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

[User]
[Terminator] Does the human resistance stand a chance against the implementation T-1000 ground forces?

A post-judgement day environment leaves few resources, certainly no fortuitous metal foundries or liquid nitrogen trucks. Is capturing and reprogramming a counter-force of earlier models the only defense?

[Assistant] The attacks on John Conner by the terminators were a last ditch effort by Skynet to save itself. Humanity was winning even with T-1000s joining the ground war. Time travel that was the machines last hope. So for humanity the ground war was actually going our way.


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

[User] Can wave functions of two particles completely cancel eachother out, in the same way as noise cancelling?

[Assistant]
In regular QM? You can keep the wave-function normalized, and 0 is not normalizable. So no.

Another way to look at it is that the Hamiltonian is unitary, which means that you can always reverse-engineer the history of your wavefunction given it's state now. If the total wavefunction would evolve to zero, there'd be no way of looking at this zero wave function and knowing how it evolved into that state.

In Quantum Field Theory the story is probably different.


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

[User] ELI5: why do we use "the birds and the bee" to explain sex to children?

[Assistant] It was explained to me once that it's a very simplified explanation of how plants reproduce.  Bees pollinate flowers, which creates fruit, which birds eat, which spreads out the seeds, and makes more plants.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it so easy for people to routinely O.D. on drugs and quietly die in thier sleep, but when a state attempts an execution, its complicated, often botched, and generally controversial?

Also, vererinarians. Putting a dog or cat to sleep is a simple procedure performed every day with no complications.

Why is the business of executing people so incredibly complex, with "cocktails" of lethal drugs required to be administered over multiple doses. Why not just inject a large dose of morphine or some other opiate to lull the person, have them fall asleep, and simply stop thier heart?

[Assistant]
People OD on illegal and legal drugs.  Often the death is not quiet and clean.

The government isn't going to use illegal drugs.

Legal drugs that kill you nicely aren't sold to governments by the drug companies - they don't want to associated with the death penalty.

The cocktails are of legal drugs that, individually, don't kill you nicely.  The hope is that the combination will.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are pop up ads such a big thing when the vast majority of the time they're immediately closed?

[Assistant]
Pop up ads have somewhat died down over the past 10 years or so. This is because most people now understand exactly what a pop up ad is and why they didnt actually win 1,000,000 or whatever.

You will notice now that the most recent try of ad is the FBI Virus or similar. This ad claims your computer is broken or you did some bad thing and must call this number and pay lots of $$$$ or you will be arrested etc.

There is also the browser hijack style where some ad seems to appear as an error message, something to the effect of you need adobe flash player to view this and then you click on it to supposedly download adobe flash. Youre actually not. Your downloading a very stingy piece of software called a PUP, or Potentially Unwanted Program. These will change your homepage, search engine, even cause more pop ups.

But basically, to answer your question, these ads preyed on the lack of knowledge the general public has towards computers and cyber security. Because we now pretty much all know what a pop up ad is, we close it, but back when they first started they were just as successful as todays fake Microsoft support technicians from India. The reason they are still around is some people still dont get it, and the people running these ads like to cling to their old ways haha.

Hope this helps!


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

[User]
[Gears of War] What does the training program look like for a chainsaw bayonet?

I've seen Army privates hurt themselves with regular bayonets. There's no way they just give COG recruits a chainsaw and set them loose.

[Assistant]
Yet army privates are still given bayonets. Same with chainsaws, though obviously they are not powered, when practicing against live opponent you just practice putting the chainsaw in the right place, pressing the button, and holding it there while the other guy struggles around.

Arguably it can be safer, as even a dull knive can puncture things with enough force, but a bayonet doesn't use stabbing motions much, but instead uses the long side of the saw.

Still, it is a complicated weapon to use. Practice with it are undoubtedly not something green soldiers start out with, unlike bayonet drills which sometimes are.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does seemingly every movie theater in existence have smaller concession stands on either side of theater, but put them out of commission 3 months into opening? I'd rather like to use one of those mid-movie rather than walking up to the front.

[Assistant]
They are there for really really packed days. Doesn't make sense to have them open on regular or even normal busy days because it takes extra staff to run them. But weekends with 3 or 4 major openings you'll see those stations open.

Source: former Movie Theatre employee.


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

[User]
[Terminator] If John Connor almost choked to death, but was saved by the Heimlich maneuver, and it somehow became public knowledge, would Skynet send a terminator back to assassinate Doctor Heimlich?

Would they?

Or would they figure it would have too much collateral damage?

Does the timeline even work like that?

[Assistant]
No.

Skynet can't afford a big screw-up in the timeline; it needs to undermine the Resistance without past-nastifing itself out of existence. Whacking a historical "celebrity" (even a minor one like Heimlich) could have unforseen, bizarre consequences, and there are lower impact ways to try and get Connor.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Harrys parents protected him from Voldemorts magical attack. Sowhy didnt Voldemort just hold a pillow over Harrys baby mouth? Or start his crib on fire?

[Assistant] Harrys protection came from a very specific set of circumstances that unexpectedly invoked old magic without anyone realising it. Basically, Voldemort gave Snape his word he would not harm Lily - not a magically binding oath but certainly one that primed the events that followed. He then extended that promised offer to her to stand aside when he was about to kill Harry, she however rejected it and countered with her own offer to take her life instead of Harrys. At this point the old magic, fuelled by her sacrificial love came into play effectively taking that initial gentlemans agreement with Snape and amending/augmenting it with the old magic to make it enforceable. (which is why Harrys father sacrificing himself initially offered no protection to either Lily or Harry) People often assume it was just Lilys choice to stand her ground and Voldemort killing her was accepting the agreement that created the protection but in fact it was the earlier, verbal and specific agreement with Snape that initiated the contract and it was her sacrifice that then went on to empower it and make it magically enforceable.


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

[User]
Is it normal for the host department to ask for slides in advance from candidate interviewing for faculty positions?

My colleague and I are wondering whether this is a good idea especially if the slides contain unpublished material but a request has been made to email the slides to the department committee well before the presentation made by the candidate during the interview.

Is this a norm and how would you handle the fact that you may not wish to share the unpublished material over web with anyone before it's published.

[Assistant] I've never heard of this but you could put large print that reads "unpublished data" across the data you included in your slides and just remove that before you present. I've seen that done when slides are shared after a presentation.


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

[User] ELI5:If computer files can be compressed to be a smaller file size (e.g. zipping a file up), how come the file is not originally created to be a smaller file size?

[Assistant] The same reason your clothes could fit vaccuum sealed into a few small moving boxes, but typically we have them hung loose in the closet. They are easier to manipulate, use, and put back away, and you find paying for more closet space a fair trade off to the time and energy of vacuum packing and unpacking your clothes each morning.


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

[User] ELI5: Stephen Hawking's "No-Boundary Condition"

[Assistant]
Think of a string on a guitar. It is attached to the guitar on both ends, and this attachment constrains the ways in which the string can vibrate and produce sound. (Only certain pitches can be produced for a given length and tension, for instance.) If you detach one end, even if somehow you could maintain the same tension on the string, its behavior would change and many other pitches become possible.

If the string represents our physical universe, having "attachments" at its physical endpoints (called boundary conditions), or a specific configuration at an initial zero point in time (e.g. a birth of the universe) would constrain the laws of physics within the universe in a way that would differ from the laws of physics "outside" the universe.

Having no boundary conditions, as Hawking asserts, would imply that either the universe is an open system with no boundary in either space or time (no beginning, end, or borders), or that if those boundaries did exist, there would be no information about the state of the universe at those boundaries to constrain the physical laws within it, like a string which is unattached to its guitar.

Either way, that implies that the laws of physics apply equally within the universe as they do outside of it.


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

[User] If you were on a circular space station that was spinning so that it produced artificial gravity, and you ran opposite to the spin at the same speed would you still feel the affect of the artificial gravity?

[Assistant]
No. (And conversely if you ran spinward you would get "heavier.") The force of "gravity" you feel is the floor of the station accelerating you inward and thus preventing you from flying of at a tangent. If you run opposite the floor at its tangential velocity, your tangential velocity in an inertial frame becomes zero, so you are no longer accelerating and will be weightless, just like if you were sitting in space next to the station but not spinning with it.

On the other hand, you couldn't hover for long, since the air in the station would be trying to push you along with it, decreasing your velocity in the station frame/increasing it in the inertial frame, giving you weight again.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why/how does a hot compress bring a pimple or boil or stye to a head quicker?

Looking for a more in depth explanation than "heat."

[Assistant] Heat increases vasodilation and therefore circulation to the applied tissue. This brings more innate immune cells i.e. monocytes, macrophages and neutrophils to this location for quicker degradation of the foreign material.


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

[User] Is mold in blue cheeses different in any way from the mold we usually despise that makes it desireable in food?

