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

[User]
[The Man in the High Castle] It's patently clear how the Nazis defeated the Americans, but how did they beat the Soviets?

Also, what about the Brits? Anybody wanna take a stab at that?

[Assistant]
They got to Moscow, and the cowardly communists folded like a stack of cards.

HEIL!

EDIT: The British fought the Germans on the Beaches... and lost.

***

Non-universe answer:

Without FDR, there was no Lend-Lease act.

Stalin once candidly remarked that without the USA giving them support via Lend-Lease, they would not have been able to repel the Nazis. Something like 30% of all Soviet vehicles during WW2, with the exception of tanks, were provided by Lend-Lease. They received resources ranging from aluminium and steel down to clothes and rations.

The Soviets would have held on for a while. Assuming Operation Barbarossa started at the same time in the Summer of 1941, the Soviets would have probably still won the Battle of Moscow, purely because continuing to invade Russia once winter starts fucking insane. However without Lend Lease they never would have been able to effectively roll back the Nazi Invasion - especially without a western front. Either in 1942 or 1943 the Nazi's would have ~~done what only the Mongols had done before them and~~ taken Moscow (Ok Moscow has been conquered/leveled six times in history).

The loss of Moscow is a HUGE blow to Soviet Moral and could spell the death kneel for the USSR that Hitler gambled it would be. Forces from the Steps and Siberia would have continued to fight (Russia is *vast*), but with the the great Ukrainian bread basket and the oil fields of Caucuses presumably falling under Nazi control, the Reich would have had the resources to continue their conquests.

The Soviets had manpower like no army in history before it, but without Lend-Lease to equip them the Nazi's would have eventually taken Moscow.


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

[User] [Infinity War] Thor says to the Guardians about Uru weapons, "You simply lack the strength to wield them: your bodies would crumple as your minds collapsed into madness." Is there a deeper explanation as to why this would happen?

[Assistant]
stormbreaker controls incredibly vast electrical currents, and its user interface operates through direct mental connection.  If you are insufficiently resilient attempting to use such a weapon will literally cook you inside out.

The main issue is the base energy level of the mental interface, well the second main issue.  the other is just how pathetically weak humans are.  So you might say, well why not just tone down the mental interface to human limitations?  Well thats where we get to the second problem, the energies stormbreakers fucks with are just too strong to tone down that far, it's just not safe around people.

We're like a squirrel and stormbreaker is the electric plants main transformer, there's just no safe way for us to hit something else with it while holding it ourselves.


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

[User]
Why have "B's" become the new "F's" in university?

It just seems that most students in the universities in Canada believe that unless you get an 'A' you have failed. Any thoughts as to why this has come to pass?

[Assistant]
Grades used to indicate the student's rank in the class--grading on the curve is all avout that. Under this system, a C meant that the student is average compared to other students in the class. Starting around the 70's, there was a shift in assessment philosophy to one where the grade reflects the student's work/competence without comparison to who else takes the class. This shift was slow and patchy; every time someone complaints of grade inflation, they are implicitly assuming that grading on a curve should be standard. But the new philosophy is clearly winning.

So what do grades mean now? Usually it boils down to this: a B means you did what was required with sufficient but lackluster competence. C means that you couldn't do what was required, but you show progress towards competence.  To get an A, you have to do what's required with clear competence. No need to be "outstanding" (though many college catalogues still use that term), since you aren't being compared to other students.

So the students do interpret the grades correctly--anything but an A is deficient on their part.


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

[User]
If a person were spinning perfectly horizontally in space, could they slow themselves by putting their arms out? Much like an ice-skater?

If we take the question further, what if the person had a pack with heavy chains that they could fling outward.  Would this slow their spin down at all?  Co-worker just watched Gravity...

[Assistant]
I haven't seen Gravity, but the essential idea you are referring to is conservation of angular momentum. The answer to your question is yes, you could slow down your rotational speed by moving mass away from the rotational axis.

Being in space (away from the effects of gravity) should have no effect on this principle.


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

[User] ELI5: Are the 30% of ebola survivors just lucky or is there something other than proper care that directly lead to their survival? Are survivors left with any permanent physical damage and does surviving once build a tolerance or antibody to prevent future infection?

[Assistant]
Care will matter.  The two most prominent symptoms of ebola are vomiting and diarrhea.  That will dehydrate you real fast.

The dehydration makes it difficult to fight it, it can even kill you through electrolyte imbalance right there.

However, dehydration alone is not the problem.  Many people have been given IV fluids which are basically ironclad protection against dehydration and still died of ebola.   IV fluids will only *reduce* the fatality rate somewhat.


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

[User] [Game of Thrones] Which gods do you think are real?

[Assistant]
None are probably real in terms of being 100% the way they're described. But the Old Gods and the Lord of Light are probably real in some capacity.

The North definitely has some magic that could be derived from the Old Gods, warging and Bran's tree-boy stuff is real. So there is something magical connecting all of that stuff. Whether they're a set of animist gods that the old Northerners worshipped or something else is unclear.

The Lord of Light is implicated in some of the most replicable magic. The fire stuff is definitely real and characters are for sure brought back from the dead and have visions of the future. Whether it's some actual duotheistic religion with a fire god and ice god representing good and evil is not clear, but there is some actual magic going on.


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

[User] What does wind look like on an atomic level?

[Assistant] Wind is simply air with a group velocity. As such, it looks no different from air on a molecular level except that there is an overall trend of the particles to move in one direction. An individual particle may move counter to that direction of motion for a time, but it will likely collide with another particle and change direction. Overall, the average velocity of time is in the direction of the wind.


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

[User]
Could southern hemisphere countries get something similar to the polar vortex from Antarctica?

Is it a specific situation in the arctic circle?  Or could South America/Africa/Australia also face this situation?

[Assistant]
Good question!

Short answer, Yes. Tasmania and South America get hammered by Antarctic storms sometimes. But it doesn't happen as often or as easily.

The Antarctic Polar Front, the big circle of winds around Antarctica at approximately 55 degrees south latitude, acts like a wall, limiting the exchange of weather systems between Antarctica and parts farther north.

This atmospheric 'front' is a natural effect of the Earth's rotation and the energy differences between the cold southern latitude air (which sinks) and the warmer air to the north (which rises).

The same thing happens around the North Pole. A big difference is that the Southern Polar Front doesn't have any topographical barriers -- no mountains or land masses -- to disrupt the flow of air or change the energy balance. The wind chases itself in a big, continuous circle around the Southern Ocean without hitting anything.

In contrast, the Northern Polar Front gets disrupted by land and mountains and different air masses, scrambling the flow. So the northern hemispheres sees a lot more breakup of the polar front simply because of geography.


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

[User] [Lovecraft Mythos] How is Cthulhu, an extradimensional eldritch abomination gets trapped in such infinitesimal prison under Rlyeh on the speck of dust called earth?

[Assistant]
Cthulu, for all his power, is just a Herald hiding out on some backwater until he is needed.

Which makes you wonder what else is out in the universe that makes beings like him hide out somewhere so quiet.


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

[User]
CMV: Democrat Leaders Extending the Patriot Act Shows Their Animosity Towards Trump is Mostly Rhetoric

Of course, most people are aware of the impeachment hearings against Trump. However, just yesterday, the House of Representatives voted to fund and extend the Patriot Act for an extended 3 months after December 20th.

It seems to me hypocritical to believe that Trump is unfit for office and abused his power and then proceeds to potentially give him more power--or at least extending the duration of his current powers.

Additionally, Representative Justin Amash attempted to amend the budget bill by removing the Patriot Act language but the amendment was blocked by the Democrats on the Rules Committee. Only 10 Democrats voted against the resolution, including AOC, Ilhan Omar, and Tlaib.

The Trump administration still retains authority to reinitiate the NSA call records program, the program where millions of innocent American calls had been collected, if they deem it necessary.

Given the fact that the Trump administration could potentially extend another 4 years, it seems questionable at best why Democrats would not strip him of some of the powers he could abuse when they had the opportunity to. Given this, it seems to me most of the rhetoric against Trump is just for show. When presented with something to act on, most of the Democrats chose to empower Trump, and allow his administration the power to listen and collect calls, information, and data on millions of Americans.

[Assistant]
>It seems to me hypocritical to believe that Trump is unfit for office and abused his power and then proceeds to potentially give him more power--or at least extending the duration of his current powers.

Beyond those powers explicitly authorized by the Constitution, it is the job of Congress to both legislate what powers the President has and to ensure those powers are being used properly.  It's not hypocritical to give the President one power while simultaneously accusing him of abusing a different power.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are there a lot of WW2 movies and almost no movies about WW1?

[Assistant]
There was widespread opinion after WW1 that it shouldn't have happened, and accomplished nothing.  Its causes are still a bit hard to understand, and it discredited pretty much every government involved in it to one level or another.

And while it was happening, the horror was ironically uneventful.  People died in droves, but not much changed - the front lines did not advance much for most of the war.  People might unknowingly clamber over multiple layers of buried corpses trying to capture the same few meters year after year.

World War 2 was very different.  It was one of the few wars in history that can be legitimately called *totally* unavoidable, given the mentality on one side.  Its causes were clear, its moral distinctions eventually were found to be absolute, and its events and movements were very dramatic.

