future), maybe it would be healthy to broaden your horizons a bit more and to leave your comfort zone.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Deathnote] How long would the belief in Kira affect the world?

(haven't see the show so sorry if this was addressed at the end. Also spoilers)

So near the beginning of the show Light says that criminals world wide have stopped doing major crimes and that crime is at an all time low. Now we know Light/Kira dies at the end of the series but the world doesn't. Would the police tell the world they have defeated Kira? Or would they let people think he's still out there to keep crime rates down?

[Assistant]
I'd give it a year, tops, before things are back to normal. There will always be greedy people, and there will always be people testing the limits.

The first major crime that goes unpunished won't change much, but after ten, or a hundred, people will quickly decide that Kira is no longer active, and it's safe to resume or start operations.

This is of course assuming the mantle of Kira wasn't passed on to someone else. The Death Note will find a new home, but we can't be sure how it will be used.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why can't billion dollar companies such as Facebook or Skype produce quality mobile applications when smaller developers can produce high quality applications with much less manpower/funding?

[Assistant]
A huge company like Facebook has hundreds of people who can say "NO" to an idea.  This means that you spend months building consensus and negotiating with different departments to make everyone happy, or at least not piss anyone off.  Multiply this by the number of design decisions that need to get made in order to reach a finished product.

A small company with just a few people can sit everyone involved down in a room and in a few hours (maybe minutes) come to an agreement on how to proceed.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
How common is it for labs to operate during summer?

I'm new to academia and just wondering if I'm going to be able to work in a lab over the summer as a 1st year. Is it even common for labs to operate over the summer? I'm sure some do, but do most/all of them?

I'm in a STEM field if that makes a difference (biology/neuroscience specifically)

Edit: Sorry don't know why I didn't clarify this: I'm a 1st year *undergrad*, not a grad student.

[Assistant]
Pretty common. In fact, its when theyre usually most active because theres no distraction from the research.

That said, it can be pretty hard to get into a lab as a first year, and summer might be a more difficulty time because a lab is more likely to see a completely untrained student as detracting from productivity.

I much prefer to start new students fall or spring, and then take them on for the summer when theyve learned techniques and understand what we do in the lab.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
eli5 Why does the phone seem to lose battery faster when it's below 20%?

Is it a psychological thing like how time seems to move faster when you're late? Or is my phone lying to me?

[Assistant]
It very much is lying to you, yes.

Phone battery display is an estimation, and its accuracy depends on the state and age of the battery. The phone knows roughly whether the battery is full, half-empty or empty, but knowing that it's exactly 19% or 20% is a good deal harder. You sometimes see a recommendation to change the phone fully and then let it discharge -- this is not for the battery's wellbeing. It allows the phone to gather better stats on the battery's health and calculate the percentage better, because if the phone has spent 2 years going between 60% and 100%, it might not have noticed that the effective capacity of the battery got much lower meanwhile.

Also, yeah, the percentage display isn't necessarily correct at all times. They know that people would complain if their phone was stuck on 98% (you can see that sort of thing happen to old devices), so the phone will often fudge things for display.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] If our bodies are most comfortable at 98.6 F (or some approximation of that), why is air of the same temperature during the summer so uncomfortable for us?

[Assistant]
Our bodies constantly produce heat (at a rate of about 100 W averaged over the entire day) and one of the main ways of getting rid of this heat is through heat conduction to the surrounding air. The rate at which this heat transfer occurs is proportional to the difference in temperature between our body and the air. If the temperature of the air is close to that of our body, (almost) no heat can be shed this way.

And that is what makes it feel uncomfortable and what causes our body to activate another method of removing heat: evaporative cooling, which in humans is better known as sweating. The effectiveness of evaporative cooling depends on the humidity of the air: The lower, the better. That's why a "dry heat" feels less oppressive than humid air at the same temperature.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
CMV: China will not overtake the US as a superpower within the foreseeable future.

