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

[User]
CMV:Nuclear weapons are the only thing keeping the world from going to complete hell

With how close the world has come to annihilating itself because of leaders who've been a bit trigger happy (Cuban Missile Crisis) I truly believe nukes are pretty much the only reason the world isn't in major conflict right now.

The Cold War for example. If the US and the Soviets didn't have their nuclear arsenal, what reason would Stalin, Khrushchev, etc have for NOT invading the rest of Europe? They could've easily done so and not much the US could've done to stop them.

Our greatest and most terrifying weapons are pretty much our salvation and force us to cooperate even if we don't like each other.

[Assistant]
This type of reasoning is in line with the military strategy known as mutually assured destruction(MAD).

There are numerous assumptions this relies on that should not be taken for granted.

**Second Strike Capability:** The first strike cannot render the second, retaliatory strike impossible. Say, during the Cold War, the Soviets launched their nuke at the American base in Turkey before they could react. This action would render the American nuke useless and would give them full reign over Europe.

**Perfect Detection:** This is somewhat similar to the last one. If the Soviets had devised an ingenious method to deploy their nuke without being detected, they would have had a clear advantage. Without detection capabilities, it is impossible for a retaliatory nuke to retaliate.

**Perfect Rationality:** You are assuming that all actors are rational and that they realize that launching a nuke would cause their own demise. All it would take is one irrational dictator of an oppressive regime to get his hands on nuclear weapons to render the Nash equilibrium obtained by MAD useless(North Korea anyone?).

**Inability to Defend:** Finally, you are assuming that the impacted countries have no ability to defend and survive a nuclear war. Even if heavy losses are sustained on both sides, you cannot underestimate the human condition.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are there still unsolved math problems? Math is concrete, is it just that mathematicians don't know what steps to take?

[Assistant]
Unsolved problems are not just arithmetic problems no one can find the answers to. They are usually conjectures about some mathematical structure or group of structures, and they are usually impossible to solve by brute force because the structures involved are usually infinite. For example:

* The Collatz conjecture. Pick any positive integer. If it's even, divide it by 2; otherwise, triple it and add 1. The Collatz conjecture is that if you repeat that process long enough, you will eventually reach 1. For example, if you start with 3 you'll go through 10, 5, 16, 8, 4, and 2 before reaching 1. There are two infinities here. First, the number can take an arbitrarily long time to reach 1 - as long as it gets there eventually. Try starting with 27 and see how long it takes to get to 1. Second, the conjecture is about *every* positive integer - of which there are infinitely many.
* Another long-standing open problem involves perfect numbers. If you take all the numbers that divide 6 (except 6 itself) and add them together, you get 1+2+3 = 6. Similarly, if you add the divisors of 28 you get 1+2+4+7+14 = 28. Numbers like these, which are equal to the sum of their divisors, are called "perfect". It is conjectured that there are no odd perfect numbers. But there are infinitely many odd positive integers, so again this problem is about an infinitely large collection of things.
* A lot of people are surprised to find out that it is currently unknown whether pi+e is irrational. But "irrational" means it isn't equal to the ratio of two integers, and there are infinitely many possible ratios. There is no easy way of checking whether an arbitrary real number is rational.

A proof of any of these would have to involve more than just basic arithmetic operations and checking cases. You would have to prove something fundamental about the way that the divisors of integers work, for example, in order to show that no integer can be both odd and perfect. Many fundamental results have been found and proven already, but there's no single method that can resolve every question you'd ever want to ask about the integers (or other complicated infinite structures).


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

[User] Why do so many philosophers dismiss evolutionary psychology?

[Assistant]
Philosophers have often been critical of evolutionary psychology for the same reasons that biologists and psychologists have often been: typically, out of a combination of concerns that it (i) has a pseudo-scientific methodology that produces just-so stories rather than scientific knowledge, on the grounds that the elements used in the classical form of evolutionary psychological explanation are untestable;
and, that it (ii) rests on false premises like hyper-adaptationism. Viz. the inference, central to classical evolutionary psychological methodology, that since an organism has a trait that trait is the product of an adaptation, is widely regarded as resting on an account of evolutionary adaptation that has been refuted on scientific grounds.


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

[User]
If I am agreeing to help someone with programming. Would I get in trouble if they are trying to share their companys code to me ?

Person wants me to view issues with code.
Code is that of the company they work for.
Do I suffer repercussions in any scenario?

Obviously I am trying to solve problems so in a way I am helping them. But I know the law exists and dont know if I could possibly get in trouble.

[Assistant]
I dont see how you could get in trouble because youd be looking at code with the permission of the company that owned it, via one of its employees.

Presumably that employee could get fired though. Theyre unlikely to be authorised to give permission for third parties to access the companys code.


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

[User]
CMV: cats should never be let outdoors unless theyre on a leash and outdoor cats are unethical

So Ive had two cats in my life, both indoor. The first one I grew up with, he was an old sweetheart who lived the be almost seventeen. My current kitty is an absolute gremlin, but very healthy and loved. My neighbors on the other hand, have outdoor cats. At least two or three of them have multiple cats that roam around freely. Now I love petting and hanging out with one of them, shes a total sweetie, but I still think its wrong.

Here are my issues:
- Outdoor cats are *incredibly* detrimental to local ecosystems. Ive seen the nicest outdoor cats chase and kill birds, mice, moles, you name it.
- Outdoor cats can be dangerous. When I was young (3?) a cat came into our yard and scratched me. I hold no ill will towards the cat or cats in general obviously, but most people and kids dont understand cats behavior. They dont know when theyre going to be nasty, or how to prevent it. Unleashed dogs are dangerous, cats are no different.
- Someone could take your cat. I almost took my neighbors cat to a shelter until I saw her collar and recognized her. Some people will just straight up steal cats too.
- Its bad for the cat. My one neighbor had this cat, couldve been more than three years old, and it was SO sweet. I hung out with that cat all the time, probably more than its owners tbh. It got hit by a cat. I see cats along my road constantly. More than raccoons. Sure you can say my cat is smart enough to run away or you should brake for animals. Sounds great in theory but these things dont always work. Id take hitting a cat over killing someone in a car accident any day.

These are my main issues with it. I just cant see any benefit to doing it. Keeping a cat outdoors is irresponsible and just seems to me like an excuse for the owners to not have to properly care for and entertain a cat. Im all for bringing a cat out on a leash or harness, thats great! But not leaving them unsupervised. You wouldnt do it with a dog, why do it with a cat?

Im not sure Ill necessary change my view to outdoor cat good but Im willing to hear a valid reason for doing it and change my view that way.

edit: barn cats are a valid reason I forgot about. But in that circumstance theyre away from other people and cars. Still cant see a benefit of letting cats out in a suburban area.

Another edit: I live in a suburban/urban area for context and this is the area where I have most issue with it. Also they shit in other peoples gardens, which I think is pretty inconsiderate of the owners. If you have a huge amount of property, thats cool, or a big fence and let the cat out there. I specifically mean when they go into roads/others property.

[Assistant]
I grew up on a farm.  We had barn cats.  They wander the farm getting rid of mice.  It's a good thing.  I'll take cats over mice any day.

Mice get into the hay, bite when you move it and make the other animals sick by shitting all over everything.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why didnt Percy ever give Malfoy detention for saying the word mudblood?

Surely he understands how offensive it is.

[Assistant] Hogwarts doesn't seem to have a rule explicitly forbidding that kind of language, and if it does, it's likely that Percy would avoid punishing Malfoy for something that Lucius would argue is him abusing his authority to push his father's own pro-muggle agenda.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are there "colleges" for specific majors inside of large universities?

Ex: College of Engineering @ University of X; Also, for undergraduate applications, do you apply to these specific colleges, or the larger one?

[Assistant]
The first universities, as we understand the term, came into being when multiple smaller institutions (colleges) joined together under one name, but retained their individual identities and traditions. Oxford, for example, is made up of 38 colleges. They all teach the same stuff, but they all have their own flavor. Kind of like the houses in Harry Potter.

In the modern day, colleges aren't for individual majors, they're for groups of disciplines. The college of social sciences, for example, would include the departments of psychology, sociology, and communications. The college of physical sciences would include physics, chemistry, and astronomy, and so on. They organize this way for a number of reasons: Tradition, because some classes don't fall neatly under one major, and because it facilitates fundraising--a super-rich surgeon might want his donation going directly to the departments whose classes he took. Hence the Bill Q Moneybags School of Business, or whatever.

To answer your question, generally you apply to the university, then select the college if they make you choose (not all do).


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

[User]
[DC] Are Flash and Wonder Woman biologically different from normal human beings?

We know Batman is a peak human product of training and good genes so a cell culture would probably show higher muscle and bone density and blood samples would probably show lots of steroids and supplements.

Superman's cells somehow have the ability to process sunlight so they may be like chloroplasts.

But what about Flash and Wonder Woman?

If one got a flesh sample of the amazon would one find remnants of the clay used to animate her? Does her body possess any organ that lets her process her godly powers like the Asgardians do in the Ultimate Universe?

And does Flash's blood show traces of the chemicals that allowed him to process the speed force that could be reverse engineered? Say I cultivated a flesh sample of him, could it be used to absorb and process speed force or is there some organ inside Flash that humans don't have and that he uses to tap into it?

