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

[User] ELI5: Where does the strength from a hydraulic press come from?

[Assistant]
Explaining like you're 5:

It's basically the fluid version of a lever or gears.  You exchange speed for force.

An example: You turn on your kitchen sink faucet, and stick a glass under it.  In a second or two, your glass is full of water, but it's not very heavy.  However, if you stuck a bucket under the faucet and left it for a few minutes, you'd have a really heavy bucket of water because the bucket is wider and deeper.  Now imagine this with the water flowing much faster, and in a closed system so there's a ton of water pressure instead of weight.


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

[User] [DC] What is life actually like in a bottled city owned by Brainiac?

[Assistant]
Brainiac specifically takes these cities in order to preserve the civilization they came from as best he can. He's not using them for scientific experiments, or computational power, or as a car battery, he's keeping them exactly as they were, for posterity.

This means that you could expect life to go on just as it always has. There's still traffic and grocery stores and garbage men and TV. People are still expected to go to their normal jobs and do their normal work, even if that means shipping excess Coca-Cola away on a train that goes nowhere or unloading produce that came in on a train from a food replicator.

There are a few major exceptions: you can never leave the city limits, obviously. Also, the death toll and birth rate are likely closely monitored to keep the population constant. Any non-local TV stations are mostly re-runs, new movies are rare, and internet forums see a lot less traffic.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are Hezbollah, Al Qaeda and ISIS against each other?

[Assistant]
Firstly, religion.  Al-Qaeda and ISIS are Sunni Arabs, Hezbollah are Shi'a Arab.  Huge ethno-religious conflicts between the two.

As for AQ and ISIS, it's a bit more complicated.  They're not really enemies, they just disagree with each other.  You've probably read in the news that ISIS used to be affiliated with AQ until early this year, when they were kicked out for being "too extreme", which is partly true.

The short version is that ISIS see themselves as a state, rather than a terrorist group.  That's a designation they kind of deserve, to be honest.  They run police forces, local governments, schools, and even post offices in the territory they control.  Befitting their role as a state, ISIS thought that, instead of swearing loyalty to AQ, AQ (as a non-state group), should swear loyalty to them, much as AQ swore loyalty to the Taliban back when they ran Afghanistan.  This caused a big argument (in Islamic culture, a personal oath of loyalty should be to the death), and AQ disaffiliated with ISIS.


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

[User] ELI5: How can we calculate the mass of the earth?

[Assistant]
We start with the formulas
>Weight = m*g

and
>F_g = GMm/R^2

which is just Newton's second law and Newton's law of universal gravitation. If we equate the two, we get
>M=gR^2 /G

so if we know the gravitational acceleration on the surface of Earth, radius of Earth and the gravitational constant G we can calculate the mass of Earth easily.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How did the Rebels escape Yavin?

So the Empire finds out about the secret Rebel base on Yavin, and sends the Death Star to blow it the hell up. And apparently the Death Star just travels around with *zero* capital ship escorts, for some reason. OK, fine, the Empire is arrogant and tactically unwise.

But surely the moment the Death Star is blown up, the Empire will then send every available Star Destroyer to the Yavin system immediately to blow the absolute shit out of that Rebel base? And yet the Rebels seem to think they have time for a great big and kinda relaxed awards ceremony before they start thinking about packing up to leave. And yet they seem not just to escape, but to escape undetected. How?

[Assistant]
Yavin isn't exactly a hop, skip, and a jump from Imperial space, much less the Imperial fleet.  Then there's the natural disarray that comes in the wake of the destruction of such a massive asset, as well as the loss of a leader like Tarkin.  You don't rush the rest of the fleet into a situation where your best weapon under the command of one of your best commanders just got its ass handed to it by a force it should have easily overwhelmed.
Basically, they had some time to play with.


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

[User] ELI5: Why it's important to stay awake after a concussion.

[Assistant] Staying awake doesn't help with the concussion, it helps the people around you (doctors, paramedics, etc) tell if you're experiencing any sort of brain damage.  If you can't talk, they can't ask you how you feel or tell if your speech is slurred or ask you if you remember your name.  If your eyes are closed, they can't check for pupillary response to light or see if they can follow moving objects.


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

[User] [Among Us] Why do the Impostors allow the Crewmates to eject them if they're killer aliens?

[Assistant] While aliens can kill a crewmate in a 1-on-1 fight, things get more complicated when they're up against 2 or more crewmates. Keep in mind that many execution animations involve crewmates being taken by surprise; during a meeting where crewmates are deciding to sentence an individual to death, they will be on the lookout for suspicious movements. "Everyone is pointing a gun at each other", so to speak.


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

[User]
ELI5: what exactly does the o/d button on my automatic car do?

I get that it stands for overdrive but as I know about as much about cars as I know about quantum physics (that is to say, not a lot) what does that mean? Should I be using it? Should I not have been pushing the button while I drove down the interstate?

[Assistant]
Your car has a transmission, which has different speeds.  That allows the wheels to spin at different speeds relative to the speed that your engine is speeding at.

If you watch your tachometer as you accelerate, you'll notice the engine speed increases, and then the needle drops back down and starts increasing again - this is because your engine speeds up until it reaches the point where the transmission shifts to a higher gear.

The o/d button selects whether or not overdrive is on.  Overdrive is your highest speed, where your wheels are spinning faster than your engine (hence over drive - the wheels are "over-driving" the engine).  It's good for high speed cruising - you get highway speed at lower RPM, which means better fuel economy and quieter engine noise.

You can disable overdrive, and that means that the car can't shift into the highest gear.  This is useful if you're trying to accelerate on a hill.  Higher RPM means more power, so in situations where you need more power, you want to turn off overdrive.

Generally though, you should keep overdrive on.


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

[User]
Why do most experimental fusion reactors focus on deuterium-tritium fusion, and why isn't deuterium-proton fusion ever used?

Deuterium-tritium fusion produces a helium-4 nucleus and neutron. In stars, deuterium and protons are fused to create helium-3 without the production of a neutron, in the second step of the proton-proton chain reaction. Wouldn't deuterium-proton fusion be the much better choice, considering they have the same amount of electrical repulsion, wouldn't generate power in the form of neutrons, and are much cheaper?

[Assistant]
The difficulty in fusion is over coming the positive repulsion between protons in the 2 nuclei. The closer 2 nuclei get, the more the protons push each other away. Sounds like you're probably aware of that, and also aware that the only way to overcome this barrier is the strong nuclear force exerted by all nucleons at close enough range. Thus, isotopes with more neutrons in their nucleus fuse more readily, because their is the same amount of electric (Coulomb) repulsion, but additional strong nuclear force to bring them together.

In stars, the pressure is huge, and the temperature is huge, but the real key to fusion in stars is sheer number of atoms. The  odds of two nuclei passing close enough to fuse is ridiculously low (hence the sun burning hydrogen for 10 billion years), but because there are so many of them, they over come the probability issue. If the odds are 1 in a million, and you have 10 billion, you're going to have a lot of events (these aren't the real numbers; but it gets the point across).

In fusion reactors on earth, we don't (currently) have the luxury of an excess number of particles or lots of time for the reactions to occur (the National Ignition Facility for example uses a DT mixture to initiate a fusion reaction that lasts a few billionths of a second). So we need all the help we can get from the fusion materials. Its basically stacking the deck!


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

[User] [Pokemon] Do Water-Types shoot clean/drinkable water? Can I use a Fire-Type's fire to cook a meal? How practical are Pokemon's abilities in normal day-to-day lives?

[Assistant] Dude, it's just water and fire, it's not poisonous or anything. Fire types can melt steel with their flames, so maybe tell them to hold back a bit or just use a campfire like normal people, unless you enjoy your meal charcoal-y.  Water created by Pokemon is probably distilled, safe to drink unless you're fasting or haven't eaten in days.


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

[User] [Avatar] After Hama teaches Katara bloodbending, she decides to use the power as much as she can to stop the fire nation. How much does this change the series? Does the world of korra change at all?

[Assistant]
Assuming she is blood lusted (hur hur) and gets over the full moon exclusivity, she can wreck the fire nation with little consequence. Maybe Aangs pacifist ass wouldn't wanna put out for her after she kills a bunch of people.

If she blood bends more in character then the survivors would spread word of being blood bent which would lead to more water benders discovering this power, which would most likely be used for evil by the second series.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] What species became the Borg?

What was the first species to turn themselves into what we would recognize as Borg?

[Assistant]
We don't know. We know they originated in the Delta quadrant and that the species that became the Queen was *not*, in fact, the Borg's original species.

There is sparse information, but the Vaadwaur encountered them in the 15^th century, and claimed that they were a minor species who had only conquered a few star systems, so it seems like the Borg have only been on the scene as a star-faring civilization for about a thousand years.


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

[User]
[Fallout] Is Atom an actual god or eldritch abomination?

We know that Lovecraftian deities are a well established concept in Fallout and that they are associated with radiation (Ghouls worshiping the obelisk in the Dunwich building, the Krivbeknih exploding in radiation when being destroyed, radiation always being present when these deities are being presented). So I ask, is it possible that "Atom" is a disillusion of the Church of Atom or an actual being?

