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

[User] ELI5: Why do dogs smell so terrible when they are wet?

[Assistant]
Have you ever noticed that a lot of carpet and polyester or polypropylene pile (like plush blankets) also smells horrible when wet?

What unites all of these things: dogs, carpets, fuzzy blankets, is that they all have a high surface area due to the fuzz they are covered with. That high surface area, via adhesion, accumulates lots of smelly things. Like body oils, fragrances, smoke, and wonderfully named hydrocarbons such as "cadaverine".

Water helps loose and dissolve much of this. And then, due to the high surface area, the water rapidly evaporates. Weak interactions between vaporizing water molecules tug on other stuff that's stuck to the surface, helping it to volatilize into the air.


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

[User] Would an EXTREMIS soldier be affected by Dr. Conners' lizard serum?

[Assistant]
EXTREMIS acts to reverse physical trauma. The lizard serum, whilst also theoretically a healing agent, provides massive physical changes. Whilst the EXTREMIS modifications wouldn't kick in instantly, they would act to reverse the lizard serum's effects. Which would in turn act to reverse EXTREMIS. This would effectively leave the subject in a coma, were it not for the exothermic effects of the former treatment.

EXTREMIS subjects have been observed to explode if their body rejects the modifications - by introducing the lizard serum, you're forcing a late stage rejection. So yes, your soldier would be affected. Fatally.

Conversely, what would happen if someone already under the effects of the Connors formula were to be injected with EXTREMIS? Assuming the latter took the lizard state to be the norm, you'd end up with A.I.M's treatment's excesses being held in check by the lizard's healing factor (the explosive rejection being less likely when the formula isn't being introduced to regrow a limb in the first place). Then you'd have a lizard creature permanently operating in a warm-blooded state, with strength and speed beyond that of either an EXTREMIS soldier or that reported of Kurt Connors. If Col. Rhodes' mission debrief is to be believed, it may also develop the ability to breathe fire.

In short, you'd have a regenerating dragon with near-impossible speed and strength. If you can fix the psychological issues inherent to Connors' formula, you'd have vastly improved over the original super-soldier serum we experimented with in the '40s.


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

[User] [MCU] How powerful would star Lord have been comparatively to other avenger if he still had Egos power within him?

[Assistant]
It's hard to say.  Ego really should have been unbeatable, but he got beaten pretty easily compared to even Ronan.  Remember Ronan was able to tank Rocket's improvised explosive with his face, and still needed an infinity stone to finish him off.  Ego went out with just the bomb.

There's no telling if Starlord would have a similar weak point.  If he does, he's still pretty high tier, but Thor, Dr. Strange, and maybe Iron Man still come out on top.

Otherwise, Starlord is the strongest by a fair margin.


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

[User] ELI5: In survival/apocalyptic movies, people can survive by just eating insects alone. Is this true in real life?

[Assistant]
People eat insects, and they can provide some useful calories and protein.

But no human society has survived using insects as a major source of its calories, and for a very good reason.  The amount of calories you gain by eating an insect is very small in proportion to the effort it takes to capture or cultivate it.  In many cases it will burn more calories to harvest and prepare an insect for food than it provides in calories.

So if you are going to spend time gathering a food resource, it's a very poor choice.  But if you are starving and see an insect as a target of opportunity, eat it.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does diabetes increase your risk of just about everything?

[Assistant] Because it affects your blood flow, and proper blood flow is the key to maintaining your health aagainst viruses/infections and healing injuries. When your blood sugar becomes high, it is much harder for blood to travel around in your body. This is why the most delicate (eyes) and furthest away (feet + hands) parts are affected the most. For non-diabetics this is also true, but non-diabetics will rarely have a blood sugar high enough to cause damage. But diabetics cannot automatically control their sugar as well, and with years and years of very high sugar levels, damage slowly takes place.


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

[User]
ELI5 why governments keep trying to pass bills stifling or censoring the internet. Who's benefiting and why?

The internet has proved itself to be the greatest medium for information exchange humanity has ever seen. There are cons, like people gaining the knowledge to create explosives, organize illegal activities, sell illegal things, sure. The benefits surely out weigh the negatives, right? Slowing down the rapidly accelerating exchange of knowledge seems idiotic.

[Assistant] In general, these kind of censorship measures are passed when they present a threat to the existing political power structure. Information is power and those that control the flow information can determine the outcome of events in their favor.


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

[User]
What do philosophers means they call something metaphysical?

I was told that metaphysical is any and all object that is not strictly physical. Words, numbers, algorithms. But the way some philosophers use it makes me think that the definition i was given was wrong. For example, 'La phenomenologie' by Jean-Franois Lyotard says that the vision of essence is not metaphysical. I am confused please help me.

[Assistant]
While philosophers use the word "metaphysics" without any hassle, it is hard to pinpoint what exactly this word means to a person who has not observed its meaning in use.

Well, think of our actual physical world. When describing the existing world, we utter sentences such as "magnetic field exists", "this object has eroded over time", "this building is red", "a memory has flashed in his mind" and so on. These utterences are strictly physical, but they are interesting to a metaphysian in that they invoke the most general categories within which the world is "carved at its joints". The magnetic field might exist, but what is this "existence" we are talking about? This object might erode over time, but what is this "temporality" we are talking about? The building might have a certain property, such as having red color, but that is this "property of an object" we are talking about? A memory might flash in his mind, but what is this "mind" we are talking about?

So, when philosophers call something metaphysical, by that they typically mean that they are describing the most general features of our physical world, such as existence, predication, modality, mind, identity and so forth. The scientific language of physics makes no such demands, these categories are taken as self-evident there for methodological reasons.


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

[User]
Why do some people say moving faster than light would mean you travel back in time?

Are those people just misunderstanding some concept in relativity?

[Assistant]
This idea is born of a thought experiment Einstein is reported to have performed.  Simply put, if one were traveling away from a clock face at the speed of light, the appearance of that clock face would not change because you would be traveling at the same speed as the photons that were reflected off of it.  If you were to then accelerate, you would catch up to the photons that were reflected *before* you achieved the speed of light.  In essence, you would arrive at an earlier time because what you are observing now isn't what is happening now, it's what happened before.  When that clock ticks forward another minute, you will never see it because you are moving away from it at the same speed as the light that bounced of it in the new minute.

Ok maybe not so simply put...


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

[User] ELI5: when people do coke in movies, what are they actually sniffing?

[Assistant] Lots of different recipes.  For snorting they use powdered lactose,  or a vitamin b power if there are lactose intolerance issues.   Also,  if the actor is using a straw or something to snort it,  they will coat the inside with Vaseline so very little will actually go in the nose.   Snorting anything will cause congestion.


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

[User] ELI5:How does money laundering work and how do some people get away with it while others get caught.

[Assistant]
Suppose you make $100k a month selling ... something bad. You can't deposit that money directly in the bank, because large cash deposits require special forms & draw IRS attention (and, if it is suspicious, eventually the police).

But, let's say you also happen to own a car wash. That is a business where people primarily pay cash. Now you can deposit your "bad" money and claim that you made that money at your car wash. It works great, but of course it looks like your car wash is much more profitable than it actually is.

This is how you get caught. The cops start to notice that you're depositing lots money (and claiming on your tax returns huge profits). In fact, they calculate from your taxes that you wash 10 thousand cars a month. BUT, they check & find out that you're only ordering enough soap & supplies for 3 thousand cars. This is a huge indication that the money you're depositing is not coming from the car wash.

In order to NOT get caught, you need to have a pretty successful cash businesses so your bad money won't be noticed. Big banks often get away with this, because they have such huge profits that a little bad money won't be noticed.

Or, you could always bribe/threaten/etc whomever is investigating you...


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

[User] ELI5: Why do people swing their arms backwards when they're falling?

[Assistant] Take the advice of a boxer, the arms extending away from the body have a dramatic effect on balance, especially in "emergency" situations like this one. When you swing your arms, the shoulder uses the body to resist against the arm to create the actual motion, but you unconsciously adjust your weight for it 99.9% of the time when you're not falling. So if you throw your arms backward with 100 newtons of force, 100 newtons of force is reciprocally applied to your torso... *forward*. Hopefully that's enough to get your balance back over your feet. If it doesn't happen in the first swing, then it usually won't unless you're teetering right on the edge.


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

[User] ELI5: What was the dot-com crash, and why did it happen?

[Assistant]
When the Internet was first getting wide public exposure in the late 90s, investors were throwing ridiculous amounts of money into tech startups.  These were new companies that had little more than a website - they had products to sell or real ideas about how to make money.  Investors were so caught up in the idea that the Internet could turn shit into gold, they didn't care.

3 guys in a garage could get millions of dollars for having a domain name with a landing page.  You'd see companies going public (selling stock in themselves for the first time) putting at stock at $10/share and see it trading at $200/share at the end of the first day.

There was nothing rational going on because none of the investors understood the industry - it was nothing but people getting exited because they knew everyone else was excited.

A few people started catching on and started pulling out their money.  Those 3 guys in the garage, after spending their money on $2000 office chairs and catered lunches - still not having a business that made money - found that investors weren't giving them anymore & closed up shop.   The $200 stock price fell to $2.50 as everyone scrambled to sell of what they could.  Things crumbled quickly & lots of people that had stupidly invested their money lost much of it and many businesses that should never have grown as quickly as they did laid off many people and closed up shop.