Its outcome was also economically and politically profitable to the country that houses Hollywood, so lots of movies about it were inevitable.


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

[User] ELI5: What are those things in the sky that people are saying are chemicals and population control?

[Assistant]
They are contrails -- condensation trails caused by aircraft.

Know how they kinda look like clouds? That's because that's exactly what they are -- artificial clouds created as a byproduct of jet travel.


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

[User] ELI5 What determines which body part gains more weight ?

[Assistant] All genetics. Its nothing you really control. You can not spot burn fat with exercise. Meaning that crunches wont burn belly fat. Exercise and diet that are appropriate, will cause you to lose overall body weight, from everywhere it stores it, most likely leaving fat where it first formed.


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

[User]
Does the gravity of one object affect / attract another object sooner than light can travel between the two objects?

For example, is the Earth attracted to the *current* location of the Sun's center of gravity, or to the location of the Sun's center of gravity from ~8 minutes ago?

I think I remember reading about something like a "cone of possibility" (I know I'm probably butchering the term) that stated that one thing could not affect any other thing any faster than light could travel between them. But I also think I remember reading that gravity causes an instant attraction between any two objects, no matter the distance between them.

A follow-on question would be: If the attracting effect of gravity is in fact instant, and that force is "carried" by a graviton (or some particle / wave), then does that mean gravitons are super-light speed things?

Thanks, and as always, please forgive my ignorance (but that's why we have this wonderful sub!).

[Assistant]
Nope, information about gravity travels at the speed of light. This is what we expect from theory, and while observations are difficult they seem to indicate this.

What you probably heard about gravity being instantaneous refers to Newton's theory of gravity, which is very useful but obsolete.


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

[User]
What is the current consensus on using biological entities for information storage?

Every once in a while I read small news stories about people using dna to store images, or questioning the viability of using dna and rna as future methods of storing information like flash drives. Is anyone familiar with the topic and can give me a summary of how current professionals view this technology?

I am a nutrition science major in college so be gentle with the computer science.

[Assistant]
DNA data storage is sort of in the same category as asteroid mining or a space elevator. The general consensus is that it's plausible at some future point, but the technology and funding isn't there yet. If there was a breakthrough or some major push to pursue it, it could happen in our lifetimes, but who knows what the future will bring.

The big advantage of DNA data storage is that you can store a tremendous amount of data in a very small physical space (~200 TB in 1 gram of DNA). It's also easy to make copies and lasts for thousands of years. The downside is that it's very slow and expensive to read/write.

With current technology, the use case for it would be a situation where you need long-term storage that is highly compact, and cost isn't a consideration. That use case also assumes that current flash storage solutions are too heavy or don't last long enough (~30 years).

So right now there isn't much need for it. The part that generates excitement is that there is a lot of potential there as technology changes. imo it will be used someday, probably to solve a problem that doesn't even exist yet.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Is Data the only immortal being in Star Fleet?

I'm assuming that B4 would eventually have provided a way for Data to be revived after the events in Nemesis.

If Data remained in Star Fleet (and didn't go to Cambridge), is it inevitable that sooner or later he would end up running the entire organisation?

If not, what do you think Data would be doing 100 years after the end of TNG? What about 1000 years?

Edit for clarity: I'm curious where Data would end up after huge periods of time. He struggles fitting in with humanity at the moment, but he does make progress, so its fairly logical to assume he would eventually out-grow us. His former friends would inevitably die off, leaving him a bit of a loner. If he did rise to the top of Star Fleet (and eventually he would, unless Star Fleet introduced a discriminating 'no androids' rule) he would pretty much stay there, as he wouldn't die off. Would he be a benevolent dictator, or would we have an 'i, robot' sort of situation?

Alternatively, would he head off and explore space by himself? Would he become a hermit? After several thousand years of putting up with petty humans, would he eventually start to hate humanity? Would he create his own race of androids?

[Assistant]
You are coming at this backwards.

Data's endgame isn't success in Starfleet.

Most sentients have a childhood and dreams. Some dream of space, and then wind up joining Starfleet. Picard is an example of this. The point is, they joined Starfleet to demonstrate the humanity they already possessed, to make the galaxy a better place generally if only by following their dreams. But there is a distinction between Man and Uniform, they serve in Starfleet but they remain human.

Data joined Starfleet to develop and discover his humanity. For him the rules and structure of Starfleet kept him safe from gross misconduct in the real world while he developed. This is because he didn't have a childhood, or dreams. But in Starfleet he actively seeks to learn from and emulate the behaviour of those who possess qualities he associates with the best of humanity. The point is, he choose Starfleet so that he could be close to the best examples of humanity he had discovered.  For much of his career/life there was no distinction between Man and Uniform for him as there was no Man. At points in time Data even considered forgoing any off duty time as he was capable of serving continuously.

TLDR: His goal isn't to be the best Starfleet officer and run the show. His goal is to become human. If Data remains in Starfleet forever than he will likely have failed.


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

[User] ELI5: How were CDs and DVDs professionally made? What computers, software, and printers are used?

[Assistant]
They use a clean room and production line.
Sound typically came from digital audio tape (in the '90s) and was then transferred on a glass disc called a master, using lasers. This master was then plated with metal to create a stamper. This entire process was relatively slow and took place in a clean room.

The stamper was used to mould large amounts of cds (which are made out of plastic) on a production line. This is a quick process that only takes a few seconds per cd. Afterwards reflective material was dampened on the disc and the disc was coated with lacquer for protection.

It is a different process compared to burning  cd-recordables, as recordable discs have a layer with organic dye that can be burned using a laser. This also gives cdrs their distinctive color.


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

[User] Why is the fossil record poor for the Mesozoic in the Midwestern part of the USA?

[Assistant] If by Midwest you mean Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, etc, they simply didn't have much deposition during most of the Mesozoic.  Everything was eroding away from the landforms of the area during this time.  No sedimentary rocks = paltry fossil record.  A little further West, excellent fossils from this period are found in the deposits from an inland sea during the Jurassic and the enormous Western Inland Sea in the Cretaceous as well as their associated lowlands.


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

[User] ELI5: we already know how photosynthesis is done ; so why cant we creat artificial plants that take CO2 and gives O2 and energy in exchange?

[Assistant] Artificial photosynthesis actually is a deeply studied field of research, where you use sunlight to drive a reaction that releases oxygen from various solutions. The problem is, the components needed in the reaction are inefficient, degrade/deplete quickly, or are expensive to make/maintain.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does eBay prevent people from bidding up their own items with a different account?

I mean I could imagine that a friend and I both have eBay accounts.  Hypothetically, I'll put an item up for bid with no reserve.  If it doesn't get to the price point I want to sell it at, I'll have my friend bid it up to that point, or if it still doesn't get there, then he'll buy it and just give it back to me.

I can imagine a network of people doing this. Two people was just an example, and I could see that if one person sells something then relists the exact same thing a week later they'd know something is up.  Or if two people kept relisting the same item back and forth they'd suspect something.  But are there networks of like 10+ people who could get past eBay's people?

[Assistant]
They don't care, because they take a cut of the transaction. If he buys something for 20 off you, you only get 19 and 1 goes to eBay.

Knock yourself out and do it as often as you want, you will run out of money before they get bored.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How well could a Jedi do in a lightsaber duel in the presence of a Ysalamiri?

Are Jedi skilled enough to use a lightsaber and anticipate their opponent's moves without using the Force? Or would they become incompetent in combat due to no training in conventional swordfighting without the Force?

[Assistant] They still are skilled, they just lose the precognition that they have. So rather than a preternaturally fast (due to predictions) fighter, they're slowed down to speeds more in line with regular but still well-trained folk.


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

[User]
Eli5: how do living things move at a molecular level?

Sorry if its too complicated to ELI5

Edit: I'm asking, how can I control the atoms of the muscles in say, my finger? What do my brainwaves do to the atoms?

[Assistant]
At the molecular level, molecules move around by brownian motion.  Brownian motion is essentially the random motion of molecules just bumping into each other.  Every time a molecule bumps into another energy is exchanged.  An easy way to think of it is to imagine tennis balls being flung around in a hurricane.  When the balls bounce into each other they change direction.

The trouble is, is that this motion is completely random.  Nature has found a few clever ways to turn this random motion into directional, generally by using "molecular ratchets". One example is kinesin motor protein.  This protein looks like a pair of legs, and walks along long rope-like structures called microtubules.  The neat thing about kinesin is that the front foot is always locked in place, and the back foot is allowed to freely move.  The random brownian motion pushes this foot in every direction, until it finds a foothold in front of the other leg.  The new front foot then locks in place, and the back foot gets released, so it can take another step.  This is one way that random atomic movements get turned into directional molecular movements.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is a Markov chain?

I keep hearing about them and after looking it up I'm not much closer to figuring it out.

[Assistant]
A markov chain is simply a "path" of various destinations, where each direction you take has a certain probability of happening.

For example, lets say every time you encounter a crossroads, you always take a random turn. This means that you have A->B(0.5)/C(0.5) chain. Thats a very simple markov chain.