[Assistant]
Wonder Woman was fashioned from clay and given life by Zeus, so it depends on whether Zeus wanted to exactly mimic human biology.

Since she doesn't age I'd guess that there would be substantial differences in her makeup. She may not even have genes, or she may not have the same number, lenght, and shape to her genes.

She's basically a golem made by a very, very high level mage.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why arent all trees evergreen?

What makes an evergreen tree stay green all year round vs a tree that dies? Why cant all trees do this?

[Assistant] Takes energy to make the durable leaves. So the trees keep them. You can drop your leaves and forget about having to spend energy to keep them. If you want some cool easy information about trees, The Common Descent Podcast has an episode on trees.


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

[User]
[Pokemon] Why do Great Balls have a higher chance of catching Pokemon than a regular Pokeball?

And you can replace 'Great Ball' with 'Ultra Ball' or whichever. What causes them to be more efficient and likely to catch a Pokemon?

[Assistant] Better materials and construction, just like anything else. The Pokemon capture process is intensely complicated, so they're more expensive because more time and tech are used. Most of the time normal Pokeballs or a few Great Balls are all that are needed, so they keep the cheaper models on the market for broad-based profit and availability.


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

[User]
[Finding Dory] How the hell are sea urchins allowed in the interactive area (spoilers, maybe)?!

During their escape, Dory and Hank (the octopus) got into a small pool full of animals like starfishes and sea cucumbers. Kids grabbed these animals and some even stabbed their hands trying to grab the sea urchins. Knowing that are urchins are venomous (?), how is there an area where children are allowed to grab echinoderms?

[Assistant] Not all urchins are poisonous, the owners probably thought it was better to teach the kids that some of the animals were dangerous in a controlled environment than to let them find out somewhere where help couldn't reach them in time.


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

[User]
[James Bond] Does being disfigured make you evil, or does being evil make you disfigured?

I'm asking because my neighbor Randy is being a dick, and was wondering if it was because he's missing an eye or because he's just an ass.

[Assistant]
Being disfigured typically means you were involved in some intense shit that backfired on you. It's possible that you were involved in some evil shit that led to your disfigurement, but its also possible that you were fighting evil (Felix Leiter became a double amputee trying to track down a villain in *Live and Let Die*, for example).

Of course, it could also just mean you got too careless with a nail gun.


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

[User] [Marvel] Since Vibranium is an extraterrestrial material, how common is it throughout the universe ?

[Assistant]
Gold is another extraterrestrial material, formed in the hearts of stars and released when they die, and we haven't found traces of it on other planets in our solar system.

Assuming Vibranium is an element with similar origins, its presumably higher place on the periodic table would reduce the number of stars capable of producing it, making it even more exquisitely rare.


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

[User] ELI5: On AC units, why is 20C on cold mode colder than 20C on warm mode? Why isnt it the same temperature?

[Assistant]
AC units don't temperature adjust.

They blow Hot air, or Cold air.

They have a thermometer in them to let them know the room has achieved the set temperature and to then stop/slow flow until the temperature changes again then to restart.

You can test it by setting it to as High or as Low as it can go (rather than the 20 you want), the temperature of the air coming out won't change, just how long the machine stays on will.


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

[User]
[Cabin In the Woods] How come the Horrors don't attack each other?

Seems to me that all the Horrors, whether monstrous, deranged or furious, would be up and spoiling for a fight upon being released. Once they finish with the food/victims in the immediate vicinity (the swat team guys), why would they not get started on each other?

I think the giant cobra would rapidly rule the roost, but the ghosts and the screeching bat than can bash through walls would give it a run for the money...

[Assistant]
The horrors that aren't simply overgrown animals of some variety are there due to magic/curses.

As such, those there due to curses have the specific task of killing humans who broke the curse, or, alternatively, just all humans in sight. Other horrors don't fall into this category as none are truly human.

Those beings that are simply magical will do as they please, although their nature has always been to kill humans and so will do so until they have exhausted all of those in the immediate vicinity. Many would also harbour ill will towards those that imprisoned them, and the majority have the inclination to escape and go back to their roles in the wider world after wreaking their revenge.

The large beasts are thought to exist due to magical origin, although it is not known whether they could also exist in the wild as simply another species. The captors decided it was better to not test this theory as recapturing a 50m long cobra from virtually any natural environment poses far too many risks.

This ends postulation on scenario black.

-Log of facility **REDACTED** As dictated by **REDACTED**


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

[User]
ELI5: Why the hell does Yankee Doodle call his hat "Macaroni" after he sticks a feather in it?

Seriously though those lyrics never made sense to me.

EDIT: Wow, front page. Definitely taking shots for this.

[Assistant] Macaroni was a particularly grand, elaborate, and effeminate fashion trend popular among young English men at the time of the Revolutionary War. The song, which was originally an English jibe at the American colonialists, suggests that the colonialists were so naive, or out-of-touch with contemporary trends, as to believe that putting a feather in their hat was the same as "macaroni".


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

[User]
ELI5: How do ants decide the physical structure of their colonies?

Does it follow some sort of pattern? How do they decide?

[Assistant]
They don't decide in the sense of a conscious, intentional, planned or designed thing. Instead, each one of many individuals of various castes (think occupations) follows a few very simple procedures that collectively result in an elaborate layout. This kind of thing, where amazing complexity can arise out of the behavior of many simple agents' simple actions, happens all over nature and is called *emergence*. Here the complex physical structure is said to *emerge* from the acts of all the ants.

It's a little bit like how the astounding beauty of a snowflake arises from the rattling around and latching together of a whole slew of water molecules. Those H2O's never sit down at a meeting and hammer out an agreement. Instead each one just follows the laws of physics, which, given the unique conditions in their immediate surroundings, account for the emergence of *that* snowflake.


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

[User] ELI5: How does your body produce blood?

[Assistant]
Blood is composed of several components, each produced in/arising from various places. The bone marrow is responsible for the production of most blood cells including platelets and red & white blood cells (although some white blood cells, such as T cells, will mature in the thymus). Plasma (the liquid) is simply made up of the water and salts absorbed from the digestive tract. Hundreds of soluble proteins are also found within the blood which can be produced from almost any organ or tissue!

The process of blood cell production is called haematopoiesis, where progenitor (stem cells) specialise into the various types of red and white cells.


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

[User]
Why are black holes often displayed with acreation disk which is red to orange on the outer rim and yellow to white on the inner ring?

Im in process of painting Binary black holes and Im using some images as reference. I was wanderimg why are black holes often displayed with acreation disk which has darker colors (orange to almost red) on the outer rim and lighter colors(yellow to almost white) on the inner ring, closer to core (or horizon).
Is there science behind this "popular" picture of black holes?

And any science or knowledge behind "Binary black holes" you could share?

Thank you for any answer.

[Assistant]
This is showing the temperature profile of the accretion disc. It's hotter near the black hole and cooler on the outer rim. Warm stuff glows red, and hotter stuff glow yellow, then white, then blue, as you get hotter and hotter.

This heat comes from *viscous stresses*. The closer you get to the black hole, the faster the gas particles are moving and colliding with each other, and the more heat you generate. This heat gets radiated away - which is why black hole accretion discs are so bright. And this loss of energy is part of what causes black holes to accrete - the gas has to lose energy to fall inwards onto the black hole.


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

[User]
[Evangelion] Why is Tokyo-3 built directly above the Geofront and Terminal Dogma?

It's not like the citizens had to live on the giant armour plates to make them more effective.
Since the residents of Tokyo-3 would be much safer if they weren't in the direct path of the Angels, why isn't the city located a short distance away from the Geofront?

[Assistant]
It serves several functions:

1. It allows NERV employees and their families to live close to their base of operation. Similar to how military bases often have neighborhoods very close to them.

2. It provides camouflage for NERV's shadier practices. Its much harder to spy on or infiltrate a location when its hidden underneath a city. Also, in the event they should come under attack (like in End of Eva), the attacking army would have to weigh the risk of going through civilians.

3. Distracts the Angels. While they are busy stomping through buildings and dealing with the defense weaponry NERV can scramble the EVAs.

4. It helps distract people from the true intention of the Angels. Public record states that Angels are draw to humans to kill them, making a city an ideal place to corral and ambush them. So long as people are focused on that, they won't snoop around and find Lillith.


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

[User]
[Star Trek TNG]Hunger has been solved on Earth but creating food from nothing at an atomic level can't be more energy efficient than actual agriculture. Does Earth have mass scale agriculture to feed the masses or is most food replicated?

We know for sure there is SOME agriculture on Earth, we have seen it or had references to it.  But that could be... "artisan" farming.  And we know that crops are grown on many Federation colony worlds, but that could only be because they don't have the energy infrastructure to make all their food via replicators.

[Assistant] More energy efficient?  No.  More space efficient?  More water efficient? More time efficient?  All yes, and those are more important.  Remember that all waste products, including bathroom waste, is used as input for the replicators.  The vast majority of food is replicated.  There are real restaurants and real agriculture here and there, but it's seen as entertainment rather than sustenance.