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

[User]
ELI5: If both sides spoke British-English during the Revolutionary War, how did America slowly develop their own dialect?

I understand how in modern times, say if an Englishman came to the US and lived there for a lengthy period of time, their accent would slowly disappear, but that is due to the fact that they are constantly hearing the American dialect being spoken wherever they go, right? If that is the case, I doubt that the original colonists went out of their way to 'develop' their own dialect out of spite? Perhaps I am overlooking something obvious here, but I just can't think of it. Thank you!

[Assistant]
Both the American and British English variants are different from what they were at the time of the Revolution and both have different parts that are closer to the English spoken then. For example, the way that Americans pronounce "Rs" is closer to how English was spoken then.

Both dialects have drifted over time (with the British very recently taking up the received pronunciation after the adoption of the radio and tv). American English on the other hand was heavily influenced by German immigrants, and to a lesser degree the languages other immigrants have spoken.


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

[User] [General Fantasy] What is the best explanation you know for why mages can't wear much/any metal armor?

[Assistant]
Type a sentence on a keyboard. Play a few bars of a song on a guitar. Now try again with leather gloves on.

Magic is the sublime art. There's no room for error. Screwing it up can be disasterous, and anything that gets in the way can get you killed.


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

[User] [Star Trek] How were Kirk and crew seemingly able to pilot a Klingon Bird-of-Prey with ease when they escaped Genesis? Are the controls standard on all starships? Or do they have special training on enemy ships? Or something else?

[Assistant]
There is something you are forgetting;  We are talking about the legendary crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise.  These aren't your run of the mill standard Starfleet crew.  Oh no.  These guys have single handedly saved Earth, the Federation, and the Alpha Quadrant on more then one occasion.  We are talking about a group of people that have, traveled through time, stopped a massive alien probe from snuffing us out in a blink of an eye, and any other number of fantastical and improbable scenarios that can only be described as miracles for lack of a better word.  And, to play the devil's advocate here, by some odd and improbable coincidence, most of these guys wouldn't have been able to operate that particular B'Rel-Class Bird-Of-Prey, you forget that they have 1 person in that group that is quite literally the greatest ship engineer starfleet has ever had; C. Montgomery Scott.  We are talking about a man that figured out the forumla to transport a human being from a stationary point in space onto a moving target going faster then the speed of light with zero complications.  To put it simply:

*"The notion of transwarp beaming is like trying to hit a bullet with a smaller bullet, whilst wearing a blindfold, riding a horse."*

Federation starships and Klingon war birds are not all that incredibly different that a man of that type of intelligence couldn't figure out how to point it in a direction and put it on autopilot until they reached Vulcan and had their Vulcan scientists help them figure out the rest.


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

[User] ELi5: What makes white phosphorus so dangerous when used as a weapon of war?

[Assistant]
It ignites with the air, it doesn't need any spark or ignition source.

It's also sticky so once it gets on something there's no getting it off until it burns itself off.

It's also very toxic.

It's pretty much just death.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it harder and harder to get a full night sleep the older you get?

[Assistant] The cumulative effect of a life-time of alcohol, stimulants, sedentary life-style, overeating, rumination, rejection, heart break, loss, regret, humilation, meaninglessness, sadness, rage and the creeping fear of impending death.


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

[User]
Why can't we just keep accelerating in space?

I read recently that the space shuttle's top speed is approximately 8km/sec. However, since space is a vacuum and there is no air friction or anything like that to slow it down why wouldn't continually adding thrust lead to continual acceleration. What is it that causes the shuttle to top out at the current top speed?

EDIT: Thank you all very much for your brilliant answers. I'm having a fascinating time reading all the responses and the expansions and tangent discussions that have come from them.

[Assistant] Continually adding thrust requires continuously ejecting fuel, and only so much fuel can be taken in a given rocket. To take more fuel requires a bigger rocket which requires more fuel to accelerate, etc.


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

[User]
[Men in Back] Can a Neuralyzer be used to make someone a better agent?

In the second movie, J flashes the owner of the videoclub and he says "you will love and cherish each other" so he is using the Neuralyzer to make someone a better boyfriend/partner.

Would it work in the MiB organization if someone were to grab a Neuralyzer, point it to one of the agents and say something like "You are one of our best agents/you are very skilled in combat/you know how to spot aliens with only your eyes/you know how to best treat members of other species to not cause a diplomatic crisis or anything like that?

[Assistant] Unless that agent actually had the training and the skills but lacked confidence, you would definitely create a worse agent. You would end up with an Agent who thought that he knew how to fight, spot aliens on sight, and knew how to interact with all aliens, but actually didn't.


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

[User] [Star Wars] What part of Darth Vaders meditation chamber allows him to take off the mask? Additionally, if he wanted to, could he give his castle the same function so he could walk around without it?

[Assistant] I believe it was pressurized and had bacta aerosols saturate the air among other things. While Vader probably had enough resources to make bigger chambers like this, his ultimate goal was to escape the need for suit altogether - in old canon he often tried to channel the Dark Side to reanimating his flesh, and managed to spend some time without the life support, but ultimately such experiments of his always failed, since the Dark Side can't heal on permanent basis.


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

[User]
[Red Dwarf] What happened to humanity?

We know that Lister is the last human left alive three million years in the future.  Humanity had spread out among the stars.  So why was Lister the last human left alive in that distant future?  What happened to cause the extinction of the race?

Edit: three not one.

[Assistant]
We never actually find out whether he really is the last human alive, Holly just assumes it. There are plenty of human creations still around - GELFs, the Holoship, the Justice World, simulants, wax droids, Legion, the polymorph, and Kryten was still functional when they found his wrecked ship. All still alive and functional. Its quite possible humans do still exist, and Red Dwarf is just nowhere near them... maybe in a "no mans land" region of space because of all the dangerous shit that's there.

And, after the events of series VIII, we know for sure other humans do exist. The resurrected crew abandons the ship and probably are still alive somewhere.


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

[User] ELI5: Why I'm so willing to spend $20 on a case of beer and $10 more for pizza, but have a hard time spending $30 bucks on a pair of jeans and a tshirt that will last me months or possibly years?

[Assistant] Because the beer and pizza is instant gratification. You spend the money and you get the item and enjoy it. With the clothes, you spend the money but won't necessarily wear the items right away. So you put them in your closet and wait to wear them. Since there's no instant gratification you are subconsciously not as willing to spend the money there.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] How did the Dursleys explain to the doctor in London that their son needed a pig tail removed?

[Assistant]
"We don't know what this growth is but we want it gone." Pretty much any doctor would quickly agree, and after a quick check it's not cancerous Dudley's free to go.

Obviously it's not *actually* a pig tail, that's absurd, but with only one case we can only theorise as to what actually happened. It goes in the medical journals as any number of strange health conditions we currently don't know about, maybe a tabloid shock story, but after that dies down it's quickly forgotten.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does the virginity of oil matter?

[Assistant] The amount of benefits that first pressings give are much higher than subsequent pressings as far as nutrients, and anti-oxidants goes. Only so many to go around and the first press gets the majority of them.


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

[User] ELI5: How does a knife thrower know that the blade will hit the target and not the handle?

[Assistant]
The first thought is that it is a lot harder than the movies make it...

There are two ways of throwing a knife:
You can throw it so it travels blade first without rotating, which is harder to do with the same accuracy/power, but means it should always hit properly.
The alternative is to throw the knife so it rotates while in the air, and your aim is to have it blade first when it reaches the target - to do this you essentially need to be able to throw very consistently so it always rotates at the same speed, and then judge the distance very accurately - practise enough and you will learn a set of distances where the knife will be blade first, and then by stepping forwards or backwards you can align your target with one of these points so when the knife meets the target, it is correctly rotated.


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

[User]
Is there a habitable zone orbiting a black hole? Black holes are extremely massive and (we think) they emit radiation in the form of Hawking radiation? Could a planet be in a stable orbit around a black hole with liquid water from the hawking radiation?

What requirements would a planet need in terms of atmospheric gasses and such for this to work? What would be the effects of time dilation on the planet as it gets closer and further away from the black hole if it was maybe an earth sized planet in orbit?  How close would an earth sized planet have to be to what sized black hole for this to work if it does? If a planet maybe the size of Jupiter was very close in orbit around a black hole what would the effects of time dilation to the planet because a large planet might not experience time dilation equally on both sides of the planet.

[Assistant]
As posed, this wouldn't work, because the temperature of the Hawking radiation of an object large enough gravitationally to have planets is minuscule.  The larger the black hole, the lower its temperature, so to get a hot enough black hole to melt water, the black hole would have to be really small.

How small would it have to be?

A black hole with the mass of the Sun would have a temperature of 60 billionths of a degree above absolute zero (60 nanokelvin).  A black hole with the mass of our Moon would only radiate at 1.7 K, less than the temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation.

To get a black hole that radiated at 273K (the melting point of water), you'd need something less than 1% the mass of the Moon.