In my eyes, the five elements of power in politics include political, economic, military, cultural and technological influence, with economic power being the most important and predictive. Right now, the US has the upper hand in all five categories and it would take a colossal shift for China to catch up:

**Economic Power**

In terms of purchasing power, China has the largest economy in the world, but this doesn't necessarily translate to economic influence. In fact, raw measures of economic clout severely inflate China's position in the world economy, whilst American power is wielded in many ways that aren't accounted for in measures of raw output. For example, the US dollar is still widely used as the global reserve currency and accounts for 60% of foreign exchange reserves, whilst the Renminbi accounts for only 2%. The US also has a significant lead in modern sectors such as global finance, technology and healthcare. The Federal Reserve has also essentially assumed the role of the IMF and dominates the global economy on a monetary basis. In particular, the US has also practically defined the rules of global commerce, and whilst China accounts for the most global trade, it is abiding by the doctrine's established by the US and US-backed institutions.

Furthermore, China's ageing population presents significant problems (look at the decline of Japan), especially for a low-middle income economy, and it's disadvantage in GDP per Capita reflects an inability to turn raw output into national wealth, which in my view is a more important indicator of total economic power than GDP.

**Political Power**

Trump has done a lot to erode the US political power, withdrawing it from global institutions that it helped create, however the US has countless allies around the globe, leads the strongest alliance system in NATO, and represents a political model that has been adopted in most developed nations. China currently has a shortage of powerful political allies, and it's attempt to improve this through investment in the Middle East and especially Africa will take at least a century to develop into something meaningful, and by that point who knows what China's political system will look like.

**Cultural Power**

By default, America is the most culturally influential country due to its position as the largest English-speaking nation. English is the world's most global language in entertainment and commerce, and American music, movies, TV shows & video games will likely be able to dominate these industries for the foreseeable future.

**Military Power**

This is quite simple. America is the only country today with the ability to project power across the globe, successfully or not. In areas of 21st century warfare, China is lagging far behind. Even Russia is a more threatening military power. My friend who works in cybersecurity tells me that Chinese cyber-attacks are relatively easy to thwart, compared to the sophistication of the Russians.

**Technological Influence**

Due to its capitalist model, wealthy consumer base and entrepreneurial culture, the US seems to dominate each new round of technological breakthrough, with firms like Amazon, Google and Facebook dominating the global industry. China has made strides in social media with TikTok and their own internal applications, however developments such as Artificial Intelligence and Cloud technology are dominated by the US, and China appears to be more of a follower than a leader. In fact, I'd argue that Japan and Germany are more influential technological powers currently.

I'm willing to have my view changed. I could envision a world where America is "first among equals" and where China becomes 1b to American's 1a, but are these advantages for America too big?

[Assistant]
I would encourage you to watch American Factory (available on Netflix). It seems entirely obvious to me that China is on a trajectory to become a global superpower and the US is a decadent civilization in decline.

I would also argue that culturally, China is successfully using the American model to gain domestic political influence (e.g. Cixin Liu's The Wandering Earth was adapted into a nationalistic blockbuster, akin to how the US Army used Independence Day). US culture, while influential, doesn't completely dominate international markets.

Moreover, all of the US advantages you list could easily be overturned by a major political crisis (i.e. the one that will occur when either the GOP refuses to provide the QE necessary to stave off the debt crisis under a Biden presidency or when Trump is re-elected for four additional years.)


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Pokemon] How is it possible that so little is known about Pokmon?

The show (and games) appear to be in a hyper-advanced civilization with technology so impressive that to us it looks like magic. And Pokmon are as old as time, and prehistoric civilizations worshipped them. So how is it considered believable that they havent been studied intensely and instead we are reliant upon a 10-year old to tell us often incorrect facts? How is it possible that Professor Oak is only just now curating a list of Pokmon?

[Assistant]
"prehistoric civilizations worshiped them."

And there's the answer. *They never stopped*.