[Assistant]
No they just personified the atomic detonation of the nukes and give a possible reason why something so shitty happened. Basically it was a half glass full style scenario of people trying to cope with the disturbing results.

Plus they needed an explanation why some people were totally immune or resistant to the radiation, which is likely caused by mutations from the early radiation or FEV.


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

[User]
ELI5: Are dogs actually happy when they are smiling or do we just think so because we perceive a smile as positive?

and no I do not mean when a dog just shows its teeth, I am aware that is just aggression.

[Assistant] Some dogs do actually smile, as we do, but it can also often times be a sign of stress or a need to cool the body by taking in and letting out large amounts of air. Dogs are much better at reading the subtle differences, than humans.


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

[User]
How can the stock market keep growing year on year?

It confuses me where that 3% annual growth comes from. Those of us with index funds are banking on it continuing indefinitely, but how can that be possible? Nothing in the universe keeps growing indefinitely.

Does the economy keep growing because it still has people and commodities in agrarian or village societies which it commodifies and brings into the global market? Or is it that technology is still making human labor more productive? A mixture of these? Will the market ever stop growing?

[Assistant]
Long-term economic growth has three components: (1) Labor, (2) Capital, and (3) Technological Advancement. When looking at long-term economic growth, it's not unreasonable to assume, at least in a developed economy, that the economy will grow generally each year, as there is more labor, capital, and technological growth each year. Of course, there are potentially cataclysmic events that could happen to disrupt this, but those are not incredibly likely (knock on wood) year to year.

That's why if you look at a graph of US GDP (for example) from 1900 to today, even the great depression seems like a small blip. The great depression had horrible consequences for the country at the time, but the economy went through the cycle and eventually recovered.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are so many deep sea and cave creatures white? I know it's 'lack of sunlight' but why does lack of sunlight make things white?

[Assistant]
If there is no light, then you don't need camouflage because nothing can see you.

If there is no UV light, you aren't getting sunburned and don't need melanin to protect your cells from damage.

It's just a case of less effort, same result, and over generations, those low effort strategies became the most common traits.


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

[User] Eli5: Why does the eye need a moment to "get used" to the dark to see properly?

[Assistant]
There are two main things that dictate how well you can see in low light:

First is the iris. It expands or contracts fairly quickly to let more or less light in.

Second is a special chemical in the back of the eye that increases light sensitivity. This chemical is destroyed by bright light and it takes 20-30 minutes for the body to produce more after it gets dark.


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

[User]
Are Supermassive Blackholes eating galaxies orbiting them?

Edit: Thanks reddit that was a great discussion. :)

[Assistant]
Not really. To address a common misconception, the supermassive black holes don't act like 'gravitational anchor' for the galaxy, much like how our sun dominates the solar system. Even though these black holes may be millions of times the mass of the sun, galaxies contain billions of stars. For perspective, the sun contains over 99% of the solar system's mass, but the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way is only about 0.0005% of the Milky Way's mass.

Rather, these black holes are more like an interesting anatomical piece. Stars and gas in galaxies have too much angular momentum to fall in - they'll just keep orbiting. Some gas and stars that get too close do get disrupted and eaten from time to time though.

And occasionally, they do use their intense gravity to generate powerful emissions from active galactic nuclei. Some supermassive black holes in some galaxies are actively feeding on gas close to them which generate powerful emissions, which we call quasars. Friction in those disks of gas heats the gas, generating the emission we observe, and causing the material to lose energy and angular momentum and fall into the black hole. This results in a pretty small change in the black hole's mass, so it's not like the event horizon is rapidly expanding outward and feeding at an exponential rate or anything apocalyptic like that.


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

[User]
ELI5 How are large sums of money transferred between nations?

Say country A sends some billions of dollars to country B in aid or in exchange for some resource. How does the actual transfer take place? How does the wealth of country A decrease and the wealth of country B increase?

[Assistant] Nations have state banks, such as the federal reserve in the United States. The transactions happen over a wire system, like fedwire or swift. In straightforward transaction like you are supposing, it's just like any other international money transfer, only with larger amounts and between public banks controlled by the state.


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

[User]
[ST:Voyager] Where does the USS Voyager get all of those photon torpedoes from?

When the USS Voyager first became lost there were serious supply issues. Photon torpedoes pack a whole lot more punch than a phaser bank due to their 1kg antimatter warhead, but torpedoes are in limited supply. Once the torpedoes are depleted there's no more to be obtained.

At first, Voyager's crew was very reluctant to use torpedoes. After a while they became very free in using torpedoes, to the point where torpedoes were being used on a regular basis and even became the weapon of choice.

Replicating the parts to build a torpedo housing is something I can understand. Its energy expensive but its doable. They also did this to build new shuttles. However, a torpedo housing without a warhead isn't very useful. That warhead is pure antimatter.

As Voyager is continually low on its power, where does this antimatter come from? Every kg of antimatter used to construct a new photon torpedo means one less kg for the ship's warp core.

Power reserves are often times critically low, and yet Voyager still seems to be able to fire photon torpedo spreads at any time without concern to remaining ammunition.

Where is it getting all of these torpedoes from?

[Assistant]
During the first part of their return, personal logs were filled with mentions of the criticality of resupply operations. Later though, as the situation settled somewhat, the drama of needing to be constantly resupplied wore off, primarily because it became much easier to barter with civilizations other than the Kazon. Many crewmen, including the senior staff, ceased discussing these now routine supply operations in all except regular status reports.

One good trade with a warp capable civilization easily provided enough to "top off the tanks" as it were, including the storage bottles for fabricating new photon torpedoes.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How does Mace Windu's fighting style make him "walk the line" of the Dark Side?

I've read on this sub before that his chosen fighting style is enough to make him tip over into the dark side, but he never quite does it. Why is something as trivial as that able to make any effect on his connection to the Force?

[Assistant]
Lightsaber combat styles aren't simply the movements of the body and blade. There's a mental aspect to them as well.

Vapaad, the style he co-developed, is one that has two non-physical components to it - it requires the user to enjoy the fight for the fight's sake, and it also acts as a conduit for the dark side. This means that the rage that anyone feels, not just the one using Vapaad but their opponent as well, is amplified in a self-contained, continuously cycling circuit.


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

[User] When your brain releases chemicals as response to things than happen suddenly in our environment (dopamine, adrenaline, etc), where exactly do they come from? Are they made on the spot or all stored somewhere waiting to be released?

[Assistant] Pre synaptic vesicles. Neurons both recycle and make these chemicals. But both these processes are two slow. So they have containers (vesicles) waiting right there and ready to go. That way they can release them quickly and restock later.


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

[User]
CMV: Religion has a net negative impact on the world

Ive been thinking about the role religion plays globally, and after a lot of internal dialogue Im cautiously confident that religion causes more harm than good.

Here is my reasoning...

Most religions claim dogmatic authority on truth, and are over-confident relative to the evidence they have to support their authority.

Meanwhile, humanity has science, an epistemological tool that consistently outperforms religious dogmatism in separating fact from fiction.

For the majority of the religious world, science takes a back seat to dogmatic religious authorities, and there is an associated opportunity cost. Instead of using the best epistemological tool humanity has ever devised for answers, they turn to spiritual leaders for answers.

For example, suppose I grew up in poverty and wanted to get out. I could read social research on what I could do to improve my situation, or I could ask my pastor/mullah/rabbi/yogi etc. I would advocate that the moral thing to do is point people towards science and research, and away from doctrine and dogmatism.

I could certainly envision a form of religion that would always defer to evidence and reason when available, thus removing the opportunity cost of adherence; however, such religions make up a minority of religious people today.

CMV!

Update: as I hash this out, I realized that I should clarify that with the advent of classical philosophy in Ancient Greece, religion lost the crown for best humanity can do. I would argue that philosophy is a better tool to understand the world than religion, and in a perfect world would have replaced it immediately. Because religion is dogmatic, and very reluctant to cede authority to alternative epistemologies, it became burdensome. In other words, the world would have been better off if it had gracefully bowed to philosophy way back then (and later, to science).

[Assistant]
Basically every historical document we have today from before the 1500s is available because of religion. They are also responsible for most of the medical advancements into the modern Era and arguably contribute more to the progress of medical science than anyone else.

As well as every major "age of enlightenment" was caused mainly by the stability religion brought to large areas.

It might seem useless in the modern Era but religion was a basic part of life for the majority of the time civilizations were a thing.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do people find the dark so fearful?

Of course there can be many reasons, but is there any ultimate characteristic that is most common or something?

[Assistant]
Evolution. Darkness presents increased risk. We as a species depend strongly upon vision, which is in particular very hindered by darkness. The same is not true of every other species, some of which are formidable predators, nor is it an inconvenience to risks like falls and other sources of injury.

So us being strongly active (ranging and the like) at night, for much of our evolutionary history, would face a greater danger to our survival than if we were to sit down and shaddup. Fear is a natural 'discourager.'


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

[User] ELI5: Why don't moons have moons?

[Assistant]
So many incorrect answers here.