So this scenario wouldn't work.  You'd need a black hole much smaller than the Moon to get the kind of temperature necessary, and such an object is not big enough to be the center of a solar system.

On the other hand, you could probably create a scenario in which a hot black hole orbits your planet and warms it up.  But this is rather different from a habitable zone around a black hole.

Edit: some details added.


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

[User]
[Destiny] Does the Light prevent aging as well as violent or accidental death?

During the Red War, Ikora mentions dying over and over, and other Guardians do too. Are they all violent deaths at the hands of enemies, or does the effect of the Light prevent any methods of dying?

It seems like the Guardians should be far wiser and more advanced/numerous if that were the case. For example, could there be Guardians still alive from the Collapse? Can Guardians have children?

I ask because if Guardians are somehow a race of immortals thanks to the Traveler's influence, it makes a lot more sense that so many alien aggressors would be tripping over each other to get at humanity.

[Assistant]
Yes, the Light does prevent all types of aging, sickness or any other method of dying from permanently killing them.

However, there are several methods of killing a Guardian such as ontological weapons (reality consuming/corrupting weapons) either against  said Guardian or against the Guardians Ghost. Other methods would include killing the Ghost or Guardian in a Darkness Zone or corrupting their bond (like Vex radiolaria consumption or injection).

Yes, their are Guardians still living from the Collapse (or at least in a close period of time to it). Example: Drifter.

As for if Guardians can have children this is still one of the most frequently asked questions in the community. Their is several theories:

1). They can, but if the Guardian (female) where to die the child would not be revived.

2). They don't do that because they would outlive their child.

3). They are sterile.


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

[User] Since Mercury's temperature varies from 430C to -180C, and one day-night cycle takes 176 earth days, does the planet go through a few days of mild and livable temperature like the earth?

[Assistant]
The answer is no, unfortunately.

On earth, we have an atmosphere that traps heat, so as the planet turns away from the sun, it cools very slowly, never really getting outside of "livable" temperature ranges except at the poles.

On mercury, there is no atmosphere, so it's the temperature of the physical surface that we're measuring, you wouldn't be able to just hold out a thermometer and get a temp reading.

At sunrise, you'd be blasted with unfiltered solar radiation as the sun rose, since there's no atmosphere to filter it, you get the full blast as soon as the sun peeks over the horizon. You'd be burned to a crisp within minutes.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is happening to Russia's economy? Is this due, in part, to sanctions imposed by the west and/how will it effect the situation in the Ukraine?

Has Russia's economy being going south for a while or has the economic sanctions place upon Russia earlier this year finally starting to bite?

With Russia entering recession, how will this effect it's already strained relations with the EU and the US?

[Assistant] Saudi Arabia has drastically lowered the cost of their oil.  By doing so, they are putting "the squeeze" on Russia, and other major oil producers to either do the same, or lose profit.  Russia, for the most part, is the primary oil provider to Europe.  That is one of the reasons why the EU is always too timid to sanction Russia harshly.  With Saudi Arabia's oil prices now being so low, parts of Europe are now purchasing their oil and not Russia's.  Because Russia's primary export is oil, this is starting to cripple the ruble.


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

[User]
CMV: The US military has very rarely fought to "ensure our freedoms." In fact, it has done more to harm the world than help.

It seems to me that, at least since the American Civil War, the US military has had almost zero impact on the rights of Americans living at home. Maybe there was some preservation of potential loss of "life, liberty, and happiness" during WWII, especially defense against a potential invasion from Japan. But, with very few exceptions, the US military has existed as a militant pawn in geopolitics. It seems to me that the rhetoric of honoring the military for protecting domestic life is simply self-perpetuating propaganda.

[Assistant]
I think the two counter-arguments would be:

1) The strategic engagements around the world since WWII have prevented the possibility of freedom harming wars (or terrorist attacks) coming to our soil, and

2) The preservation of American economic hegemony is necessary for protecting, at the very least our economic freedom, but also likely other freedoms, such as freedom to travel and engage in commerce around the world.


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

[User]
How can we tell how far a star is?

Hi,I know about redshift, though I can't understand how we can tell how much that light has redshifted if we don't know its original state. In other words, we can observe only the light that travelled that long way to us, and due to doppler effect it has shifted a bit. I read the defition of redshift, and it says  it happenens when the frequence of light is lower than when it was emitted. But we don't actually know what its original frequence was, right? I know this may sound a stupid question to you, but I can't realize it by myself.

[Assistant]
We can actually say what the frequency of the broadcasted light was. The spectrum of starlight doesn't consist of a single frequency, nor is it constant and continuous. It has peaks and valleys at different frequencies. The locations of these depend on the material. We know that hydrogen absorbs light at very specific frequencies, so any light passing through a concentration of hydrogen will show a dip at those frequencies, because part of the light with those frequencies was absorbed by the hydrogen.

Now, we know that stars are made of mostly hydrogen and helium, so we can predict what the spectrum of a star looks like. When the light gets redshifted, the gaps in the spectrum get redshifted along with it. By identifying the frequencies of things like hydrogen absorption lines in the redshifted spectrum, we can determine exactly how much the light was redshifted.


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

[User]
CMV: Obviously not all, but a lot of iPhone users don't actually understand WHY they hate Android so much

Let me just preface this by saying I couldn't care less if you're an iPhone user. Turn the tables though and I get judged by women everywhere on over my dreaded "green bubble" when I get their number and text them. Some play it off jokingly and keep texting like it's nbd, some literally ghost me after they mention it (not even kidding), but most can't resist saying something at least slightly judgemental.

Many iPhone users describe Androids as being super laggy, not user friendly, cluttered with bloatware, gimmicky, and generally view them as phones for poor people, lame people, or old people.

They're partially correct in believing some of those things, but what they don't understand is that literally none of it is because of Android as an operating system.

By itself, Android is actually far more fluid and user friendly and FAST than the latest version of iOS. The average person has never used a vanilla version of Android before.

iOS is a closed source platform meaning ONLY apple can use the software. It's why you don't see an LG iPhone, if one existed they'd probably ruin the device.

Well, when Google developed Android they made it open source meaning literally any fly by night Chinese tech start up could create a chintzy phone and slap Android inside of it. On top of this, you also have "high end" Android phones such as the Galaxy 10 and Note, and LG V series etc. While those phones aren't chintzy per se, they are essentially ruined by the software overlays and bloatware added by each individual manufacturer in order to differentiate each device. The Samsung Galaxy series has touch wiz for example, and the HTC phones have an overlay called sense.

I'm typing this right now on the Google Pixel 2 and literally the entire reason for the pixel/nexus line of phones from Google is to give users essentially a closed source version of Android, which is something you can't get from literally any other place besides Google directly. As much as I try to explain to iPhone users it's different, to them it's just a shitty Droid and they want nothing to do with it. My camera is better than the XS too and this is last year's model, just as an additional point lol.

[Assistant]
What about your view do you want changed?

I would say that most iphone users don't hate android and don't really care.

Only the most vocal hyper fans trash android and some young people, because, lets face it, teenagers suck

Iphone has high market share among the main cohort of consumers (mid 20s - 50s) due to:

* great marketing / luxury item
* market penetration (app availability)
* simple user experience
* better managed security domain (corporate market)


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

[User]
CMV: Justice Breyer should retire as soon as possible.

Justice Breyer is an octogenarian, and the oldest left-leaning Supreme Court justice by far. Although he seems to be in good health, he's still over 80 so the chances of him dying of old age increase by the year.

Recent history has shown us that the judges whom Republican presidents nominate go completely counter to the ideology of Breyer, and if he wants his legacy to continue and not be erased, he would step down now. If he cares about the causes he wrote for on the bench, he'd retire tomorrow. The 2022 midterms are approaching, and if the Republicans retake the Senate, Biden's hope for successfully confirming a nominee of his will become a pipe dream. It's simply too risky to wait.

RBG's refusal to retire during the Obama administration provokes a poignant warning of the dangers of dragging your feet on retirement. Breyer and Ginsburg were close friends and colleagues, and I'm sure she regretted not retiring under the Obama administration after Trump was elected and her health started going downhill as it did. I'm sure Breyer saw that, and one would think he'd want to learn a lesson from that.

My view is: a) Breyer should retire on his own accord, to protect causes that he clearly cares about. b) the Biden administration should gently nudge Breyer to retire, as many Presidents before him has done. and c) Perhaps most importantly, there is no reason why me, a left-leaning American, shouldn't be praying on our lucky stars that Breyer has the good sense to retire before it's too late.

[Assistant] One could argue that a supreme court justice should separate themselves from the political sphere and should only be focussed on the constitution. Therefore he should retire when he feels he is not able to do his job up to his standards.


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

[User]
[40k] How our military's would do in the guard?

So our planet has after a brief transiting period (with some country s surrendering and others fighting) has been integrated into the Imperium with all the benefits and responsibility that come with it. One of them being that all of the surviving military forces that were not destroyed in the occupation have been formed either into the PDF or into Guard regiments to be sent off to some distant war-zones. Really what I wanted to know was what with all the enemy's the Imperials say are out there, what are the chances for our boys being sent out into these new wars? (meta - the question really is how would our real life modern military forces would fare in the 40k setting).