Less literally now, granted, although they are under the impression several are gods (admittedly, arguably correctly). But even discounting those cases, their *entire civilization* revolves around them completely. Sport, recreation, government, law, media, business, city design- every aspect of society is based around pokemon collecting. It's more then just a useful resource o loved pet- to the people of the pokemon world, collecting  Pokemon is literally the meaning of life. It's the defining goal of every endevour we see in their world. it's the mark of adulthood. It's something sacred.

And you don't *study* something sacred.

It's notable that basically all the major scientific advancements in pokemon were made by the Teams, criminal organisations that consisted by definition of people who went against societal norms. But to most people, the idea of studying pokemon would be like studying your marriage- strange at best, insulting at worst.

It's  only recently that the idea of studying pokemon became acceptable enough to start in earnest. That's why it seems they've just begun- as far as respectable society is concerned, they *have*.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Alien] Why did the AI Mainframe in Alien only have a capacity of 2.1 terabytes?

[Assistant] The Nostromo is a glorified semi truck. It's computer systems are limited for the same reasons it has a small crew and no weapons and tons of unfinished spaces. Because that's what it takes to get the job done. These aren't the best of the best out exploring the galaxy, they're a bunch of truckers on a long haul route just trying to get paid.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5 Why I can buy a new TV for $300, new tablet for $500 but a new phone costs $700?

[Assistant] A new phone does not cost $700 dollars. *Certain* phones cost $700 dollars, just like there will also be high end TVs that cost $2000 dollars and low end phones that cost $30. And those high end phones cost that much because that is how much people are willing to pay in that market segment.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: How are animals, specifically carrion birds, able to eat rotting flesh without ill effect?

[Assistant]
In a number of ways.

One is that they can have stomach acid a lot stronger than that of non carrion eaters.  This can kill a lot of bacteria.

Their immune systems have also evolved to deal with the bacteria and their toxins and so they have a large number of antibodies always ready to go to neutralise them.

And just like us they have bacteria in their intestines but they've evolved to use the ones that would be deadly to us to help them digest their food.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why can't sick people breathe properly when they lay down?

Why is it that when you have a cold/cough etc., you have to sit up all the time because it's hard to breathe laying horizontal?

[Assistant]
When you're ill, your lungs get inflamed and start producing extra mucous which in turn blocks the bronchi and alveoli from moving oxygen efficiently. When you sit up, the mucous moves to the lower parts of the lung, freeing up the passageways. Same when you cough up phlegm, it clears them more and you can breathe a bit easier.

AKA, you're still getting oxygen, it's just not being used efficiently making you feel out of breath.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[DCEU] Was Superman amped during the events of Justice League, or is he just that powerful?

When Superman is revived, he almost immediately solos the Justice League. Hes stronger than Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Batman combined, and nearly as fast as the Flash. Was he amped by the Mother Box (which resurrected him), or is that just his ordinary power level?

[Assistant] it was just his ordinary power. nothing he showed clashed with what was shown in previous movies, nothing was really above the norm. we just got confirmation that he is stronger than the others, which wasnt clear from the other movies.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why do hangovers amplify sounds and lights to an almost painful level?

[Assistant]
alcohol essentially dehydrates your body, 'stealing' water from your cells etc. among other things, but this is the most important one for neurological problems:
the brain is mostly water (aquaeos substances and so on) and due to osmotic tendencies of water, water from the brain will be relocated to other cells that need it. this result in undersupply of the brain, which leads to several problems such as headaches, sensitivity to sounds and brith light.
furthermore, most people drink alcohol in the evening and go to bed drunk. during the night, you body still uses some water, but it can't be replaced, because you're asleep and can't drink. this further amplifies the effects of dehydration.
this problem can be circumvented by drinking water alongside alcohol. for any measure of alcohol drink a glass of water. you'll drink less i.e. spend less money, get less drunk and have a smaller (if any) hangover.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Supernatural] Are there other sentient species on life-bearing worlds? (More in post)

So the world of Supernatural seems to be pretty Earth-centric.  We don't know about God, but all of the angels, beasts, leviathans, gods, and various mythology seem to be pretty tied to Earth.  Plus, all of Lucifer's apocalypse shenanigans seem to happen on Earth.  However, during the apocalypse we get this quote from Death:
>"This is one little planet in one tiny solar system in a galaxy thats barely out of its diapers. Im old, Dean. Very old. So I invite you to contemplate how insignificant I find you."