A sub moon has never been observed in our solar system or anywhere else. While there's nothing preventing one from existing for a short time, the system is not likely to be stable other than for some theoretical models. Saturn's moon Iapetus may be able to support a moon of its own but that's mathematical theory and Iapetus doesn't actually have a moon.

Orbital mechanics are more complicated than x orbits y orbits z. Every object affects every other object all the time. With a moon of a moon, the interactions between the sun, the planet, the moon, and the second order moon become too unstable and the system will collapse, resulting in the second order moon colliding into the planet, escaping, or getting into its own orbit.

You would be right to say that people have things orbiting the moon, those count don't they? Turns out the same problem applies here but the time scales make it irrelevant. Man made satellites orbiting our own moon have unstable orbits and have to keep themselves stable with their thrusters. Without corrections, the orbits of those satellites will decay over hundreds to thousands of years. Sounds like a long time but it's nothing compared to the billions of years that the solar system has existed. Any second order moon system that existed in our solar system has certainly decayed by now.

TL;DR: Moons of moons don't exist. Orbital mechanics is complicated and causes and sub moons to not last very long.


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

[User] ELI5: We know the universe is expanding. What is it expanding, INTO?

[Assistant] There was a Nobel laureate in physics on Dr Karl's show a few weeks back who pointed out that you're really talking about expanding spacetime, just just space. That being so, he said, you can view it as expanding into the future.


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

[User]
[The Orville] Why do all ship mounted weapons fire only straight forward?

Not even capital ships can fire off to the side or backwards - what gives? Is targeting enemy ships so complex that it's impossible to do so?

[Assistant] Despite being at war with the Krill for several years they never really designed a warship. Since the primary mission of any given vessel is exploration and diplomacy it really wouldn't serve to cover the ship in guns. Star Trek was similar in design ideologies and only produced two warships seen on screen: the USS Defiant (ds9) and the USS Prometheus (Voyager)


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are pistol bullets usually wider than rifle bullets?

A smaller Pistol caliber is 9mm.
While a larger size rifle caliber is only 7.62mm.
Why is that?

[Assistant]
Bullets have both length and width that contribute to their volume, and therefore weight and power. In a rifle, the magazine can generally be whatever dimensions are convenient for the designer to make them. For a handgun however, the magazine goes inside the grip, and so must fit within a human hand. This restricts the forward-to-back dimension of the cartridge so that pistol bullets need to be short and stubbier than rifle bullets to fit. In order for the bullets to stay big, they just make them wider to compensate.

On another point, because the case, and therefore powder volume of a rifle is so much larger, rifle bullets tend to go close to 3x as fast as a handgun bullet. Even so, at the extreme ranges that a rifle is used, the bullets can fall over 3 feet, making it important to keep that velocity up. Lower bullet mass and narrower bullets help with that. Since a handgun is so much more difficult to shoot accurately, its not really important that it's terribly effective past a few tens of meters.

Thirdly, since the bullets move slower, (this is a little controversial) it has fewer mechanisms for wounding. Rifle bullets will send a shockwave through flesh, damaging organs even far away from the wound channel. Handgun bullets are slow enough that they don't really do that. In order for an organ to get damaged by a handgun bullet, the bullet has to actually pass through it. Making the bullet wider increases this chance.

TL;DR Handgun bullets need to be short to fit in the grip, they are slow because they don't need range, and they are wide so that they still have adequate wounding potential at low energy.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does a projectile's velocity matter more than mass in terms of kinetic energy.

I have a background in long range shooting and am trying to explain to a novice that the kinetic energy of a projectile is 1/2m(v^2) and because of this mass is  it as important as velocity when it comes to calculating kinetic energy. No matter what I say to this person, they do not understand that heavier is not as important as the velocity in regards to this function.

Can someone please ELI5 so I can make this person understand that the faster a bullet projectile moves is more important than its weight. Bonus points if you can describe terminal ballistics of an object impacting and transferring energy.

[Assistant]
Kinetic energy is *1/2* times *mass* times *velocity* **times velocity**. That's right, velocity is in there twice, multiplied together. That makes it twice as important.

If you double the mass, you double the energy.
If you double the velocity, you quadruple the energy.

If they don't get it after that, then you need to give up because they've decided that they're right on a political or religious level. This thought is now part of their personal belief system, and nothing you say will change their mind.


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

[User] [Marvel] Why is She hulk green all the time while regular hulk has two personalities?

[Assistant]
The multiple personality thing has nothing to do with the Hulk powers.  Literally no one else that transforms into a Hulk has that issue.  Most have some personality changes, but not a completely different one.

The two personalities are solely and completely a result of Bruce Banner's own mental issues.  The powers merely triggered a mental break, but they didn't actually create them.

Jennifer does not have those issues.  She is a complete well ballanced person and thus able to stay in Hulk form as long as she likes while still being herself.


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

[User]
[Endgame Spoilers] How do we know that the main timeline...

was NOT visited by some future timelines avengers to get the stones? Multiple times?

So by natural progression of time, the Snap is inevitable. Which means that if every timeline ran the exact same away, the events of IW and EG would happen in all timelines across  the multiverse.

So if the snap and the end of Thanos are both inevitable,  does it mean that in the main timeline, in 2012 when the avengers were in New York, a group of future avengers showed up?

Does it mean that the Ancient one knew that it would happen? Or is it something beyond the capability of the time stone? Because if this is inevitable, how would the ancient one not know from her view to the future?

And if she didn't see it, does that mean the main timeline is the only one where things get fixed? If so, why wouldn't other timelines Dr Strange see the 1 in 14m605?

[Assistant] I think we know the main/first(I'll be calling it the first timeline because it's easier to reference and think of, as these timelines (I believe) are more sequential, than constant.) timeline  wasn't visited by future avengers because none of them remember the events happening, like tony having a heart attack, the cap 1v1, and loki getting away. Now maybe in another timeline they did it smoother, but more likely worse seeing as though the first is the 1 where they get it right.


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

[User]
[Monkey's paw] What would happen if I made a selfless wish to the monkey's pay?

I mean, something like finding the cure for cancer, or finding the solution to global warming?

[Assistant] It would still twist your wish to have negative repercussions somehow. The Paw isn't really about punishing you for making selfish wishes. It's about punishing you for messing with fate. A selfless wish is still an attempt to alter fate.


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

[User]
CMV: All drugs should be legalized

If drugs were legal, then people could acquire them from reputable, government-inspected sources in a way that's much safer than getting them illegally from a dealer. Of course, many drugs are still inherently dangerous, but at the end of the day, people should be allowed to make the choice to put themselves at risk. Perhaps most importantly, many gang turf wars boil down to drug-selling territory. Innocent people are caught in the crossfire, and legalizing drugs could prevent much of this violence. If you choose to kill yourself with drugs, go ahead. It's when kids are put in danger while on their way to school that I have a problem. Prohibition is widely seen as a mistake today precisely because of the gang violence it spawned. Why is the War On Drugs any different? If anything, it's worse because it disproportionately targets communities of color. Anyway, I think drug legalization would solve tons of problems, but I've gotta be overlooking something. Tell me why I'm wrong.

[Assistant]
Certainly not all drugs though?

Are we going to be allowing college kids to buy roofies?

And drugs like certain formulas of synthetic marijuana provide you with a similar high to cannabis, except you go through withdrawals afterwards and can become addicted.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does putting a slice of bread in a bag of cookies make the cookies softer?

So I baked cookies on Thanksgiving and a friend I invited over who doesn't have family out here told me to put them in a bag when putting them away but include a slice of bread.

Now putting the cookies in a bag is nothing new to me, but the bread part sorta made it seem weird. When the cookies came out of the oven and cooled they were sorta hard on the bottom. Not rock hard, but not gooey. After Thanksgiving dinner I put them in a bag and threw in a slice of bread. Come today, I eat a cookie and it's the softest cookie I've ever had, and the hardness from before was gone.

Why and how does this happen?

[Assistant]
Cookies contain a good deal of moisture in them, more than the air does usually, and because nature likes things balanced the moisture in the cookies leaves, to balance things out.

Bread, a lot like cookies, has a lot of moisture and, when compared to cookies, "gives up" that moisture quicker. This means the bread dries out before the cookies!


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

[User] [Pokmon] Has there ever been a documented case of a Pokmon killing a human?

[Assistant]
It happens all the time. Ghost types feed on people's souls, Kyurem is known to eat people, Gyarados goes on wild rampages etc. There is a reason you're not supposed to go into the tall grass alone.

And of course humans use Pokemon to kill others, often through warfare or criminal syndicates.


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

[User]
What exactly are hash tables?

Ive recently watched a couple videos of live programming interviews and in almost every one hash tables get brought up. Sorry if this is a really basic question but I can only get convoluted answers from googling hash tables. If someone could ELI5 hash tables itd be much appreciated!

[Assistant]
Imagine you have a mapping of usernames to user information like this:

* johndoe1  (name: "John", email: "johndoe@example.com")
* alice  (name: "Alice", email: "alice@example.com")
* etc.

You want to be able to do a *lookup* of a particular user using their username. The username, being unique for every user, is called a *key*.