[Assistant]
Pretty much the same as most other guard regiments. The scale at which guard regiments are deployed makes individual skill relatively useless most of the time.

Sure the Catachans are excellent jungle fighters and the Tanith are great stealth troops. But most of the time the war zones are so big that guard are simply deployed by the numbers with no regard for their talents or skills.

When Earth pays it's tithe of men out of our current armed forces it'll hardly matter if a man is a navy seal or some gulag prisoner. Guardsmen are bodies with lasguns and that's pretty much it.

The imperium doesn't care if a planet's tithe of men consists of highly trained soldiers, savages who'd never seen technology beyond a spear until they were conscripted or sacrificial prisoners.

They'll all get basic training, a lasgun and a one way ticket to the suck.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it when some wounds heal, they leave a shiny scar, whereas others leave dark patches of skin?

Does it have to do with the size, type or depth of the injury? How to reduce the size or colour of the scar?

[Assistant] It deals with how that particular injury heals. Your skin is multilayered. The very top layers are actually dead. Underneath are the living tissues, softer, "normal skin" layers closer to the surface and "basal" layers below. These basal layers are slightly different from the ones closer to the surface and when you are injured, they play a role in 'filling the gap'. In small, superficial wounds, everything heals up to 'normal'. But not all the time. Sometimes the wound closes with those basal layers comprising most of the 'new' skin.


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

[User]
[Mass Effect] How fast can a typical ship in Mass Effect travel?

I'm not talking about traveling through a relay. Obviously they're FTL-capable, but how long would it take to fly from the Citadel, for example, to Omega without the benefit of a relay? Is it even practical? Trying to avoid spoilers but obviously this has great impact in the original ME3 ending.

[Assistant]
sublight, as fast as possible, given enough time.

at ftl, a regular citadel ship can fly at a maximum of 15 lightyears/24 hours. fuel is the limiting factor here for how long they can fly, that and maybe buildup of heat.

a reaper capital ship is said to fly twice as fast as a citadel ship at 30 lightyears/24 hours.


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

[User] Just learned about materialism and wanted to know if materialists can believe in things like electrons because we are not able to see electrons?

[Assistant] Materialism doesn't, at least in the first place, really have anything to with whether things are observable, so there's not any particular problem here. Materialism is just the view that every state that exists is, in some significant sense that needs to be specified, a material state. What this means can be questioned, but generally it means the sort of things described by the theories of physics. So electrons, at least at first glance, seem to be exactly the sorts of things a materialist will say exists.


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[User] [Star Trek] How do Inertial Dampeners work?

[Assistant]
Newton's first law of motion: An object at rest tends to stay at rest.

Inertial dampers "trick" this phenomenon into making the area being dampened move almost as a unit. From a relative perspective, no movement occurs, thus no inertial effect. Relative to the observer, all of space moves around them.

If you're asking how it accomplishes this feat... uhm. Gravitons or something.


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[User] ELI5: When someone rubs their fingers together rather forcefully for a while, why does black residue start to appear?

[Assistant]
The friction causes your epithelial cells to slough off and the oils combined with sweat and dust and whatever else you might have on your finger (or in the grooves of) accumulate into the dirty looking matter you're asking about.

If in the shower, you can also do this on your body. Some places (like the behind the ankle) are easier than others.


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[User]
ELI5: Why are bullet sizes usually in decimal and not just a whole number?

For example, why 5.56mm and not just 6mm? Why 7.62mm instead of just 8?

[Assistant]
Because bullets are designed with very specific performance parameters in mind. In the case of the 5.56 NATO they were:

* .22 Caliber
* Bullet exceeding supersonic speed at 500 yards
* Rifle weight of 6lb
* Magazine capacity of 20 rounds
* Select fire for both semi-automatic and fully automatic use
* Penetration of US steel helmet through one side at 500 yards
* Penetration of .135-inch steel plate at 500 yards
* Accuracy and ballistics equal to M2 ball ammunition (.30-06 Springfield) out to 500 yards
* Wounding ability equal to M1 Carbine

On top of all that, they wanted a round with less recoil than the M2.

After development and testing of many different new ammunitions, the brand new .223 remington was the round that had the best results for the specified parameters. It was later officially adopted by the US military and renamed "Cartridge, 5.56mm Ball, M193." This round was further developed and became the 5.5645mm NATO with the subsequent military designation of SS109 in NATO and M855 in the U.S.

While 5.56 may sound arbitrary, it was the result of a 13 year project that spanned multiple countries and involved every major gun and ammunition company of the time, to create a small caliber, high velocity firearm for military use.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do people get "used to" the cold?

I was just recently in a snow town and when I ask locals how they can be wearing a shirt, their response is usually, I'm used to it.

[Assistant] Body temperature regulation is controlled by a part of the brain called the hypothalamus (which also does a lot of other things). The "normal" temperature range where you feel comfortable is determined by what temperatures you are exposed to most often. But there's an even bigger range of temperatures that it's possible to feel comfortable at, and your "normal" temperature can move around within that range depending on your surroundings.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do some clear liquids turn foggy when mixed together?

Working at a bar, have always wondered why clear (pilsner) beer and clear apple cider turn foggy when mixed together. I'm sure there are plenty other examples. How is this, and why are substances clear or foggy in the first place?

[Assistant]
There are two ways this very often occurs: either it forms millions of tiny bubbles (like with your drinks, because they form or release a gas) or it forms millions of tiny solid particles (called precipitate) because of their chemistry. There are other ways that this happens, but these two ways are the most common.

Substances are clear because of the arrangement of the electrons in the chemicals. The chemicals that interfere very little get part of the light spectrum absorbed when light passes through, so it looks colored. If the chemicals interfere basically not at all (like water) it looks clear.

Things get distorted through liquid for the same reason lens do: they change light's direction.


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

[User]
A lot of drugs are derived from plants. Why not just eat the plants?

I keep hearing about new wonder drugs derived from plants - many of which seem to have long-known (according to local tradition) curative properties. If that's the case, then why not just use the whole plant? Is there a good reason, apart from making Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline a lot of money, that the source material just doesn't cut it? If its just a concentration thing, couldn't you just eat lots of it to get the same effect?

[Assistant]
There are a few reasons for this. By the way, microorganisms also produce a lot of drug compounds.
Firstly, the concentrations of active compounds are often low, and nobody wants to eat vast quantities of plant material to get an active dose.

Secondly, the concentrations of active compounds often varies greatly between different batches, so there's no way of knowing how much you're getting.

Thirdly, the plants may contain other compounds which are poisonous or have unwanted effects.

Finally, compounds taken from nature are usually not ideal drugs - they are usually chemically modified to optimise their beneficial effects and minimise side effects.


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

[User]
Is there an ideology that revolves around aesthetics and beauty being the very most important ideas that exist?

In this ideology, aesthetics and beauty might govern all other decisions. They would be the deciding factors in everything.

I would elaborate further if I could. Im very new to the world of philosophy, and also very excited to learn more, so maybe if any of you dont understand what Im asking you could ask a question in return so I can clarify anything that needs clarifying. Thanks for your help.

[Assistant]
Nietzsche argued for something similar in The Birth of Tragedy, that life can be understood as a conflict between "Apollonian" and "Dionysian" forces, or the forces of beauty and order vs. the chaos and meaningless of an uncaring universe. He argued that art makes life worthwhile by portraying this conflict and making suffering into beauty (the title being a reference to the claim he makes that Greek tragedies were the apex of art for perfectly achieving this balance).

One of his posthumously published notebooks also contains a quote along these lines: "We have art lest we perish from the truth."


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[User] ELI5: Do Ants (and/or other similar insects) Breathe? Like breathe and respirate in a similar way to Humans/Mamals?

[Assistant]
Most insects breathe through spiracles, which are tiny pores on their legs that allow air into their bodies. However, they do not have lungs or anything like that, largely because they also have no circulatory system. Instead of a heart pumping blood to a single central area to get oxygenated the way we work, insects have "open" circulation, where the heart just keeps a freely-flowing pool of blood-like substance flowing around all the organs. They have no blood vessels, and everything in their body cavities is more or less just floating in a soup of blood.

This works for insects specifically because they are tiny. Oxygen doesn't have to go as far to perfuse (or soak into) all of their tissues, so just having a free-flowing soup of blood running past some openings on the legs is just fine for them. The oxygen will get into their tissues because they have so little tissue which needs oxygenation. This is one of the hard limits on insect size, as if they get too large their tissues will get oxygen starved. This is also why insects were absolutely gigantic hundreds of millions of years ago, as oxygen levels were much higher at that time, so they could more easily perfuse a larger body.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40k]So, if Chaos had the power to spirit all the Primarchs away, why not just kill them then?

Or raise them in the Warp, or put them in lava planets, or literally anything short of putting them with other humans for the Emperor to find?

[Assistant]
This is what the Chaos Gods wanted. What better way to get at your greatest enemy than through his own "family"? They couldn't have raised them in the Warp, because they would have simply become daemon princes, which Big E can handle. They didn't want to simply kill the Primarchs, because then they don't have an "in".