This seems to imply there are many many other species and civilizations in the universe.  Are there? Did these hypothetical civilizations experience the apocalypse too?  Do they have their own Lucifer, demons, and angels?

[Assistant]
Death's comment does nothing to imply sentience. Death probably doesn't give one iota about sentience. He's so far beyond us that whether or not we are sentient is irrelevant to him, he just reaps all life, everywhere.

Also maybe cares about more than just life as we define it. On his grand scheme he could concern himself with the "life" of stars of galaxies. He could preside of matter in the universe and watches as matter itself deacys (why would death care more about this lump of carbon with sentience than that lump without; it all breaks down and he'll "reap" them both eventually).


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ElI5: why did the Roma migrate from India?

[Assistant]
Popular theories hold they were likely kicked out/banished as a people. If their customs are to go by, they would have likely upset the population there.

Also it would be the Indian subcontinent as far as our best guesses go. We don't where exactly they originate from with regards to Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, etc.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
My university is facing enormous budget cuts, possible loss of accreditation, and it looks like a coming indefinite student and professor strike.

I'm a freshman and my grades haven't been great. I had been accepted to a top university in my chosen major, but was unable to attend due to financial reasons. If my current institution closes, given I have no research experience or any meritable academic experiences whatsoever, what can I do? I am sorry if this isn't the place to ask, I felt perhaps here I would have a better chance of finding someone who had the unfortunate experience of having their institution undergo the same circumstances mine will inevitably end up facing.

[Assistant] If your current institution is in the US - AND, if the institution is currently accredited then your credits for work done should transfer.  Most of the accredited institutions that have closed recently make sure records and such are handled to protect their students - but make sure your place does!


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: What are the tiny little dots in your vision that you see when you stare at a solid colour?

[Assistant] if you stare at one color too long the different cones and rods in the back of your eye react. Each cone and rod distinguish between a different color. So if you stare at green for a while the cone will leave the colored spot in your vision. Each one leaves different colors based on tge color your staring at. That or its damage like the other guy said.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] Is there any rational reason for calculating pi (no pun intended) to millions and millions of digits? Or is it just calculating it for the sake of calculating it?

[Assistant]
The difference in size scale between the size of the observable universe and the size of a proton is about 10^(41).

One way to interpret this is that with 41 digits of Pi, you could construct a ring around the observable universe with the precision of a single nucleus.

So no, we probably don't need many more digits of Pi than that.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: How do movies that gross many millions of dollars over their budget still result in the production company losing money?

For example- I looked at The Mummy (2017) on Wikipedia, which had a budget of $125-195 million, and grossed $410 million worldwide at the box office, yet it also says the studio lost $95 million. How is that possible?

[Assistant]
First of all, the budget you see is just the production budget.  Generally you need to make at least 2X-3X the production budget in the box office. The production budget doesn't include marketing or lots of other costs to break even. (as a side note, when you give a range on the budget like that, it probably means its actually at the high end)

In addition, the movie doesn't get all of that box office. The real math here is complicated, especially for US movies released internationally, but on a good day, maybe they get 50%-60% of the global box office.

So If the movie costs $150M to make, it may have needed to make closer to $400M to break even.

But even then, thats just on the books.  For how accounting is really done on movies (the famous "hollywood accounting") its much more complicated what money gets counted where, so in reality, the "movie" might lose money, by design, as the money is instead made by other companies involved, while the movie eats all the costs.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Batman] If not Bruce Wayne, who could be the Batman?

Gotham city frequently cites Bruce Wayne as most likely either being Batman or at least working with him. But who else could he possibly be in their minds? Are there any other common guesses to his identity, like Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight?

[Assistant]
Probably some random ex Special Forces dude who Bruce Wayne recruited straight from the military.