If you were to store this information naively, as an array for example, then a lookup would require you to go through the list one-by-one and compare the username to the the requested username for each entry. So in the worst case (if it's the last one) you'll need to go through the entire list until you hit the user you're looking for.

A hash table is a data structure that allow you to do lookups much more quickly. You create an array of a certain predetermined size (let's say 256). And then you "hash" the username to some index between 0-255. So "johndoe1" might hash to 132, "alice" to 42, etc. And you store the user information at the corresponding location in the array. There are many possible hash functions, a good hash function will be as random as possible but will always hash each input to a fixed hash.

Now, if you want to do a lookup of "alice", you just hash that username to get 42, and then you go straight to the corresponding array index: `users[42]` is your user entry.

A problem here is, since there's only 256 possible "slots", what do you do if you get clashes (for example if there are more than 256 users there must be at least one clash). This is called a hash collision, and there are multiple ways to solve it. Most commonly you will just gather all the users with the same hash in a list, and then go through that list the "naive" way.


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

[User]
[Marvel X-Men] Does Wolverine see instant results when he works out?

His powers are obviously accelerated healing.

When you work out, you're damaging your muscles so when they repair, they also grow in mass so they dont continue to tear under similar stress.  This is why it's important to increase workout intensity and consume protine, so your body has stuff to build muscles with.

Since his muscles would repair as fast as he is tearing them, would he just continue to grow on the spot?  Could he workout for a full day and see those results at the end of the day?  How quickly could he get how big?  Could he just attempt to lift a mountain, rip his muscles under the strain, and have them instantly repair with vastly more mass?  Theoretically, if he continued  to lift things that were too heavy to the point of tearing his muscles, he could get jacked in like.... a few hours, if he wasn't already.

[Assistant]
Honestly: yes, he would, but that would have been long, long ago. What state he heals to is squishy at best. But yeah.

A couch potato suddenly getting his regeneration would immediately feel amazing, have literally infinite stamina (yes, sexually too) and almost accidentally would get buff over time.


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

[User]
How are vaccines delivered via needle?

I've gotten a number of vaccines through my life, most recently the Covid one and it got me thinking.

-why aren't vax shots done in the veins and arteries? Why the arm muscle? If it's in the vein, wouldn't that carry the "product" around faster?

-is the muscle and everything just mass covered with veins so that chances are the needles hit the veins anyways?

-why are vaxes via needles and not tablets like antibiotics?

-if the vax/needle is put in the arm/muscle, how does that product move around the body? Does our immune system just update our OS with the new info and its filed away?

-why the arm soreness? Is it because a needle pierced the muscle? If so, wouldn't that pain happen right away like stubbing a toe? Or does the arm hurt from the product? And why?

Hope these questions actually made sense! And thanks in advance!

Edit: I'm seeing very helpful answers below, thanks to everyone who answered. Other than replying to you all individually, to each comment to say thanks, I don't know how to "like" or "heart" a reply here, or whatever the reddit equivalent is lol. If I have more questions I'll post or reply to the answers.

[Assistant]
They're meant to remain in place for more than a few hours to better stimulate an immune response. Most vaccines have an adjuvant - something to help it stick around longer and further stimulate the immune system, like an oil or protein-based antigen.

Some vaccines are oral (rotavirus, poliovirus), others can be intranasal (some flu vaccines) or even intradermal (I believe the mpox vaccine was given intradermal to get more vaccinations from a single vial).

E: to expand

1) Probably not a good idea to give most vaccines in a vessel. Some are modified live and best kept locally. There are some places you may not want them to go directly. That's why the vaccinator will often pull back on the syringe - to make sure it's not in a vessel.

2) The adjuvant can help keep it around, but most of it is cleared within ~48hrs.

3) Your arm is sore because of the immune response happening there - white blood cells coming in and breaking up the vaccine components and updating the OS as you say. Sometimes, your local lymph nodes may be sore, too (ie in the armpit), because the white blood cells have migrated there to update the OS more centrally.


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

[User] [avatar] If I'm a metalbender, can I bloodbend with the iron in people's blood?

[Assistant]
No. Metalbenders can only bend iron because of the earthen impurities in it (which might be because of elemental silicon, or might be because of weird chi magic stuff). There's nothing that an earthbender would find recognizeable as earth in a human body.

That said, new techniques could be discovered, just like bloodbending and metalbending were. The human body is said to be composed of all four elements. You could (in theory) discover a way to, say, bend a person's bones using modified earthbending techniques.


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

[User] ELI5: How does photo identification work for Muslim women who wear the full face veils?

[Assistant]
They take them off and presumably, smile.

In airport security or anywhere where they are required to show their face, it isn't really convoluted: they go to a private room where a *female* officer identifies her.

The keyword is female.

I live in a country with a native Muslim population and the issue has never really come up.


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

[User] ELI5:How does "declaring war" on a country work? And how does a country know who is attacking them? Couldn't the US go bomb a country and say another country did it?

[Assistant]
Yes, a country's leader could go attack another country and blame someone else. However, the complexities in chain of command and the number of people that would be required to know are so high that people would find out eventually. Even Russia, which Putin keeps on lockdown with state-controlled news and the like, couldn't keep their invasion of Ukraine a secret indefinitely. With a free press and a division of power like in the US, it wouldn't take long at all for someone to start putting the pieces together.

At the very least, if the President did start to wage some sort of "secret war" without Congressional consent, eventually things like soldiers and ammunition and fuel would start going absent. When it came time for Congress to pay the bills, they'd find out and be pretty upset because it's exclusively their power to be able to formally declare war.

World War 1 was officially declared by the German diplomat to the Russian prince, to give an example. Nowadays it's difficult to say how a country like the US would declare war against an equivalent power, because would you really want to give a nuclear power forewarning that you're about to attack?


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

[User] ELI5:Why can't you remove the crease from paper?

[Assistant] Paper is so common we take it for granted.  This is a great question.  Paper is a mat made from the pulp fibers of wood, and sometimes other plants or materials like cotton, etc. when you crease it you shift the fibers and probably break some. That makes it difficult, if not impossible, to get back to the smooth state.


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

[User]
[Star Trek]can a society be kicked out of the Federation?

Like suppose a society joins the federation, then a fascistic leader takes over and abolishes democracy.

Can they be kicked out?

[Assistant] The Prime Directive only applies to pre-warp cultures. The Federation would absolutely meddle in the affairs of a member world that is in danger of backsliding. Note that democracy can be just as tyrannical as fascism. The Federation would strive to enforce the vaguely technocratic utopianism that operates the post-scarcity civilizations of the UFP.


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

[User]
CMV: People in the U.S. need to stop trying to solve most issues through the federal government. Most issues should be solved through state legislation.

I'm talking healthcare, education, gun control, drug reform, etc.

Many of the issues we see in U.S. politics stem from, I believe, people trying to push too much legislation through the federal government.

I think both sides are guilty of this (liberals more so in my opinion), and that doing so creates a situation where people from more liberally/conservatively minded states try to impose their ideas of government down the throats of those with different views from different states. Creating such a situation is a mistake, as it makes people who live in states that are on the receiving end feel alienated and threatened, leading them to vote for extremist federal representatives (both congressional and presidential) that will fight tooth and nail against what they perceive as a legislative takeover. If such conflicts were relegated the individual states, we wouldn't see such a country-wide meltdown in civility.

Take gun rights as an example. When liberals try to push gun regulation on the federal level, those from more conservative-minded states will naturally feel as though their ideas of what constitutes proper gun regulation are being threatened. Such an issue should be left to the individual state, since if those from a certain state feel they need to modernize their laws gun regulation they absolutely have the power to do so. For example, the liberally-minded state I live in banned bump stocks before they were banned federally, and as I suspected, the federal ban was much much more controversial among people in conservative-minded states around the country than the state ban. If those from such conservative-minded states felt like banning bump stocks was important, they would have pushed for the legislation themselves, instead it was forced down their throats.

I get that doing things on the federal level is a more efficient way of pushing one's agenda, but just understand that you're gonna piss off a lot of people who will inevitably elect extremists as a form of political backlash.

[Assistant]
A democratically-elected government creating policy through the proper legislative process isn't 'imposing ideas down the throats of those with different views'; it's the normal operation of a government. If we consistently applied this reasoning that any minority voting bloc that objects to policy ought to be able to void or ignore it we'd rapidly have no national policy at all.

Most issues *are* in fact solved through state legislation, but some issues affect people across state lines and this is why the federal government is granted substantial power to regulate interstate commerce.

The pre-Constitutional iteration of the federal government did not have such powers, and long story short it didn't survive very long.


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

[User] ELI5:How do geologists know whats located below Earth's crust?

[Assistant]
When you ring a bell sound waves travel through it, bouncing from one side to the other in the hollow cavity creating that ringing echo.

When an earthquake occurs, seismic waves do something similar with the entire planet - bouncing around the interior and deflecting and changing as they travel through different materials.

Using detector stations on different parts of the planet you can detect a few things about the earth just from how the waves travel through it:

Waves that travel *near* the center are curved and distorted as if theyve moved through a metallic liquid for a while, and then back into rock.