What they did was allowed the Primarchs to be raised as Humans. As regular people. They were allowed to grow in an environment that wasn't being strictly regulated by someone like The Emperor, which is an environment that would have greatly lessened the chance of Chaotic corruption later down the line.

By the time Big E started finding them they were adults, and so had not had their minds barred against the influences of Chaos. Were they less susceptible than your average person? Totally. But it only takes one to start the domino effect. Really, the Chaos Gods got SUPER lucky with Horus being the one that started everything, because he was the favorite son. He was arguably the most powerful of all of the Primarchs and was generally respected by them all.

Consider that the only reason that Horus was able to fell The Emperor is because he was holding back. He didn't want to hurt Horus. He didn't want to believe that his favorite son had turned to the very thing they were most against. In no other situation could they have ever gotten The Emperor into such a position. There is no other scenario that leads to his being mortally wounded without a favored Primarch being involved, because in no other situation does The Emperor willingly let down his guard.

The Chaos Gods took a calculated gamble, and it turned out marvelously for them.


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

[User]
[Rick & Morty] *Is* Mister Poopybutthole a parasite or not?

He's the one responsible for the Hulk Musical flashback, but perhaps Cousin Nicky, the third parasite appearing, embedded himself into that one? Afterall, Uncle Steve came from somewhere without anyone's help as well.
Edit: Mr. Beauregard also appears out of thin are, Beth and Jerry think him up.

[Assistant]
No, he's not consistent with the behavior of other parasites.

- The parasites expand in population exponentially, while more parasites never show up around Mr. Poopybutthole.

- The parasites only provide pleasant memories, but we see Mr. Poopybutthole's life after his introductory episode, and both him and the people around him endure plenty of trauma.


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

[User]
Eli5: Why did cellphones stop creating a buzzing sound in speakers when receiving a call/text?

Im sure many of you remember your computer or car speakers buzzing in a very distinct rhythm before receiving a call or text in the 2000s. Im just wondering what changed and how.

[Assistant]
There are so many wrong answers here  the right answers are buried in the comments.

Its simply that we dont use TDMA anymore, time division multiple access.  TDMA was a way for multiple users to share one channel (basically a radio frequency, not unlike a TV channel over the air or tuning your radio to a certain station).  It did this by splitting up each users signal into short bursts of data.  Those bursts/pulses of data are what you heard buzzing in your speaker.

If youre American you may have noticed back in those days, only Tmobile and ATT did this.  They were GSM carriers who used TDMA.  Verizon and Sprint used CDMA which was a different technology that did not cause the buzzing speaker because it didnt transmit in pulses of data.

Newer technologies dont use TDMA either, so 3G, LTE, now 5G wont cause a buzz.  If you noticed the speaker buzz phenomenon started disappearing in the early 2010s (in the US), thats why.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do 4 gallons of milk fit perfectly in a milk crate, while 9 half gallons do the same?

I was putting away half gallons of milk at the coffeeshop where I work, but we usually have full gallons. Upon realizing that 9 half gallons, or 4.5 gallons, fit in the milk crate, I wondered how that could be if 4 whole gallons of milk also fit perfectly.

[Assistant] I assume you're talking about plastic milk jugs?  They small ones are shaped differently than the larger ones.  The larger ones have much less volume in the upper half, due to the space cut out for the handle, while the smaller ones are a little more uniform, so the upper section contains nearly as much as the lower section.


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[User] ELI5:Why do we make cars that go way faster than the top speed limit?

[Assistant]
Pretty much anything that raises top speed makes the car perform better in normal circumstances:
* High gearing keeps engine speeds low on the highway for better MPG and less wear on the engine
* Powerful engines help acceleration
* Better aerodynamics improves fuel economy and decreases noise

Most cars have governors that limit top speed, and this is usually tied to the speed rating of the tires the car came with, while German automakers have a gentleman's agreement to limit speeds to 155 mph (250 kph) to help avoid legislation against autobahn's speed limit-free zones. Sports cars have the highest governed limits or no limiter because manufacturers know there's a good chance these vehicles will be used on a track where they'll be going well past legal road speeds.


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[User] ELI5: If i bark/meow at my cat or dog, do they think of us as a fellow dog or cat? or do they know we don't really do that?

[Assistant] Meowing is not a common form of communication between cats. Mother cats might meow to get the attention of the kittens, but adult cats mainly communicate with each other through body language, hisses and growls. Occasionally outright screaming. Meowing is used mostly to "communicate" with people.


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[User] ELI5:Where did the stereotype of Jews being obsessed with money come from? Doesn't everyone like money?

[Assistant] In the Middle Ages, Christians believed that lending money and collecting interest was a sin, but tolerated it as a so called "necessary evil". At the time many jobs were closed to the Jews, as for various reasons, medieval society was very anti-semitic. The fact that many mainstream jobs were closed to the Jews drove them to jobs considered socially inferior or sinful, such as money lending and tax collecting. This led to many Christians being in debt to Jews, increasing the tensions between the two groups and the negative stereotype of the Jews being obsessed with money.


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

[User]
Is the age of the universe influenced by time dilation?

In other words, we perceive the universe to be 13+ billion years old but could there be other regions in spacetime that would perceive the age of the universe to be much younger/older?

Also could this influence how likely it is to find intelligent life if, for example, regions that experience time much faster than other regions might be more likely to have advanced intelligent life than regions that experience time much more slowly?   Not saying that areas that experience time much more slowly than us cannot be intelligent, but here on earth we see the most evolution occur between generations.  If we have had time to go through many generations then we could be more equipped than life that has not gone through as many evolution cycles.

Edit:  Even within our own galaxy, is it wrong to think that planetary systems closer to the center of the galaxy would say that the universe is younger than planetary system on the outer edge of the galaxy like ours?

Edit 2: Thanks for the gold and it's crazy to see how many people took interest in this question.  I guess it was in part inspired by the saying "It's 5 O'Clock somewhere".  The idea being that somewhere out there the universe is probably always celebrating its "first birthday".  Sure a lot of very specific, and hard to achieve, conditions need to be met, but it's still cool to think about.

[Assistant]
Your basic idea is right, but it turns out to be such a small effect that it doesn't matter very much.

The age of the universe does depend on your frame of reference. Time dilation from gravity and from moving close to the speed of light can change how old the universe looks to you. There is no universal age of the universe. We have to pick a frame of reference, and we choose the frame where the cosmic microwave background appears stationary as our frame of reference.

However, this only matters if you need your numbers to be very precise. Most objects in space (stars, planets, galaxies) move at 10s to 1000s of km/s relative to each other. The speed of light is ~300,000 km/s, and you really need to be above like 90% of the speed of light for time dilation to really get noticeable, so stars and planets don't have strong time dilation relative to each other. The only things that move really really fast are jets of magnetised ionised gas blasting out from rapidly rotating accretion discs around black holes, but you can't live in a thin magnetised plasma.

Gravitational time dilation is similarly weak in almost all situations. It only really gets strong when you are really right on top of the event horizon of a black hole. So, if you had a planet that was almost touching the event horizon - which is an implausible but not technically impossible orbit - then yes, any aliens on that planet will have a very different view of the age of the universe. But the Milky Way's gravity is too gentle to have a significant effect between the central bulge and the outer spiral.


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[User] [StarTrek]why is making a useful medical hologram extremely difficult but creating a useful engineer hologram is as simple as Jordi summoning an interactive representation of the Enterprise D's designer with a few simple requests?

[Assistant] A combination of things.  Firstly, the Enterprise computer is more powerful than Voyager's.  Secondly, Geordi and the Enterprise had some manner of baseline for her personality (that ended up being wrong but whatever) and it had a full knowledge of it's own systems so could overlay the personality over the database.  Thirdly and most importantly, the program was designed to solve one single known problem for which it had to interact with one specific person in a simple environment in predefined ways.  The EMH has to make diagnostics and do complex decision making that renders him a far more complicated program.


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[User] ELI5: how does a cut finger get resewn back on with full functionality?

[Assistant] Using microsurgery.  The surgeon uses very fine sutures to reattach nerves and blood vessels. For the surgery to be fully successful, the detached part of the finger must be kept cool an surgery must take place as soon as possible.


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[User] What process creates heat in condition called "fever"?

[Assistant]
The processes that create heat are the same processes that create heat normally in warm blooded animals. Metabolism of glucose for energy, muscle contractions, and in some cases deliberate metabolism of fat generate your body heat.

What changes in a fever state is the "set point" for your body temperature. The Hypothalamus is responsible for maintaining your body temperature, and when a fever is indicated, the hypothalamus releases signaling factors that increase the set point for your temperature. This is similar to how it works in your house: If your thermostat is set to 70f, and you turn it up to 75f, the house will get warmer. Typically, this simply means that the furnace in your house will stay on longer/burn more fuel. The same goes for your body.


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[User] [Medieval Fantasy] Guilds historically prevented non-guild members from practicing a trade. Does this hold true for the various Heroes Guilds I keep seeing everywhere? What happens if I go out and slay a dragon without a guild membership?

[Assistant] Good luck *selling* all those dragon parts. Or finding someone who will help you haul that giant carcass back to town. The Guild is essentially a giant worker's union. In some places, it may be the only option, and trying to buy and sell things, or even general *hero* work, without Guild backing might actually be illegal.