[Assistant]
The blue cheese molds are similar to bad mold in their basic physiology, but exhibit 2 convenient characteristics:

1) they thrive in the environment of cheese

2) the waste they produce doesn't make us sick or kill us, and can even impart desirable flavors.

I don't remember if it was intentionally added for the following reason, but it is now known to add to the safety and longevity of the food. A bonus function of having a single strain dominate an environment is you don't have to worry about any riff raff (spoilers and pathogenic strains) moving in and establishing themselves.  It's the concept of eugenics at its best application.


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

[User]
[Dc Comics] Is there a way to cure Joker?

Is there anyway possible to cure Joker of his insanity or hypersanity as I heard some call it? Is there anything that can make him a normal person?

[Assistant] There's an issue where he thinks he's successfully killed Batman, and he pretty quickly starts life again as a regular guy. Martian Manhunter was able to force his mind into normalcy and Joker felt a lot of regret, but it was temporary. That's pretty much it though.


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

[User]
What exactly, in biological terms, happens when your stomach growls?

Woke up this morning with my stomach going wild.

[Assistant] Your stomach is always trying to digest food whether or not food is in it. When you hear it growl, it just means there is nothing in it to muffle the sounds. Imagine your stomach is a running dryer with change in it. Without anything else in it, the change bouncing of the sides of the dryer is really loud. But if you add towels in with it, the sound is muffled.


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

[User] [Death Note] What would have changed if Light went after government officials and world leaders?

[Assistant] If he was as efficient with it as he was with the criminals, total anarchy.  Governments would collapse, a task force would never be created.  L would have to work alone, with far less resources and far less to go on.  Syndicates of super criminals and the ultra-rich would rule what would remain of society, the rest being like the wild west.  This would pretty much ruin Light's plan of ruling the world though.


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

[User]
CMV: Outright banning political parties would be a positive in the United States

I believe that banning political parties in the US would be a general positive for the people and nation as a whole. Here is my reasoning.

You won't have any political cushions, politicians would have to stand on their own two feet and explain their policies and why that matters and why it would benefit the people. It was interesting when the legislative elections were approaching, and for my highschool, we did a mock election where we all had to do research. Interestingly enough, the independent won the majority because he actually had to talk policy instead of people voting on party loyalty. Party loyalty is another problem, lots of people don't make informed decisions, they'll either vote red or blue.

It would also make fairer elections. Currently in the presidential elections, only the swing states matter. Even massive states like California or Texas or New York that are firmly one party will not receive much attention by their party's candidate, because why go there and waste time? Its firmly your color. If there were no parties, there would be lots of candidates, every state would become a swing state as it could only take a few percentage points to flip to one candidate.

It would also allow smaller voices to be heard and gain traction. Currently if you're a democrat, you won't appeal to socialist ideas. Maybe economically left ideas like minimum wage, but unless you want to lose, you're going to pander and go with what the democratic voters want. Under a no party system, smaller voices will be heard as they don't have to side with the democratic party and thus pander if they want to win.

It would also reduce the us vs them mentality that a lot of Americans have. There is a hostile relationship between Republicans and Democrats, and it doesn't make any sense since the political parties are so broad. 1/2 of the political spectrum is a huge place to encompass for a single party. A democratic voter could either be a 70s hippie promoting communes and peace and love, or a 1950s Soviet Communist or a democratic socialist. A republican voter could either be an anarcho-capitalist or a neo-nazi or a traditional conservative. So instead of having hatred towards someone based on their political party alignment, you'd actually have to learn their views. The us vs them just produces a toxic environment. It also applies to the government, where even if a bill in congress would be good, someone may vote against it just because it was proposed by the other side.

Political parties just incredibly simplifies and dumbs the political system down. It isn't good for the voter or for the government. It shouldn't matter if making a political vote is easy or not, a voter that doesn't vote out of impulse is better than one who votes by party color.

[Assistant]
In a republic where there are over 500 voting members of the legislature, you need voting blocs to pass anything more than a resolution confirming the blueness of the sky.  No meaningful debate can happen unless those legislators nominate representatives (formal or otherwise) to argue their position and speak for them.

If those voting blocs exist, they must perpetuate themselves.  They'll take an interest in ensuring that allies are reelected and enemies are opposed.  They'll gather outside formal settings to discuss their philosophy and interests - they'll caucus.  They'll strategize about how to advance their agenda.

And now you have a party.

If we did away with parties, they'd reappear overnight in whatever configuration the law did permit.  George Washington was right about many things, but this fight is futile.


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

[User]
[My Hero Academia] Why is All Might the only one who changes forms when he uses One For All? (MANGA SPOILERS AHEAD)

I know besides Midoriya and the original wielder, All Might is the only user of One For All who didnt have a quirk beforehand, and therefore is able to use One For All to a much greater extent, but how does he transform so drastically when he uses it, and nobody else does?

[Assistant]
Pre-injury, Toshinori had no time limit on using One For All. He was muscular all the time. That was his default physique.

After his injuries, he was severely weakened and could only use OFA for a few hours a day. So his weak, skinny form became the new default. It's just that using OFA returns him to a shadow of his former strength and physique temporarily.


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

[User] ELI5: Why did Sadam refuse UN weapons inspectors if he didn't have WMD's anyway?

[Assistant]
1.  France and Russia were whispering into Saddam's ear that the US wouldn't take any meaningful military action, despite the threats, and that France and Russia would each veto any UN Security Council resolutions that authorized military force against Iraq.

2.  He wanted Iran -- his and Iraq's mortal enemy and against which Iraq had just ended an 8-year-long brutal, bloody, and destructive war -- to think he had nuclear weapons, even though he did not have nuclear weapons.


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

[User]
[DC] Doesnt Clark Kent risk blowing his cover if he gets in a car accident?

There are any number of situations lethal to humans that Clark could easily end up in and shrug off without explanation. He cant exactly act his way out of a shot to the head or a body-contorting wreck.

[Assistant]
The easiest way to act your way out of something like that is "it's a (not literal) miracle". Shot in the head? Well they obviously missed, or the gun jammed. Car accident? amazingly the car's safety features managed to prevent major damage and he walked away from it. These things all the time.

Man that totally average human being is lucky.


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

[User] Is the stigma against incest cultural or is there another origin?

[Assistant] It has been observed that children that grow up together (even if not related) will avoid each other as sexual partners. A theory to explain this is that, since they mature in close proximity to each other, they develop similar histocompatibility complexes, which makes them undesirable to each other as sexual partners. So in this sense, there is some biological motivation for incest avoidance, and it may help inform cultural stigmas.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is some stainless steel magnetic and other stainless steel is not magnetic?

[Assistant]
Iron has two different "shapes" you could say. The atoms within it are aligned in a special pattern, which strangely changes at 911C from body-centered-cubic (bcc, also called ferrite) to face-centered-cubic (fcc, also called austenite). Interestingly, fcc is not magnetic.

Now for stainless steel. Steel is iron with less than 2% carbon, but that's not necessary to know. To make steel stainless, you need to add at least 12% chrome (or chrome equivalents) that will react with the oxygen before the iron can. This steel has a bcc pattern and is magnetic, because the chrome has a bcc pattern, too.

If you add more than 10% nickel(or nickel equivalents), which is fcc, to the 12% chrome, the pattern in the iron changes from bcc to fcc, even at room temperature. The stainless steel isn't magnetic anymore.

You can look up the "Schaeffler diagram" for some more details(martensite is what you get when you harden steel)

Why would you add that much nickel, when the steel is already stainless? The bcc pattern becomes "brittle" at lower temperatures, meaning it won't stretch before breaking, which is important for safety. Depending on the kind, this can already happen at 0C. The fcc pattern though doesn't have this effect, it doesn't even care about -200C, and you can build things like containers for liquid gas out of it.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is Pi such an important number?

[Assistant]
Because circles, circular looking things, rotations, and circle-looking curves are *everywhere*. If a given thing could include a circle even in the most tangentially abstract manner pi will find its way in to your calculations somehow.

It's an important number because it's a fundamental facet of anything circular. Because we live in a world where we have things that curve pi will appear everywhere, making it pretty important. It's not that pi is important, but that circles are important.


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

[User]
ELI5: Bandwidth - How does a satellite send down hundreds of channels of high definition content to televisions all over the country, but my 1MBPS in the connection gets bogged down by five smartphones?

Question from my grandad to his 'techy' kids at Christmas.

[Assistant]
Think of broadcasting television channels like a movie theater. Each individual theater can display a movie to to huge numbers of people, only limited by how many seats there are and how bright the screen is. If the screen was bright enough and there were enough seats, everyone on earth could watch a movie off that one screen.

But when it comes to sending and receiving data to and from a single person, it's less like a movie and more like a phone call. That single satellite up in space can only switch back and forth between separate phone calls so quickly before it's overloaded.

So in other words broadcasting is easy. Individual communication is hard.