An example of a slightly more complex chain would be:

1. Start in A
2. 30% chance to stay in A, 50% chance to go to B, 20% chance to go to C
3. B has 80% chance to stay in B, 10% chance to return to A, 10% chance to go to C
4. C has 0% chance to stay in C, 50% chance to go to A, 50% chance to go to B.

That is a markov chain. If you are in the chain, all you care about is your current position - if you are currently in C, it doesnt matter what probabilities A has, all that matters is what probabilities C has.


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

[User]
How do rising interest rates combat inflation?

Printing a bunch of new money the past couple of years is what caused this huge increase in inflation, right? How exactly does raising interest rates combat all this new printing of money?

[Assistant]
There are at least a couple of different ways to think about this. One way is to realize that raising the federal funds target is synonymous with taking money out of the economy. In order to push the rate up, the fed sells bonds and takes that money effectively out of circulation, lowering the money supply.

Another way to think about it is to realize that higher interest rates disincentivize economic activity. Saving becomes more attractive relative to consumption. Borrowing becomes more expensive, raising the cost of investment and consumption of durables. This lowers aggregate demand and puts downward pressure on inflation.


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

[User] ELI5: Am I keeping my eyes open while I'm awake or am I keeping them closed while I'm sleeping?

[Assistant]
Both!

Most movements in the body are done by two muscles (for example, the biceps flexes/bends your elbow and the triceps straightens/extends it).

There is a muscle in the eyelid which closes the eye, and another which keeps it open. When you sleep, your brain forces the muscle that closes your eye to close it - this also happens involuntarily when you blink. You can also choose to activate a voluntary part of this muscle, like when you think about blinking or wink.

When you open your eye an opposing muscle is active, which you have less control over (when you widen your eyes, as opposed to opening them, a different muscle is activated). This is done an unconscious part of your brain (the basal ganglia).

Summary: three muscles move the eyelid - two that open it and one that closes it. You can consciously or unconsciously control the closing muscle, and your eye is kept open automatically when you're awake by your brainstem, which you can modify by activating another muscle to widen the eyelids.

Edited for "brain" (basal ganglia) instead of brainstem.


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

[User]
The stock market crash of the 1930s.

Bonus points for explaining the reasoning of the  implementation of the federal Reserve as I've been told that it was put in place to prevent the stock market from crashing again.

[Assistant]
Well, everyone believed that they could make huge amounts of money from the stock market, so they borrowed thousands of dollars from banks, using this money to invest in the stock market. However, they had to be able to make enough from the stock market to pay off the interest on their debt. For one reason or another, the value of stocks began to drop, and since people had borrowed so much from the banks to invest in the stock market that they tried to sell all of their stocks-they didn't want to end up losing money. However, since everyone wanted to sell their stock, and no one wanted to buy, the price of the stocks continually went down, as people tried to undercut each others' prices, hoping someone would buy their stocks.

Eventually, people couldn't pay their debts, so those with money in banks panicked as well and ran to the banks to withdrawal their money from the bank. However the banks did not anticipate this, and did not have enough money on hand to give everyone all the money in their bank accounts. Many banks were forced to close, and those with money in those banks lost everything they had.

EDIT: The Federal Reserve was implemented to prevent bank panics as stated above. Basically, if a bank doesn't have enough money on hand for a withdrawal they take a loan from the government, and are able to give people their money back, even if the bank is forced to close.


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

[User] [The Boys] could Homelander have stopped the plane from crashing by using super strength to move whatever stick clearly controls the whole plane?

[Assistant]
Most planes these days are fly-by-wire.

Which means that the "stick" (or yoke) that the pilot moves just feeds into a computer, and it's the computer that actually physically moves the flight control surfaces on the plane.

So it's like the yoke is no different than the thumbstick on your xbox controller. Without the xbox on and working, your thumbstick isn't going to do shit.

Homelander destroyed the dash in the cockpit (which houses some of the computer systems) with his laser eyes, but many of the computer systems are actually below the floor beneath the pilot's feet, and many more are in a server rack type structure behind the pilot.

Nevertheless, Homelander probably destroyed enough to make the fly-by-wire system inoperable.


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

[User]
[Spongebob Squarepants] How is the Chum Bucket so technologically advanced even though Plankton isnt making any money?

The Chum Bucket is a notoriously crappy restaraunt across the street from one of the most popular restaraunts in Bikini Bottom. So how can Plankton afford such an advanced interior while making little to no profit? It's a miracle the place hasn't been closed down.

[Assistant] After the episode with the floating garbage patch and after noticing that buildings are old mufflers and whatnot i like to think that plankton is a scav repurposing the trash that sinks to the ocean floor.


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

[User]
Regarding Guy Debord

What would you recommend i read before reading Society of the spectacle by Guy Debord? Are there any specific Marx texts i should read first?
Also, which of Marxs texts are the most important to have read before getting in to critical theory and the Frankfurt School authors?

[Assistant] Guy Debord was a humanist marxist in the vein of the young Lukacs- or what can be called Hegelian Marxism-  and thus the most important text of Marx regarding "society of the spectacle" is the economic and philosophic manuscripts of 1844. Debord references not only Marx but also Lukacs's "history and class consciousness" and Hegel and Feuerbach heavily in his works.


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

[User]
What do people here mean with "laws of physics start breaking down"?

Are they talking about the laws of physics as we know them start being incorrect and faulty or is it physics itself becoming unpredictable and weird like in a blackhole?

[Assistant]
> Are they talking about the laws of physics as we know them start being incorrect and faulty

Yes.

> or is it physics itself becoming unpredictable and weird like in a blackhole?

If we don't have laws that can predict what happens then we don't have predictions. You could call that weird, too.


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

[User]
What is behind the rise in suicides by 1/3 in the United States since the 1990s?

I watched the Wall Street Journal's video on this topic about how Angus Deaton and Anne Case did a study on the rise of suicides in the US since the 1990s. "Deaths of despair."

What are your estimates on the causes behind this trend as social scientists?

[Assistant] Emile Durkheim would argue that societies that lack cultural rituals that tie people together on a regular basis will see have an increased number of suicides. His book, On Suicide, is a statistical and theoretical foray into the suicide rates across the globe and gives us a keen insight into why suicide rates different from culture to culture and epoch to epoch.


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

[User]
Eli5: How do beats per minute or the tempo of music affect your workout.

I have noticed that there are some pop songs that have a really fast beat and my heart rate increases first because of the music and when I am walking or working out to it I suddenly feel more energetic and I can do higher intensity workouts easily.

[Assistant]
Its a mental thing.

Scientists arent even sure the exact reason we Like music, but we know it definitely impacts us, from starting to tap your foot to the beat to feeling emotional from the song.

So a fast beat high energy song can definitely give you a sort of mental boost as your working out, as your brain wants to match the pace of the song.


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

[User]
[Elder Scrolls] Why do we not see more machines being powered by magic?

Why would they need horses when they could create combustible engines and shit with magic? I'm not talking about weapons, just transport and industry. Mills, factories, and farming would be so much easier if they used magic.

[Assistant]
Well, there are Dwemer automata (they aren't sentient or sapient, but they are powered by Magicka). Then there are the Orrerys, the Battlespires, the Sunbirds... Vehk-ships. Magical forges, scrying arrays, traps. Morrowind had an extensive teleport system which could be used by those who paid for it, there are the Falmeri wayshrines...

There's plenty of it. The problem stems from the less magical nature of Men. We see lots of more esoteric and automated uses for Magic by the Mer, but we've only really seen one Merish province, and what we saw was really just the frontier.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why hasn't a male contraception pill been put on the market yet?

I would gladly and diligently take it.

[Assistant]
Women's bodies, specifically the parts that are for making babies, are more strongly regulated by hormones than men.  Men produce sperm constantly, while women only produce/release eggs at a specific time.  That timing is controlled by a system of hormones.

Birth control pills hijack that system using synthetic hormones, usually preventing the release of the eggs, but that system is practically non-existent in men.  That makes it a lot harder to make a male contraceptive pill.


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

[User] [1984] What led to the creation of The party and big brother? Also what is the point of divergence from our timeline?

[Assistant] If we look at how fascism got started in the real world, England and/or America probably got screwed over in world war 2, leading to "economic anxiety" which was taken advantage of by a dictator, who proceeded to conquer the Anglosphere to form Oceania. Your guess as to how Eurasia or Eastasia was formed, if they even exist at all rather than the Party of Oceania just setting their own troops against each other, both under the belief that the other is the enemy.


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

[User]
[MCU]Are Pym Particles the cure for aging?

In Endgame, while testing the time travel device, Scott is accidentally made into a kid and then a baby.  Tony says that without his guidance device, time moves through you instead of you moving through time.  Doesn't this mean that this technology can be used to de-age people, potentially repeatedly?

[Assistant]
Id say yes, theoretically BUT Tony also said if you mess with time it will mess right back.

I always felt this statement fit the general physics theory that theres no such thing as a free lunch.  Basically theres always a price or equalizing reaction to balance out the scales.


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

[User]
CMV: Halloween should not be moved to Saturday

There's a petition going around saying Halloween would be better suited for the last Saturday of October because it would be safer and easier for kids to go trick or treating.

Here are my 2 reasons why I don't agree with this.