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[User] [ATLA] If he wasn't frozen, could Aang have ended the 100 year war?

[Assistant]
It all depends on if he gets caught up in the genocide or not.  Aang as he was wouldn't be able to stand up against an army of fire benders hopped up on comet, but if he manages to escape and seek refuge with the Water and Earth nations to complete his training and realize the Avatar state like he does in the main timeline, yes, he would be able to stop the war.

We see several times that not even an army can stand against a fully realized Avatar.


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

[User]
[Star Trek:TNG] Why the hell are the Ferengi tolerated at all?

 They never do anything but loot and plunder. With the extreme rare exception of a single scientist in the entire series of TNG every time they see a federation ship or any ship for that matter all the see is dollar signs. Or just simply fire and assume the worst. They steal, enslave, blackmail, extort, spin information for a profit and plainly not give a fuck about anything. They are government sponsored space pirates nothing more.

[Assistant] The federations ethics are very rigid and that undermines their ability to do business with certain cultures.  The ferengi work as intermediaries in those situations.  For a small nominal fee, if course.


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

[User]
[DBZ] If I asked Goku to teach me, me being a complete stranger, would he do it?

Let's say I have a proven track record of being a good person.

[Assistant]
He'd probably think it's awesome that you want to do it,  give you a few hints on getting started and maybe even refer you to someone, but not teach you.

He's a little naive sometimes, but due to his professionalism as a fighter he'd recognise teaching you would be a waste of time for both of you.


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

[User]
[Terminator] If you were Skynet how would you have used the time machine?

I mean there's definitely better ways to use it than kill Sarah/John Connor. Wouldn't you just send back a T-800 to the start of the war loaded with data and intel on the Resistance's strategy, tactics, and early bases? Or if there isn't a limit on how far they can go back wouldn't Skynet just build a Von Neumann wrapped in liquid metal programmed to build Skynet from scratch back in prehistory? So if you were an evil AI bent on the destruction of humanity with an army of robots and a time machine what would you do?

[Assistant]
Skynet's plan was a desperate improvisation, because its headquarters was on the verge of being overrun. Skynet's war against humanity also destroyed the distributed network which could have housed it, so it was holed up in a research facility. It didn't have nukes on hand, it didn't have time to concoct a serious plan. It just had T-800s on hand, machines designed to mimic humans and kill humans. So, Skynet made lemonade out of lemons and devised a plan which centered on killing a single human.

**EDIT:** The Terminator timeline is full of more loops and holes than a lasso contest in a Swiss cheese factory, so this only covers the first movie.


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

[User]
Is there a philosophy similar to hedonism, but not as radical?

So hedonism sounds a lot like an escape, actively avoid pain, and seek pleasure. I can see it easily leading to addiction, for instance. But I do like the basic idea of hedonism. What is life, if not the pursuit of your desires, instead of being imposed a specific way of life? (As long as not hurting others, and yourself for that matter)

Are there other philosophies that kind of fit this?

[Assistant]
Epicureanism might fit this description

> Epicurus advocated living in such a way as to derive the greatest amount of pleasure possible during one's lifetime, yet doing so moderately in order to avoid the suffering incurred by overindulgence in such pleasure.


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[User]
How do stoplights actually work?

I'm a delivery driver and just today while waiting a few miniutes at one did I actually question the science behind it. My question is what sensor is used to get a signal and what logic is behind the programming when it gets a signal?

[Assistant]
To detect the presence of vehicles, the common solution is to use an inductive loop detector. An electrical wire is placed in the road underneath where the first vehicle would stop. A high-frequency alternating current is run through this wire. This alternating current produces a magnetic field that can affect ferrous objects near it through a mechanism called induction. If a large enough mass of ferrous material is present, this induction effect will alter the conductive properties of the wire loop. This is then detected and transmitted as a signal to the controller that a vehicle is present. For pedestrians, the sensor is typically just a push button. For bicycles, it could be either an induction loop or a push button.

As for the second part of the question, the logic behind the programming, there's no simple answer since there are many approaches. The most basic system will switch traffic lights on a fixed timer, completely independent of traffic. This requires no sensors. It's a very simple system, which works OK for intersections that have a low traffic load.

More advanced systems will use sensor data to influence traffic light switching, but there's no single way to do so. An obvious way to use sensor data is to keep the lights green for a specific flow of traffic as long as there are no vehicles detected in a conflicting flow. But ultimately, in situations with multiple conflicting flows, it depends on the design goals of the developer of the system as well as the goals of the government commissioning it. Such goals could include considerations like giving priority green lights to the high throughput main road rather than the quieter side roads. Or a "green wave" that links multiple traffic lights along a road together to allow a pack of vehicles to progress uninterrupted. Or encouraging/discouraging certain modes of transportation by prioritizing bicycle or pedestrian traffic over motorized vehicles. Or allowing public transport vehicles (bus/tram) to override the active signal planning (either by shortening the current phase to reduce the stopping time of the bus/tram or by immediately switching phase to give the bus/tram unobstructed passage through the intersection).


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

[User]
With the following fictional assumptions, how can I make my tactical space game realistic?

I'm currently in the middle of a personal project of building a tactical space combat game. In order to create the type of world and gameplay I'd like I need to make a number of assumptions/ground rules. With the following ground rules, how can I make my combat realistic?

**Assumptions**

1. Faster than Light (FTL) travel is possible and functions like a gateway. By this, I mean the ship  'jumps' instantly from one point in space to another. There is no "rushing past stars in a warp field".

1. FTL engines are hugely expensive and large, thereby limiting their use to larger vessels (smallest being ships the size of current Aircraft carriers).

1. Due to the constantly changing nature of objects in space, it is considered extremely dangerous to jump into a solar system without active information from the other side.

1. Faster than light communication is possible. I'll call it some form of quantum entanglement in 'on' and 'off' states.

1. Due to FTL travel and communication, surveillance drones are positioned in key locations in a solar system. Thereby providing early warning of an enemy attack.

1. Space warfare requires fairly close proximity to be combat effective. Fleets do not take pop-shots at each other from different sides of a solar system.

1. Both combatants wish to save the environment and population of the worlds, but want to destroy the enemy fleet.

1. Humans have access to massive rail guns, tracking missles and torpedos, and lasers. The lasers function more as a magnifying glass frying an ant, rather than a bullet. Humans have had inter-species space warfare for about 200 hundred years before the game.

1. The aliens have access to more advanced technology that I haven't decided on yet.

With all of the above assumptions, how can I ground the rest of the setting in reality? Below are some specific questions.

**Questions**

1. How would a military space ship be designed and used? I imagine a heavily armored, low profile bow with an elongated body. Along the elongated body are a number of broadside like guns. Right before firing, the ship will pivot (while still moving towards it's target due to momentum) and fire it's broadsides. It then pivots back to a more defensive posture. Once the ships intercept it's more chaotic than that, but that's the general idea.

1. Followup to the last question. Due to the huge mass of a ship would it require huge thrusters to pivot at combat effective speeds (say, pivoting 90 degrees in less than a minute)? Would delicate, accurately timed smaller thrusters be able to do the job?

1. How would a ship counteract the force applied to it by enemy projectiles? Would it?

1. Is it realistic to have armor than can actually withstand near-speed-of-light projectiles? I'd imagine the force would astronomical. Should I find an excuse to reduce the speed of projectiles?

1. In the midst of a space battle would fighter planes be ineffective due to debris?

Anything else you'd like to add? In the end gameplay will come before some of the science but I would like to make combat better than the space combat in Star Wars, etc.

[Assistant]
1. Given your constraints, heavy armor sounds about right, medium ships and smaller would likely also involve ablative armor.  Are there any type of shields?  Larger ships would also likely be armed with CIWS of some sort to take out incoming ordinance.
2. The pivot idea seems a bit silly.  When you're facing a target, you're not hitting with all your broadside weapons.  You're basically talking about a naval warfare paradigm so you'd be more likely to see constantly-moving ships circling each other.  Switching to a smaller profile still works, but unless you make some excuse with slow-firing guns, then the turning idea doesn't work.  And if you're firing anything at a significant fraction of c, even a smaller profile won't mean much.
3. A ship would want to bleed off the impact force slowly.  If it did it all at once, it would take more damage.  In fact, a ship may want to move with the projectile if possible.
4. F = ma.  You can make the excuse that near-c projectiles have to be very low-mass, probably no larger than a rifle bullet, due to power constraints.  Heavy near-c projectiles could be limited to slow-firing launchers on dedicated platforms, and thus likely long-range.  They would need to adjust after every shot due to the reaction of the shot too.  Basic ordinance could be significantly sub-c (max it at, say, .25c) and be able to handle a sabot shell or something.  This, along with a CIWS system (and senor buoys) could justify armor to resist the sort of weapons you're talking about.
5. Debris wouldn't likely be an issue for a small fighter.  Remember, in space, you can move on an axis without changing your vector.


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

[User]
Is there any way a Non-Scientist can contribute to /AskScience?

I absolutely LOVE this subreddit, its  facinating, friendly and professional.

I've found out countless bits of great info here and I'm looking for a way to give back.

I have great interest in science but little knowledge.