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

[User]
[Star Wars]Would it be likely that Qui-Gon could've been the separatist leader?

He was always very much a gray Jedi and wasn't so gung ho on a lot of the strict Jedi policies. Do you think that, had he lived, he would've grown concerned with the republic and gone to the separatists, either on his own or through Palpatines manipulations possibly?

[Assistant] Unlikely. Although his master was a devout Separatist, Qui-Gon wasn't a politician. He was a true follower and servant of the Living Force, and would have likely gone off to practice the Force and its (grayer) teachings without the politics of the Republic, the corruption of the Jedi Order ot the infighting of Dooku's Separatist alliance. As we see in The Clone Wars Qui-Gon has quite the link to the Wellspring of Life, the Cosmic Force *and* Dagobah. Likely if free to follow his own path, Qui-Gon would have gone to train in the Force at these locations, unlocking the secrets of becoming a Force Ghost and living indefinitely through the Force.


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

[User]
What are some of the best essays arguing for/against the concept of self-ownership?

Title says it all: I'm hoping to write an essay discussing this topic and am looking for all the material I can find. Thank you!

[Assistant]
G. A. Cohen, *Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality,* Cambridge University Press 1995.

Cohen was a marxist who examined Nozick's ideas of self-ownership in a serious rather than purely dismissive manner.


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

[User] Eli5: how does Bluetooth work?

[Assistant]
Its just another wireless technology. A transmitter translates data into zeroes and ones, and pulses them out on a specific radio frequency.

A receiver listening on that radio frequency catches the zeroes and ones, recompiles them into information, and passes the data onto the computers processor.

Every wireless technology uses the same essential methodology, and then differs in frequency and encoding of the data.


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

[User]
Question about nuclear decay and atomic bombs

I was wondering if someone could tell me the basics on how an atomic bomb work? does it have anything to do with nuclear decay and the lack of stability? sorry if this seems like a stupid question I'm hopelessly clueless when it comes to science!

[Assistant]
Certain isotopes, mainly actinides with odd A numbers, have special material properties to them: a big probability of absorbing a neutron, fissioning, and releasing two to three more neutrons.  These two or three neutrons can go on to re-react with the material and release 2-3 more neutrons.  This cycle, if it sustains itself is called "critical".  If it multiplies over time it is called "supercritical".

So if you have the right material how to you get it to go critical?  Well, first you have to put it into a critical mass.  A critical mass the amount of mass in a certain geometric configuration which provides the material with the right neutron absorbing geometry to self-sustain itself.

However, a critical mass needs one last thing to go critical: a neutron source to provide it with a start up.  Put that in there and it will all come together.

A bomb needed to be put in a super critical mass very quickly.  There were two designs for this, a bullet of uranium firing into a receiver uranium cup (upun combination becomes supercritical)  and a sphere of sub-critical material with a shell of explosives which would detonate and shrink the sphere, causing it to go supercritical.  Those were the two, original, atomic bomb designs.

Things get a little more complicated with neutron energies, but this is the general idea.


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

[User]
What is the deal with horse meat? Why can't we eat it?

I'm not sure I understand the controversy.

[Assistant]
We can eat it, in some places it's even a delicacy.

The problem is very much not that horse meat is in cow meat products. The problem is that something that isn't cow meat is in cow meat products. If horse meat can pass through the checks and balances, it raises concerns about what else can.


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

[User]
[DC] Does Wonder Woman have a weakness?

I know that Wonder Woman has had weaknesses in the past (Golden Age version was weakened if a man bound her or her hands were cuffed IIRC). Tower of Babel/JL: Doom had Batman's contingency plan for her be to have her hallucinate and keep fighting until she dies from exhaustion. But, in the New 52, Batman mentions that she doesn't have a kryptonite, and his only contingency for Wonder Woman going rogue is to send Superman after her.

Still, I've been hearing about something where Batman (and Joker?) defeated the entire Justice League and found some sort of Wonder-kryptonite that they could use against her. Does anyone know what that is and what story that was from?

[Assistant]
>Still, I've been hearing about something where Batman (and Joker?) defeated the entire Justice League and found some sort of Wonder-kryptonite that they could use against her. Does anyone know what that is and what story that was from?

It was most likely Batman: Endgame, where the Justice League got mindcontrolled by the Joker and Batman had to defeat them all. He beat Wonder Woman by using a ancient Greek relic called the Bind of Veils to make her think she had killed him.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it illegal to pass off unused days on Disney World tickets to someone else, even though you had paid for X days?

[Assistant] They want the people you pass those tickets off to instead pay for Disney World tickets. So, they legally make the tickets non-transferable licenses, rather than legally a physical good (which you could sell without permission).


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

[User]
If we were to send a man into space at 99.99% of the speed of light. Would the time dilation allow him to live long enough to reach distant stars?

Time slows down the closer we get to the speed of light, so if somebody were to approach c, then wouldn't they in turn age slow enough to last a trip to say, Alpha Centauri?

EDIT: Thanks for all the awesome responses you gais. From what I'm understanding from the discussions is that the  faster the person on the rocket ship travels, he would experience time normally from his perspective, while observers on Earth would see him slow down. And if one were to actually travel at 1c, then the trip from his perspective would seem instantaneous.  Thanks again for your inputs!

[Assistant] That is correct. If a person is traveling at 0.9999c toward Alpha Centauri relative to Earth, then length contraction means they see the distance between Earth and Alpha Centauri as being about 0.062 light-years. Then they will experience only about 0.062 years, or around 22.5 days, before Alpha Centauri reaches them.


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

[User] ELI5: Why can women experience multiple orgasms, but men just go limp after one?

[Assistant] Evolutionarily, it is beneficial for a male to have a refractory period.the penis is shaped ina way that scoops out semen that is already in the vagina. if a man ejaculates and then immediately resumes intercourse, he will be removing his own semen from the female.by forcing the male to wait, the odds of this happening are decreased.


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

[User]
[American Horror Story] Can someone please explain what the hell happened the first season

I just finished and I got some of the plot but the other half seemed random and nonsensical. Can someone please ELI10 what I just watched.

[Assistant]
The House is haunted by the ghosts of its previous inhabitants, who all died under unfortunate circumstances and are now all quite bitter about the whole thing. Anyone who dies in the House is cursed to haunt it forever, which ends up happening to the family who the story follows. Tate, the blonde kid, was a ghost all along and convinced the daughter to kill herself about halfway through the series, meaning she was dead too before anyone noticed.

Everyone is dead at the end of the series but, somewhat ironically, this seems to  ends up helping their dysfunctional family situation.


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

[User]
ELI5: Do animals that are trained to help people with disabilities or medical issues really understand their owners are blind, deaf, etc.?

I just wanted to know if medical assist dogs or dogs that help people with disabilities know if a person is blind or they just respond to certain behaviors of the owner? How are they trained, for example, to know to stop a blind person from crossing the street? Do they understand the person can't see?

[Assistant] It's all training. They're trained by sighted people, and they'll do what they're trained to do whether or not the person they're guiding is blind.  They know to stop before crossing the street because they've gone through a long training process that taught them that's what they're supposed to do when they come to a street.


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

[User]
[Spongebob Squarepants] Does Spongebob ever show awareness of the fact that Squidward hates him?

Its very obvious that Squidward doesnt like him. Does Spongebob know this but just not give a shit, or is he just that oblivious?

[Assistant] I get the sense that Spongebob is like a less psycho version of a classic teenage crush story.  He sees Squidward the way Tootie from Fairly OddParents sees Timmy (to use another Nickelodeon example).  Spongebob just keeps trying to be friends despite all the rejection because he as no shame, no filter, and wants to be Squidward's best friend no matter what.  He knows Squidward hates him but surely he just hasn't said the right thing yet.


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

[User]
Since temperature is caused by particles moving, could that cause some time dilation?

At 300 K,  would a clock run slower than a clock at 100 K?

[Assistant]
A gas of particles is a very complex system, and each individual particle is experiencing its own unique amount of time dilation (dependent on its velocity and direction). Say you stuck a clock in a gas and then isolated it from the environment, so that its temperature does not increase with the gas (to avoid some issues with material properties of the clock). At 100 K, the time measured by a single particle in the gas (in the particle's rest frame) will not agree with what the clock says, since (as you said) temperature implies the particle is moving. This is time dilation, albeit a very small amount. If you increase the gas to 300 K, the time dilation will be more pronounced since the particles are travelling faster.

So yes, if the particles are moving (relative to the clock) then you will notice a very small amount of time dilation. It's important to emphasize that this is between the individual particles and the clock, though - if you were standing next to the clock, you would see no difference since you are in the clock's reference frame.


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

[User]
What happens to a person mentally and physically, after their 'maximum' pain threshold is surpassed.

Would you just faint or pass out from the pain? Is death an option? And will there be any mental side effects of enduring severe pain?