Waves bounce off the very center, as if its a giant sphere of solid metal.

Waves that dont travel near the center arent distorted, suggesting theyre only traveling through rock.

By measuring these waves and the paths they take, you can draw up a diagram of approximately where the different material layers in the earths innards are located.

Measurements of earths density and magnetic field support these models of a liquid metal outer core and solid metal core.


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

[User]
What is the safest form of nuclear power we have today?

What is the safest form of nuclear power we have today? Would wide-scale nuclear power be possible or probable for the next 20 years?

[Assistant] All of today's PWRs and BWRs are tremendously safe through redundancies in the system, inherent safety, and safety policy. The biggest probelm with scaling nuclear power up (it is currently at about 20% global and domestic) is public fear and the aforementioned safety policy. A perfect demonstration of how safe nuclear power is today is the Three mile island incident. Everything that could have gone wrong, did, and no one died or was injured. And that was 40 years ago.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why was the US happy to invade Iraq over supposed weapons of mass destruction, however now that North Korea are literally shouting about how they have WMDs, the US is not considering it?

Surely North Korea needs 'saving' more than Iraq does.  I know that Iraq had oil etc. but what how do the politically justified reasons differ between the two situations?

[Assistant]
North Korea has a long lasting relationship with China. Although China have been more critical of North Korea recently, they wouldn't abide a US invasion. Not just because they value North Korea's friendship but more because if South Korea took control of North Korea, the US would have a strong military presence right on China's border. At the least, China would try to beat the US to Pyongyang so they could have control over the new government. It's a little bit like post WWII Berlin.

The whole question of what would happen in a post-invasion North Korea is really fascinating.

Iraq and Saddam Hussain had pissed off all the major powers in the Middle East so the US knew they could invade without anybody stopping them.


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

[User]
[Dexter's Lab] If Dexter's lab is supposed to be a secret, why does he wear a lab coat and gloves everywhere?

Alternate: why don't his parents notice the massive power bill?

[Assistant]
I can't explain how the parents don't notice the bill (I don't remember them as all that bright, but that would be nearly impossible not to note) though if Dexter was able to build a lab like that alone, it's not unthinkable that he's simply stealing power from somewhere.

As for the outfit - that one's really easy: he's a little kid. Anyone who cares at all probably assumes it's just a quirk/phase. Tons of kids play dress up, and if he happens to be more attached to playing scientist than Batman or the Flash or whomever, so what?


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

[User]
[Marvel] Has vibranium ever been found on alien planets?

On Earth, virtually the only major source of vibranium comes from an asteroid that landed in Wakanda. Earth being hit with the *only* chunk of vibranium in the universe seems pretty implausible though. Has vibranium on other worlds ever been touched on in the comics?

[Assistant]
Short answer is that we have no idea, it hasn't been revealed.

But if Wakanda received that much vibramium from one measly asteroid, logically speaking there should be quite a bunch of it in the universe. Of course, it's possible that Earth just got insanely lucky and Vibramium is actually super duper rare, but the chances that the asteroid just happened to crash into our part of space and  doesnt exist anywhere else in the universe is like one in a trillion.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do explosions kill people?

I guess it makes sense when you're standing in extremely close proximity to the actual explosion. What I don't quite get is how people in the general area of a bomb explosion get thrown into the air and killed.

[Assistant]
First, the whole "getting thrown into the air" thing is just a Hollywood stunt effect. You're not actually going to be lifted off your feet more than a couple of inches unless the explosion is underneath you.

The primary way an explosion will kill you is the shockwave. A wall of compressed air comes racing away from the explosion at high speed. When this shock wave hits your body it's going to damage your internal organs.

Secondarily, you can be hit with shrapnel and debris. For example, grenades don't generally kill with the explosion itself. The metal shards around the explosive fly off in all directions and will kill you that way.


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

[User]
[WH40K/Mass Effect] How would the reapers react to a necron incursion ?

If through some warp fuckery a fleet/tomb world of necrons appeared  in the mass effect galaxie and maybe started harvesting it, what would be the reapers reaction ? Would they approve and try to approach them and form an alliance or would they be enraged at the complete genocide ? (from what i uderstand the reapers only "reset" the galaxie they don't purge it completely)

[Assistant] The reapers are like gardeners, removing plants only when they get too invasive and threaten to take over an ecosystem. The necrons on the other hand are more like locusts, they destroy without creating. A necron incursion would certainly draw the reapers involvement, and they'd do everything in their power to contain the spread. They *may* even ally with life in the universe, but not as an equal of course.


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

[User]
[LOTR] How does Sauron regain strength after his defeat?

Is it just a simple timer for his spirit to recharge until he can retake physical form? Does he do anything to get stronger faster?

[Assistant]
There is one thing you should bear in mind: if you're most familiar with the movies, then you're probably working off the assumption that, after he lost his Ring, Sauron lost his body and became a giant flaming eye ghost.

That's not suggested in the books. They mention a flaming eye, yes, but in context it seems they're just talking about a heraldic sigil or something. A metonym.

By all indications, Sauron didn't lose his physical form, but, demoralized and having lost his Ring of Power, retreated to lick his wounds for a bit from his catastrophic defeat.

The "power" he's growing in is probably political in nature; alliances formed, siege engines manufactured, ranks of orc swelling and brand new deadly breeds hitting the market.


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

[User]
How did the Jedi come to hold their position in the republic?

And is there an official title for their position? Enforcers? Peacekeepers?

[Assistant]
The Jedi Order formed after the fracturing of their "parent" order, the Je'Daii Order. The Je'Daii were concerned with the balance of the Light Side and the Dark Side, and gave no particular credence to either. There were followers of both among the Je'Daii, and they mostly worked together. Eventually, though, disagreements arose and led to more and more problems. Finally, several hundred years before the formation of the Republic, the followers of Light and Dark, or Ashla and Bogan as they called it, split. There was a series of conflicts called the Force Wars, and the Bogan users were eventually defeated at the cost of the Je'Daii's home planet Tython. The Ashla followers then formed themselves into a new order led by a High Council, called the Jedi, and fled into Wild Space, hoping to avoid the new Republic that was forming.

The newborn Jedi Order colonized a planet named Ossus, founding an academy but mostly keeping themselves isolated from the rest of the Galaxy. They spent most of their time experimenting with Ashla. Sometimes Force users would find their way to the Jedi and would be welcomed, often being assimilated into the Jedi philosophy while enhancing it with their own traditions. They Jedi also took this time to enhance the Force-infused durasteel swords they used as ceremonial items and weapons while also improving upon the Je'Daii version of the lightsaber, making it more efficient and viable as a personal weapon.

By 25,000 BBY, the Jedi Order had elected to join the Republic, as they agreed with the Republic's general goal of galactic peace. This led to more visitors arriving on Ossus from around the Galaxy, and these visitors and their philosophies had a profound effect on the Jedi way of life. Most prominant were a group of Caamasi who preached the teachings of the Caamasi philosopher Hespecia Tik'kla. These Caamasi taught the Jedi Tik'kla's views on Justice, and these teachings paved the way towards the Jedi wanting to take a larger role in bringing about galactic justice and becoming peacekeepers.

It was around this time that the High Council started pushing harsher restrictions on the Jedi, leading one man named Xendor to peacefully break from the Jedi and form his own academy. Many Jedi who felt their individuality was being repressed by the High Council followed him. The High Council declared that these people who followed Xendor strayed dangerously close to Bogan, and formed an army with which to annihilate them. Xendor's followers, called the Legions of Lettow for the planet upon which Xendor's academy was formed, were forced into an open war. Xendor struck first with a preemptive attack, landing ships on Ossus. The Legions of Lettow were quickly repelled into the Core. Xendor then began spreading propaganda around the Republic, claiming the Jedi were not the peaceful monks they said they were. The Republic didn't believe Xendor, and rushed to the aid of the Jedi. Xendor himself was eventually killed in battle, and the Legions of Lettow fled into deep space. Over time, they were hunted to extinction.

After this brief alliance, the Jedi returned to their isolationist ways. This lasted up until the Tionese Wars, which took place around 24,000 BBY. The Tionese states formed a loose confederation to invade the Republic, which they saw as technologically superior but had almost no military capabilities. The Jedi found that the Tionese were building a large fleet, and warned the Republic. The Republic ignored the Jedi's warnings and were unprepared for the invasion. The Jedi, unable to dissuade the Tionese, returned to Ossus and contemplated the war, the Republic, and their place in it. Eventually they decided to enter as commanders into the Republic Army and help the Republic repel the Tionese. After the war was over, the Republic Army was disbanded but the Jedi set up a series of fortress worlds on the border of the Hutt and Tionese territories.

This cycle of isolationism, then aiding the Republic in a war, then back to isolationism but with slightly more respect for the Republic and more participation in galactic events. The biggest step for the integration of the Jedi occured when the Jedi decided to construct a large temple on Coruscant for the Jedi who directly aided Republic officials. The relationship between the two entities grew steadily from there, eventually resulting in the peacekeeper role they had in the Republic. The Republic then grew slow, corrupt, and sickly. The Jedi were so heavily intertwined with the Republic at this point that they were dragged down with it, and the two of them imploded with a nudge from Palpatine. If Luke Skywalker is even slightly intelligent, he'll return to the roots of the Jedi Order rather than what it turned into.