1 Halloween is on 31st specifically for a reason. It's based on the Celtic holiday Samhain.  Similar to the day of the dead, it's believed that this is when the the barrier between the dead and the living is the thinnest and spirits come back to visit.  It's also the eve of all saints day if you're Catholic. These Holidays have been celebrated on this day for hundreds of years. For people to want to suddenly change that so it'd be easier for them and their kids to get free candy is disrespectful to people of that culture.
Should we change other holidays with cultural significance just to suit people's work week? I don't think so. My main argument here is that people are not respecting the culture behind Halloween and are trying to bastardize it so it's only about candy and partying. I've seen a lot of people agree with the petition for that reason alone. They don't have kids they just want to get sloshed and not have to go to work hungover.

2. Saturday wouldn't be any safer. DUI statistics say accidents increase on weekends and holidays. Having more drunk drivers on the roads while children are trick or treating does not seem like it would be safer for them and wouldn't be any safer for other drivers on the road.

I don't have kids, I just really love Halloween so I admit this really wouldn't affect me either way.  I just don't buy the excuse that this is for the kids. From what I've read of people's comments, it's just inconvenient for parents to have to take off work early take their kids out late and then wake up exhausted the next day and have to go to work.  There are always Halloween events around town the Saturday before Halloween like trunk or treats, or costume party's and contests that don't go on late into the night.  Why not just go to something like that rather than try to make 300 million people adjust their life to make yours more "convenient".

[Assistant]
The US celebrates Easter on a different day than many other countries (on some years)... which you'd think would be disrespectful to Christians, the largest religious group in the US, but that is perfectly fine.

Samhain dates back to before the use of the modern Gregorian calendar anyway, so the specific date isn't a key element of culture of the celebration or else we'd be continuing to celebrate it based on the Coligny calendar.


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

[User]
Role of LinkedIn in academia

Is it important to have a LinkedIn when youre working in academia? If youre not on LinkedIn, what are your reasons?

[Assistant]
LinkedIn is primarily useful when job hunting, both as a platform for finding jobs and just general information gathering about different people's career paths.

I also find it very useful as a professional contact list that's always up to date. Particularly outside of academia where it's common for people to change jobs every few years and lose access to whatever professional email address they had when you were introduced.


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

[User]
Why is it when I set my thermostat to 65-70 during the winter it feels warm? Yet, when i turn my central air onto 65-70 during the summer it feels very cold?

I'm really hoping it's not an embarrassingly obvious answer. I just can't figure it out at this moment.

[Assistant] Acclamation. You get used to a certain temperature range.  In winter, you're body is used to colder temperatures so 65-70 is an increase in what your body has become acclimated to, where as in the summer, your body has become acclimated to temperatures higher, so this is now a decrease in temperature, thus it feels "cold".  Same reason why a person from florida will come to maryland and have to wear a jacket when locals are wearing a short sleeves.


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

[User]
Beta-blockers help dilate the blood vessels, but yet EP and NE cause vasodilation when they attach to beta-2-adrenergic receptors. Does that mean there are little to no Beta-2 receptors in the peripheral vessels, or does it mean less catecholamines bind to alpha 1 and alpha 2 receptors?

I am posting here because I do want an explanation, but I'd like it said in terms any average student would understand, which I don't think ELI5 would be able to provide this time around.

Edit: Thanks to all who have answered my question so far. I'm a nursing student taking Med-Surg (in my second semester out of four to take my NCLEX), which means for now a lot of the material is introductory, but so far I am understanding the material ~~well~~ decently.

[Assistant]
I don't have time to provide a detailed answer at the moment, but the effect of Beta-andrenergic receptor antagonists is not to dilate blood vessels. In incredibly simplistic terms, alpha receptors are excitatory except in the GI, and beta receptors are inhibitory except in the heart.

So, consider this: epinephrine binds to a B-receptor in a peripheral vessel. Since it's *inhibitory* to the smooth muscle in the vessel wall, that vessel will dilate. If epinephrine binds to a B-receptor in the heart, it will have an *excitatory* effect. Meaning it will have a positive chronotropic (increased heart rate) and positive inotropic (increased cardiac contractility) effect on the heart.

Nonselective B blockers, such as propanolol, block these receptors. Which means that the effect on the heart will be decreased heart rate and decreased contractility, and a mild vasoconstrictive effect on blood vessels.

But thats in pretty simplistic terms. Hope this helped!


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

[User]
ELI5 Why most languages use special names for the numbers 11 to 19?

For example, some languages follow  the same rule regardless if its in 10s or 20s:

Japanese | Chinese |
Juu-ni       | Shi er      | twelve
Ni-juu-ni  | Er shi er | twenty two

But other languages such as:

English | French | Romanian | Icelandic | German | Philipino |

Twelve | douze | doisprezece (two towards ten wtf) | tlf | zwlf | labindalawa
Twenty two | vingt-deux | Douzeci i doi (two tens and two) | tuttugu og tveir | zweiundzwanzig (two and twenty) | dalawampu't dalawa

Initially I thought it was an european thing but not even koreans do it like japanese or chinese people, so why is that?

[Assistant]
This is a holdover from older languages.

In English only 10, 11 and 12 have special names 13-19 all have the suffix teen or ten. We say thirteen three-ten, fourteen four-ten, etc

While French has special names for 10-16 but those names are derivative forms of 1-6. (onze douze treize sounds like un deuz trois) but when you get to 17 it's pronounced dix-sept ten-seven

This is common in Germanic languages and languages that have basis in Germanic languages like English.

Likely this comes from a time before writing language and numbers was common place and people were typically mathematically illiterate. The lower numbers 1-12 were frequently used in every day life so they gained special names.

The counting system that includes special words for 11 and 12 is found in Old English which dates from 5th century to 11th century. At this time the learned class spoke Church Latin and counted in Roman Numerals which didn't have unique symbols for 11 and 12 (X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV) or words ndecim (one ten) duodcim (two ten)

Some argue that having special names for up to 12 is a result of base 12 numbering, possibly because of the wide spread use of 12 hour time keeping or clocks which dates back as far as the Egyptians. But clocks didn't become common place in Europe until the 14th century, and Arabic numerals about the 12th century.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do taxes get taken out of your paycheck, but then you get taxed again when you go to buy food at Burger King?

[Assistant] There are a lot of different laws written that include a lot of different taxes - where they are applied, and what those funds go towards. So, you might pay 10 cents a gallon in tax on gasoline to fund highway repair, and 6% on soda towards the general state government, and some amount of taxes based on your income to the federal government.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does the QR code manages to not be the same with other QR code that has already been generated?

I was reading online and saw an option when I right clicked an image to create a QR Code. I know QR Codes are unique but how do they manage to avoid having the same pattern with the other QR Codes? Does it have a database where all QR codes are stored? I tried searching through this but can't find any similar queries aside from QR codes are unique.

[Assistant]
If you generate two QR codes for the same piece of text or link, you'll get two identical QR codes. They're not randomised or generated out of thin air and then matched with a site or link or something. Rather the QR code itself encodes the information onto it. So as long as whatever you're encoding is unique, the QR code is unique to it.

The wikipedia page (section 'encoding') actually shows you how it functions.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do all the stars and planets look white when you're looking from earth?

thanks guys! totally understand it!

[Assistant]
They don't all look white.  To the naked eye, Mars is visibly red, Jupiter and Saturn are yellowish.  Many stars are reddish or bluish as well.

The colors can be quite faith and hard to notice, because your color vision isn't very sensitive unless there is a lot of light.


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

[User]
ELI5: What actually is Asbestos?

I keep hearing about it in different contexts but still am not too sure what it is why it was considered good and turned out to be bad. Anyone know?

[Assistant]
Asbestos is a naturally occurring silicate mineral. People have been using it since antiquity because it is flame resistant. Even the Ancient Greeks knew about it. During the Industrial Revolution it was mined at large scale, and used in all sorts of products - insulation for homes, textiles, bricks...

The problem with asbestos is that when you cut it, you release tiny fibers into the air, and these tiny fibers are incredibly sharp. So you breathe in the tiny fibers, and they cause tiny holes in your lungs. Long-term this leads to scarring of the lungs, a condition referred to as asbestosis. You can also develop cancer in the lining of your lungs, which is referred to as mesothelioma.


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

[User] [General] Are there any villains with a no-kill rule because they give their victims a "fate worse than death" ?

[Assistant]
She might not see it that way, but Lady  Lilith de Tempscire, aka Lily Weatherwax, from the Discworld novel Witches Abroad definitely fits this description.

She believes that she's the benevolent fairy godmother. Those who cross her, who fail to fit in to her fairytale view of reality, are... adjusted to fit. The wolf is forced to be big and bad; the frog is transformed into a handsome prince; the princess is kept under guard by serpentine sisters.

Oh, and she also sometimes has people killed, or turns them into bugs and steps on them, but only when all methods of correction have failed.


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

[User] ELI5: How come we don't notice a difference (e.g. in centrifugal force) between standing at a geographical pole and standing at the equator?

[Assistant] The centrifugal force at the equator is about 0.3% of gravity. We could feel it, in the sense of being able to measure it with sensitive enough equipment, but its not enough for people to notice the difference.