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

[User]
[LOTR] what if what I desire most in the world is to destroy the ring ?

I don't want fame or money or power or the save the world just purely the think I want most is to watch that smug shinny little fucker melt in the volcano. Could I successfully carry the ring to mount dome and drop it in assuming theres no other forces at play trying to stop me. Agian I don't want to destroy it as means to an end I just want to destroy it.

[Assistant]
"Hey kid, slip me on, it will make the trip to mount Doom a whole lot easier. Don't even worry about the ringwraiths, they'll never catch YOU. You're the only one equipped to destroy me, everyone else is holding you back."

-The ring, probably.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do celebrities keep their cell numbers and personal emails so locked down?

I know it really doesn't matter, but how do they give out their numbers or emails and how hasn't a privacy issue happened sooner?

[Assistant]
Usually a combination of two ways:

1) Multiple phone numbers and e-mails. One would be strictly for personal use that they only give to close friends/family. Another would be for business matters and so on. The same way that you probably have more than one e-mail address -- a general e-mail that you give to companies/websites for accounts, spam, etc., and another for more personal business, like school or work.

2) Managers/agents. They handle all the business-related calls. If, say, a director wants to get in touch with an actor, they'd call his/her agent or representative. The agent would then relay the information to the actor's personal phone/e-mail. This is mainly why agents gets paid. They work out all the details and present the information to their client so they don't have to sort through it all.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are we STILL discovering Egyptian pyramids, shouldn't these giant structures all be discovered by now?

In the news today, a new pyramid was discovered.  I can see new tombs being uncovered, but this thing is out in the open, why did it take so long to find?

[Assistant]
Sand dunes buried most of them.   All the ancient Egyptians were dead by then and the area wasn't that populated, so people lost track of where they all were.

Sometimes the wind blows the sand away, and poof, there is the top of a pyramid.


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

[User]
[DC] How do the different Green Lanterns compare to each other?

I've heard they have different styles of contructs, but what does this mean? Are the styles more or less suitable to different tasks? What about the Lanterns themselves? How do they differ from each other or from other colour Lanterns?

[Assistant]
All the corps have basic similarities such as flight and a protective energy shield, with various differences.

- **Green Lanterns** can make various constructs (Be if offensive or defensive). They draw their power from willpower.

- **Yellow Lanterns (aka Sinestro Corps)** are very similar to green in that they can also make constructs. They draw their power from fear.

- **Red Lanterns** (With *rare* exceptions) cannot make constructs. The ring replaces their heart and without it on they die. They can spew forth acidic blood that burns whatever it touches. Anyone wearing a red ring flies into a mindless rage and acts like a wild animal; It takes incredible strength or willpower to resist this. They draw their power from rage.

- **Blue Lanterns** can recharge Green Power Rings simply by being near them, and can even overcharge rings to make them more powerful. Without being near a Green Power Ring, these rings are almost useless and can only provide flight and a protective shield. When near a GL they can create constructs (Which tend to be more defensive but can be offensive) and can heal people. A Blue Lantern is one of the few things that can successfully cure a Red Lantern. They are powered by hope.

- **Agent Orange (Larfleeze)** is the only creature with an Orange Power Ring. He is powered by a never-ending greed and gluttony. Whenever he eats or kills someone he is able to make them an orange construct, capable of acting independently. These constructs seem to have independent thought but obey Larfleeze. His constructs can absorb the light of other rings.

- **Star Sapphires** wield the violet light of love. They are exclusively female. They can tether to someone they love and know their location as well as any danger they are in. They are able to encase people in crystal, having them emerge later as Star Sapphires. Their lights cannot be absorbed by Orange constructs.

- **Indigo Tribe** wields the purple light of compassion. Their corps is made up of reformed criminals whose emotions have all been suppressed by their rings, similar to brainwashing. They can emulate the powers of all other corps, in addition to being able to teleport great distances.

- **Black Lanterns** are fuelled by death. This corps is made up of deceased (Or formerly deceased) individuals. They consume the living to increase their own power. They cannot be killed except by the combined light of the entire emotional spectrum. A person wielding a black ring is able to raise the dead to serve them, but they do not make constructs.

- **White Lanterns** have the typical lantern powers. They can channel the powers of all the other rings (Aside from black) and can destroy Black Lanterns with ease.


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

[User] [Star Trek TNG] When Lt. La Forge is stranded on Galorndon Core and interacts with a shipwrecked Romulan, the Romulan recognizes La Forge's sarcasm. Do many humanoid races have a concept of sarcasm, or is this relatively unusual?

[Assistant]
Almost every major race we come across expressed sarcasm in one form or another.

Vulcanoids (including Romulans) use it very frequently when dealing with species they feel are inferior (and for Romulans, that's everyone that's not a Romulan).


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

[User]
How can a person's risk of death "from any cause" be determined?

You hear statistics that state something like "getting less than X hours of sleep per night increases one's risk of death by any cause by Y percent."

How can one's risk of death "by any cause" be determined? If I sleep less than X hours per night, then by that logic is my risk of being struck by a meteorite or trampled by elephants higher? I know those are both outlandish, extreme, and absurd examples to use, but would they not fall under the category of "any cause?" Or does it just mean organic, health-related causes? "Death by any cause" just seems like a very ambiguous and unspecific choice of words.

[Assistant]
Check that a person is alive; check later to see if they're dead. If they're dead, they have died "by any cause". Repeat for a large number of people.

Divide up all the people into ones with X and ones with not X. If one group has a higher death rate at some level of significance, publish.

Establishing causal connections is beyond the scope of the paper.


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

[User] [Blade Runner/Blade Runner 2049] How and when did Blade Runner diverge from our own universe? Blade Runner 2049 shows the Soviet Union surviving to the eponymous year, as well as holograms of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and Frank Sinatra.

[Assistant] The USSR survived because of the nuclear war. Most of the earth is a radioactive hell leaving small pockets of inhabited areas mostly in the surviving cities. The PKD historical record goes back at least as far as 1968.


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

[User]
[Mech Anime] Why are Teenagers such a vital part of our planetary defense systems?

Are adolescents better predisposed to pilot giant robots or use magical powers to defend our planet then trained adult soliders, or is it the end result of a recruiting/PR push to get children interested in the Xenomilitary?

[Assistant]
While each universe is different, most of them have specific reasons why teens are used.  Sometimes they are uniquely qualified due to brain patterns (Evangellion).  Often we come into the war after decades of combat leading to younger and younger soldiers (Mobile Suit Gundam series).  In other instances we are looking at people trained from a very young age and pushed into service (Gundam Wing).  Finally, there are still other series where the protagonists have just joined the military and were never supposed to be in these types of combat.

Its also important to note that there are series where most pilots (or all pilots) are adults instead of teens.  G Gundam is almost entirely adult pilots, and the only teens in Gundam Wing are the specially trained hastily sent protagonists, everyone else is an adult.


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

[User]
[The Witcher]With as many monsters are roaming the countryside, how is witchering not a thriving trade?

Theres so much emphasis on the fact that witchers are dying out, but the demand hasnt seemed to subsist at all, and other parts of society certainly havent picked up the slack in terms of dealing with monsters.

[Assistant]
Most of the larger ones have been killed, a point that is made often in the games and the novels. In the games, because you need shit to do you always have fancy monsters to fight, but in the books Geralt is often broke and goes weeks between jobs. Chorts, Fiends, Griffons are mostly extinct, and organized nations and militias can generally handle the smaller ones fine.

Humanity also in the past successfully took over a lot of monster habitats with the aid of witchers, burning and razing forests and caves and such and so they can't breed.

Making witchers is also very hard and expensive, and making armies to handle monsters is easy and cheap.


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

[User]
Use of the word "request" by students from South Asia

I regularly receive emails from students from India and Pakistan who want to enroll in PG studies or internships. Many of these emails seem fairly formal and respectful BUT make a troubling use of the word "request", in a way that feels downright disrespectful and abrupt.
I'm talking about sentences like "I request you to take me under your mentorship", or "I request you to please let the process be continued"...

Since I'm not a native speaker I'm not sure whether that's the way other people would perceive this use of the word. Perhaps it's some overly-formal British English turn of phrase that's gone out of fashion elsewhere.
And I wonder why so many of these students use it, and where they learn it from.

Any thoughts on this?

[Assistant] Indian here: Yes written English taught in Indian schools can sometimes be quite old-fashioned. By requesting you to be their mentor, they are basically asking you for an opportunity to interview.  And under no circumstance are they trying to be disrespectful to you.  In fact, they are actively trying to avoid that at every cost, whether you interview them or not.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] What counts as 'overuse' of Felix Felicis?

I know it's dangerous if used excessively, but where is the line drawn? Could one, for instance, take it on a monthly basis and schedual all important appointments on that date?

[Assistant]
>I know it's dangerous to use heroin excessively, but where is the line drawn?

You could *try* keeping it on a regular schedule, but Slughorn implies that it's addictive and starts to change how you think about things when you're *not* using.

Felix Felicis: not even once.


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

[User]
Eli5 why does weed make my mouth dry.

Pretty common phenomenon. Cottonmouth. why?

[Assistant]
Doctor here!

Ive been waiting 14 years for this question, so heres 164k worth of knowledge.