Or a vampire. Or a demon. Or a whole team of ex Special Forces guys, taking it in turns in the costume from night to night.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Elder Scrolls] A norn, a breton, and an imperial walk into a bar. How can you tell which is which?

EDIT: I mean nord.

[Assistant]
Hair and skin color, typically; Nords tend to have the lightest hair and skin, with Imperials the darkest.
Alternately, one can simultaneously cast frostibte and flames on them; the first one to die will be the Imperial, who has no inherent resistance to magic.  Next will be the Nord, who will resist frostbite to some degree but not flames, and finally the Breton, who naturally resists all magic.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why are people so protective of their IP address and MAC address online, and what would the realistic consequences of openly posting them be?

I see a lot of videos with people putting their finger over their MAC address or blocking out their IP address, but it seems like one of things that everyone does just because it's something that everyone does. I'm sure there's a good reason, but what is it?

[Assistant] Imagine that burglars could teleport to your house from anywhere in the world, try to pick locks or open windows or even just set it on fire for their amusement without much notice unless you actively maintain a log of everything that happens at every entry point. They can then disappear instantly before you can even think to call the cops and come right back when you've let your guard down afterwards. Would you feel comfortable handing out your home address to strangers in that scenario?


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why did the Troubles happen in Northern Ireland, and why was it at times so violent?

[Assistant]
To understand the modern troubles, and to appreciate why it was so violent you have to look at the history as far back as the 12th century when Ireland was invaded by the Normans. This was the start of 'direct English rule' this established a deep running hatred in many native of the native Irish people, who felt they were being oppressed and they hadn't the cohesion at that time to fight back

Matters didnt get any better and when Henry VIII came to the throne in England and started the English reformation, and his own branch of Protestantism, he proclaimed himself King of Ireland and tried to impose the Protestant beliefs on Irish people - The majority of whom were catholic peasants.
The Reformation failed in Ireland and this lead to a campaign known as the 'Plantation' in which many English and Scottish Protestants were promised some of the most fertile and prosperous land in Ireland, at the expense of many of the native Irish farmers. At this point tensions had increased between the Protestant and Catholic sides ( Who were typically seen as English and Native Irish respectively - and sometimes still are by the more narrow minded people) the tension culminated in various re- occurring conflicts that became part of the tapestry of Irish, and then Northern Irish culture.

Again things did not get any better, Irish people were considered second class to Protestants, and were not even granted full rights until the Catholic Emancipation in 1829.
The Irish potato famine had further negative effect on relations also as the English government of the time had an economic policy of "Laisser Faire" - meaning to 'let be'. Implying they would not get involved in economic issue that they believed should right themselves in time.

Tensions and conflicts came to a head In 1922, after the Irish War of Independence and the Anglo-Irish Treaty, most of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom to become the independent Irish Free State, which after the 1937 constitution, began to call itself Ireland.
The six northeastern counties, known as Northern Ireland, remained within the United Kingdom. The Irish Civil War followed soon after the War of Independence. The history of Northern Ireland has since been dominated by sporadic sectarian conflict between (mainly Catholic) Irish nationalists and (mainly Protestant) unionists. This conflict erupted into the Troubles in the late 1960s.

So to understand why it may have been so violent at times, you have to appreciate that this conflict had been building up and even ongoing for some 700 years and while many counties of Ireland split from the UK, many 'Catholic Irish' people were stuck in a UK controlled Northern Ireland and were reluctant to leave their homes, and this sentiment was shared by the 'Protestant British' who at this point had been living in Ireland for many years also.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Avatar: The Last Airbender/Legend of Korra] How did technology advance so quickly?

When Aang was alive, the Four Nations were roughly at a Medieval level of technology with swords, horse drawn carriages, archers, plate armor, some primitive gliders. The Fire Nation was by far the most technologically advanced, but they at most had early industrial era inventions.

Then less than 100 years later in Korra's day we have high rise architecture, radio, black and white movies, commercial automobiles.

How did everything advance so fast?

[Assistant]
In the last century we went from inventing flight to launching someone into space in 58 years.