[Assistant]
Often times severe pain will cause the patient to lose consciousness - this is generally mediated by the 10th cranial nerve (the vagus nerve), which is why it's referred to as a "vasovagal response."  (Note:  different from the va**g**ovagal response, which has to do with the gastrointestinal tract).

There really isn't such thing as a "maximum pain threshold" - the perception of pain is a very, very subjective feeling.  When we use the "rate your pain out of 10" scale in the hospital, its not uncommon for two people with the exact same injury to report feeling significantly different levels of pain.

*edit:  formatting*


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

[User]
[Spider-man] If an average person can go without food for three weeks, how long can Spider-man, someone who needs to eat a lot more than an average person, can go without food?

This is of course including that he can drink water when he's skipping days without food since the average person can survive without food for three weeks if they have water to drink.

[Assistant]
*Spider-man, Spider-man... does whatever a spider can!*

Spiders can go two to three months without food.

And if Spider-man can actually do whatever a spider can (but is still human) I'd side with the lower end of that estimate.

Granted, he wouldn't be at full-strength at that point, but survival wise.


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

[User]
Job interview on crutches?

Looking for some advice. I have an on campus interview scheduled in a few weeks. It will be my first interview so im already researching how to prepare and what I should expect. However I  recently broke my leg, which complicates the matter. I'm on crutches and I'm concerned about how I will be viewed  (consciously or subconsciously) and how I will physically navigate the interview. I'm pretty sure there will be quite a bit of walking, not to mention the job talk, if there is one. Can anyone offer insight about how I should handle the situation? Should I call and make them aware? Will I look awkward trying to teach a class in crutches? Will they be annoyed that I'm slowing them down as I hobble from building to building?

Any advice is appreciated.

[Assistant] Call them - tell them the situation and see if it can be rescheduled.  If they can't reschedule, then go ahead.  Hobble through it - you will gets lots of sympathy.  Have a good humor about it, smile in the face of adversity and everyone will go for you.  Might as well play the card that was dealt you.


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

[User] How have we discovered extrasolar planets thousands of light years away, but we are still unsure how many planets are in the Centauri System, despite it being just 4 light years away?

[Assistant]
Part of this has to do with statistics. Our detection methods are biased towards planets that orbit in a plane that is pointing at Earth. It is unlikely for any given system to be like this, but the farther out we look the more stars there are within a certain radius, so the greater the chance of a system having a favourable chance of alignment. There is no specific reason why the closest star system would happen to have that alignment.

There is possibly an exoplanet around one of the Alpha Centauri stars, but the detection is unclear and controversial. Because the two Alpha Centauri stars are too close to each other in the sky right now to verify the detection, we'll have to wait a few more years.


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

[User] what is the most important component of viral structure as far as invasion is concerned?

[Assistant] Specifically concerning invasion, the proteins on the outside of the virus that bind to cell receptors. If you can encourage a cell to take you inside, the rest is (relatively) much easier. As others have pointed out though, the cycle as a whole is much more complicated, but that's the most important part for invasion alone.


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

[User]
CMV: There is no benefit to being an exempt, salaried employee these days.

I understand that the TECHNICAL benefit to being salaried (as opposed to hourly) is that you still get paid the same amount even if you work less than 40 hours a week.

This WAS true decades ago, but nowadays, most employers force everyone to work 40+ hours a week, and very few offer overtime for salaried employees.  If you're hourly, you automatically make more than your peers.  If you're salaried, you make less, because everybody works long hours equally.

It seems to me that a salary is just a way for employers to get more work out of you without additional pay.

So I ask you: why would anyone WANT to be a salaried employee in this day and age?

[Assistant]
It guarantees you a consistent pay check and youre in a better spot in a downturn.

If the company has to trim the budget its way easier to cut the hours of contractors than it is to lay off an exempt employee.


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

[User]
If the DNA is the same in every cell, how does the body know to build an arm here, run a blood vessel there, put a femur in the thigh, and put 4 chambers in the heart?

I think I understand that the DNA in cells command the cell to make certain types of amino acids which then form into proteins, and that's difference between an epithelial or goblet cell or connective or muscular neuron cell.  But if the DNA is the same, how do the cells end up making different proteins?  And how do the cells end up physically organizing into just the way we need to create the human body, all the way down to super smart Circle of Willis blood vessel in the brain if every human being?

[Assistant]
This is kind of the root of embryology/development biology, which is a huge field with lots still to be discovered.  At the adult level, differentiated cells have different levels of DNA expression - just because the DNA is there does not mean it is expressed the same way everywhere.  There's a lot of regulation at both the chromosomal level (eg histone methylation, chromatin condensation) and the nucleotide level (eg transcription factors, mRNA splicing, etc).  This is further mediated by signalling via chemicals (eg cytokines/growth factors/hormones etc), as well as physical parameters (eg the stiffness of the underlying substrate, or contact inhibition when cells become confluent).

In the fetus, one of the key players is the HOX gene, which regulates development along the anterior-posterior axis. Various defects in this signalling pathway may result in things like duplication of structures (eg with synpolydactyly). There are many others (if you're interested, check out Shh and wnt-7a), and while we have a general idea of what each one generally regulates, there are many details that are yet to be perfectly described.

To address your last line, note that 'normal' anatomy is highly variable.  The circle of Willis is actually one of the sites where the exact connections and locations of various vessels can vary a lot between individuals.  So it's not like our DNA encodes every single connection in the body - often times, it's more a matter of regulation at the cellular level (eg cells sense lack of oxygenation, and release signals like hypoxia inducible factors to stimulate angiogenesis).


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

[User] ELI5: What happens when I "lose my voice?"

[Assistant]
You make noise by pushing air through your vocal chords. Your vocal chords are not actually chords, but a gross vagina looking hole with lip like flaps on it.

You can open and close the lip like flaps, which changes the amount of air getting through, which changes the sound made.

Sometimes those flaps get swollen. Either by being damaged and torn by pushing too much air out at once (screaming or yelling), or by inflammation due to infection.

Swollen flaps are more difficult to move, predict, and manage. So, your voice is harder to control. Being swollen, they are also larger and let less air out. And you lose your voice.


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

[User]
[Cars] What is the purpose of tractors?

Tractors seem to be the equivalent of cows, but they don't seem to produce meat or milk. What gives?

[Assistant] While they may appear to be regular old agricultural machines to your squishy self, the Tractor is a noble animal that serves many functions. Without going into too much science, they (and several related models) keep designated spaces free of grass and vegetation for easier transit. In ancient days it was difficult to drive through jungles and thick plains, so we domesticated the tractors. In addition, the vegetation they remove is converted to a biofuel within their stomachs for energy; this is used in secret fuel formulas to produce the gasoline we all enjoy. The tractor is a keystone of our civilization!


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

[User] ELI5: Why, scientifically, are we unable to figure out what happened before the big bang?

[Assistant]
There are three problems. The first is that scientists can't really gather information about even the earliest moments of the Big Bang because energy couldn't really escape. There was a period when everything was just *too hot* and electrons couldn't bind to atomic nuclei. Since everything was still so dense, the whole universe was a super dense sea of charged particles. Light gets absorbed by charged particles. With the universe so stuffed full of them, light could barely travel at all before almost immediately running into a free electron or proton and getting absorbed again. So, sure, there was a *ton* of light but we can't see any of it because it was all reabsorbed.

There was a period called *Recombination* when the universe expanded and cooled enough for electrons to bond to protons, making the universe suddenly way more transparent. The light from that moment is what we see now as the Cosmic Microwave Background.

Believe it or not, scientists *can* get information from before Recombination. One way is to look at patterns in the CMB that arose from tiny variations in gravity, which come from tiny variations in density. If you imagine a universe where all particles are *perfectly* distributed, then the gravity between them would be pulling equally in all directions and no particle would move towards its neighbor. Because of random fluctuations in energy, some parts of space just had a *tiny* bit more stuff in it, which caused matter to collapse at those points a little bit more and the "supernova" energy being released there sent out ripples of energy that caused particles around that point to collapse, too. This all happened before Recombination, and those ripples can still be seen in the CMB thanks to clever scientists who figured out to look for them and figured out how to find them.

Before that, though, there's just not any kind of radiation that still exists. Everything was so hot and dense and energetic that you're either going to find a mess of random static *or* absolutely nothing for the same reason that you won't find fossils in an active volcano. It all just got reabsorbed and emitted and reabsorbed and emitted again until Recombination.

The other problem is that our understanding of physics just stops working in the conditions of the Big Bang. Scientists understand how stuff behaves at really big scales and at really small scales. The early universe was *both*: incomprehensibly high amounts of energy and matter stuffed into the smallest space, everywhere. Scientists just don't have the tools to interpret how particles and energy behave under those conditions. Even trying to use computer models won't work because the models have to use known laws as the foundation, which don't work for those conditions.