[Assistant] If you find a question thats very interesting, do some research about it. Simple googling and a few tens of minutes can get answers to almost every question asked here in layman terms. Post what  you found, with the links where you read them! There's no such thing as a "non-scientist", just people who have read stuff for too long and people who haven't :)


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

[User] Why are clouds all fluffy on top but flat on the bottom?

[Assistant]
A very cool way of looking at clouds is picturing them as the effect when warm moist air and cold air mix. Add in the fact that warm air rises because it's less dense, and warm sea-level-pressure air can hold more dissolved invisible moisture than cold lower-pressure air, and you have your ingredients to a flat-bottomed cloud.

First, what makes clouds visible? In a very easily repeatable experiment which you can see in just about any nature documentary when big mammals are doing stuff in a winter somewhere, their breath is very visible and forms a little cloud until it cools down and dissipates.

What happened there is "fog", and its cause was warm moist air in the animal's breath holds more water than cold air, and when it cools down it has to surrender that moisture. So a region of warm moist air entered a cold zone and fell below the "dew point", the point when the moistness it was holding condensed out and formed tiny visible droplets. Lowered air pressure can also helps this condensation effect, which is why you'll see a little tiny cloud form on its wingtips when a jet fighter go fast enough because the air pressure there is really low.

So now let's look at clouds.

Air generally gets cooler as you climb into the sky, and its pressure reduces. Sometimes it's not very disturbed and forms a clean gradient of temperature and pressure in the sky, both going down uniformly as you climb. On certain summery days when conditions are right, the level of the "dew point" is at a very flat, even height in the sky because the combination of temperature and reduced pressure is at a not-very-mixed-up consistent attitude.

So the sun shines, and warms stuff on the surface. If it's humid, warm moist air starts rising and rising... and breaks THROUGH that consistent dew point layer.

The result? It condenses to cloud just above that specific "dew point" layer. And you get a cloud with a flat bottom.

To extend this, if the updraft is strong enough, moist air keeps shooting up and feeding the cloud's growth until you get highly energetic cloud systems with all sorts of cool stuff like rain, hail, lightning, thunder... and tornadoes (except they can sometimes be not so cool).


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

[User]
ELI5: How do ants cling to a surface so strongly that blowing at them hard doesn't budge them, even if the surface is somewhat smooth?

Extension: Especially if you can't blow it away the first time. It tends to take more, even harder blows to do so.

[Assistant] Ants like many small creatures have tiny hooks on the ends of their legs. They simply hook into whatever they are standing on. Even when a surface looks smooth, at the microscopic level there are scratches and protrusions that your eye just can't see.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Are British wizards subjects of the Queen?

[Assistant] No. They do not respect muggles or muggle society at all. General those brought up in the wizard world see muggles as a kind of animal rather than a person. Look at how they look down on objectivity useful tech like phones. They have there own government and are essential their own country.


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

[User]
IRB Denied My Undergrad Research

I attend a private college in Texas, and was just told they were going to deny my research proposal. Why, you might ask? Because the "nature of my study might put the school in a bad light".

My research was over how students beliefs about social and religious topics (gay marriage, abortion, baptism, women in leadership, etc) differed from their denominations. My school is Baptist, and they are saying this research could damage the publics view of the school, even though it's not going to be published anywhere!

Can they do this? I know it is a private institution but is this something they can actually do?

[Assistant]
I mean, the IRB *can* do whatever they want. You might want to review the IRB's web page for their purpose. If they have listed that they can review the potential outcomes of the study as a part of their process, then they have every right to do so.

However, in general, institutional IRBs generally are in place to review projects and ensure they uphold the requirements of federal guidelines for human subjects protections. They sometimes overstep their boundaries by attempting to alter procedures or find reasons why they don't believe the research has scientific merit or practical application (which, unless it's specifically stated in the IRB protocol for your institution, isn't a valid reason to reject a proposal; that's the job of the person overseeing the research).

As another commenter has stated, you can seek another institution to complete your research if you're specifically targeting students, as the IRB has control over their specific student population. You also have the option to appeal in most cases, but, again, you'll need to access your institution's IRB manual/webpage to determine if this is possible.


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

[User]
I find teenage dating silly. CMV.

I think there have been slightly similar posts before, but I don't think I've seen a post quite like this one yet.

The mostly Western institution of teenage dating, such as in high school and middle school, always seemed rather strange to me (possibly relevant, I was born in Pakistan, but I've lived in Canada since late 1999, and am currently 17). Obviously, this is a fairly ubiquitous practice, so I want to know what's incorrect about my view.

First of all, it seems rather superficial. Lots of the relationships that I see other people at my school go through seem not to be motivated by love or anything of the sort. It seems to be more like picking a favourite person of the opposite sex (or the same, I guess) to be best friends with for as long as possible. This includes obligatory dates that are nothing more than glorified hangouts.

Second of all, it seems pointless. Most relationships in high school don't end in anything more than a break-up. This can change friendships for the worse (for both the ex-couple and the friends involved) and basically end with everyone a little worse off. Even if the couple breaks up and they remain friends, what was the point of the relationship?

Third of all - and this is partially related to the previous point - it causes unnecessary drama and emotional pain with no intention of proper commitment. Not only the actual people in the relationship, but their entire social spheres end up worrying about the state of a relationship which probably won't end in anything substantial, like, say, marriage or something (not saying all relationships should end in marriage, but a high school or middle school one has a very low chance of it). Instead, it stresses out people financially and emotionally in ways that minors shouldn't have to face. Why would anyone make a decision for which there are more cons than pros and the chances of actual benefits are low?

Fourth of all, students are too busy to be worrying about relationships. In fact, I've seen at least one relationship end because one party was too busy. Adults are busy too, (and maybe I don't know the extent of how busy they are due to my age) but students spend six hours a day at school, one or two more on homework and extracurriculars, and many have jobs, chores, and volunteering as well. It feels like too much to ask to include a relationship as well.

Fifth and finally, many teenage relationships involve sex, which seems to me to just not be appropriate for teenagers. Sex is a very intimate and personal act (if it weren't, rape wouldn't be such a serious crime), so the fact that it's almost a given for some relationships just seems odd. While teenagers are autonomous individuals, the teenage brain isn't even fully developed (though that isn't my whole justification) and the relationships are often devoid of actual plans to commit or love and thus don't really justify something as monumental in one's life as sex.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that teenagers shouldn't be allowed to be in relationships, but the whole practice of teenage dating just seems strange to me. I'm also not saying that dating itself is strange. Just teenage dating.

**TL;DR: I find teenage dating silly because:**

1. **It seems superficial and loveless.**

2. **It seems pointless with each relationship doomed to fail.**

3. **It causes more drama and pain than it is worth.**

4. **It causes too much stress in the already busy and involved lives of students.**

5. **Sex often comes with it, and if it's already loveless and doomed to fail, it's a bad idea to have sex as well.**

[Assistant]
1) Dating doesn't have to be deep and about love. It can be about having fun, and learning how to date.

2) Dating doesn't have to be about finding eternal love. It can be about having fun, and learning how to date.

3) and 4) are your opinion, both of which are partially based on the assumption that dating is about deep, eternal love. Others may not share your opinion.

5) Sex doesn't have to be about love. It can be about having fun, and learning how to have sex. Just be safe about it.

At some point, people are going to have to learn that relationships aren't the sunshine fairy tales that Hollywood presents them as. Whether they learn that in their teen years or in their adult years, it's going to happen.


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

[User]
CMV: The supernatural does not exist

As I was a child, I believed in anything supernatural: Ghosts, souls, parallel worlds, gods, magic, destiny, astrology.

With getting older, I experimented around with all those views and had that what people today call spiritual experiences:

\-Lucid dreaming

\-Being visited from cold, black heavy, paralyzing monsters in sleep

\-Meeting friends in dreams, proven by both sides.

\-Hearing songs in dreams as an inspiration for real life music making

\-Experiencing life as a guided stream of experiences and symbol, that are in line with magic and religion

\-Seeing gods in dreams, sitting in their position like the icons

\-Seeing dead relatives in dreams

\-In Meditation, I experienced to full change of my consciousness to a white, bright light that was everything I was at this moment

But some years ago, I lost my faith in all those experiences in that way, that I no longer believe, they come from a supernatural origin. I now believe, they are just part of the human biology, all those things I experienced, can be explained with rational and materialist based explanations.

There is no soul, no supernatural world, no gods outside of this world, no magical destiny beyond selective human mind that builds sense in our everyday life experience.

Things like near death experiences are just the same things as one can experience in spiritual practice, but the people that have them, are not familiar with those things and therefore too dumb to rate them correctly.

Past life memories cannot exists, because one cannot even now remember their whole life and those memories are to the most part, forever gone, because they have no synaptic connection anymore. There is no soul or external supernatural source, that can save your memories. Past life experiences are a suggestion, based on your current mental state, nothing more.

The only real past life memories are that you can find are in the ordinary reality, for example history, cultural practices, learned technologies and mythology. You are one of many humans in the stream of history, there is no individuality, because there is no soul.

Astrology is pseudo-science, nothing more.

[Assistant]
I largely agree.