Look at the technology in Korra.  It basically approximated the 1930s.  Look 70 years before that.  The 1860s.  Civil War era technology.  Not too dissimilar.  Yeah, they lacked guns, but they had bending.  Necessity is the mother of invention, and they didn't need them.

It would make sense that technology would develop faster.  For the first time, the 3 nations were working together.  A Fire Nation development could be improved on by an Earth Kingdom engineer.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: how did the two cops who beat up Kelly Thomas not be convicted of either murder 2 or manslaughter? Please keep it civil, I just wanted to know how it could have come out that way since I had been following for so long.

[Assistant]
The issue with this case is the interpretation of the video. Since there is no victim to come forward for themselves, you're depending on the attorneys to basically go back and forth. Add to that the testimony of the officers which, unless the defense attorney made them look dumb on the stand, will let them give a credible and positive interpretation of the scenario, and you basically have a jury that has no reason to believe the cops INTENDED to do what they did.

If the police side was able to prove to the jury that the death occurred as a result of standard police practice, then there's no reason to convict them.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: of the sun blew up we wouldn't be able to tell for 8 minutes. Would we be dead before we knew? Or would we be able to watch the sun explode?

Edit: Just wanted to say that this was my first time on the front page and I'd like to thank everyone that answered and upvoted my question. I'm glad to see so many people interested in this topic.

[Assistant]
Ok, lets separate this out.

1. The information speed is the speed of light.
2. The destructive force is equal to or slower than that.

Say that the sun explodes in a blast of gamma rays. Thats basically going to zorch the planet super dead instantly. We're turned out like a light.

Say the sun explodes in a massive plasma ejection. Thats slower, we get to see a big fireball coming at us and experience society collapsing.

Basically, it depends what happens once it explodes.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Fallout 4] The Institute seems to believe synths are not truly sentient. Is this true?

They created them so they know the most about them.

[Assistant] I think the basic thought about them is they were not sentient at Gen 1.  Then, slow improvements and tiny changes over years made it to Gen 3.  At what point do they think their exact and nigh perfect programming changed from programming to sentience?  To the lone survivor, it is obvious because it is such an abrupt change.  To the institute, it has been a change they are working on for so many years and it is so gradual they probably cannot even notice.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Why do some websites allow non-alphanumeric characters (#@!$%) as part of a password, while others do not?

Is it especially difficult to allow those characters in a password? It seems like allowing for their use could allow users to generate stronger passwords.

[Assistant] Most websites hash passwords, so any character can be entered. Others (do not trust these websites) do not, and if the developer has not properly designed the login system, special characters could lead to SQL Injection. In these cases, it is simplest to ban special characters rather than fix the underlying problem. Disallowing certain characters is usually a reliable indication the site is storing the passwords in plain text, and should not be used.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Shutter Speed and Aperture.

Hi Reddit.

So, long story short, I've been using a camera phone for the last few years.

Decided for our trip to Italy, we should probably have a proper one so we borrowed one from my girlfriend's parents.

Last night we found an amazing shot but just couldn't do it justice. A few of the preset settings did an OK job, but on manual settings we couldn't get our heads around aperture and shutter speed.

Is there a simple way to remember what they do for what we want? Ie close up, at night with focus on the buildings not the streetlights?

Thanks!

Tl;Dr What's the best/quickest way to learn aperture and shutter speed settings?

[Assistant]
Shutter speed is the amount of time the shutter is open. The longer it is open, the more light hits the sensor.

Aperture is the amount that the iris in the lens is open. The higher the number, the less the iris opens and the greater depth of field. The lower the number, the more the iris opens and less depth of field.

Depth of field is how far back from the camera is in focus. A high depth of field will mean your foreground and background are crisp. If you want to blur the background to enhance your subject, you would choose a low aperture setting to create a shallow depth of field.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Cardio gets the heart working which ultimately makes it stronger. So why do recreational drugs that do the same thing cause harm to the heart?

Shouldn't cocaine, for example, help improve the cardiovascular system?