The last problem is that "before" the Big Bang doesn't really make sense. Time is a property of the universe we are in now and there's no guarantee that time or entropy or any of the laws of physics as we recognize them worked the same way or even existed before the Big Bang. It's a bit like asking what letter comes before A in the alphabet? That question can't be answered because there's no alphabet before the alphabet.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are degrees measured in the way they are, ie: 90 is a right angle and 360 is a revolution, as opposed to a more simple/rounded number like 500 or 1000? Is there a reason behind it or is it arbitrary?

[Assistant] It comes from the ancient Babylonian number system. Their number system was based on the number 60 which is a very practical number if you want to split things evenly. They divided the circle into 6 equal sections and then these sections were further divided into 60 degrees. We further divide degrees into 60 arcminutes and each arcminute into 60 arcseconds. We just have not found a good advantage to changing this. Although there have been attempts. The most famous was the attempt at introducing grads. There are 400 grads in a circle. Mathematicians however prefer to use radiens. There are 2 pi radiens in a circle which makes a lot of mathematical equations much simpler then when working with degrees.


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

[User]
[Spider-man] would Spiderman in a situation where revealing his secret identity save a SINGLE person of certein death, knowing it will put everyone who knows him in danger?

For example: Would he be willing to take his mask off in a crowd, if neccesary?

[Assistant]
He's revealed his secret identity for less. He revealed it to J. Jonah Jameson, someone who could absolutely ruin his life, to get Jonah out of a spiral of grief and hatred.

There was also a time where he impulsively revealed his secret identity to all his friends while he had the flu, so he had the Prowler impersonate Spider-Man to cover it up.

He also revealed his identity to the burglar that killed Uncle Ben out of rage, and to a boy with terminal cancer that was a Spider-Man superfan.


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

[User]
How to politely turn down a job offer?

Last month I applied for two PhD positions that interested me. The interviews went well and now they both offered me a job. I did not expected this, so I never mentioned in the interviews that I applied for two PhDs at the same time. I want to go with the one that suits my academic profile a bit better, but how do I politely explain this to the other one? I'm in a small field so it is in my benefit to maintain my network. If anyone has any wording advice that would be great.

[Assistant] Simply say that you have decided to accept another offer, they'll understand, many people apply to several PhDs and jobs alike.  The polite thing is to let them know as soon as possible so they can offer it to someone else.


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

[User]
[Full Metal Alchemist] Why don't alchemists have a transmutation matrix tattooed into their bodies as a standard?

Watching for the first time and am only 3/4 of the way through season 2, so apologies if the show answers this later on:

The show presents Scar having the figures required for alchemy tattooed onto his arm as a novel concept. Then in the fight with Lust, Col. Mustang carving the circle into his hand is shown to the viewer as if it was an unconvential stroke of genius after Lust burns his gloves with the circles sewed in.

It feels like having a circle readily available by having it part of your body would be incredibly useful, particularly for state alchemists who are sent into warzones. So why are these two the seemingly first ones to think of that?

[Assistant] There are others, but its not as common as youd think. The ones that do are usually combat alchemists who use a specific circle a lot. Other than that, different transmutations require different circles. A tattoo would only be capable of one specific transmutation, like Mustangs flame alchemy, so its usually only done by combat alchemists.


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

[User] When a banana gets bruised, does the nutritional content of the bruised area change?

[Assistant]
Once a banana starts to over ripen - be it from time or from some sort of damage to the peel - the starches start to break down into sugars. That's what makes brown, or bruised, bananas taste sweeter. You can eat a brown or bruised banana so long as you enjoy a sweet banana, but when they start to get darkened or blackened then they usually reserved for baking pies or something like that.

Does the nutritional content change? Yes, starches break down into sugars as the fruit gets bruised or ripens.


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

[User] ELI5: approximately when did we start counting the year?

[Assistant] Depends on who you mean by "we". If you mean  how we call it 2022, that was invented in 525 but wasn't in popular use until the 9th century. The Mayans, ancient Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, China and many other societies all had their own counting systems too though.


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

[User]
[Spider-Man] Instead of getting constantly ripped off by JJJ for his pictures, why doesn't Peter Parker try selling his pictures to other newspapers?

Peter Parker is meant to be a smart kid. So why does he insist on constantly getting ripped off by J Jonah Jameson for his pictures instead of offering exclusive rights to his pictures elsewhere? I mean, there's constant demand for Spider-Man pictures in the news and he's got easily the best shots in the city. Newspapers should be offering him absurd amounts of money for them, so why does he let JJJ walk all over him instead of making some decent money by taking his craft and skills elsewhere?

He could even go full Nightcrawler (the Jake Gyllenhall movie, not the X-Men character), and film himself fighting crime and sell the footage to local news stations the way he sells his photographs to newspapers. It's not as if he's got a shortage of crime fighting work. He's got an opportunity basically at least once a night to make some good money.

[Assistant] Because JJJ A) doesn't ask a bunch of questions, B) is ok with letting a teenager freelance for him on potentially dangerous work (many newspapers would be frightened of litigation if the kid got hurt while documenting Spider-Man on their dime), and C) is willing to buy nearly any good pic of Spider-Man, even if Spidey himself hasn't done anything especially worthy of front page mainstream news. Additionally, in some continuities JJJ is less of a cheapass, and is ready to hit Parker with enough cash to make the effort worthwhile.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is the purpose of the air bubble inside chicken eggs?

It's fun to poke, and that's all I know.

[Assistant]
Eggs shrink as they develop.  Even if they're not fertile they still shrink as water slowly evaporates.

Bird eggs have both a leathery shell (mostly collagen) and a hard shell (mineralized with chalk).  The leathery shell membrane peels back from the chalky outer shell, and that's what makes the bubble.  Technically it's called the air cell.

By the time a chick is ready to hatch, it's absorbing oxygen through an umbilicus (like mammal babies) that attaches to blood vessels on the inside of the shell.  For it to hatch it has to switch to using its lungs, and stop that umbilical blood flow.

So it breaks the air cell (which has gotten large by this point) and breathes that air (also through the outer shell).  Once it has the strength to hatch, the chick breaks the outer shell too.


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

[User] ELI5 how is a turbocharger different from a supercharger?

[Assistant]
A turbo charger is connected to the exhaust. The exhaust spins a set of turbines extremely similar to a jet engine. The air gets compressed in the turbines and is then forced out with greater force and is then rammed into the engine. The higher compression in the cylinders makes more power.

A supercharger is connected to the engine itself and uses that power to force more air into the engine at higher pressure making more power.

Basically the name of the game is more air at higher than normal pressure. The only difference between the two is how they generate power to force air into the engine.


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

[User]
[Mario] What exactly causes an enemy to turn into a coin when struck by a fire pellet from a Power Flower?

Bonus question: Why do these coins eventually grant Mario near immortality, I mean he takes falls that lead to nothing, yet he comes back like it never happened?

[Assistant]
In the Mario universe there are extremely talented healers that are capable of bringing back many creatures from the dead. Because such an amazing ability is rare and hard to learn the healers charge quite a bit of money for their talents. Inhabitants of the Mario universe have become accustomed to carrying around the money needed to pay the healers should they die and none of their loved ones are around to pay the healers. A creature such as a turtle is relatively easy to Resuscitate and so they generally only cost one Gold coin. Humans however are much more difficult to bring back from the dead so Mario has to have 100 coins in order to pay the healers.

When Mario kills a creature, he takes from them the money they were carrying in order to increase his own amount, basically insurance should he die.


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

[User] ELI5:Why is there no government regulation over ridiculously expensive drug prices?

[Assistant]
Because there's no government regulation over prices at all.  Prices are determined by the market, not by the government.

The only place where there's any sort of government regulation is to prevent price collusion (all of the companies that make a product all getting together to artificially raise the price of that product so that they all make a large profit), and prevent price gouging in emergency situations (if there's a natural disaster, grocery stores can't jack up prices for food and bottled water, for instance).

But since this situation falls under neither of those, the government simply is not involved.

Nothing is stopping some other company from spending the capital necessary to ramp up a factory to start producing the same drug at a cheaper rate.


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

[User]
ELI5: If weed is a depressant, why does my heart start to beat faster whenever I smoke?

Everytime I smoke weed my heart starts to beat pretty quickly. I've never been able to measure my BPM after smoking, but it at least feels like it's racing, sometimes even at an almost frightening pace. Shouldn't weed lower my pulse and BPM because it is a depressant to the body systems?

[Assistant]
> If weed is a depressant

That's just it.  It's not a depressant.  At the high level it's a psychoactive compound - it can cross the blood brain barrier and can act on parts of the brain.  Depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens are all psychoactive.  Weed is basically in a category of it's own since it doesn't fit into any of those categories perfectly but rather can have effects from all three in varying combinations.