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

[User]
[DC/Batman] If called as a witness, would Batman testify at a trial?

Would his testimony be admissible under the pseudonym "Batman"?

[Assistant] In the DC Universe, masked crimefighters are covered by a special provision in the law. In  1961,  Congress passes the Keene Act, delineating the parameters of official authority over superhuman activities. (SUICIDE SQUAD #1, 1987) Prior to this, most superheroic activity was regulated to some degree as almost all superheroes were members of the government funded All-Star Squadron, although the HUAC and McCarthy deregulated that in the early '50s. Additionally, Batman and his associated have been given ranks of "official deputy" of Gotham City, granting them most of the police authority, while retaining the anonymity of wearing masks.


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

[User] ELI5: what is one psychological benefit to keeping traditions such as Santa, the Tooth Fairy and others alive and what does it do to a developing kids mind?

[Assistant]
The idea that Santa keeps track of the good and bad things you do reinforces the principle that your actions have moral significance and long-term consequences whether or not you are "caught" or rewarded immediately. This is a very abstract concept that would be impossible to explain to a 3 or 4 year old child, but early childhood is when our understanding of our place in the world is formed. So the Santa story makes this concept concrete for them.

It is also an extremely important principle for a healthy functioning society. If you look at the news, you see what people do when they think they can get away with stuff indefinitely. We need more people who have internalized the moral significance of their actions.

It also gives them a worldview where they are noticed, and their actions matter to someone --personal and relational agency. Children who believe that nobody notices or cares what they do feel invisible and insignificant, and they act out in an attempt to be recognized. Of course, parents and teachers can and should give them that recognition all the time, but extra reinforcement is a good thing.

The tooth fairy story reinforces that growing up and the resulting changes in their body (that can be gross, uncomfortable or scary) are normal, good, and something to look forward to.


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

[User] ELI5: If a civilization relied on the sun to tell time, what did they do on a very cloudy day?

[Assistant] Until the modern age(locomotive trains, and telegraphs), knowing precisely what time it was, was not very important. Only when communication and travel  between groups of people in different places became the norm, did accurate timekeeping matter.


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

[User] ELI5: Why aren't white people in the United States referred to as "European Americans" like how blacks are referred to as "African Americans?"

[Assistant] The term "african american" came about as a deliberate attempt to reduce discrimination by making race about ethnicity and not about skin color, to get away from the racist connotations associated with the term "black". As there were no comparable negative connotations associated with "white", there was no real need to change the term.


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

[User]
[Fallout] Culture progresses incredibly fast in the modern age, typically undergoing major changes on a decade-by-decade basis. What caused America to remain aesthetically, socially, and politically 50's for upwards of 70 years?

Edit: I fucked up the math a bit. The world ended in 2077, so that would actually be closer to 120 years of cultural stasis.

[Assistant] Is there any proof that it did, or did society change over the 70 years and then come around again to the 'good old days' of the 50's as a cultural renaissance to draw comfort from as society started to get strained from the looming resource shortages?


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What exactly makes clones better than droids?

I get that clones have some advantages, but droids have far more advantages, such as:

- They don't feel pain

- They are incredibly disposable

- They don't need food or water

- They just do what they're told without emotions getting in the way

- If destroyed, they can be rebuilt

- They don't get tired

- They have absolute loyalty and won't switch sides willingly

- They can shrug off injuries such as amputation

- They can enter dangerous situations with no fear whatsoever

So, aren't droids better overall?

[Assistant]
Clones can improvise on the spot, changing tactics to match the situation. That adaptability gives them an edge in combat - one clone can take out an entire unit of clankers on his own, and would be able to deal with threats like Droidekas as the need arose.

And droids might not switch sides, but they can definitely be reprogrammed (that was even the basis for an episode).


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

[User] ELI5: How units of time (seconds, minutes, hours, etc) became seemingly universal around the world while other units like weight or distance did not?

[Assistant] Weights and measures were independently developed all over the world. Timekeeping, on the other hand, with accuracy beyond "mid day" or "late afternoon" only got serious with the advent of precision clocks, almost all of which were developed and spread from Europe during exploration. Since everyone was trying to steal from/copy/improve on clocks for several reasons, not least of which was accurate sailing in the middle of the ocean, timekeeping was sort of easy to standardize on.


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

[User]
[Dark Souls] Where are all the other undead champions?

I busted out of the Undead Asylum and this guy near the bonfire told me many had come before me to try to do whatever I'm supposed to do here, but aside from a very small handful of delightful weirdos, all I've seen are undead natives. If they all went hollow, where are they? We can't die permanently, so shouldn't they still be shambling around somewhere in Lordran?

[Assistant]
I believe they're the other players. As the sun guy mentions, time's gone a bit wonky and him and you are doomed to kind of randomly fade in and out of each other's reality and the ghostly images of other players sounds a lot like that almost happening.

This can be circumvented by summoning like with the white soapstone he gives you and, wouldn't you know it, that's exactly how you initiate co-op.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Do the blades of light sabers have weight?

Is all of the weight in the handle? Do the blades experience any air resistance?

[Assistant] There's no noticeable weight to the blade.  However, the mechanism that allows the plasma to "loop" back at the tip of the blade toward the handle reportedly creates strong gyroscopic forces, which is part of why the lightsaber is so difficult for non-force-users to wield.


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

[User] ELI5 - whatever happened to acid rain?

[Assistant]
Acid rain is primarily caused by specific kinds of air pollutants. Legislation in North America and Europe successfully limited the emission of these pollutants--for example, through the establishment of a "cap and trade" system that limits the total pollution and requires companies to pay more to buy the a greater share of that cap. That's why it's not nearly as serious of a problem anymore in the West and you don't hear about it: the solutions are working.

In many industrializing countries, however, like China, acid rain is still a serious problem.


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

[User]
[Futurama]In the time lapse in the first episode we see New York City destroyed twice by UFOs. The world is seemingly rebuilt in a medieval style. Old New York City is entirely underground by the time of the series. How did Fry remain stationary?

For the entire medieval was there just one single skyscraper just hanging around? And even if it was, wouldn't it have been buried alongside the rest of the city?

Fry does not appear to have moved at all during his cryosuspension, how does that work given the information above?

[Assistant]
The time lapse goes by too quickly to see the construction of bomb-shelter level wall replacement, and high definition screens replacing the now bricked over windows.

Fry awakens in the 5th level basement.


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

[User] ELI5:How does a modern touchscreen actually works?

[Assistant]
There are actually several types of touchscreens in use today, but most fall into one of two categories; capacitive or resistive.

Capacitive touchscreens are what you see in your phone, tablet, and MP3 players. These are glass covered with a thin coat of a transparent, conductive material. When the human body part (I won't judge) touches this coating, the bodies own capacitive properties change the capacity of the screen at X and Y coordinates. The phone reads the change at those coordinates and tells the software.

Resistive touchscreens are similar, but have two films that are separated by a gap. When you press against the screen, it compresses and those two films touch at X and Y, the hardware reads it and it's off again.

Resistive are much more resilient and you can use them through materials such as gloves, so you're likely to see them in places where they're going to get a LOT of use (factories, hospitals, restaurants), but they wear out faster and are generally less precise.

Capacitive are pretty much the exact opposite.

tl;dr They make an electrical contact at point x,y on the screen and the hardware tells the software.


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

[User]
Are there any real photos of Black Holes, or are all "pictures" simply artist renditions?

I cant seem to figure out if there are any *real* pictures of a Black Hole. I was thinking that becasue no light can escape it, and all light that touches it enters it, would it even be posible for us to see a black hole, or would we just see everything around it and infer that their must be a black hole there?

[Assistant] No, not yet. There is a series of telescopes collectively called the Event Horizon Telescope that are attempting to make an image of the black hole in the centre of our galaxy. But it will basically just look like a dimmer spot on a bright backgroun.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why it pounds when you roll down a window in a fast moving car.

Why does it happen in some cars and others not? Also I have noticed it happens mostly in back windows, why is this?

[Assistant]
There is a low pressure vacuum around your car due to the fast moving air. This vacuum naturally sucks the air out of the car but is not powerful enough to totally equalize the pressure. The popping is a result of the air inside the car quickly alternating between a high and low pressure state.

Suck the air out of your cheeks and then open your mouth. It makes a nice pop. The cars windows are basically doing this real fast.


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

[User]
Does charge come in discrete chunks smaller than the charge of a single electron or proton?

I know that the charge of an electron/proton 1.602x10^-19 C.

But I was wondering if there's any subatomic particle that carries a charge less than that, maybe some configuration of quarks or something? Or is e^- truly the *fundamental* unit of charge?

I'm reading in my E&M book, and it claims that the permeability of free space is an exact number, rather than an empirical constant, which defines the ampere and then, in turn, the coulomb. But if it's the case that the charge of a proton/electron is truly fundamental, why isn't the coulomb defined in terms of a certain number of electrons/protons? Would that not make more sense?