THC reacts with Cannaboid receptors in the brain. A side effect of stimulating these receptors, is the parasympathetic nervous system delays.

The PNS controls saliva glands, and its delayed reactions cause your mouth to get dry, or "cotton mouth" because your saliva glands arent responding on time

Dry taste buds react more seriously to stimulation. Stoners are prone to drink sugary drinks like soda, because the brain rewards them for providing sweet, cold liquid.


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

[User] ELI5: How can one pipeline deliver different brands and octanes of gasoline? How do they separate them at the destination?

[Assistant] All of these folks saying pipelines only deliver crude oil are incorrect. While that is the most common scenario there are some large pipelines that transport gasoline and diesel refined products along with typical crudes. These pipelines are batched systems and the operators account for an interface mix of the products (transmix). This is a sacrifical cut of a lower quality product to maintain the quality of the higher value product. The batch train lineup in the pipeline is carefully scheduled to avoid contamination.


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

[User] Eli5: Why websites want me to install their app even if it's same as the website?

[Assistant]
Sometimes they can offer a more optimized experience on an app than they can in the browser, such as by allowing phone calls and notifications directly to your phone vs email.

It's also easier to collect your personal data and target ads to you with an installed app.


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

[User]
[General Sci-Fi] Why invade a planet when you can just build space habitats and harvest resources from asteroids?

If you have the capacity to build an invasion fleet capable of conquering a planet across interstellar distance, wouldn't it be more practical to just build space habitats closer to home? I mean if you're invading a planet for resources there are much easier sources closer to home, and if you just want new living space it would be much easier to construct space habitats where you can tailor the environment exactly to your liking. And any species with the capacity to launch an invasion fleet across space would be just as capable of such things.

[Assistant] Planets are self-sustaining habitats. Artificial habitats are typically a perpetual resource drain. It's the difference between a flower bed and a terrarium. Planets also already have plenty of great fail-safes against the threats of space, such as an atmosphere or heavily redundant water filtration.


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

[User]
[Xmen] Could Cyclops provide 'infinite energy'? Basically force him to boil water with his beams and turn turbines.

Would it work?

[Assistant]
He couldn't boil water, as his blasts are concussive, not heat based.

He could move a turbine, and provide a lot of energy - he's been compared to a nuclear reactor - but it wouldn't be infinite. He has collapsed from exhaustion from extended release, and also had the beams basically cutoff.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do I shit whole corn kernels even though I'm positive I chewed them.

.

[Assistant] The outside of a corn kernel is made of tough cellulose.  You can't digest it, and in reality most chewing at best only squeezes the contents of the kernel out.  So you get some seemingly intact corn kernels in your poo poo.


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

[User] [Star Wars] If Palpatine made Snoke why didnt he have other Snokes guarding him instead of those Sith Troopers?

[Assistant]
Maybe its the same reason why the Rule of Two thing existed in the first place - Palpatine wanted to limit threats to his power as much as possible.

Big armies of dark side users are actually less effective than one or two working in the shadows, because Dark Side Force users tend to turn on each other and have disastrous civil wars. Much better to have a powerful, obedient, united non-force sensitive army than a fractured, volatile, dangerous force sensitive army. Im guessing its a sort of diminishing returns scenario. A handful of Sith Lords are dangerous. But too many of them will increase the likelihood of them turning on each other, and theres still just one galaxy to conquer. Force users are good in combat, but fleets and armies are still way more powerful.


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

[User] What exactly makes aged wine better?

[Assistant]
The main chemical reaction is the polymerization of smaller tannin units into chains and sheets.

The smaller tannin subunits taste bitter and are astringent.
Astringency refers to the mouth-drying sensation resulting from the tannins binding to proteins in the saliva.

As a result, the larger tannin polymers have fewer functional groups, and the wine is less bitter and smoother.

There are other reactions that can occur, including the hydrolysis of aroma molecules that are bound to sugar molecules, "freeing up" more complex aromas as well. This can occur in some whites. The tannin chemistry is more important in reds.


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

[User]
CMV: We should stop primarily teaching facts in school

*Currently, we teach students math, languages, geography, history etc. A wide variety of facts and techniques as applied to theoretical problems.*

*Then, upon graduation from high school, we expect them to make an informed decision about their career (by choosing a major in university/college). Then, once that's over, they start solving real problems at some company.*

*They go from theoretical learning (how to calculate the trajectory of a projectile) to solving real problems and learning on the fly what they missed before (ie: how to design a better auto-pilot system for a plane).*

*We all agree that eventually, students are ready to solve real-world problems. We just think they need a certain level of background information on Shakespeare first.*

*The problem is two things:*

*1) Student Motivation -- students no longer need to be taught endless lists of facts when they all have smartphones in their pockets. Teaching facts further reduces motivation by students to do the work...they know they can use a calculator, Google it, and so on.*

*2) Accuracy of Career Choice -- how can we expect someone to know they want to be an engineer if all they've ever done is calculate the path of a projectile? So, they choose a major (with uncertainty), take a low-risk choice they don't really love because they've never experienced it, or quit their job at age 40 because they realize they never truly loved their job in the first place (but still have all the student debt from the uninformed choice they made at 18)*

*Here's what I think needs to be done with the education system as a whole, around the world (this is the essence of my view) -- we need to use real workforce projects as a way to teach students outcomes they can \*really\* help with, then use that to show them the skills they need. This means every lesson they learn has real-world applications, and they get a taste of what the industry is really like so they can make better choices as to what to pursue in their career.*

*This is already done at the MBA level, but there's no reason a student in high school (or even younger) cant solve the same problem.*

*For example, take an R&D project about health care (ie: developing a heart drug, for example), and let them realize that they need to learn more about the parts of the body, how active ingredients mix with binders, proper dosage, how to interpret studies, and so on -- they'll see the need for the math, chemistry, biology, statistics, etc.*

*Instead of teaching facts to solve theoretical problems, student motivation will go through the roof if they are exposed to big hairy audacious problems and taught how to utilize the vast knowledge and resources now readily available on the internet, in books, and so on.*

*I'm an education researcher and would love to see the k-12 school system re-built from the ground up using this as a framework, and would love to hear some reasons it wouldn't work (either from an industry partner perspective or a school system/implementation perspective). Change my view.*

[Assistant]
Heres the thing... students arent just learning facts.

They are exercising their brains.

Like, for someone who works out a lot at the gym, how often are their times when a person in real life, outside of the gym, will need to be able to bench press 250lb?

None... but by constantly working out various muscle groups, your body becomes stronger overall.

Likewise, sure, most students who learn calculus never actually apply it in the real world, but learning it essentially exercises their brain, and gives their brain more endurance for critical thinking and problem solving.


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

[User]
[Elysium] What if someone on Earth successfully destroyed Elysium, and everyone on it?

Say, someone snuck onto the station, and before he could be deported, set off a suitcase nuke. Or, a criminal organization blasted the station apart with kinetic artillery.

[Assistant] That would be absolutely catastrophic from an economic standpoint. Elysium is an incredibly expensive investment, and just losing it means losing that income, losing hordes of rich and powerful people, and losing the investment. The economy would crash, and crash hard after that kind of loss.


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

[User]
Where i'm from in Eastern Europe it is a common belief that by sitting or walking barefoot an a cold floor you become more prone to UTIs. Is there any truth to this?

All my life all the women in my family have been nagging me about not sitting on the ground and not walking barefoot and especially not going into cold water because i will be forever doomed with constant UTIs. But since there are few things i enjoy more than sitting on the floor, i need some scientific evidence to back this up.

[Assistant]
In all likelihood - no.  There is no reason this should be the case, unless you are in the habit of sitting on a terribly dirty floor while completely naked, and/or finding a way to stick your terribly dirty feet from your terribly dirty floor into a part of your anatomy they were not meant to be stuck in

the "cold water" part is unlikely as well. think about all the civilizations that live on the banks of cold water bodies.


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

[User]
Question on Descartes' Evil Genius Argument

On his first meditation Descartes applies hyperbolic methodical doubt to the foundations of all his previous beliefs and he does that in 3 waves: the argument from the senses, the argument from dreaming, and the evil genius argument. My question is about the third wave, namely how does he know that his reasoning capabilities are safe from the evil demon's illusion. I understand that later he arrives at the Cogito because even if the evil genius is deceiving him, he must exist. My question is more about how can Descartes still trust his reasoning capabilities as the evil demon can deceive him about the most basic laws of logic and inferences.

[Assistant]
If the evil demon is deceiving him he must exist to be deceived.

If the evil demon is not deceiving him, he must exist as he believes he exists.

A thing must exist if it is to be deceived or believe. Perhaps a tacit corrolary (my read) is an implicit call out to some contemporary (of the Era) Christian dogma which argued that believing(faith) was a fundamental force in itself, and thus guaranteed existence (faith being so powerful as to be beyond corruption or deception).

Personally Descartes' logic has never been compelling, especially with regard to his ontological proof in God. He makes assumptions without fully exhausting possibilities, which is sloppy.


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

[User]
CMV: Android is better than iOS

I started off with the first generation of iPods. I was absolutely enthralled from the jump. I could fit entire libraries of music from a litany of bands and genres on one device that could fit in my pocket. I never considered there could be anything else, I thought that it could never get any better than that. I was in love.