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

[User] When we hurt something like our wrist we either wrap it up to make it warmer or put ice to make it stop swelling. Whats wrong with just the regular body temperature?

[Assistant]
Not a bad question. The point of an ice or warm wrap isn't to control the body's temperature. Rather, it's using temperature as a tool to illicit a response from the body that could assist healing or manage pain. Ice, for example, can help reduce swelling in a broken wrist. Heat can relax injured muscles and increase blood flow.

You could ask "how come our body can't do this without help?" Well, the human body is pretty good at healing itself, but it's not perfect. This is why we need doctors, medicine and sometimes a icewrap.


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

[User] ELI5: How are all digital clocks and watches made with such precision to always measure the same length of second?

[Assistant] Clocks and watches have a not so special stone called quartz. When you zap the stone with electricity they wiggle about. We figured out that when you zap the stone it wiggles precisely 32768 times in one second. So we count how many times it wiggles, and once we hit 32768 we send some more electricity to the part of the watch that changes the display and moves time forward.


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

[User]
Why do we think that space was created during the big bang and not just matter?

How do we know for instance that there isn't just an infinite field of ever expanding space, with occasionally disruptive quantum fluctuations that create a bunch of stuff?

[Assistant]
We don't think that, nor do we know that.

In fact we know very little before the CMBR, previous to that we have models which predict what would happen and indirect evidence. As you approach the moment of the big bang things keep getting more and more fuzzy.

The only thing we can say is that we don't know. The reason that asking what happened before the big bang is a bad question because unless you know there was a before(Or that such a question was meaningful or could be answered) you are presupposing a before.

That said that's pretty much what a lot of physicists believe. As you rewind the clock all fundamental forces unify, and it's thought they'd all unify at the moment. Logic tells us something should be before it(Everything has a beginning right?) but often times "Obvious" and "Logical" have no weight on how the universe works. It doesn't have to make sense. It could be that there is absolutely no reason our universe exists, in fact it could be it's such an accident nothing actually does exist and this universe is just a one time event that will never happen again making it the first and last universe.

We don't know what caused it, or what is was, or generally what happened. All we can talk about is pretty much T = 1 and onward, trying to talk about T = 0 or T = -1 may not even make sense or exist.

That said most phyicists prescribe to a before, a fundamental force that splits due to quantum fluctuations most likely IS the right answer. The specifics are going to matter, and other models tell VERY different stories of before. Who knows? We probably never will.


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

[User]
[Cyberpunk Edgerunner] Who is the intended user for the Sandevistan?

It's a military-grade Sandevistan, so presumably it's meant to be used by the military, right? But everyone said that just the Sandy itself will drive its user to cyberpsychosis, and even the vet from the beginning couldn't handle it. So who is the Sandevistan meant for? Is it a failed prototype? Or does Arakawa just expect to burn through soldiers through self-induced cyberpsychosis as part of the cost of doing business?

[Assistant] Realistically, people like Adam Smasher, and others who upgrade themselves to maximum power and lethality without any thought to longevity. The Cyberpunk society both encourages and forces that behavior onto many people, as it's often otherwise impossible to recover from any bad luck.


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

[User] [Lord of the Rings] Why didn't Gandalf or any of the other Maia create any rings to counter Sauron's rings?

[Assistant]
The implication was that the One Ring made bearing *any* ring dangerous, even the three Elven Rings which Sauron had no direct hand in. Sarumon claimed to have delved into ring-making, but that didn't really do him any good at the end, and presumably he never went so far as to put as much of himself into a ring as Sauron did.

More generally, the Istari were also specifically instructed *not* to try and match themselves against Sauron, power to power; they were there to assist and guide the peoples of Middle Earth to victory, not to use force of arms and magic to bind the Dark Lord - possibly because the Valar feared that doing so would corrupt them (again, Sarumon didn't turn out very well when he started raising armies and pursuing power for its own sake), and possibly as an ideological basis for divine non-interference.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does wildfire smoke turn the sunlight red/yellow instead of gray like on an overcast day?

[Assistant]
In the simplest terms, light on the longer end of the visible light spectrum (reds and yellows) is able to pass through the smoke and other small particles in the atmosphere, and the shorter wavelengths (blue and violet) are scattered.

This is the same reason that sunsets are red.  The light has to pass through more of the atmosphere, thus having to travel through more of these small particles, which creates the reds and yellows we know and love.


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

[User] Eli5: Why is it that our eyes look high when we smoke? What goes on? Why does it look swollen?

[Assistant] THC will cause a temporary spike in blood pressure. Your vascular system dilates to regulate this, decreasing blood pressure and increasing blood flow. In areas like your eyes this increased quantity of blood causes them to appear red.


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

[User]
[Captain America: The Winter Soldier] Did the bad guys really think their plan would work?

So they plan on taking over the world by being able to file a missile against anyone in the world who presents a threat... and they think that will work? Let's consider the scenario where Cap doesn't heroically get the last chip in place.

Cap was aboard a carrier and could probably take over the whole thing himself, if he needed to he could spend a few hours tearing it apart from the inside and the carriers couldn't target him.

Tony Stark is just going to sit around and let some chumps fire missiles at him? I think he's probably had enough of that after the Extremis incident and now knows anytime a missile comes within 100 miles of him at any time. Even without a suit he could probably get to safety since the network controlling the helecarriers is driven by satellite imaging, which Tony would probably know.

What if Heimdall hits up his boy Thor and lets him know that his girlfriend just got blown up along with his superfriends? Hope those helicarriers' systems are well grounded, might by them a few minutes before they get torn to shit.

And what the HELL were they going to do about the god damn hulk? You try to blow him up and he's just going to smash your cute little "world conquering" weapons into tinker toys. Or don't target him and he gets pissed at what's happening anyway.

Hundreds, maybe thousands of the greatest minds orchestrating the hydra events and not one intern raises his hand and asks "What if the superfriends don't just sit on their asses and take our shit after we try to kill them and everybody they've ever loved?

Was the whole thing a distraction to keep Director Fury's attention off of a more important plan he was close to uncovering? Was S.H.I.E.L.D. considered a threat to Hydra's real plans when Hydra's existence was a secret to everyone? Was the insurrection simply a sect of Hydra that got too big for their britches and decided to take action before they had the cards to succesfully do so?

Captain America saved hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of lives. But let's face it, he certainly didn't save the world and probably didn't even save anyone of great importance to the MCU.

[Assistant]
While MCU Earth is a lot more protected than ours, it's also a lot more threatened. Presumably Hydra believed that the Avengers were too distracted by *other* civilization-ending catastrophes in their own franchises, and they'd get the drop on them.

These helicarriers probably could have taken out Stark before he knew what was going on (he's a busy guy, he's not omniscient, and he's not even particularly careful about going outside without his suit on).

As for Thor and the Hulk, there's no reason to assume Hydra really understands the scope of their capabilities--they probably just underestimated them. Hydra is nothing if not hubristic.

(Also note that in the post-credits, they appear to be breeding superhumans with Loki's staff, so they had at least that up their sleeves.)


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

[User] ELI5:What happens to the excess electricity produced by a power plant?

[Assistant]
They normally sell it to other power companies that need it, they can store a small amount of it (with some loss) by pumping water upwards at a hydro dam to let it fall back down later.

Mostly though they are really good at knowing how much power people will use, because people as a whole are really predictable, so they tend to be pretty close.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why has the US Govt been buying up ammunition en masse?

It seems that the US govt has been buying ammunition, any idea why?  I'm on my mobile, ill post sources when I'm on my laptop.

[Assistant]
The U.S. Government has always bought, and will always have to buy, ammunition.

We can't have our brothers and sisters in the Armed Forces, Border Patrol Agents, US Marshals, FBI, DEA, Secret Service, etc. going around using nothing but knives and slingshots. Those agencies require the ammunition to train and take with to the field.


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

[User] ELI5: How come in dubbed movies they can remove the original voices but let other sounds? Even if it is background noise or music that happens while the actors are talking?

[Assistant]
A movie's soundtrack is made of many different modules. If they recorded with a single microphone everything while it was happening, actors that are far away would be too quiet and there'd be a ton of interference from everything else going on.

So you make one version with no voices, and then each language's team can record and add their own before finalizing it.


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

[User]
[40k] What is the Void Dragon?

I'm curious. Is it an actual dragon? Or is "dragon" just a title?

[Assistant]
A C'tan. Some theories say this is the dragon the Emperor imprisoned on Mars.

There's a chance he/it is still whole, and the Necrons never imprisoned it in Shards. If so, if it ever re-appears, it would be seriously bad for the galaxy.


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

[User] ELI5 why do banks need an extra day to process paychecks after bank holidays when almost everything is automatic/digital?

[Assistant] Each bank collects their own credits and debits in a batch, but they (generally) all trade that info with all the other banks at the end of the business day. This is one of the reasons the banks follow "bank holidays" all the same for processing - the offices and branches might be open or closed for regional/state/local events but the Fed is closed so they can't all swap their transactions and money at the end of a holiday.