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

[User] In my understanding of existentialism, man is meant to live authentically and adhere to his own moral code. Therefore is it justified for a man to kill another or commit some sort of crime because it is what he thinks is right?

[Assistant] The main work of Existentialist ethics is de Beauvoir's *The Ethics of Ambiguity*. She suggests that, no, one ought not to go around being a shithead, which includes not murdering people, because the freedom of others provides the basis for a moral system which rules out (among other things) murder. Sartre (another key Existentialist) agreed with de Beauvoir.


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

[User]
[40k] Do the Ruinous Powers ever fight each other in realspace or are their eternal wars confined primarily to the warp?

Followup: Do worshippers of different chaos powers hate/fight each other at every opportunity?

[Assistant]
Not at every opportunity, but they do regularly fight when there isn't a wider agenda to deal with.

It's not just feuds between the gods either. The leaders of individual warbands may have a beef with each other, they may be competing for resources, or they may just be bat shit crazy.


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

[User]
[Star trek]would the prime directive apply to a group of humans that used to have warp, but have since reverted to a primitive state?

A star fleet ship (circa 2333) falls through a temporal anomaly and crash lands on a near by planet in AD 1222. when Another  starfleet comes to explore they find the decedents of the surviving crew have build a bronze age civilization over the past 1111 years?

Does the PD apply or not?

[Assistant] If the civilization retains knowledge of their past they're just not in a position to actually build it, Star Fleet could intervene.  If the civilization has lost understanding of warp tech and doesn't know they're the descendants of star-travelers, the Prime Directive would apply.


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

[User] [The Matrix] So is "The Matrix" a conspiracy theory in The Matrix universe? I mean Neo was tracking down Morpheous. He knew of something called The Matrix.. Whats the deal?

[Assistant] "Conspiracy theory" is correct, but they're on the wrong track- in hacker communities, there are whispers of the concept called "The Matrix" but it's not really understood what it is. Most hackers would probably believe that the rumored "Matrix" is more like a mass-surveillance network or Illuminati conspiracy or something.


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

[User]
[District 9] Why did none of the Prawns communicate to the humans what they were doing and how they ended up on Earth?

Were they exiles? Did they forget for some reason?

With the exception of Christopher Johnson none of them seem particularly intelligent. Seems strange they end up marooned on an alien planet in a ship with such advanced technology.

[Assistant] IIRC the leading theory was that the prawns that survived were from a serf caste. The leaders, the ones who actually controlled the ship, died. There is a good possibility that very few actually knew what they were doing and how they ended up on Earth.


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

[User]
[LOTR] Are the Uruk Hai different from any other orcs? Are they the same species?

Just asking cause they look so much much larger and more uniform than the armies of Mordor.

[Assistant] There are many different regional variants of orc of varying size, strength, and resistance to sunlight. The term "uruk" (the "-hai" suffix just means "folk") is a blanket term for the highly elite types of orc which began appearing in the late Third Age and which excelled in each of these attributes, at least by orc standards. At first they were seen exclusively in the service of Sauron, though they never supplanted the ordinary orcs as the rank-and-file of Mordor. After his betrayal Saruman evidently managed to breed his own version of uruks with a slightly different appearance than the Mordor elites.


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

[User]
[Subnautica: Below Zero] Sure is cold on this part of Planet 4546B. But why is it that the ocean's warm enough to swim in without getting hypothermia?

Is it because of all the geological activity, the physical properties of water, or what?

[Assistant]
Wetsuit mechanics, mostly. You've got a very high quality futuristic wetsuit, but it's still a wetsuit - it can keep you warm in the water, but when you start to dry out, you will *freeze*.

See, wetsuits work by keeping warm water inside them. A thin layer, warmed by your skin, to insulate against the cold water around you. This is why the sizing of a wetsuit is so important. You lose heat *much* more slowly in a properly fitted wetsuit in the water. But there's a reason people don't use this technique on land, and it's the same reason you freeze on the arctic surface of 4546B.


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

[User]
When people are listening to loud music through headphones, why do other people only hear the drums/beat of the music?

This happens every day when Im on the bus, and it just annoys me throughout that 30 minutes of my day. I just thought it was interesting that I only heard the beat of the music, and not the melody.

[Assistant]
A lot of it has to do with the Fletcher-Munson curve and how we perceive sounds.

Our ears are more-finely tuned to pick up midrange frequencies (400Hz-\~4kHz) and the quieter a source is, the more of those mid frequencies we hear over the lows and highs.

Now the thing about drums is that we really don't hear the fundamental frequencies all that well (snare is down \~200Hz, kick drum is down \~60Hz), but we DO hear the harmonics really well since those are generally in the midrange.  In order to get those elements to sit better in a mix, we not only turn up those tracks, but we actually remove some of the mids in the melodic instruments (otherwise all of that midrange likes to build up and has a tendency of sounding like the song is in a cardboard box or through a telephone).  So, since our ears pick up the mids the best at lower volumes, the drums are brought up to sit better in the mix, and the mids of the melody instruments are pulled back a bit, at lower volumes, you're gonna hear the midrange of that snare (and the overhead mics picking up the cymbals) and not much else.

source:  Audio Engineering student.


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

[User]
Why is theism not a good answer for the cause of the universe?

I've considered myself an atheist for roughly 7 years now. Only now have I started to seriously question whether a god would make sense or not.

The only point on the existence of god that I think has any grounding, is that something caused the universe. I don't automatically assume that this must be the Christian, Muslim, or Jewish god. For all I know the god died in the creation of the universe, or is indifferent to us, etc.

Why does god not fit argument to the best explanation for the start of the universe?

[Assistant]
Saying that god did something isn't a good explanation because it doesn't actually explain anything - it doesn't describe the mechanics of how it was done, it rarely suggests why, and it offers no value for predicting future events. A universe with an intervening deity is one where anything can happen at any time for no reason, because god (in his inscrutable wisdom) willed it so. That isn't a universe where events are amenable to explanation, so invoking the supernatural seems somewhat self-defeating.

Further to that, why *should* we believe that such a being exists? God as normally described is, by any gauge, an impossible creature; an entity that has no precedent, nothing we know of that suggests it falls within the realms of the plausible. For all that the word is short and the concept commonplace, to say "God did this" is an enormously complex (and therefore improbable) answer, and there simply isn't the evidence to support the idea so long as there remains any tenuously possible natural answer.


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

[User]
[Ex Machina] Isn't the fact Caleb knows Ava is an AI defeat the purpose of the turning test?

Wouldn't Exposing Caleb to the fact that the person he is speaking to is actually a computer actually create a sort of biased test?

[Assistant]
If it were a proper Turing test, yes. But that wasn't exactly the real nature of the test.

The real test was whether Ava could interpret and understand human interaction and behavior enough to manipulate it. Caleb was not informed of this during the test.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Did the Empire claim the force was on their side?

We all know the Force works for good or evil, sith or jedi. But while the rebellion invokes the force often "May the force be with you" to X-wing pilots and by Admiral Ackbar.

So do Empire officers or even stormtroopers invoke the force before battle?

[Assistant] Most of the Galaxy was wary of Force users following the Jedi's rebellion and the Great Purge. The Empire in particular was looking to distance itself from Force use, preferring instead to rely on strength and efficiency to get the Galaxy working properly. Of course, Palpatine and Vader were Sith, but Palpatine kept his abilities hidden to all but the highest echelon of the Imperial ruling class, while Vader was seen as a relic, an old holdout from the past that was well past his prime and merely worked as Palpatine's lapdog. The Force was not held in very high regard by most people until after Palpatine died and much of the truth about him came out.


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

[User]
How did DNA first form?

Also, was DNA the first form of genetic coding or was there something before DNA which handled genetic coding?

[Assistant]
Google the RNA world hypothesis. With our increasing understanding of ribozymes (RNA enzymes) it is believed that early life used RNA for genetic information as well as catalyzing most if not all reactions. It is possible, if not likely, that the earliest form of "life" was a simple ribozyme capable of replicating itself.

The theory follows that these self replicating ribozymes eventually created a cell (perhaps by being trapped in an "artificial" lipid layer?) and somehow eventually started making proteins (this is supported by the ribosome being mostly composed of RNA and all of the main reactions being catalyzed by the RNA components). Also, at some point DNA was traded for RNA due to long term stability. This is also exemplified by RNA still being used for protein synthesis (why don't we just make proteins directly from DNA?) as well as the continued importance of ribozymes in many of the most basic of functions including the ribosome and the spliceosome.


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

[User]
[Tales from the Crypt] Who was the Crypt Keeper in life, and why is he so fond of puns?

The more I think about it, the curioser it gets.

[Assistant] Maybe he wanted to be a comedian in Paris (yeah, he's french, check the tude).  But then the black plague struck so he had to go into body disposal and tell his jokes to corpses.  His puns were so bad heaven, hell, and purgatory kicked him out of their lines and he is doomed to stay on earth.  But he learned a really great joke in line and it's the funniest thing ever especially since he's never going to tell it to anyone alive.  It's why he's always laughing, he's thinking of the joke you're missing out on when you listen to the puns.