[Assistant]
when you exercise your whole cardio vascular (heart,lungs and arteries and veins) system adjusts to get more oxygen into your muscles, and also more waste out.
All the components are working in tandem, increasing, decreasing and stabilising as required.
Its a very nicely synced system

when you take cocaine its JUST your heart that increases. its now out of sync with rest of the system, even pushing against it and making your heart strain.
That's the problem.

I suppose the cocaine case is a bit like having one formula-1 wheel on a car: its out of sync with the rest and you're gonna have a bad time.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
eli5: Why do machine guns or gatling guns have to spin to shoot?

Just playing Call of Duty and noticed the death machine spins and I always wondered why.

[Assistant]
Gatling guns had rotating barrels because it handled loading, ejecting the cartridge, and reloading the barrel. The innovation of ejecting the cartridge using exhaust gas hadn't been developed yet. The Gatling gun was faster than a bolt-action gun.

More modern miniguns have multiple barrels to reduce overheating. Each barrel only fires a fraction of the shots, meaning you can fire more rounds before overheating.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Star Wars] Probably been asked a thousand times, but why do Obi Wan, Uncle Owen and other characters age so much between episodes 3 and 4?

The gap between Revenge Of The Sith and A New Hope is about 19 years if I'm not mistaken. In Episode 3, Obi Wan is very fresh faced and young looking, and Owen Lars looks like he's no older than 30. So why do they look so much older by Episode 4? I always assume it was the harsh conditions of Tatooine, but other characters such as Anakin's Mother and Luke look pretty normal for their ages with no signs of wear from the planets environment. Is there a canonical or legends reason why Obi wan goes from 35/40 to 65/70 in only 19 years? Same for Owen Lars?

[Assistant]
The deserts of Tatooine takes their toll on those who live there. Luke was only 19 when he left, but he looked like he was in his mid 20s.

I hear his Grandmother had his father at 16, and by the time the boy was 10 she looked like she was in her late 40s!


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Could a bright enough light shine through metal?

So, light waves can be either absorbed or reflected by a material, or can go through a material. However, no material reflects or absorbs 100% perfectly. At least a few photons will go through (correct?).

Anyway, say I write a message on a white piece of paper, and cover it with a black piece of paper. I can't see the message anymore, but if I went in a dark room and shined a light under it I could.

If I did the same thing but covered the message with aluminum foil, it wouldn't work. What if I bought one of these expensive flashlights with thousands of lumens, would it work then?

Is there any amount of light that would make it possible to see through the aluminum foil? Or a different wavelength of light? Somehow "x-ray" it?

[Assistant]
Up to the plasmon frequency most metals will be an essentially perfect reflector/blocker of light given a reasonably thick cross section.

Beyond that frequency you get diffraction and scattering to lesser and lesser degrees as you increase in frequency.

In thinner sections there isn't enough material to fully cancel the electric field of the photon internally, resulting in nonzero transmission.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: When really stuffed up, How swapping what side Im laying on will free up one of my nostrils easily, but yet im unable to clear it completely when I blow my nose? And when I am somehow able to clear It, how is it possible for it to come back so fast?

[Assistant]
You guys are all welcome.
 >Here's an easier, quicker, and cheaper remedy to relieve sinus pressure: Alternate thrusting your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then pressing between your eyebrows with one finger. This causes the vomer bone, which runs through the nasal passages to the mouth, to rock back and forth, says Lisa DeStefano, D.O., an assistant professor at the Michigan State University college of osteopathic medicine. The motion loosens congestion; after 20 seconds, you'll feel your sinuses start to drain.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why is it that couples who are trying to have kids have to have sex multiple times before successful, whereas people who have one night stands often end up pregnant?

Is there any truth to this, or is it just a way to scare people into using condoms?

[Assistant]
I think it's more a matter of what you *hear* than of what actually happens. People who get pregnant from one night stands, and couples who are trying to have kids, tend to talk about it more than their opposites.