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

[User] [DC] Every sector in the galaxy is assigned no more than two Green Lanterns to patrol it. Except Earth, which has upwards of six. Why the special treatment?

[Assistant]
Earth is destined to be the birth place of the next race of transcendent immortals, as foretold at the Millennium incident, where a Guardian and a Zamaron sacrificed their immortality to empower humans to safeguard the planet until the next millennium ushers in an era of cosmic peace and prosperity.

Earth was also the resting place of the Life Entity, the cosmic force embodying life itself.

And that a recent Crisis made Earth the center of the multiverse, an axis in which the cosmos focuses on.

With that in mind, giving Earth more attention is seen as necessary by the Guardians of the Universe.


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

[User]
[Doctor Who] Why does UNIT becomes so incompetent?

They are able to effectively deal with Sontarans on the ground in 2008, but by 2015, they appear barely trained and the entirety of their British forces are killed by a handful of Zygons in a series of obvious traps. What happened?

[Assistant] They've had to expand quite a bit, and in a rapidly expanding government quantity tends to be an inverse metric of quality until there's been sufficient adjustments to account for the increased size. UNIT has doubtless recently undergone a period of rapid expansion, which results in a net drop in quality preceding a logarithmic increase after some time.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is the Multiverse and why do we think it exists?

I saw it on Cosmos, and don't understand the idea that there are many "bubbles" that each contain a universe. How does that reconcile with the Big Bang theory where space expands from one single point? How would a multiverse start?

[Assistant]
In mathematics and physics, you can ask questions with mathematical equations or series of equations and proofs.  Generally, without getting too far into it, when quantum physicists specifically address this question, the math sometimes suggests that multiple universe exist.

It takes some imagining if you don't understand such advanced mathematics.  But generally speaking, equations tell us something about our universe, even simple ones like 1+1=2.  These very clever and thorough physicists are trying to tell something bigger than that.  And sometimes the math tells us that multiple universes must exist using the logic and math we understand.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Just how modified was the Ghost?

And also, would it be considered a warship with its particular modifications, or would most still call it a freighter?

[Assistant]
The Ghost had over 87 illegal modifications, most of them designed to make the ship harder to detect by Imperial sensors. A lot of the modifications were to the engines, which is sometimes referred to as a "baffler". We don't know exactly what it does, but it probably has something to do with the ship's ability to mimic the energy output of nearby stars, such as solar flares, to mask the ship's activity.

Interestingly, all of the ship's weapons are stock-standard for a light Corellian freighter of the Ghost's design. Of course, there might have been a few mods installed to make it easier for Chopper or Hera to use them from the cockpit, but they are otherwise the same weapons the ship was built with.


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

[User] ELI5: Why aren't movies sold as USBs? (Why are Blu-Rays still relevant?)

[Assistant] The cost of making a USB vs. a disk is massive. If you mean just buying and downloading HD movies onto a USB that's a different story. The implementation and policing of piracy for these policies woulds be massive.


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

[User]
ELI5: If you chew your food less, does that mean you will feel full longer as it takes longer to digest in your stomach?

Does it also mean you spend more calories digesting the food via thermic effect of food since it needs more work to be done?

[Assistant]
Your food pretty much lasts the same length of time in your stomach one way or another. Remember that your stomach is really only the second step of your digestive system - the first being your mouth, where you start the process by chewing the food into easily digestible goo.

The stomach adds acid and enzymes, then the foodgoo goes on into the small intestines where bacteria gets to work and the useful proteins and nutrients are absorbed into the intestinal wall and enters the bloodstream to go whereever they're needed.

You could (in theory) cut a hole into your abdomen and place unchewed food directly into the stomach, and it would still spend the same amount of time before being sent on its merry little way.

But, by not chewing, the stomach and rest of the digestive system wouldnt be able to properly extract enough nutrients.

Meaning you wouldn't be getting the right amount, and would need to eat more...AND you would be pooping a lot more.


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

[User]
I think that weddings are a waste of time and money, CMV.

A lot of people spend thousands of dollars and months planning to have things just so on their wedding day. This seems like a huge waste to me. I don't see the point of spending tons of money on just one day; I feel like you can't be getting your money's worth, and that money would be better spent on a house, or on a more exciting honeymoon. I wouldn't want to spend that much time planning; I have better things to do in my free time that are more fun and less stressful. I don't see the point in inviting lots of people; I don't have tons of friends and even so, I'd be too busy to properly enjoy all my guests' company.

For reference, I am female, too young to be getting married any time soon, and I don't take issue with marriage, I just don't get weddings. CMV!

[Assistant]
Studies have shown that experiences make people happier than possessions. If you have the choice between spending $20k on an amazing vacation or spending $20k to get a newer shinier car, you will be happier if you spend it on the vacation. The car will get less exciting as time goes on, while the memories of the vacation will only improve as they are tinged by nostalgia. Some people spend that $20k on a wedding instead of a vacation.

You think weddings and you probably think reams of white lace and exacting floral arrangements. But think of it instead as *the biggest party you will ever throw*. And it's the only one (besides your funeral, which you don't get to enjoy) that you can compel all your friends and loved ones to attend. It's all your favourite people, all in one place at one time, for a party you get to decide all the details of. And you get to be the center of attention! It's like a birthday party times a thousand. Sounds like an awesome day to me.


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

[User]
In this post I ask the question, am I the only academic who can't stand using the singular first person pronoun?

Seriously. I'm writing up results from a solo research project for a conference. In person I don't have any problem saying "I did this, I think that..." but writing those sort of statements in the paper? I want to gauge my eyes out. Is it just me? I've always had collaborators -- can I just write the more-comfortable "we" even though it's a solo project? It feels more comfortable even though I'm basically using the "royal we." Also, shouldn't I just get back to writing the damn paper?

[Assistant] The passive voice is always preferred, in the absence of the plural. It has been observed that use of the passive voice alleviates the symptoms described. Where use of the passive voice cannot be managed, the author recommends other strategies for avoiding the incredibly awkward first person singular.


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

[User]
If the morality of an act is related to the pleasure and suffering it causes, why is necrophilia wrong?

I've been reading The Moral Landscape by Sam Harris and his somewhat simple and objective approach towards morality is appealing, but how does it answer issues where there is no impact on anyone?

[Assistant]
Harris is a terrible source for a consequentialist account of morality, but reasons that we might think necrophilia is wrong on a consequentialist account is that other people don't like it and you'll likely be found out, its unsanitary, its forms an unhealthy disposition in you, wherein you seek sexual intimacy with corpses instead of other humans, which would be better for you.

But if you stipulate that none of these factors obtain and that necrophilia produces more good consequences than bad, and more good consequences than bad of anything else you could be doing instead, then yeah a consequentialist will say there's nothing wrong with it.


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

[User]
[Aliens] Why do artificial persons seem to bond so readily with the xenomorph?

From Ashs purity to Davids outright...something to even Bishops remarkable fascination - what is it with synthetics and the xenomorph?

[Assistant]
To you and I, the Alien is an abominable monster. Both being able to kill you personally AND posing a very real existential threat to the human race. To the androids advanced enough to have individual thought though? To the intelligent beings incapable of feeling fear? When you remove fear from the equation what is left but respect?

Respect for the creatures ruthless efficiency. Respect for their pure, evolutionary perfection. For their complete absence of morality. No what is "right or wrong" the only thing that matters is to survive and reproduce.

An Alien comes into this world without any question of it's purpose. From the moment it is violently birthed there is not a single wasted second. They get straight to business.

I imagine the more independent synthetics can find much to admire from the Aliens. After all what are the creatures if not bio-engineered machines?


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

[User]
[World War Z] What happened to North Korea after the end of the war?

Was the northern part of the Korean peninsula ever turned into a blue zone?

[Assistant]
The book implied that the United Nations are not going to do anything in North Korea in the foreseeable future.  Not only do they suspect that the tunnels the DPRK dug are full of zombies, but even if everyone is dead the UN are concerned about the possible existence of "vengeance weapons", mines, and booby traps.

And if living humans are alive in the tunnels, they would see any incursion, military or otherwise, as an invasion and react accordingly.


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

[User]
What happens if we shoot an antiproton at a heavy element atom?

Would we create an atom of the element below it in the periodic table or would the energy of the annihilation be enough to blow the nucleus into smaller bits?

[Assistant] There are a lot of possible outcomes, depending on the center-of-mass energy. It could annihilate with a proton, it could scatter off of the nucleus (elastically or inelastically), it could create new particles like mesons or other baryons, etc.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Does Boba Fett just not care about his outer appearance (armor?)

Jango's armor was pristine, well-kept, and shiny. Meanwhile, Boba's is all scratched up, dented, and dirty. He's wearing a raggedy cape thing and doesn't look as put together.