Then the first iPhone came out. My best friend had gotten one first and i must admit I was jealous. It was so sleek, it had a touchscreen, it could make calls and texts in addition to holding all my music! It could access the internet, it had GPS, it has a much better camera than my shitty Motorola Razr. How can i live without one?!

Then I got one. It was everything I wanted and more. I was the happiest I could be. The genesis of my lifelong love of gadgets had begun.

Anyways, I stuck with the iphone loyally for a few generations. I was the perfect age when it was released. High school me was not very discerning and was easily impressed by the latest and greatest tech. Android wasn't even on my radar then, I was perfectly content with my first gen iphone.

After the first couple generations I switched to Android after researching the device I was interested in. I couldn't understand how on paper it could have beaten the iPhone in almost every respect. I decided to make the switch, figuring this Android would be the last cell phone I'd ever buy. I've been through at least half a dozen since, and I remain loyal to Android to this day.

I can't understand why Apple can get away with charging exorbitant amounts of money for relatively run of the mill specifications. I can understand when it comes to PC vs. Mac, as I studied audio production and such a task is much more amenable to Apple's operating system as opposed to Windows. Even so, it still seemed silly that Apple was charging far more for the essentially the same hardware.

So, what is it? Is it the software? Some appeal of the UI itself? Brand loyalty? This is one of those opinions I have which could be swayed if someone comes in leaving a response which berates me for the error of my ways. So I want your guys' experience with Apple products. What makes them preferable to an Android in the case of cellphones, or other operating systems when it comes to laptops and desktops? Why should I trade in my Samsung for an iPhone tomorrow? Why should I pawn all my worldly possessions for a beat up iMac on eBay?

Not only could I be swayed, I almost *want* to be swayed. As I mentioned, in terms of audio production, Apple reigns supreme. I'm looking for an excuse to justify such a wildly expensive purchase. So I'm asking you all, from the bottom of my heart, to change my view!

Thanks for reading!

[Assistant]
I was a longtime Android user for a decade, recently moved to IOS.

The platforms are both different and tailor to different needs. IOS tailors towards the person who just wants a phone that works. Simple, fluid, not much too it. Plus, for the professional video/photo editor or musician, Apples platform cant be beat. Android simply doesnt have the tools to match it. People are willing to pay a premium for this.

Android on the other hand, tailors well towards people who want more out of a phone. Customization is much better here, and its an easier platform to build upon. Yet, you can also make a mess of things if you delete the wrong file or press the wrong button. This tailors well towards developers or technology enthusiasts.

These platforms tailor towards different subsections of the same market, so its unreasonable to declare that one is better than the other. Its entirely dependent on your personal needs.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Can Hogwarts teachers spam house points or is there a limit?

If I were a teacher at Hogwarts and wanted to cause some shenanigans or if I took the house cup too seriously, could I just say 1000 points to Gryffindor over and over to rig the system?

I know its pretty much an honor system but are there any actual counter-spells in place to prevent this?

[Assistant]
You could try but the rest of the faculty could simply counter you if they thought you were having a psychotic break.

And you could shout 1000 pts to Gryffindor till you are blue in the face, but why? Another teacher could simply award 4,831,000 points (or whatever total you had reached) to huffelpuff, slytheryn, and ravenclaw to raven things up.

Edit: that should have read EVEN things up, but it kind of works.


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

[User]
[The Walking Dead] Why isn't anyone using airplanes?

It seems that planes would be a good way to scout new places to scavenge, look for large groups of walkers, other groups of survivors, other groups for Neegan to shakedown. There have to be pilots that survived. All other types of vehicles seem to be running or repairable.

[Assistant]
I don't believe an aeroplane would be very useful, the cost would out weigh the benefits.

The plane would be noisy attracting walkers and other survivors plus any survivor who spots the plane would know to head to local airports or landing strips to find people to loot.

If the pilot does spot somewhere which they think would be a good place to scavenge from they've got to find their way to the location on foot after returning to base, they don't know what dangers they may encounter on route and there's also the possibility that anything of value has already been taken from the area once they get there. Also the communities which have survived this long into the apocalypse on their own have learned to stay hidden until they know they can trust other groups they encounter or be able to tank their way through the other group, as soon as someone turns up saying they spotted the camp from the air and came to say hi it narrows down areas where the first group has to search to find them.


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

[User]
[DC/The Sandman] Why didnt the Endless intervene during the Crisis?

If the Anti-Monitor was trying to destroy the whole multiverse, wouldnt that also destroy the Endless? There would be nobody left to Dream, Desire, Die, etc so they would all all basically fade away, so why did none of them step in to help the multiverse? (I know Dream was still imprisoned by then, this is talking about everyone else)

Also, related question- are the Endless affected by the constant reboots of the DC universe? I know Dream at least is still around as of Dark Nights: Death Metal, and Death appears from time to time, but do they change at all with all the cosmic reboots?

[Assistant]
They did. Just not in the same way a god would.

The Endless are in a strange place in terms of the cosmic hierarchy. They're certainly extremely powerful...but not in the sense most superbeings are powerful. They're not the sort to do kryptonian-style shrugging off bullets and shooting lasers. They don't get into *fights* in the conventional sense. Their power and nature is more summed up in this quote:

>"She is death."
>
>"You mean a goddess of death? Or a personification of death?"
>
>"No. She *is* death."

The heroes' desire to stop the antimonitor, their dreams of victory, the despair inspiring them to prevent future  horrors, the delirium that they could fight a being greater then gods and the death of the Anti-monitor- that's how the Endless intervene. Without them, no-one would bother to fight.

They were there. They're always everywhere, so ubiquitous most forget their presence. That's why they're called Endless.


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

[User] ELI5: How are tattoos permanent if every cell in your body is replaced every 7 - 10 years?

[Assistant]
Tattoos are ink injected into/under the skin, so while they're technically 'part of your body', that's only in the sense that a replacement hip is 'part of your body' - tattoo ink isn't on the list of cells that die and are replaced naturally by your body.

They will break down over the years (which is why old tattoos can look 'muddy'), but that's a property of the ink itself breaking down and, again, not part of your body's cell-replacement-action.


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

[User]
[AtLA, TLoK] Given the movements we see benders make, could a bender missing limbs manipulate their elements without making new limbs? Can limbless benders manipulate from a range?

I know Ming-Hua was missing her arms, but we never see her use her ability at a range.

[Assistant]
Arguably yes, they could. The reason benders move as they do is because those movements help them focus their chi and direct it to the desired effect. Because Chi is a metaphysical power, it doesn't necessarily require the movement so much as the will and belief behind that movement.

An Airbender throws a punch and expects a burst of air to be released. They *believe* in the effect that their motion will cause, and they can visualize the outcome.

A limbless Bender could achieve this, they'd just need to have an exceptionally strong mind and will.


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

[User] [Iron Man 3] In the second film we learn that the suit is only "synced" to Tony Stark and Rhodes body. How is the Iron Patriot able to be piloted by someone else?

[Assistant] Where do we learn that the suits are "synched" to Stark and Rhodes? Rhodes just took one suit and took off. In IM3, the new suit is linked to Stark because of those detector things he put in his body, but the War Machine suit could be controlled by anyone.


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

[User]
[Big Hero 6] - Professor Callaghan too bloodthirsty for the storyline

He loses his own daughter and yet tries to kill all his students without mercy or warning.  He obviously recognizes them, but he throws a cargo container at them the first time he sees them.   He tries to kill them several times before leaving them to drown in the harbor; also on the island; and at the end.

I just cant see him going from caring professor to ruthless killer; even to avoid exposure.  It doesnt add up.

[Assistant]
The big theme of Big Hero Six is vengeance and it's corrupting effects on someone. Give into hate, in to rage and pain and you can easily turn from a kind caring person into a monster who would gladly destroy anyone who gets in their way.

If you think it's abrupt, remember about what happened to Hiro. He found out that Callaghan killed Tadashi and immediately flipped out. He deliberately overrode Baymax against Baymax's own begging and orders him to kill. Baymax's destructive rampage nearly gets all his friends killed when they try to stop it. And Hiro's a sweet 14 year old kid. If he could snap, anyone could.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] If midichlorians, a microscopic organism living in the bloodstream of Jedi are what give a Jedi their force powers, does that mean that a Jedi could be defeated with strong enough antibiotics?

Basically, could Jedi/Sith be defeated by penicillin?

[Assistant]
Do we know for sure if it's the midichlorians that cause force-sensitivity, and not that midichlorians thrive in the bodies of people that are extremely force-sensitive?

a) If they do cause force sensitivity and are a *bacteria,* then yeah the right kind of antibiotic might cut off their force powers.

b) If not, all it'll do is drop their midichlorian count, making the Jedi able to disguise their force-sensitivity if someone's going around testing for midichlorians. You know, plus whatever side effects the antibiotics have.


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

[User] [Monty Python] Some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, does that make me King of England?

[Assistant] Yes, but not everyone may realize this.  Some think they're members of an autonomous collective, some think it's an anarcho-syndicalist commune.  In addition, you'll run into trouble if you don't have the backing of the powerful police union.