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

[User] ELI5: If humans and dolphins are the only mammals that procreate for fun, why does my dog hump my leg?

[Assistant] Dolphins don't procreate for fun. The "dolphins and people do it for fun" saying comes from the fact that we are the two animals that procreate outside of ovulation period when the mating will not result in a baby. Other animals may find sex enjoyable or pleasurable but don't participate in sex outside of the female's ovulation period. This is partially due to the fact that sex increases vulnerability and uses a lot of energy.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we only sneeze while were awake and never while were sleeping?

Is it involuntary, or is there a part of being conscious that tells us to sneeze because we are aware of whats going to happen?

[Assistant]
You know how REM sleep turns off your body so you don't flail about as you dream?

It also shuts off the neurons that process stimulation from your nose. This means smells and irritants dont typically wake you up, or make you sneeze.


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

[User]
ELI5: Can someone explain to me what FOREX trading is? And why is it gaining a lot of popularity right now?

EDIT: I am seeing a lot of posts on Instagram and Facebook from people I got to university with. Apparently they are making money out of FOREX and there are a lot of people "recruiting" freshmen students to get into this. What is this exactly? , and is it worth getting into this?

[Assistant] It is trading currencies... FOREX stands for Foreign Exchange. Due to the drop in oil supplies and slowdown in China, currencies have been more volatile the past few months, which means more opportunity to make money from trading currencies (if you know what you're doing). But it's complex and there are many people who've been doing it exclusively for many years... it's not something you can just dabble in with no knowledge and expect to do well.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are all hotdogs sold pre cooked

So every package of hotdogs Ive purchased says its pre cooked. There are other tubular meats which are not sold pre cooked like sausage or brats.  I wasnt able to find any answers for this from a google search just that you should cook them again to avoid food borne illness.

Im curious why hotdogs specifically always come pre cooked!

[Assistant] Generally, hot dogs are made from the left over trimmings of meat production (lower-grade muscle trimmings, fatty tissues, head meat, animal feet, animal skin, blood, liver and other edible slaughter by-products). Pre-cooking the leftover trimmings helps to do a couple things; inhibit bacteria growth as there a various parts of an animal going into them, make the combined trimmings more manageable as it helps render down the fat and cartilage, and increases shelf life.


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

[User]
[Halo] Why was Cortana designed to resemble a naked lady? How did Sgt. Johnson survive the end of Halo CE?

Cortana is just an AI, so whats the point of giving her a naked body, let alone a body? I know shes based off of Dr. Halsey, but the two look quite different.

[Assistant]
Cotana, like all smart AIs, chose her own Avatar during her creation. She looks the way she does because that's what she decided she wanted to look like, what she sees herself as. Her self image.

Once chosen a smart AI's Avatar can't be changed. Attempting to do so results in malfunctions, glitches, and even total crashes of the AI. Nobody's yet figured out why or how this happens. The AI can change minor details about their Avatar, though. So Cortana can -and did- change her hair style, colour, form of dress, etc but no matter what she will always look like a young woman who resembles a younger Doctor Halsey.

As to why AIs have Avatars to begin with, that's mainly for human interaction. Many people would feel uncomfortable interacting with essentially an omnipresent, disembodied voice that has the power to control all the technology around you. Giving them an Avatar gives people something to focus on. Eyes (in most cases) to look at when talking, facial expressions (in most cases) that they can read. An extreme form of a user friendly interface, basically.


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

[User]
CMV: Supposed victims who detail the abuse online (twitter etc) should be supported at first glance but the other person shouldn't be defamed without true evidence

I feel like this is the most logical, but compassionate way to act **if** there isn't clear in-context evidence. If it's very ambiguous, then people should be fair to each side.

This way you are not slandering the other person incase they didn't do anything, but you still give moral support to the supposed victim incase it did happen.

Because a lot of people will say "I am so sorry this happened to you. X is truly a horrible person." or "I will spread the word that people need to avoid X" when only the first part of the first example is necessary.

When this is more private between friends instead of on public social media, and if you are a friend of both the people involved, you should also not turn on the accused, and instead ask them and get their side of the story, with as many receipts as they can give. Still support the friend who brought it all up, but don't go slandering the other right away.

Choosing to always support one side over the other means there will always be scenarios out there where one side is unfairly wronged. It should be as neutral as possible. Provide support only encouragement, then wait for enough evidence before defaming the other person and telling people to avoid them.

[Assistant]
The problem with this is that its often functionally impossible. Most cases of abuse and/or sexual assault happen between people who know each other well, which means theyll likely share a lot of people in their circles.

If one person accuses another, and they share friends/family, how exactly is everyone supposed to square that in a way that works for both sides?

There are a couple instances of you saying you should give support to the victim but we need to think about what that means in a practical sense. How can you meaningfully give support to a victim without acknowledging that their experience actually happened?


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

[User]
ELi5: what makes a TV movie look like a TV movie and not a big budget production?

I know its something to do with the cameras used, but what makes a big movie look different than a low budget TV movie or sitcom? Is it something to do with FPS, resolution etc?

[Assistant]
In addition to the other comments here there are a few others things:

* More close ups: Domestic TV screens were usually quite small compared with the movie experience. As a result directors tended to use more close ups. Faces, and the expressions they have are necessary to convey the story line and if shot in the same way as for movies, they would simply not have been visible enough for a domestic environment - so you get more faces and they are closer.
* One side effect of the above is that titles on made-for-TV movies tend to be bigger so they can be read. Typical movie credits are often too small. Similarly things with writing such a phone screens, monitors, books, signs, letters are all closer.
* Fewer longshots: Similarly, large panoramas, distant landscapes etc look great on a big screen but on a smaller domestic screen a lot of the detail and "atmosphere" is lost so these tend to be less frequent and also closer.
* Fewer "blacks": Movie theatres are generally darkened so you can have deep dark shadows on film and still see into them. Domestically, TVs are often watched in a more brightly lit room. Those dark scenes would be impenetrable so lighting tends to be turned up and less contrasty for a TV movie.


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

[User] ELI5: How does the technology in song-identifying apps like SoundHound and Shazam work?

[Assistant] I believe MP3 encoding algorithms convert sound waves to Fourier transforms. These are much easier to database and then Shazaam performs fourier transformation on the song you are "listening" to and compares to the database... or something of that sort.


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

[User] Why is torque a vector? Right hand rule is a bit arbitrary isn't it? What does the direction of the torque vector signify?

[Assistant] Torque causes an object to rotate, and rotation in 3 dimensions is determined by an axis, the direction of rotation about that axis, and an angle. The torque vector direction determines the axis and the direction of rotation about that axis. (Since we are talking about continuous rotations, the angle part isn't really given by anything, but the magnitude of the torque is used to determine the rate of rotation.) If you point your right hand thumb along the direction of the torque vector, then your fingers will curl in the direction of the rotation induced by that torque.


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

[User]
Eli5: why is baking soda oftenly used to clean stuff (especially stuff that is difficult to clean)? & what is it best used for?

Is there a kind of chemical reaction that makes the cleaning easier?

I feel like Im missing a life hack because we never have baking soda at home.

[Assistant]
The two main reasons are that it has a high pH value, which means it's very basic (the opposite of acidic on the pH scale). This makes it very reactive with organic materials like kitchen grease and oily dirt left behind by dirty body parts.

It's also slightly abrasive, just enough so that particles of dirt can get rubbed off dirty surfaces but not so much that it will leave scratches. You can get much the same result on that score with toothpaste, by the by.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do tree trunks have a ring for every year the tree was alive? Why are those rings formed at all?

[Assistant]
When a tree is growing, they tend to do so in patterns of fast growth in the spring/summer and slow growth in the fall/winter.

The fast growth isnt as dense, and is a lighter color, while the slow growth is denser and darker.

There are exceptions to this rule though. Drought/flood/disease or other factors can disrupt the growth cycle.


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

[User]
ELI5: why does only empty space expand during cosmic inflationary expansion? Why are occupying objects unaffected from expansion ?

I remember reading a comment on this Subreddit where someone wrote that expansion should not be visualized as the boundary of the universe expanding but as the fundamental physical spacetime fabric itself expanding. When I rescale a picture or blow up a balloon, everything on the surface gets larger. So why is only empty space and distances being enlarged, why not physical objects too?

[Assistant] Because there are forces that pull in the opposite direction such as gravity, Nuclear Strongforce and electromagnetism. You actually need to get pretty far away before the expansion of the universe is significant enough to not be counter acted by some force. Even Galaxies that are close together like the Milky Way and other galaxies in the Virgo Super cluster are close enough to resist the expansion of the universe.


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

[User]
How much would energy costs go up if the US got all its energy from renewables, using existing technology?

Let's say we have five years to build new infrastructure. How much would it cost to power the country at our current standard of living? Let's take into account issues not just of energy generation, but also of transport and storage.

[Assistant]
First, bear in mind, the question is huge.  To answer, we'd have to choose a plan for how to accomplish this.  The main choices we'd have to make are:

* How to generate electricity for the grid.
* How to store non-baseload power.
* How to power vehicles.
* Whether to change how people commute.  Cars? Scooters? Trains?
* Whether to redesign cities to make commuting less necessary.