However, this point sticks out to me:

>-Hearing songs in dreams as an inspiration for real life music making

There isn't really anything supernatural about this. While dreaming, your brain essentially remixes memories, so there is a very possible chance that you can experience melodies that don't exist yet - and if you happen to remember them when waking up, they might serve as an inspiration.


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

[User]
[General Sci-Fi] How are conflicting names given to astronomical bodies by different civilizations handled?

For example, we here on Earth have named our galaxy "the Milky Way". However, other civilizations surely have their own names for the galaxy. When Earth and all those other civilizations eventually form up into a Galactic Federation or something, how will they determine which name to use for it? This also goes for every other astronomical body in the universe.

[Assistant] Probably the same way its done on Earth. Either a ruling power chooses its own name (New York City), or adapts a local name (Appalachian Mountains), or everybody uses whatever name they prefer (Burma/Myanmar).


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

[User]
[Popeye] If a loan-shark caught Wimpy on Tuesday and threatened to break his legs unless he paid up his goddamned hamburger debt, would he?

Or would he just take the leg-breaking?

Let's say in this situation, there's no chance for that mooching bastard to escape.

He either has to pay up, or take the leg-breaking.

[Assistant]
J Wellington Wimpy may be a moocher and a coward, but he is also surprisingly intelligent and charismatic. He rarely ever shows this side, but when push comes to shove, he will figure out or talk his way out of a problem.

In your scenario, the loan shark who confronted Wimpy would find himself thinking he had the upper hand, but realized that he walked away with nothing, letting Wimpy go, all because he underestimated him.


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

[User]
Is there any technical reason why microsoft decide not to build off of operating systems like windows xp or 7?

So i know one answer as to why microsoft would want to have people upgrade to a new operating system would be for money(odviously) but besides that is there a technical reason why they dont continue to add new features for older operating systems like windows 7 or xp? To me it seems like it would solve the problem of have systems used in businesses and government facilitys from being out dated and having a high chance of getting hacked.

[Assistant]
Microsoft is constantly building off of what came before; there are all sorts of components and systems that exist in Windows 10 that have been a part of Windows OS since its inception.

To me the versioning is about drawing a line in the sand with a particular set of features you can bring to market and sell, in an industry with constantly moving targets.

In terms of updating sensitive/old and stable systems running old OSes: all changes to software cost time, money and resources. All changes to software also include the risk of introducing bugs or unexpected consequences to an otherwise stable system. Plus, they have a shiny new version to sell :]


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

[User] [Starwars] What would a Miraluka see if they were watching the throne room battle in ROTJ? That's three of the most powerful force wielders in the galaxy battling it out!

[Assistant]
To 'see' The Force is... not something that is easy to describe. But, anyone who can feel The Force can open their eyes to see the same thing a Miraluka can naturally.

I am told that it is like touching, with your mind. You feel the shape and nature of things, but they also leave an impression on you. Looking on a singularly cruel and evil being like Palpatine with such sight would be like running your hand over a Hutt. Distinctive, memorable, and unpleasant. And despite what some people think, Luke Skywalker was no shining beacon of light. He had anger in him, and could very well have fallen that day. He chose to stand as a bulwark of the Jedi, but it was a near thing, and he had previously lashed out to kill The Emperor as he sat, unarmed, in his chair.

The redemption (and death) of Lord Vader would be much kinder things to the eyes of those that could see it.


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

[User] ELI5: when its very quiet in a house or building, why do they tend to have a 'humming' sort of sound?

[Assistant] The electricity coming to a house or building is alternating current (AC), switching at a rate of 50 or 60 Hz. Typically, the range of human hearing goes as low as 20 Hz, so the frequency of the AC switching could be heard as a humming sound.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do older animated shows from the 80s/90s look darker in color than shows today?

[Assistant] Depending on the show, they were colored differently to fit tv formats. Because of the way TVs worked, the brightness and graininess had to be factored into how the pictures looked. Now that we can see them in higher definition the images look saturated with color.


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

[User]
[MCU] What does the Soul Stone actually do?

If I were to acquire the Soul Stone, how could I use it? What abilities does it have? Can I use it in combat?

Yeah, with the rest of the stones the Soul stone is very powerful and its potential gets fully unlocked, but without the gauntlet, without the other stones, how can I use the Soul Stone? I know that the stone is connected to ''souls'' but what does actually mean and how useful is it?

Can I for example take the Soul Stone and have some random guy teleporte/trapped inside of it?

[Assistant]
When Doctor Strange created a number of illusions of himself, Thanos used the Soul Stone to identify which was the actual Doctor Strange, so it at least has the ability to detect and identify life/souls.

Since Thanos needed all six Stones to snap half of the universe away, the Soul Stone likely played a part in that. And if every stone had a unique role in the Snap (and in undoing the Snap), the most likely role for the Soul Stone that wouldn't render another stone irrelevant would be for the Soul Stone to kill and bring people back to life. (If the Soul Stone was just being used to identify everyone that's going to vanish, then that would make the Mind Stone superfluous and wouldn't explain why the vanishing people often felt like they were dying before they vanished.)

So the only confirmed and implied powers of the Soul Stone at the moment in the MCU are the ability to detect souls, the ability to kill, and the ability to resurrect. And it potentially houses another dimension inside of itself, explaining why Thanos spoke with young Gamora when he received the Soul Stone.

So it's too soon to say if you could trap someone in another dimension with the stone at will, but you could probably remove his soul/kill him, and/or bring dead people back to life with it.


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

[User]
[MCU] How did Red Skull manage to get so many soldiers to fight for Hydra against Germany?

I mean, I could understand finding a few fanatics, but he had armies large enough to hold parts of Germany from the Nazis while simultaneously fighting the Allies. They had technological advantages sure, but that would still take an awful lot of manpower.

[Assistant] According to Agents of SHIELD- and this is true in the comics as well- Hydra is a cult that's existed since long before Nazi Germany and has had members across the globe, dedicated to the cause of autocratic global fascism.


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

[User]
[The Suicide Squad] Just what exactly is Weasel?

Is he like a regular Weasel? Or a half-god thingy like Nanaue? An experiment? Hes so creepy!

[Assistant] In alternate worlds, Weasel was a normal human who wore a costume themed around Weasels or else a normal human being who has weasel like physical  traits (animalistic body, canine teeth). In this universe, Weasel appears to be a genuine massive weasel, perhaps mutated or some other bizarre growth spurt causing it.


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

[User]
[The Witcher 3] What could Geralt have gotten if he had invoked the Law of Surprise when Gaunter O'Dimm asked him what reward he wanted?

Something that Gaunter had obtained without his own knowing, what could that be?

[Assistant]
Well it would be a surprise wouldn't it.

That said, no one is even fully sure WHAT Gaunter O'Dimm even is. The form we see is only what we are capable of as humans.

What or who ever he is, what ever could be a surprise waiting at home for him, could be something beyond comprehension that could warp the boundaries of space and time and reality itself.


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

[User]
If planets orbit a star, and galaxies orbit a black hole (or something in the center), are clusters of galaxies orbiting anything?  Second question inside

Yeah, I know, this is probably a stupid question, and I should have posted it in the tell-me-like-I'm-five subreddit, but it seems to me that there shouldn't be any difference between the movements of planets and galaxies and clusters of galaxies. If the tendency is for bodies to orbit a central point (regardless of what it is), then what makes groups of galaxies different?  I am wondering why the pattern wouldn't apply to the entire universe?  What makes it stop happening?

Question 2: Could Earth have been part of another galaxy originally?  Would science be able to determine if we've always been here?  If we were part of Sag DEG at some point, would that have any significance when the MW became our home?

Thank you in advance for your indulgence.

[Assistant]
While planets are gravitationally bound to their host stars, galaxies are a bit different.  Galaxies have flat rotation curves, meaning, stuff on the outer edges of the galaxy aren't moving much more slowly than stuff closer to the center-- galaxies are usually home to dark matter halos.

In a galaxy cluster, hot gas called ICM (intracluster medium) and way more dark matter inhabits the space through which these galaxies interact.

This schematic breaks down when the influence of dark matter is small compared to the driving force of the universe's expansion: dark energy.  Far enough apart, galaxy clusters will not be bound to each other, but helplessly pulled in space as it expands in all directions.


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

[User]
[Star War] Was Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader unable to summon his anger and hatred like Palpatine outside of his suit?

His suit is effectively a torture device made by Palpatine to help him call upon the dark side, but was did he have difficulty doing so without his suit or did Palpatine just want to get the most out of him?

[Assistant]
>His suit is effectively a torture device made by Palpatine to help him call upon the dark side,

In new canon, this has changed. Palpatine gave Vader free reign to do whatever the heck he wanted to his own suit, as a reward for a particularly successful mission (that the poorly fitted suit went a long ways towards nearly making an *unsuccessful* mission.) Any pain the suit causes Vader is self-inflicted.

In the Darth Vader comics, it's shown that he can indeed summon his anger and hatred outside the suit. The engineer who designed the armor went rogue and shut off Vader's prosthetics, nearly killing him. Vader was able to call on his intense anger at Obi-Wan to use the force to manipulate his armor and walk, even after it had been rendered inoperable.