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

[User]
[avatar] why did azulon not exile ozai from the fire nation?

 this would have been a great punishment for ozai, instead of having an innocent child killed.

[Assistant]
Because Ozai was still extremely capable and useful to the Fire Nation. Not only did Azulon know it, but others did as well. Trying to exile Ozai wouldn't have gone over like Ozai exiling Zuko, a feeble princeling who went *against* popular doctrine. It would have sent the Fire Nation into a civil war, one that Azulon might not have won.

(Of course, the point became irrelevant when Ozai just had Azulon directly killed anyway. Azulon underestimated Ozai's hunger for power.)


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

[User] ELI5: What is the difference between a Debit Card and a Prepay Card (like Revolut)?

[Assistant]
A debit card is tied to a bank account, when you spend money it comes from that account.

A prepaid card is tied only to the money you put down when you paid for the card. The bank that backs it creates a temporary account with only that amount in it.

The biggest difference is that the debit card will have personal information tied to it. Your name, bank account, etc. A prepaid card is anonymous, especially if you paid cash for it.


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

[User]
ELI5: Technology and automation has led to much greater efficiencies and output for every human in the workforce over the last 50 years. How come this hasn't led globally to less working hours or a shorter work week for the average worker?

EDIT: Replace 'every human in the workforce' with 'most people'. I agree efficiency has not been gained equally across all professions.

[Assistant]
Im not sure if theres a way to answer this question without politicizing it to some extent.

Basically, business leaders didnt see the gains in efficiency as an opportunity to reduce hours for their workers. They saw it as an opportunity to make more stuff for less money and thus make more profit.


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

[User]
What is the best book about the feud between Sartre and Camus?

The title says it all. I see "The boxer and the goalkeeper" pop up a lot, but read some negative comments about it and was wondering if other books better describe this moment in history.

[Assistant] There aren't particularly many books which focus on this at all, but if you'd like a nice and general idea of their relationship, *At The Existentialist Caf* by **Sarah Bakewell** is an excellent read. It tells the story of existentialism and its development and delves into the lives of the existentialists themselves, including Sartre and Camus. It's a really fun read and gives you an idea of how the two were with each other.


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

[User] ELI5: Is there a practical reason why some brands make phones without removable battery / SDcard, or they're just fucking with us?

[Assistant]
If you want to make the battery removable, the entire design of the phone is restricted by that fact. It's a huge design decision that's taken out of your hands as a hardware designer. How do you make a glass front and back like the iPhone 4? Or a aluminum phone like the htc one? Can you make the phone as sturdy if you need to be able to access the battery? It's  harder to make water and dust proof. Etc.

It will also inevitably result in some wasted space inside the phone. Space that could have been used for more battery.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do you pee yourself when you're nervous/scared?

Is it some survival mechanism or is it just to make you feel embarrassed in public? Just wondering. Thanks!

[Assistant]
This happens because the Limbic system which controls our "flight or Fight" response takes over the body when we are scared.

In a normal state our bladder is set up to want to void its contents when pressure reaches a certain level. Our prefrontal cortexs prevents this from happening at random, and give us a level of control over the process.

When we are overwhelmed by fear the limbic system takes over. The limbic system doesn't care about our bladder, and pushes all energy and focus on the muscles that will either help us fight or escape. That means that if the badder was at a point where the pressure is high enough that it wants to empty...well, the brain is no longer preventing it from happening.

Bombs away.


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

[User] How does blood circulation work after an amputation?

[Assistant]
It's not like a loop that goes down one side of a limb and up the other.  It doesn't look like this: <===> It's an artery and a vein that run roughly down the middle of the limb, sending out little offshoots, kindof like this:  -<-<-<-< Each artery feeds blood out to every part of the limb, at which point it returns via a similarly structured vein.

Therefore, if your limb is amputated, you don't end up with this: <== you end up with this: -<-<

Edit: Hopefully this makes sense...I think you're operating under the assumption that blood will flow through from your heart, through your entire body, then back to the heart. That's not how it works. Blood will flow from your heart, to one specific part of your body, then back to the heart. For example, blood does *not* go: Heart > Head > left arm > right arm > left leg > right leg > Heart. It goes: Heart > Left Elbow > Heart. Therefore, if the left hand is amputated, blood just won't go there anymore. It's like a highway being cut off. Cars can get to all the exits leading up to the cut off, they just can't go past that dead end, so they have to hop across the median and drive back the way they came.


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

[User] ELI5 what/who exactly is the bourgeoisie?

[Assistant]
From Old French, the word *bourgeois* meant "town-dweller," and *bourgeoisie* was the ~~plural~~ collective noun. So, at one point, it meant those who lived in the walled market-towns of the age, with the peasants and farmers, living outside the city, relegated to another social stratum.

During this time period, the term referred to craftsmen and artisans -- those existing between the peasants and the landlords, who weren't quite "on top," but existed in the middle: the ancient middle class.

Nowadays, however, with the ideas of Karl Marx firmly entrenched in the academic space, *bourgeoisie* has come to refer to the economic ruling class; those who own the means of production and exploit the *proletariat,* or the working class -- those who own, and can sell, nothing but their own labor.

You also see reference sometimes to the *petite bourgeoisie*; this is most similar to the Middle Ages understanding of the term.


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

[User]
Why doesn't the Y-Wing Bomber pilot from the end of Episode IV get a medal?

They Y-Wing bomber guy who was just off of making those missiles deserves some kind of recognition at least, but he doesn't even show up at the ceremony. And he was shown flying off from the Death Star with Luke's X-Wing and the Millennium Falcon, so he clearly survived.

[Assistant]
In such dark times, the Rebellion needed exceptional heroes to hold up and rally behind.  With both Han returning to fight for something other than credits and Luke pulling off the impossible shot WITHOUT his targeting computer (Who does this?!?  The balls on this guy!), their achievements dazzled and were the stuff of legend.  The story writes itself!  Friendship, excellence, and honor!  The Rebellion wants YOU to join their cause!

Dutch (Gold Leader) and the other surviving pilots were all awarded with medals and more importantly, promotions.  The ceremony was for the legend, the propaganda, and much needed morale. The holo-vids don't show these things, just like they left out the solumn tribute that Red and Gold Squadrons made late that night to their fallen comrades.  However, it is surprising that Luke's touching words about Biggs didn't get into some holo-vid somewhere.

Remember that the battle was won at a heavy cost and the Rebellion would have to up sticks and find a new base of operations ASAP.  With the Empire knowing where they were, that night was for celebrating and the next day was right back to hitting and running once again.

Unfortunately, the confidence from that victory and the trust in their new heroes would have to last them for quite a long time...

But that's another story.


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

[User]
[DC] How is Weasel the arch enemy of Firestorm?

In the comics Weasel is just some serial killer in a weasel costume, so how did he become the arch enemy of a living nuclear reaction? That's like Victor Zsasz being Superman's arch enemy.

[Assistant]
Firestorm is Weasels archenemy.

Weasel is Firestorms occasional nuisance.

Its like Batman and Condiment King, or Kite Man (hell yeah). A painfully unequal relationship where of them is more significant than the other.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Why the hate on pockets?

Basically the title, I mean I'd rather live in the Enterprise era or before then after just because they had dang pockets.

[Assistant]
The 24th century is like medieval times, when nobody's clothes had pockets. Do you need to go out? Sure, throw on a belt. Hang a purse from it, a sword, or a phaser. Need more carrying capacity? Get a bag.

But if you're just hanging out indoors, you don't need pockets because everything you need is within arm's reach. So why spoil the look of your clothes with bulging, gaping pockets?


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

[User]
[Spongebob] Why doesn't Plankton just try to improve Chum bucket?

Plankton has the money and technology to run a successful restaurant. If he truly wishes to best Mr Krabs maybe use that intelligent brain on running the god damn restaurant properly rather than trying to steal the Krabby Patty formula.

[Assistant]
Are you trying to insinuate that the Chum Bucket is unsuccessful because of factors completely under plankton's control?? Are you crazy?

The only reason the scum of Bikini Bottom haven't worshipped him as their Burger Lord is that conniving Krabs and his secret formula. Nothing else stands between him and total cuisine domination.


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

[User] Why does a lack of oxygen cause cell death instead of the cell 'winding down' into some kind of stasis?

[Assistant]
Dug up some old lecture notes about this. If there's any factual errors, please tell me.

Aight, so, in the context of the human body necrosis is the word for uncontrolled cell death (things leak out of the cell, causes inflammation), while apoptosis is the word for controlled cell death (everything packed up in neat vesicles for further breakdown). Severe hypoxia will lead to necrosis eventually.

Essentially, what happens when a cell is exposed to hypoxia is that it starts switches over to anaerobic metabolism. This, however, produces way less ATP (energy) than aerobic metabolism, and also produces lactate as a byproduct. Insufficient ATP leads to the ion-pumps on the surface of the cell not functioning, and thus an electrolyte imbalance (as the cell normally needs to spend energy to maintain the differing concentrations intra-/extracellularly). The electrolyte imbalance results in net flow of fluid into the cell, and thus cell swelling, due to osmotic effects.