[Assistant]
Sort of. Quarks can come in +/- 1/3 or 2/3 of the  fundamental charge, but they are only found in groups where the total charge adds up to an integer value of e.

SI units are defined the way they are so that they are easily replicatable, not because they are inherently fundamental (there's nothing special about the kg brick in France). The ampere is defined based on forces between wires, which allows the magnetic constant to have an exact value. It is easier to measure this, than to try to count a gigantic but exact number of electrons.


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

[User] ELI5: I've heard you can't "catch up" on lost sleep. Does this mean I'm going to keep adding to the mountain of exhaustion that is my life until my dying day?

[Assistant] Not quite. If you simplify and say that our body needs 8 hours of sleep for every 16 hours awake. If you miss out on some of that sleep then you may have some symptoms, one of them being exhausted. If you finally get a full 8 hours of sleep most of your symptoms go away. There may be some health affects still remaining but for the most part you are good to go. It is similar to how you need a regular oil change in your car. If you skip an oil change you may have issues with your car like overheating and lower performance. However those go away once you finally do an oil change. But there will have been some extra wear on your engine and doing two oil changes back to back will not do any good.


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

[User] ELI5: The European Union - what does it do and how does it work?

[Assistant]
The European Union is a group of countries that think it would be better for them if they treated eachother in way that isn't *that* different to how the states work in the US.

This means that many European countries use the same kind of money because it makes buying things from eachother easier.

Also, citizens from these countries are allowed to move between them very easily and work in them with very little paperwork. So moving from France to work in Germany is no more difficult than moving from California to Utah, whereas without the European Union it could have been as difficult as moving from the US to Australia.

The EU also helps out its members if they fall on hard times, and often makes some member countries feel ripped off because they are being made to support someone that they think doesn't deserve it, or to give away more money than they want to.

In a nutshell, it's a group of countries that trust eachother enough to have open borders to members and a "we got your back" attitude.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does rain come down in droplets and not a steady stream?

Why is it that rain falls down in tiny droplets, instead of a raincloud extruding a constant stream of water?

[Assistant]
In order for it to pour down in a stream like that, there would have to be a floating pool of water overhead.  Such a pool would be very heavy, so it could never float.

Instead you have a bunch of tiny droplets of water that are just small enough and light enough to float around in the air. When the conditions are right, they start to merge together into larger drops and the instant the drop becomes too heavy to float in the air, it become a rain drop and falls down.  Well, usually it's a snowflake that melts as it fall down (it gets cold up high in the air, even in the summer), but same principle either way.

Because they fall down the instant they become too heavy, they always fall, depending in temperature, in individual drops, or snowflakes, or sleet. Pouring would require hundreds of times more liquid in a single mass than the atmosphere could ever hold up.


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

[User] ELI5:what would happen if someone injected themselves with a "Eppie Pen" if they didn't need it?

[Assistant]
An epipen injects you with a dose of epinephrine (adrenaline). Your heart beat is going to get crazy high and your breathing might deregulate. That is why you need to get to the hospital ASAP after any injection with an epipen. Additionally, epinephrine constricts the blood vessels around the injection site, so depending on where you got injected with it, they are going to want to monitor that you are still getting enough blood in that location.

*Edit*: One other thing. This above is what happens if it has been correctly injected in a muscle. If you accidentally inject it in a vein, you might just die from ventricular tachycardia. Which is your heart beating so quick that shocking you with two giant paddles seems like a good solution.


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

[User] ELI5: What exactly happens inside our body that gives us cramps around spleen level while running?

[Assistant] Theres no clear answer, but the diaphragm has generally been ruled out because swimmers get it and their muscle use doesnt put the same pressure on the diaphragm. In walking and running, it is almost always caused by uneven pacing. If it ever strikes, try focusing on making every step the same pace. It will generally fix it. Theres a reason why it hits the less fit kids (running at the end of the line, stopping, then hurrying to catch up, then slowing, then speeding up again) more than, say, track and field athletes.


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

[User] [The Culture or other post-scarcity utopias] How are raw materials secured and how is growth managed to prevent such a post-scarcity civilization from overrunning the universe in search of said raw materials?

[Assistant]
In the Culture specifically, they have solved all of their energy requirements through a combination of antimatter and grid energy (energy siphoned off from the medium between universes), which is for all intents and purposes limitless.

They are able to manipulate energy at such a file level that they can read a human mind from light-years away. They generally *don't*, but they could. They can also transform matter into new states. For example, if a Culture vessel is going into battle, it might reformat the bulk of its mass into propulsion or weapons systems, and then undo this after the battle.

So basically, limitless energy gives them all the building blocks they need, and their technology then allows them to create whatever *else* they need, essentially from scratch.


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

[User]
ELI5: The conductor in classical music

I don't get the point of him standing there guiding the music with his *item that you can tell me the real name of* when the majority of the band is reading sheet music the whole time. How does it help the band?

[Assistant] Sheet music doesn't keep track of the beat. When the orchestra is large, the back row might be out of sync with the front row and everyone might have an interpretation of how the music should be played. To avoid anyone being out of sync everyone look at one person's direction instead. (In very large theaters there might even be a second person copying exactly what the conductor is doing, he is not in the orchestra pit but on the balcony so the back row can see him). Also many music pieces involve different sections playing at different times, the conductor will remind the orchestra who should be playing by gesturing towards that section.


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

[User]
[MCU] What likely went down during the time between the Battle for Earth and Tony's funeral?

Did the Earth's defenders just go home? Was there any sort of group recovery period where wounds were tended to and the dead collected?

[Assistant]
You imagine that everyone had different things to do.

Scott Lang, for instance, had to track down the Pym-Van Dynes as well as Cassie. Pepper had to make funeral arrangements. One assumes that Spider-man called Ned, and Aunt May. Someone called the kid from IM3, obviously, probably Pepper or Friday. Tchala had a whole country to get updated on, while Hawkeye had a family to get reacquainted with. Thor was also putative king of a population that would be welcoming people back. Fury had a SHIELD to solve and a world to figure out.

People had things to do, both those who were snapped and those who werent.

It couldnt have been more that a couple days before they had the memorial for Stark. Maybe a week.


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

[User]
[Matrix] Why block out the Sun?

Like, I understand the basic principle, machines get most of their energy from the Sun, but humans do too. Hell, we rely on it even more. And even if its out of desperation, why was it done so early in the war? Blocking out the Sun is the ultimate scorched earth policy, why would humans do this first when their armies and economy was fresh?

[Assistant]
The human didn't block the sun.

Morpheus tells this story, but he's repeating a lie.
He doesn't really know what year it is (the matrix as been resetted numerous times.

The "history" Animatrix episode which tells this story has a propaganda feeling that makes you wonder if it's the truth.

The machine don't need humans for energy. That's a lie the humans believe.

The planet was dying, humans couldn't survive, and the machine are keeping them alive the best way they can.

The perfect paradise of the first matrix was a disaster, and with each new try, they came up with this. A story struggle of good vs evil, based on everything the machine could learn about human psyche.
That's why this story is filled with religious hints. It's a story the machine concocted to distract the human from the truth.


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

[User] I'm aware that the earth is not a "sphere", but, rather, a heptoloidal zircosumfered something or another, however, the Sun sure seems to be very nearly spherical to me. Is it or is it not, and why, in either case?

[Assistant]
Earth and the Sun are both oblate spheroids, which means they are spheres squashed along one axis (the rotation axis). The reason for this is ultimately the same in both cases: a spinning ball of stuff will tend toward hydrostatic equilibrium. This means the surface of the ball should be an equipotential surface for an effective potential, which includes gravitational potential, centrifugal potential (arising from the rotation of the ball), and pressure. The latter is much more important for stars than for planets.

The Sun turns out not to spin very fast, so its oblateness is very close to 1 which means it is very nearly spherical. Indeed, if the Sun were scaled to the size of a beach ball the difference in the polar and equatorial radii would be something like the width of a human hair. Contrast this with a planet like Jupiter that has a rotation period of only about 10 hours, and so the polar and equatorial radii differ by about 7%. The very nearly spherical shape of the Sun is not too surprising actually. You can work out analytically what the oblateness of a star with a given mass, radius, and uniform rotation rate should be. For the Sun it ends up being extremely close to the true value. (The Sun does not rotate uniformly by the way; the rotation rate depends on the latitude.)


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

[User] [40K] Before the birth of Slaanesh, did the emotions normally associated with him like pleasure, passion, and decadence flow to the other Chaos gods?

[Assistant]
While the Birth of Slaanesh was a single apocalyptic event in our universe, it was a slower, "deliberate" (as far as anything can be described using that word in regards to the warp) process on the other side.  The single creature we know as Slaanesh is more of a gestalt entity.  The core personality began as little more than the strongest and most clever warp entity that fed on the relevant emotions.  The powerful emotions of the Eldar prompted a feeding frenzy that would nourish these demons with a nearly infinite supply of food, allowing them to grow without bound.