Idk if there's something about people who have multiple one night stands increasing their statistical chances of getting with someone with a high fertility rate, whereas the couple trying to have kids are dealing with the same fertility rate consistently.

Or, you know, Murphy's law.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Event Horizon] What happened to the "head" of the vessel following the arrival of the rescue team?

[Assistant]
Possibility 1: Whatever came back from the Hell dimension was still stuck to the ship when the rescuers arrived, and it retained a measure of the strength it had before. This could be inferred from the nightmare that Starck had as she was being revived, and by the airlock door closing ominously as the movie ends. In this case, Starck, Cooper, and the rescuers are going to have a very bad time, and may wind up no better than the first recovery attempt. The ship then does whatever it can with the power it has, luring in additional recovery teams to their doom or becoming a space Flying Dutchman, popping up at odd locations around the solar system and continuing to ruin various crews' days.

Possibility 2: The ship is either powerless or greatly reduced in power, and Starck's nightmare was just a normal nightmare, and the ominously closing airlock was not a sign that the whole haunt and then murder process was about to start all over again. Starck and Cooper would likely advocate strongly for the destruction of the head of the Event Horizon, possibly even trying to scuttle it without approval. If it's destroyed, then that's great. If not, then scientists back home are going to want to study it and try to figure out what went wrong.

Either way, it's a race to see how long it takes for someone to try to reproduce the original design of the Event Horizon's dimensional drive. It might be easier with the remains of the original ship to study, but regardless, there are going to be detailed records of its creation, and once science knows that a thing *can* be done, it's just a matter of time until it's done again. The engineers might or might not be more careful this time. They might build an Event Horizon 2.0, and send another crew right straight to Hell or, even worse, open up a more stable portal. But if they're really smart, really careful, and really lucky, they might just figure out how to generate a Gellar Field, and humanity is off to the races, baby!


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: why does Adobe Flash Player need to update so much?

[Assistant]
Adobe (Originally, Macromedia) Flash is, by Internet standards, a very old format. It comes from the days where every byte and every CPU cycle was very important. This meant that it used various tricks to save space and computer effort.

The programming to work with these tricks is complex, and complex programs have places for bugs to hide, and hide they do. There are bugs that have always been there, waiting for someone to send the program a strange flash file and make it do something wrong. There are bugs caused when modern programmers forget they are working with old code, and are not 'defensive' enough, assuming that the code will do checks that were too (computer-effort wise) expensive decades ago.

There really is only one solution for this - flash has got to go. There is no longer a need for it, as javascript and HTML5 can do everything that Flash does. We just need everyone who makes websites to delete all their flash garbage.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Steven Universe] Why don't other gems besides Amethyst shape-shift more often?

In Steven Universe we see Amethyst shape-shift quite often. Sometimes she does it for practical reasons like fighting or reaching high objects, sometimes she just does it to entertain herself or others. She clearly uses her shape-shifting powers very liberally. The other gems on the other hand pretty much never do. We see Steven do it every now and then, but he's still new at it and not very good, so it makes sense that he would be very conservative with it. We've seen Garnet do it once or twice at max. We have never seen Pearl or any other characters do it. Why though? We've seen from Amethyst that it can be an extremely effective tool for doing whatever you want, but she seems to be the only one that really takes advantage of it. Why don't the other gems on the show ever do it?

[Assistant] The question you should be asking is less why the others don't do it much, and more why Amethyst does it so often-- and the answer to that is because she's not always comfortable with herself and shapeshifting lets her be someone else when she needs to.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: When you gain muscle, does something that weighs 10 pounds feels like it weighs 5 pounds or does it feel like it weighs 10 pounds you are just able to lift it without as much exertion?

[Assistant]
If something feels like it is heavy, and you then train your body, it will indeed feel lighter. But at the same time, because your body has more muscle to work with, it can divide the load over a larger amount of muscle mass. So the applied exertion is lower as well. The answer to your question is: Both are true.

However, it's not just about the strength of your muscles, but also about the technique you are using. The better you manage to convert the force that you are using into movement of the object, the less you need to exert yourself to achieve the same result.