Electrolyte imbalance and lactate accumulation leads to a decreased pH, which in turn leads to wrongly folded proteins (protein folding is a very important and intricate process to ensure functional proteins). Crucially, these misfolded proteins along with the ATP-deficiency means the cell fails to maintain an low intracellular concentration of Ca2+ ions. Ca2+ is important in many of the signaling systems of the human body, and can activate many different enzymes (for instance, phospolipases which break down the cell membrane). High Ca2+ leads to uncontrolled activation of various enzymes, which begin to break down various structures of the cell (this is semi-functional; moderate Ca2+ induces apoptosis while a high conc. induces necrosis). It also disrupts mitochondrial functioning by opening pores in their membrane.

The phospolipases mentioned above also break the membranes around lysosomes, which are intracellular packets containing a lot of catalytic enzymes (as a safeguard, these are supposed to only be active in the presence of the low pH present in lysosomes, but hypoxia leads to acidity as mentioned before) that the cells use to degrade various organic matter.

Tl;dr: cell fails to maintain electrolyte and pH balance, high Ca2+ concentration activates a ton of enzymes haphazardly that begin to break down the cell (among them, lysosome membranes -> leakage of catalytic enzymes into the cytosol), improper electrolyte balance causes cell swelling, mitochondria cease to function -> "point of no return" as ATP cannot be generated even in the presence of oxygen

Edit: updated some things after reading a book.


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

[User]
If force is equal to mass times acceleration, why will getting hit by a fast-moving car destroy me but a glacier's slower but much more massive hit just unnoticeably nudge me along?

Wouldn't that imply the amount of force applied by the car is much more than that of the glacier? Is there a factor like the change in my own acceleration or that the mass I should use is actually my own (and not that of the car's or glacier's) that I'm not accounting for?

[Assistant] You're getting Impulse mixed up with Force. Impulse is how much force is applied over some time, a car hitting you has very large impulse, whereas a glacier has very small impulse. But the force of a glacier is much more than a car. It takes nothing more than a brick wall to stop a car, but sometimes not even mountains can stop glaciers. You can say goodbye to NYC whenever a new ice-age hits and glaciers become common in the Northeast US, because one will pass through and totally obliterate everything.


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

[User]
Is the main barrier to communism greed?

If you accept that the principal of communism, everyone being equal, is good; is the only reason communism doesn't work that at some point someone will want more for themselves?

Edit: thanks for your responses they're all very interesting and helpful, im not sure how to mark the thread as answered but I realise that a communist community would struggle to move forward due to lack of reward. My follow up question to this would be is there a reason we require reward in order to do things? Would a communist community work if it were ingrained from a young age that you should do things just because you want to/are needed to or is it in human nature/animal nature to need a more tangible reward? But I suppose they're probably more philosophical questions that would merit another thread.

Edit: Sorry this is more of a discussion now, the original question was answered, or at least I am satisfied with the thoughts it provoked. Thank you for your time :)

[Assistant]
Sort of.

I'd argue that the main barrier is a removal of what makes people strive for betterment. Why would a craftsman make beautiful tables if he gets the same pay for making crappy tables? Why would anyone invent anything? Why would a janitor clean faster if his pay isn't based on performance? It's not really greed, it's human psychology. It isn't just about money; its about being rewarded. And, this is exactly what we saw in places like the Soviet Union. People just working mindlessly, not trying to improve their methods or be innovative.


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

[User]
ELI5 why flies and other bugs love to land on people and fly around their heads?

You would think they would learn to fly far away while my hand is trying to smack them.

[Assistant] They dont have the cognizance/brains to understand the connection between flying around you, your hand, and its connection to you. Aka theyre too dumb to know youre trying to swat them, theyre just trying to avoid a giant hand. Also they probably think you smell nice. Nice is subjective. Wasps like meat, flies like poo or any sort of strong smell like food. If you smell like those things, you might attract them. Bees and butterflies like nice smells like perfumes and fruit and flowers, so you might attract them if you smell nice. Bugs dont know theyre being annoying, theyre just being bugs.


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

[User] ELI5: What makes cassette tapes degrade in quality?

[Assistant]
Cassette tapes are long plastic ribbons coated with magnetic material that has been charged just right with your recordings. A few things combine to degrade these over time.

To keep the long ribbons from tangling, they're spun into spools (thus the cassette). Keeping the magnetic material pressed together like that risks the charges from one spool affecting the others. The magnetic material isn't permanent, but just lasts a long time.

As you play the cassette a few bad things happen.

First, the plastic can stretch. This will happen just by the way the tape is turned so the ribbon spools from one side to the other. Also, like the magnetic material, plastic doesn't last forever, just a long time.

There may be additional impact of playing the cassette as the tape makes contact with the cassette player. There are wheels to help move and keep the tape taught as it passes over the reader, and the reader itself. The reader is essentially a magnetic field detector, but the magnetic field is so small they need to physically touch.

While negligible each time, one thing that can cause degredation is the miniscule electromagnetic interference by both the electronics in the cassette player as you play the cassette, but also the effect of moving the magnetic material as the cassette spools the ribbon.

This happens for all kinds of magnetic media, including audio and video tapes, and except for the stretching bits, old floppy disks.


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

[User]
CMV: The USA should move to compulsory voting

Non-compulsory voting, while offering the freedom for people to opt out of politics, has the unfortunate side effect of extreme partisanship.

It leads to political leaders that worry about firing up their bases to get them out and voting, rather than focussing on swing voters. This ultimately pushes candidates and parties to the far extreme or the political spectrum.

With compulsory voting, they only have to keep their bases happy enough to not vote for the competition. Instead they have to focus on convincing swing voters they're the best choice to represent them, which moderates both the parties and the candidates.

It's also not a perfect system, as it often results in major parties that are too similar. But I would argue this is a better result than a gaping political ravine between two extremes. That's not only unhealthy politically - the truth is rarely at an extreme - it's unhealthy culturally.

Implementation would be difficult, both politically (incumbent politicians aren't going to implement a system that would change who would get voted in) and practically.

But it'd be worth it, to both moderate American politics which have grown increasingly divisive, and bridge the massive cultural divides appearing.

Edit: a number of people have raised not wanting to vote for any candidate. Compulsory voting doesn't mean you have to vote for a candidate, it just means you have to show up and submit a ballot. You can still vote for no one, but it makes doing so an active rather than passive choice.

[Assistant] Why not simply make it easier to vote? Some states mail ballots to every registered voter. This makes it incredibly easy to fill out, so easy that independents will vote and so easy that people who are truly apathetic won't vote at all. This lessens partisanship but doesn't force people don't want to participate or don't feel informed enough to make a choice.


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

[User]
[LOTR] How is the barren land of Mordor able to support its political power and massive army?

Im an analyst in next-door Gondor. Theres no way that Mordor, a blasted land of barren rock cliffs and dry valleys where the sun is shrouded in volcanic ash should be as powerful as it is. As far as I can tell, Mordor lacks anything resembling trade and commerce, and is geographically isolated on three sides. Its population base is far smaller than other states as it lacks expanses of good farmland. Its described as a dead land of shadow for crying out loud.

How in Middle Earth can Sauron muster 100,000 orcs from this weak demographic and economic base? How can such an force organize and assemble the logistics to move from through their blasted terrain, and how are they sustaining it from a dead land? Im not sure how any one ring, magic, or the will of Sauron can overcome these physical difficulties.

[Assistant] Mordor is not all barren, that's just the part we see, in the vicinity of Mount Doom. There are parts with farms as well. Also, they have many allies. Most of the world is directly or indirectly under Sauron's control.


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

[User]
[Spider-Man] During Maximum Carnage, was Spider-Man wrong when he begged Firestar to stop her attack on Carnage? Was his life really in danger at all?

I'm wondering if Spider-Man was wrong when he stopped Firestar's attack on Carnage. Especially considering the dangerousness of this enemy and the possibility that her attack might not have killed Kasady if she used her powers for the right amount of time to get rid of the Klyntar.

Wouldn't Firestar's actions actually just have destroyed the symbiote, if she waited a few moments longer until she stopped or would she really have killed Cletus Kasady too?

If he died, what would have been the cause of death? The loss of connection to the Klyntar or would his human body really have been cooked to death? How much protection did the symbiote gave Cletus body against the microwaves?

What exactly happened in and with Cletus body during this attack? And was Kasidy's life really in danger at this moment? Because when Spider-Man begged her to stop, he was very quickly on his feet again and as dangerous as before. Just a few moments after the ordeal.

[Assistant]
They previously tried to destroy the symbiote in the usual manner, only for it to reform in seconds-having bonded with Kasady on a molecular level, they were basically one being by then. Firestar was basically cooking them alive, and if one went the other would too. It would have killed Carnage, but he got back up quick after because they heal at an unbelievable pace.

Carnage is kind of an outlier as a result when it comes to the typical symbiosis, because the human and symbiote are basically one being in full alignment with each other. Every time the symbiote bonds with someone else, it basically just uses them as a meat puppet to act as Carnage.