It warred with other, similar entities, consuming them, their power, and their share of emotional energy until only it remained.  It's "birth" is nothing more than the moment it passed the threshold from being merely a powerful demon, and into godhood.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is [currently] the most widely accepted scientific explanation for why we dream?

I've read a lot of different theories, but is there any one theory that is more widely accepted than others?

[Assistant] Generally, the one most accepted is that it is a way to sort out memories. The dreams create links in your brain for the new memories and attach the links to other memories so you can recall them in several ways. That is why you can get weird combinations in your dreams, like eating ice cream with a dinosaur on a pogo stick.


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

[User]
[MCU] What would be the timeline of Super-Soldier research now?

From the top of my head right now, I tried to trace

Erskine original formula, used on Red Skull and perfected on Steve - ultimately lost.

The concoction Zola used on Bucky - which I'm not sure was ever written down anywhere - still in Bucky and probably unreplicable.

With Zola being snatched by Americans, it's likely that the his research was fused with attempts to replicate Erskine formula.

With release of Falcon and Winter Soldier it seems >!Isaiah Bradley!< fits in this time frame - while the research that used on him was unspecified, he was probably the ultimate victim of continued Zolas experiments.

It's also unclear what sort of research went into the serums that Howard Stark had on him, which were ultimately stolen by Winter Soldier and used on a bunch of HYDRA goons. It was definitely later results and seemingly universally successful, since none of the test subjects died on HYDRA side.

It's also unclear what sort of serums Emil Blonski got doused with, they seemed to be on ice for a considerable amount of time, and since they had some really odd side-effects on his body, I think it probably wasn't the Stark version, and probably one of Zola's experimental ones. Maybe.

And now in the end we have the perfected Power Broker serum, which seems to have  no side effects... Well, at least not obvious ones. And this one >!seemingly also lost now. !<

Am I missing something?

[Assistant] Banner made his own version of the serum, which is what him and (probably) Blonsky were given. He didnt know it was the super soldier serum though, he thought it was supposed to make people resistant to radiation. Because he thought it was for radiation resistance, he used gamma radiation with it and that combination was what turned him into the hulk. Blonsky presumably then got that same serum minus the radiation.


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

[User]
CMV: suicide should be legal

I hope that no one will resort to special pleading in the comments.

As for the view that it is illegal so that cops can stop it, there is nothing preventing a law that says that cops are allowed to use their discretion to prevent suicide.

USA should make it legal to carry a suicide pill with you (akin to those found in Mexico). It would be useful in circumstances of certain painful death (such as 9/11).

Also, a painless way to commit suicide should be made available to those who have a legitimate reason (in a vegetative state, ridden with poverty, dying of starvation, poor quality of living)

We as a society should stop looking at death so seriously. It is inevitable so why does it matter if it occurs sooner rather than later? You wont regret missing out on anything when youre dead because youll be dead. Its the same thing as being unborn.

[Assistant]
>We as a society should stop looking at death so seriously. It is inevitable so why does it matter if it occurs sooner rather than later?

This makes no sense. Since when has the inevitability of something meant that timing isn't important? We know that winter comes each year and yet it's disastrous if there's a cold spell that wipes out crops earlier than people expect.

You're also ignoring the fact that being dead in itself isn't always the main fear of dying, but the implications like not being able to be there for others.


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

[User] ELI5: why do hairs that grow from skin blemishes, like moles, grow faster, thicker, and darker?

[Assistant] Moles are basically cells with a lot more melanin, in addition to their structural differences (being raised off the skin). Melanin is what makes your skin dark. The hairs themselves just have more melanin, and thus appear darker/thicker.


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

[User]
Do we have the ability and resources to launch an object with a decent chance of hitting a planet in another star system?

How would we do it? What would it cost?

EDIT: Great discussion everyone, thanks!

[Assistant] In the near future it may be possible to get into orbit of a star, but a planet would be quite hard. The real issue is the centuries it would take to get to the nearest planet out of our solar system.


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

[User] [Jumanji] How in the hell did pre-teen Alan survive 26 years or so in Jumanji? What skills or abilities did he possibly have that could allow him to make it past a day or two?

[Assistant] Jumanji can be a very deadly game, but it is still a game - it's intended to have a winner, not kill everyone playing.  It subtly influences the challenges to make them 'winnable' by the current player, or at least survivable.  As Alan got older and more experienced, the game matched him.  It kept him challenged, but didn't overwhelm him.


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

[User]
What kind of treatment would someone with schizophrenia have received in the early 70s?

How well was the condition even understood then?

Edit: Some really great answers here, guys, thank you. If anyone has any information on the second question "How well was the condition even understood then", that would be great also. Anything you can give me, however small, would be helpful. Thanks

Edit 2: For the two people who recommended me the books, the semi-autobiographical one and one that I think began with the word edan, I think the mods blocked your comments from going through. I'd be very grateful if you could pm me the titles. Thanks

Edit 3: whoever just left that "your smile makes" comment (that was all I saw of it), I think the mods blocked it from going through. Pm me it, it looked interesting.

[Assistant]
Thorazine and later haldol were the main antipsychotic drugs at that time. They were probably used in much higher doses then we use them now, which caused a lot of people tardive dyskinesiaan often permanent disorder of abnormal involuntary movements.  When you see an old homeless guy on the street and hes moving his tongue in and out constantly,  or grimacing repeatedly, good chance this is what he is suffering with.

People with schizophrenia probably also received a lot of benzodiazepines as well, things like Valium.

In some cases they wouldve received electroconvulsive therapy.

The 70s also marked the tail end of long term institutionalization for many. State hospitals were starting to be closed at that time due to a combination of factors the overzealous belief in the efficacy of the newer antipsychotic drugs, empty coffers across the United States, and the effects of the civil rights movement.  Whereas prior to the 70s people with very chronic and severe mental illness could be institutionalized in what would hopefully be a therapeutic community, after the 70s, the home for people with severe chronic mental illness increasingly became the prison system and the streets.

Edit:  to answer your second question, it was unfortunately understood then about as well as it is understood now, which is to say, not very well. We still dont really have anything solid to point at in terms of genetic underpinnings, causation, pathophysiology, etc. Certainly nothing that has resulted in significantly better treatments. There are some newer antipsychotics with better side effect profiles than the old stuff, but they come with their own issues. Many of the newer antipsychotics unfortunately have a propensity to cause weight gain, dysregulated blood sugar, etc.  pick your poison. Of note, ECT is very rarely used in this day for psychosis, but that probably has more to do with protections most states have put in place regarding consent for treatment. Very hard to give involuntary ECT in the United States whereas in the past it would only take a single physicians order in most cases.


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

[User]
[Farscape Series 3] So John Crichton was "twinned" in this series. Question is which JC was the original, the one that stayed on board Moya ( green shirt ) or the one that took off on Talyn? ( black shirt )

And it's no good saying that they are both equal and the same, that's nonsense. That's just the show having it's cake and eating it. One HAS to be the copy that got pulled out of JC, the other is the original the copy gets pulled out from.
But which was which?

[Assistant]
Neither and both.

The "original" John was effectively split in two, the two new Johns are both originals and equal in every way, both to each other and the pre-twinning "original" John, who ceased to exist when he was twinned.


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

[User]
[DC] Is the creation of The Batman a universal constant or are there any realities where Bruce Wayne handled the trauma of his parents being killed in front of him in a different way?

I know there are Elseworlds which have resulted in different outcomes for Bruce but these were the product of a change in circumstances, even a slight one. What I am asking here is given the exact same circumstances without any outside influence, has there ever been a version of Bruce that went on to do something totally different to becoming The Dark Knight or similar.

[Assistant] I believe there's an Elseworld where the Wayne family fortune was destroyed in the Great Depression. Bruce, craving justice but not having the resources to seek global training or fund a 1-man campaign, instead became a good, honest police detective.


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

[User] ELI5: why humans, and some animals, stretch their limbs when they are tired.

[Assistant] When you use your muscles they break down in a way. This process creates a product that tends to sit around your muscles. When you stretch you move your muscles in a way that promotes the byproduct of your muscles breaking down to move away from your muscles.


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

[User]
Why are companies taxed on profit but individuals taxed on income

Is there any economic rationale behind this ? Or is it a policy decision thats more like "it was always like this" ?

How would things change if people were only taxed on their net income, like corporations ?

Edit: I want to clarify here that I am not asking a political question. I understand there are different ways to structure taxation and I just wanted to understand the history and rationale behind this particular taxation strategy. I felt professional economists would have probably thought about this before so I wanted to get their opinion of what issues might be encountered in an alternate regime of taxing net income.

[Assistant]
People aren't businesses, they for the most part don't earn a profit.

>How would things change if people were only taxed on their net income, like corporations ?

They are taxed on their net income from their labor.


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

[User] [LoTR] How would the world of Arda change if Melkor hadn't been evil?

[Assistant] Even Melkor's theme was born of the theme of Iluvatar. His evil has purpose, and no mortal nor immortal can fully understand the full theme of Illuvatar until it is revealed. Melkor was made the way he is for a reason. If Illuvatar had made Melkor differently, his entire purpose of Arda would be different. Since we cannot understand Illuvatar's current theme, we could not speculate one without Melkor.