These questions have multiple possible answers, and which answers you choose greatly affects the overall cost.

The second thing to keep in mind is: five years is nuts.  You're talking about possibly replacing all our cars and power plants, you're talking about maybe replacing gas stations with electric stations, you're talking about building electricity storage reservoirs, and much more - this is just plain not going to happen in five years.

Indeed, the cost is mostly going to be proportional to how fast you try to do it.  Fir example, if you allow a gradual transition to electric cars, then people can just buy the new cars as their old cars wear out.  The cost is basically just the cost of replacement, which you'd be paying anyway.  But if you want to do it in five years, you'd have to throw out a whole bunch of perfectly good gas cars.


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

[User]
ADA compliance officer isnt complying

So Im gonna make this as brief as possible. Ive had issues with ADA compliance for a few semesters at this university. Last week we had an exam and my accommodation letter states I get double time on exams.

The exam last week, was online and at home. We had 60 minutes for 40 questions. Honestly I didnt even notice the time that I was allotted until a warning popped up and to say I had 10 minutes left to submit and then panic mode set in. I finished the exam but I was frazzled due to the clock counting down.

I talked to some classmates and they also had 60 minutes (without accommodations) so I realized that the professor didnt adjust my exam time to reflect my accommodations.

I emailed the testing center head (who is also the compliance officer) after the exam and was told that I could retake the exam because I did not get the accommodations I was supposed to but instead of double time like my letter states, I was only getting FIVE extra minutes....

I emailed back to let them know that 5 extra minutes was not double time and asked them to adjust the time to reflect my ADA accommodation letter.

They did not respond and my exam retake is due tonight...

I dont know what to do.

[Assistant]
>I dont know what to do.

Contact your ombudsman and academic advisor (particularly if you have a closer relationship with them). The former will be able to initiate a formal process and navigate you through it; the latter will hopefully be able to advocate for you to those who would be able to intervene on your behalf.


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

[User]
Is there an operator that can have an associative property without a commutative property, or vice versa?

It seems that operators, whether they're pertaining to numbers, sets, propositional logic, vectors or whatever, will only have an associative property (ex. (a+b)+c = a+(b+c) ) when they also have a commutative property (ex. a+b = b+a).

I can't quite put my nose on what the two properties have in common with each other; is there an abstract proof (or disproof) that they're bi-conditional, or something along those lines? Sorry if my question's not clear I'm slightly drunk and frustrated because I can't figure it out on my own.

[Assistant]
There are plenty of operators that are associative, but not commutative. And plenty that are the other way around. Just to give one example of each:

Function composition: we define the composition of two functions from R->R, f * g as f(g(x)). Checking associativity:

(f * g) * h = f(g(x)) * h = f(g(h(x)) = f * g(h(x)) = f * (g * h)

However, this operator is not commutative. Let f(x) = x + 1 and g(x) = x^(2), then f * g = x^2 + 1, but g * f = (x + 1)^(2).

The other way around, consider the operator that takes 2 real numbers and returns the average. So a (+) b = (a + b) / 2. This operator is clearly commutative since addition is. But it is not associative. Take a = 0, b = 4, c = 2:

(a (+) b) (+) c = 2 (+) 2 = 2

a (+) (b (+) c) = 0 (+) 3 = 1.5

There are plenty of other examples that you can find for either direction, so in general it is definitely not the case that associativity and commutativity are interchangeable.


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

[User]
What is the perfect political system and philosophy it is based on?

If you had absolute power to remake the architecture of civilization, including national and local government, what would it be and why?

What governing system best for the human race? What is ideal for the human race? Should there even be a governing system?

Tell us what

1) The structure and purpose of the government will be (if any)

2) How the government would tie into everything else

3) The philosophy that the government and political system is based on, and why it is superior.

Is Capitalism best? Socialism? Communism? Dictatorship? Tell us!

EDIT: My intentions are nothing more than curiosity.

[Assistant]
An actual answer to this would be, like, a book or whatever, so let's just say Rawls' *A Theory of Justice* is the perfect political system.

1) Democracy and justice, respectively.

2) Its basic structure would be set up to ensure justice.

3) Justice as fairness, because this is what people would choose if they were unbiased, respectively.


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

[User]
The Uncertainty Principle is About a Fundamental Inability to Know Position and Momentum, Not an Instrumental/Technology Limitation. But aren't those indistinguishable empirically?

Basically what the title said. I understand it's a common misconception that the Uncertainty Principle is about instrumentation rather than a fundamental aspect of the universe, but isn't it empirically impossible to verify that?

Meaning that a universe that has an Uncertainty Principle would be indistinguishable from a universe that has no UP, but instrumentation/measurement interference keeps you from measuring both to an arbitrary level of accuracy.

Any experiment would give identical results for both possibilities, right? How is this resolved?

Thank you in advance!

[Assistant]
>but isn't it empirically impossible to verify that?

There are experiments in which the intrinsic "uncertainty" is larger than the resolution of the instruments being used (e.g. measurements of a particle's lifetime). It would be like if you were watching a super HD TV, but the picture was still fuzzy. That means the effect isn't from your TV, but something to do with the source.


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

[User] How does marijuana farming impact soil health in comparison to a standard crop such as corn?

[Assistant] Almost all growers that I've ever seen do some sort of warehouse farming. The quality of the crop is extremely dependent on light/temp/water nutrients. Ideal setup requires 18hrs of sunlight per day during growing and 12hrs during flowering. Temps need to be between 60-80F. Most places on the earth don't naturally meet those temp/light requirements. Users these days demand extremely high quality product and you just can't grow it outdoors to achieve that.


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

[User]
ELI5: This country's obsession with bacon.

I just don't get it. No one seems to favor pork over beef/chicken, unless its bacon. Bacon is always either too crispy where it essentially just becomes pork jerky and tough to chew, or its a little softer but then the flavor tends to over power the rest of the bite. And then when it does cool down it becomes hard anyway. I can enjoy truly fresh bacon from time to time if its homemade, but I will skip over the bacon entrees 10 out of 10 times from fast food places/casual restaurants. I don't think its awful, its just, I don't know, not something I really want to eat on a daily or even weekly basis. And this is completely ignoring the unhealthy factor.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

[Assistant]
Bacon simultaneously appeals to all three flavors people crave-- sugar, salt, and fat.  Event the scent of bacon is unique, thanks to the Maillard reaction (a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that gives browned foods their desirable flavor)

It's easy to prepare, reasonably priced, and readily available in the United States, so chefs started using it's properties as a "cheat" to enhance any dish.  Want to make boring eggs and toast more appealing? Add bacon. Want to make a mediocre burger taste better? Add bacon.  Want to make a dessert a little less sweet and more balance? Add bacon.

The salty-sweet-fat combination is irresistible to most people, not just necessarily Americans. It's just more accessible in a place like the US.


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

[User]
[The Mask] Just how powerful is the mask?

So I'm watching the movie again and I remember it's based on a comic series. How powerful is the mask itself? Where does it come from and is there any villain or character who could really stand against someone wearing the mask?

Also how in control is the wearer generally?

[Assistant]
Did you not see the beginning? It was imbued with the powers of Loki and Vikings left it here in a chest that eventually opened up, giving the mask to Stanley. And it's pretty freaking powerful, it gave him invincibility, reality warping, the ability to create objects out of nowhere, and really any other abilities that classic cartoon characters would have. But that's only Stanley. It affects other people differently.

> Also how in control is the wearer generally?

That's uncertain, because the bad guy seemed pretty in control when he put it on. But Stanley assumed his time as the mask was a dream.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is the urge to breathe based around CO2 and not oxygen?

When you hold your breath, it is rising levels of CO2 in the bloodstream that makes you feel the need to breathe again; your body is not aware of its oxygen levels.  This makes it possible to breathe a gas like nitrogen and suffocate without ever noticing that you can't breathe.  Additionally, if you lower your CO2 levels by hyperventilating, then hold your breath, it's possible to pass out without feeling the need to breathe, because your oxygen levels deplete before your CO2 levels rise to alarming levels.

Since oxygen levels are what we need to stay alive, why aren't our bodies' reflexes based around that?

[Assistant]
> Since oxygen levels are what we need to stay alive, why aren't our bodies' reflexes based around that?

Because evolution simply finds a solution that works well enough to let you reproduce. Not always the best one.


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

[User] ELI5: How does YouTube have the space to hold thousands and thousands of videos? Even then having some of those videos in 4k which would take up a ton if space on a traditional harddrive.

[Assistant]
They use a ton of HDDs :D  Basically they are held on a server farm.  Which can hold petabytes of information.  Though Youtube now has 100s of petabytes worth of info..  and youtube infrastructure is complicated!

As youtube uses a pretty complicated distribution method for its data. when a standard person uploads a video, it only gets stored in the most local data center. this is why when you watch a video with very little views, it often buffers a bunch and takes forever to load.  As view count increases, copies of the data are distributed to relevant data centers around the world. this is why ads and extremely popular content loads extremely quickly.


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

[User] ELI5: How can a company like UHaul allow me to drive their trucks halfway across the country and leave them at different UHaul centers? Wouldn't some centers lose more trucks than they take in and vice versa?