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

[User]
CMV: 'Jump scares' are a cheap party trick, and movies that are full of them shouldn't be considered horror

Lately I've noticed that most horror movies rely on jump scares. Something will unexpectedly pop out at the audience, a loud noise will startle everyone, you know the works. Sometimes the movie tries to trick people into believing that a certain scene will have a jump scare, to make the viewer feel safe, and then do a jump scare in the next scene.

I think that movies like Paranormal Activity, The Conjuring and The Darkness do not do their best to scare the audience in a creative way.

Jump scares do something physical to your body. Sometimes my mom jumps out at the me when I walk through the door, to elicit a scream or a 'fear' reaction from me. However, a second later I'm just laughing because it's silly and not at all scary.

When I go see a movie at the theater that has a lot of jump scares, most of the audience members just seem to be laughing. You may hear a collective gasp or a scream, but that's just a reflex.

Most movies riddled with jump scares do not leave an impression on me. I find them annoying.

Jump scares do not tell a story that sends shivers down your spine and causes you to lay awake at night. Jump scares do not show you a gruesome scene that will be burned into your mind for the weeks to come.

Jump scares are cheap party tricks. They are annoying and do not elicit any feelings of terror.

Change my view.
_____

[Assistant] All of that is true for a poorly executed jump scare in an otherwise bland horror movie, but here's what a good jump-scare does. Beyond the obvious physical reaction of fear at being startled, a well-executed jump scare adds to the tension of a movie overall by chipping away at your ability to trust scenes that seem safe. In the wake of a good jump scare, you're likely to be more vigilant, which makes you more invested, because that's how fear works in real life. Something startles you out of the blue, and suddenly every shadow that kind of resembles it requires a second look just in case. Bad horror movies aren't bad because of jump scares but because they're lacking in some other way (usually lack of investment in the characters) and can't take advantage of the viewer's distrust.


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

[User] ELI5, why cant the spinal chord and other major nerves repair themselves like blood vessels or bones?

[Assistant]
The arrangement of cells in other tissues is not nearly as critical as it is for nerves. Neighboring blood vessel cells need only to share the load of blood pressure. If they reconnect to different cells in the same tissue, that isnt much of a problem. Still, scarring can result in distinct changes in any sort of tissue.

A neurons connections to other neurons are unique. If connected differently, an impulse that would once have caused a leg muscle fiber to contract may now cause a gland to secrete. A cold sensation may be misinterpreted as a toe reporting itself as extended. People undergoing physical therapy are retraining their nervous system to account for all of these altered and severed connections.


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

[User] ELI5: How does an orgasm feel so good?

[Assistant] Our brains are evolved to trigger a dopamine reaction to orgasming.  Dopamine is a hormone which makes us feel good.  Our brains use dopamine to push us toward beneficial behavior, one of which is sex, which leads to procreation.  It also is why rich food tastes good.


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

[User]
How do you handle reviewers?

I'm not sure what it is, but I can't handle reviewers comments. They terrify me, and I just get extremely embarrassed and hurt. I know I shouldn't but it's hard to not take it personally.

 For example, just got a review back for a symposium submission. Accept pending revisions but it was one of the hardest things to read. Took me three days to send it to my colleagues, being totally ashamed. They responded how nice the review was and how great the comments were and were very happy with it. What! I dont understand how they can take it so well.

How do you handle reviews?

[Assistant] You just have to grow a thick skin about it.  It's natural to take the comments personally as you have invested a lot of time and effort into things. However, it's essential to partition comments relating to a piece of work from comments which are about you personally.


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

[User] ELI5: When not on a channel, why do radios make static noise instead of it being just silence?

[Assistant]
There's a background mishmash of random radio noise across all frequencies at all times.

This comes from nearby electronics and powerlines, the magnetic fields of the sun and planets, and sources in deep space.

Typically their signals are relatively weak and get drowned out by a strong signal from a radio transmitter, but when there's no strong signal you get that random fuzz instead.

A few frequencies are deliberately left open because the background noise is unusually powerful at that range.


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

[User] [Star Trek: First Contact] If the Borg can travel through time then why haven't they assimilated everything?

[Assistant] The borg aren't interested in assimilated primitive civilisations. The entire point of assimilation is to take incorporate new biology and technologies into the borg collective, so they can continue to advance. The borg don't bother with civilisations they consider primitive or worthless, such as the Kazon. Going back in time to assimilate the galaxy basically defeats the entire point of assimilation. They only attempted it with the Federation because they'd become too much of a threat compared to their relatively low tech in comparison with the borg.


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

[User]
[MCU] How did Tony Starks announcement that he is Iron Man affect the value of Stark Industries stock price?

Immediately following the announcement, did it rise or fall? What about when the truth about Obadiah Stane and his dealings came out? Was Sark Industries penalized by the government for that?

[Assistant]
It probably spiked like a MF. Prior to 'I am Iron Man', SI stock was not doing well; between the terror scare and Stark's sudden announcement that they were out of the weapons game, a lot of uncertainty was created for both the short and long term. Then, in the immediate aftermath of the Iron Monger fight, before any details came out it would look like either a massive industrial accident or some sort of terror attack, which would further encourage people to dump their holdings.

And then he says "I am Iron Man". Suddenly, not only does everything have a rational explanation, it also means that Stark Industries is sitting on top of the most game-changing weapons system of the 21st century and the biggest shift in power generation since the first nuke plant went live. At this point there's still uncertainty, but a *lot* of people are going to want in on the action, because even if Tony never sells a single IM suit, the underlying tech promises multiple revolutions in technology. And unlike a lot of revolutions that are only obvious in hindsight, this one is coming from a known element with the resources to firmly capitalize on their breakthrough.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is pancreatic cancer so sensitive and dangerous to operate on, but diabetics can live without a functioning pancreas?

[Assistant]
The pancreas produces powerful digestive enzymes. Unlike the enzymes in the stomach, which only work in strong acids, pancreatic enzymes work in the considerably less acidic small intestine. These enzymes digest meat, among other things.

People are made of meat at about the right PH for pancreatic enzymes to work. Close enough, at least, that if you even nick the pancreas the wrong way, it will start digesting every organ in the area. This kills the patient. As a result, surgeons are afraid of the pancreas and almost never operate on it. It's a little yellow bag of kills-the-patient and it's really super bad news. Don't touch it. Don't even look at it. Pancreas bad.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the march against monsanto? What is monsanto?

[Assistant]
Monsanto is a huge corporation that, among other things, has genetically modified strains of food crops to be immune to an herbicide they produce. This means you can purchase seeds from Monsanto, then spray your field with the herbicide you bought from Monsanto and all the weeds die while your crops live. This significantly increases the yield from a given field and more than offsets the more expensive seeds and herbicide.

However, this means that people who don't buy from Monsanto have a hard time competing against those who do. So people resort to scare tactics, claiming that GMO foods are dangerous or that Monsanto wants to crush small farmers and eat their babies. They also try to grow Monsanto's special seeds without purchasing them from Monsanto, violating their contract or just stealing them outright. Monsanto sues them and often wins, a fact that people again use as justification for the "big evil corporation".


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

[User] [Terminator] What if in 1984 someone else kills Sarah Conner like a serial killer or maybe she just dies in a car crash is the Terminator's objective still complete even though he didn't terminate her?

[Assistant] He probably had secondary objectives, like assassinating lower-ranking resistance members and making it more likely for Skynet to be born. Assuming he got *those* out of the way he'd probably wall himself somewhere until Judgement Day.


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

[User] ELI5: I have endometriosishow does my heating pad make my pain subside?

[Assistant]
Heat or ice work for pain relief because effectively they offer two solutions.

Heat increases blood flow which promotes the ability of the body to heal. This is more useful for muscular pain such as those muscles in your pelvic area. This is more suitable for pain that is not caused by muscle tears or recent injury.

Conversely, Ice slows blood flow and is best to remove inflammation and slow the process. This is why you use ice on a sprained ankle so it helps reduce swelling. Technically ice could help reduce the swelling effects but it isnt pleasant long term!

You should also consider the psychological effects of having something warm and comforting against you when you are in pain compared to something icy and cold. Its the same reason we like physical comfort when we are sad or in physical pain.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Say Anakin convinced Windu to arrest Palpatine; how does one even contain a Force user? What stops them from using telekinesis to break out?

[Assistant]
There are ways how to contain Force user. Palps was extreme case, so his containment would have been difficult, but generally:

Directly, you can use ysamiliri to severe their connection with the Force. (How Thrawn held Luke).

You can disrupt their concentration by drugs or by physical pain (How Vongs held Jedi captive, though the disruptions was probably unintentional).

We have seen that even quite mundane ways can work - Anakin and Obi-Wan were held by shackles/force field.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why they don't teach how to do taxes, credit cards, insurance(health and auto), loans, investments in general public schools.

It seems like these are all important things everyone person will have to deal with in their life and yet, they barely scratch the surface on teaching these in schools.

[Assistant] They teach the underlying skills you need to figure these things out on your own. Reading comprehension, a bit of research, and some basic math is all you really need to figure out how all this stuff works. If schools had to teach you every life skill you'd need, we'd be in school for the entirety of our lives. The purpose of education is to teach you how to reason about the world around you so you can better face the vast variety of challenges life will throw at you, not to tell you the solution to every problem you will face in your lifetime.