[Assistant] Yes, it happens just like you expect.  Companies like U-haul and RV rental companies, etc. have programs to mitigate this - car transport, or RV companies will buy 1-way plane tickets for drivers to move their RVs for them.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do grass and trees survive prolonged sub-zero exposure?

I get that plant cells have huge vacuoles, but wouldn't the freezing of the cytoplasm overcome those volumes? What about nutrient transportation (like tree sap)?

[Assistant] Trees have the ability to not run water/nutrients close to the outside when its winter, this is somewhat to prevent freezing. This also creates age rings in the wood, since the water level and therefor color changes based on the temperature.


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

[User] ELI5: How does the fuel gauge work in a car?

[Assistant] Go to your toilet and lift the lid off of the water holder. Flush the toilet. See that little floaty thingy? Thats what in your fuel tank. The car takes a measurement of how high that float it floating (by using electronics it can measure how far on a stick that floater has floated up). Take a volume measurement with the float being the heigh and you get how much fuel you have.


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

[User] [The mist 2007] why do the creatures stay in the mist?

[Assistant]
Thats the environment they live in or maybe even evolved in.

It would be like a fish asking why humans tend to stick to the surface and only take short trips into the ocean.

Its not where we evolved to live even though we can hold our breath and swim for a short time.


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

[User]
[Halo] Why does the UNSC use 600+ year old cartridge designs?

7.62x51 mm, 12.7x99 mm, 14.5x114 mm, etc. I know they do use some newly developed cartridge sizes, but so many of their mainline weapons utilize ancient standards such as these. How has nothing better been developed?

[Assistant] The UNSC never needed to develop anything better, at least from their point of view. Those cartridge designs work well for what the UNSC uses them for and so they've not had any reason to try and change them over the centuries. Keeping to the same types of ammunition lets it be more easily reused and recycled. Plus the infrastructure for those standards was already in place across UNSC space. Changing it every couple of years whenever somebody came up with something marginally better would be a lengthy and extremely costly endeavor for very little gain.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do many pop songs have so many different songwriters listed?

I see so many songs with 3-5 or more listed in the credits. I always thought sometimes one person wrote music, and another wrote lyrics. Why can it take around 5 people to write a song?

[Assistant] Studios that produce pop music typically have in-house songwriters. They might work collaboratively, they might reuse ideas from each others' work, they might even dig up unused lyrics written by someone else and add their own elements. When people say that pop music is produced in an assembly line, that's not an indictment, it's an observation.


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

[User]
eli5 How do lasers clean surfaces and destroy things?

I've seen videos of lasers cleaning things and exploding stuff, but what's the science behind it? Aren't lasers just beams of light?

[Assistant] The videos youve seen are probably a specific sort of laser for removing rust without damaging the underlying material. It makes for quite a show, and the key is that the laser is a monochromatic light source of a single frequency. In this case its a frequency which is readily absorbed by rust, but not steel. There are other examples of this same idea at work, tattoo removal which uses a laser to target the ink itself, while sparing most of the surrounding tissue. All of this comes down to understanding the absorption spectrum of the target and then using a laser tuned to the correct frequency.


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

[User]
Teaching-only positions at colleges

I really love math and I would like to teach at college level. I'm not as keen on research though. I have a few questions.

1. Are teaching-only positions hard to come by? What are the opportunities like, especially for a foreigner?

2. What are the requirements? Would I have to get a phd?

3. What is the pay like?

I would be happy to receive tips and advice from everyone. Thank you :)

[Assistant] Community colleges are teaching-only positions, and for math they're pretty easy to come by, but fairly competetive. In most states, a master's is the minimum requirement, but a phd is helpful. The pay is alright; it's enough to have a decent middle-class lifestyle.


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

[User]
[Thor Ragnarok] How powerful is Thor? Is Helas power the ability to make infinite amounts of swords from thin air? Why give Hulk weapons for the arena when he is the Hulk?

For Thor, I think his physical strength and power is inconsistent. Why hide from bullets and gunfire when he can survive punches from Hulk? The Hulk jumped hundreds of feet into the air and then crushed Thor, and he was fine, but Hela managed to cut off Thors eye. EDIT: Also, Thor was bouncing a ball and when it bounced off the wall it hit him and put him on the ground. WTF??!

I feel like giving Hulk melee weapons is dumb because his punches are more effective. Why give him weapons? To make him look more intimidating?

[Assistant]
Spoiler warning in the body is a bit redundant when you put some spoilers in the title haha.

In regards to Thors strength, its inconsistent because thats kind of a plot point, he subconsciously holds himself back as Odin explains.

Why does he hide from bullets? Just because they dont harm him doesnt mean that enough of them dont sting a bit... why does Wonder Woman block bullet when she is bullet proof (comics not movie) because the one time they dont hide or block or dodge is the one time someone has a super bullet that pierced right through them and kills them instantly.

And hulks strength can only be made more effective with the addition of weapons. They super space weapons obviously. That should be obvious as soon as the hammer doesnt crumble in his hands or shatter against Thor.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Hard suits

Why dont they wear hard suits in Star Trek? They go into a lot of dangerous situations and places. This planet here is mostly toxic, this ship here is on fire, and then they beam right on in, in their regular clothes.

[Assistant]
Because they can be beamed right out.  It really depends on the situation.  Sometimes they dress in more durable protective equipment particularly if there are environmental hazards but most often if things get too harry they can just be beamed out (provided we aren't talking about those relatively rare instances where the transporters aren't working that are vastly over-represented in the historical records).  Their uniforms are designed to be fire/chemical resistant (which was a common practice in old earth navies going as far back as the 21st century).  It's likely that the star fleet uniform provides a greater degree of protection than you're giving it credit for.

Hard suits are bulky and difficult to work in.  Even soft suits designed for environmental control are difficult to get around in and extremely unpleasant.  Unless you're facing off against hard vacuum, the added negatives associated with a hard suit are rarely justified in terms of the added protection which is generally unnecessary.  Add onto this advanced medical technology (inoculations to most hazards including large levels of radiation) and the ships sensors which can accurately determine the environmental factors inside a ship prior to beaming and it's no wonder that this added precaution is rarely used.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do puppies always want to lick your face?

[Assistant] Licking to show affection is a functional behavior that puppies learn from their mother and littermates. Maternal licking and licking among littermates helps strengthen family bonds. A dog licking your face is expressing his affection for you and trying to strengthen the familial bond he has with you.


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

[User] ELI5: What's happening in Thailand?

[Assistant] martial law. locals are not happy with the government. Protests planned for this Friday - Sunday. Ex Pats living in Bangkok don't seem too concerned - just staying away from major areas. Pizzas and DVD's for a few days.


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

[User]
[batman] Joker is captured and shipped off to a new asylum on the other side of the planet. How will he react without access to his BFF?

Com. Gordon manages to convince the judges that there's a new psychiatrist in Australia, a Dr. Jack Star shall we say. Joker now has no access to Gotham, Batty can't visit him frequently, how long before he dives further down the rabbit hole?

[Assistant] Joker will attempt to break free almost immediately, probably while being transported. Knowing him, he'd probably manage it too. Then he'd kill whichever judge tried to send him away from Old Batsy, to manke sure nobody else tried it again.


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

[User]
CMV: If a job can be done more effectively and cheaply by a machine, then it's pointless to have a human do it

When a large organization lays off workers because their jobs are obsolete, labor unions and politicians always get really angry. They make pleas like "This hurts the middle class!" and "How are these people going to feed their families?"

It feels insensitive to say this, but these are emotional arguments rather than rational ones. They're arguments with which I sympathize, as someone who's seen friends and family struggle with long-term unemployment after getting laid off. But they're arguments that serve only to make people feel better: they make no difference in the overall trend toward automation.

Jobs exist because work needs to get done, not because employers want to feed people's families. If the work can be done cheaper by a machine than by a human, then it's foolish and ultimately futile for an organization to keep using human labor.

I'm a liberal. I'm in favor of legally-mandated unemployment benefits, legally-mandated retraining programs for laid-off workers, and collective bargaining by labor unions. The view I would like changed is simply that *fighting against the obsolescence of jobs is a waste of time and energy*.

[Assistant]
>It feels insensitive to say this, but these are emotional arguments rather than rational ones.

Well, no they aren't. Insofar as it's true that "This hurts the middle class," and "these people aren't going to be able to feed their families," these are true and serious objections. In fact, it seems as though your emotional affinity for the idea of an automated economy are getting in the way of seeing these objections as legitimate issues. An economy that doesn't allow for it's citizens to earn a living is unsustainable.


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

[User] ELI5: What makes white things turn a dark yellow as they get older?

[Assistant]
There are two main groups of things which go through this transformation for different reasons.

The first are things which have had a blue additive.  This is commonly done in white paints, clothing, and plastics.  It turns out that pure white doesn't actually look white to us when it is outside in the sun.  To make things look white you want to make them be a little more blue, so the additive makes them look more white to our eyes.  Overtime these additives breakdown and so the items return to true white, but this looks slightly yellow to us.

The other is paper products.  Paper products are bleached to make them look white, but if not treated properly there is a major component in paper that breaks down overtime into acid.  This acid eats the paper slightly changing its color.