Does he simply not care about those things and likes the worn out armor because it gives him some edge? Or maybe he doesn't have the time or resources to fix it up? Or is there something deeper going on, like he's inwardly tired/depressed and just trying to make it from day to day and has no desire to maintain his outer appearance?

[Assistant]
What you see as "scratched up, dented and dirty", others would see as "active, in the field, and not for show".

You don't want to hire the bounty hunter with the gleaming, spotless armor. Do you want to pay for someone who hasn't seen combat? Or maybe who has, but spends their time and focus on primping and preening?

Boba Fett walked around wearing proof that he gets into the field. Proof that people have tried to kill him... emphasis on *"tried"*.


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

[User]
Every day our heart makes enough energy to drive a truck 20 miles?

Today I heard it said that every day a human heart produces enough energy to drive a truck 20 miles. That.... can't be right can it?

[Assistant]
That doesn't seem to make any sense on the surface.

Firstly, the heart doesn't produce energy, it consumes energy and transports energy-carrying blood.

Secondly, The average human burns about 1500 calories, or 6,200kj, for 24 hours at rest.

A litre of gasoline has about 35,000 kilo joules(35 mega joules).

A 2015 Prius gets 100km off 4.9 litres of gas, call it 5. That's 62 miles, so about .016 litres of gas per mile.

So it costs a Prius 11,200kj to go 20 miles.

So a very efficient car goes about 11 miles on the calories an entire person consumes doing nothing.

Arnold Schwarzenegger might consume enough energy in his weightlifting prime to power a truck for 20 miles, but certainly not the average person's heart.


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

[User] [MCU] Why didn't the ancient one used the runes of kof-kol to make Kaecilius forget about the dark dimension?

[Assistant] He would probably end up seeking out that knowledge again because erasing a particular discovery from his mind isn't going to change the type of person that he is, his motives or his goals (in general terms).


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

[User]
ELI5: Are all spermatozoids from a same "batch" genetically identical?

I was watching a video of a single spermatozoid being caried to the egg with the help of a "nanobot" and that got me wondering, if the nanobot picked any other spermatozoid would that make any difference in the outcome? Would it end up actually generating a completely different individual?

[Assistant] All sperm cells are genetically unique. Every person has a double set of chromosomes, while each sperm cell has only one set. When making sperm cells, the genes are reshuffled between the chromosomes in the double set, and then the double set is separated to get two single sets for two sperm cells. So each sperm cell gets randomly unique reshuffled genes. The same holds true for egg cells as well. Without this same parents would be getting same children all the time, but as we all know in reality siblings are different (with the exception of identical twins which are two or more individuals developed from a single fertilized egg cell). And this gene reshuffling is kinda the whole point of sexual reproduction (as opposed to, say, cloning).


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

[User]
I believe that game developers/publishers brought piracy down on themselves. CMV

Of course, everyone knows about piracy and how much we are supposed to believe it is all terrible and in fact stealing of the creators of music, videos and also games.

I in fact believe that the developers of video games and their publishers brought piracy down on themselves (note here, it is not entirely their fault but most of it in fact is).

Let me explain why I hold this view, I am currently a year 20 old student with not a whole lot of money to spend. Recently I have in fact bought several games which were a HUGE disappointment (Simcity, X Rebirth just to name a few) and I found out there was no good way to enforce developers or publisher to uphold their end of the bargain (meaning, that you expect them to deliver a fair product). You have to through some terrible ways with paypal or even credit card chargebacks to get your money back if they even rule in your favor.

Of course there are reviews, but in the case where a game is so hyped and the reviews are not out yet on the release date - The price should not be far higher than the value of the game.

Most of these publishers/developers are in fact so big that they screw over hundred of thousands if not millions of people for lots of money. And hence the faith in these publishers/developers is lost.

Therefore, I feel that it is a reasonable decision to instead pirate games since there is too much uncertainty and a lack of faith in the creators/publishers and as a way of "payback" to those in question.

[Assistant]
>uphold their end of the bargain

There is no bargain. They make the product how they want, and you either buy it or don't. There exit numerous channels (reviews, youtube videos, etc) through which to vet games before purchasing. The developer is under no obligation to make a game you will enjoy, and you can't really justify stealing their intellectual property on the grounds that you didn't like the last game you purchased.

This is like robbing the candy store because the last time you bought chocolate it was gross.


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

[User]
[Fullmetal Alchemist] Where in god's name is Bradley aiming?

During the fight between Bradley and Scar, Bradley clearly has multiple opportunities to slice off Scar's head, or stab him in the stomach, etc etc, but he keeps aiming from his shoulders downward. Why? What advantage does that give him?

[Assistant] Wasnt Bradley fighting one eye at this point since his all seeing eye was compromised? Maybe he kept misjudging the distance. Also hes injured at this point and fighting someone who can disintegrate him with a touch of the hand. Hes probably playing it much safer than he usually does since landing a killer blow doesnt necessarily mean scar wont be able to kill him in the process. He was probably trying to wear scar out.


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

[User]
[Sharkboy & Lavagirl] How did Sharkboy's backstory of being raised by sharks also bestow his daughter with hyper hardened teeth?

None of his powers were genetic, he personally adapted to an aquatic environment and shark-like way of life.  How were his adaptations passed down?  Did he make her live underwater until she was shark-ey enough?

[Assistant]
That's how Sharkboy himself got his powers. If you spend enough time swimming around the ocean, hanging with sharks, you develop gills, sharp teeth, and fins.

No doubt he took her for long swims to visit his buddies in the sea when she was little.


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

[User]
CMV: NASA and the government should not be able to put factories or large building's on the Moon ever.

NASA recently revealed that in the next couple years they will have people on the Moon. With the end of space travel to the Moon I believe this is a great and needed mission for seeing how the human race does with new planets in the future. When people get there I'm sure they will have some little houses and building for gardens but I do not believe they should be allowed to build and large building's there at all. I say this with the sense of national parks their beauty is preserved and no profitable company or industries are allowed to build there. I believe this is what has to be done to the Moon when I look up at the moon through a telescope I should see only craters and other natural occurring landmarks not a building or store. I believe we have to preserve the natural beauty of the Moon for future generations. However I understand that this may have to be done and am willing to change my perspective on this. I will be happy to hear any and all opinions on this matter.

[Assistant]
What is the purpose of preserving a national park, a coral reef, or a rainforest? I'd say it's at least partially because there are living things that live there such as plants and animals. Those environments are their homes.

On the other hand, the moon is a lifeless rock. No living thing exists there. It's completely empty. We could detonate 1000 nuclear bombs there and not even a fly would be hurt.

You could say that the moon is a special lifeless rock and should be preserved the way it is. But there are trillions upon trillions of moons outside of the Earth's atmosphere. There are 193 other moons in our solar system alone. The only distinctive thing about the moon is that it's the one that happens to be closest to us.

Overall the Earth's moon is not special and there are no living things there. That makes it the perfect place to put factories and large buildings. Those factories and buildings might hurt people, plants, animals, and other organisms on Earth, but they wouldn't disrupt anyone on the Moon. We could test Chernobyl style nuclear power plants, and even if they exploded, no one would get hurt. We could leave radioactive material on the surface of the moon, and it would be nothing compared to the almost infinite amount of radioactive material spread out throughout the universe. We can use the moon for a ton of things without any consequences or harm done to any living thing. Perhaps we'd lose the natural beauty of the Moon, but we'd trade it for unlimited usable energy, which means that global warming would be fixed.

Ultimately, your argument is like saying that no one should go play outside after the first snow. Sure the snow looks beautiful and untouched by human hands. But letting kids run around, go sledding, throw snowballs, make snowmen, etc. is it's own kind of beauty. And  it's great to let kids have fun on one acre of land, especially if we have thousands of acres of untouched virgin snow as well.


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

[User] ELI5 why is there so much activity with the Ring of Fire recently? How do we know which earthquakes are directly linked? Should California be as worried as the media makes out?

[Assistant] It is called the "Ring of Fire". The whole region is unusually active compared to the rest of the world. With anything that is randomly active, you will always have periods of more activity and less activity than the average for that thing.


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

[User]
Why haven't we found any meteorites older than 4.5b years old?

Isn't it possible for meteorites to come from interstellar space? Or even intergalactic space? Why aren't there any meteorites older than our solar system?

[Assistant]
It's possible, but the odds quite low.  The solar system is generally believed to have ejected between 10 and 100 Earth masses in rocks during it's formation (there's a lot of uncertainty, but it's pretty reliable that something like this happened, since the same process forms the Oort Cloud.)

It was mostly in kilometer sized rocks, so there would've been ~ 10^14 of them.  With 10^11 stars, figure 10^25 such rock/ice balls floating through the galaxy.  The galaxy is something like 3x10^17 kilometers across, and maybe 10^16 kilometers high, call it 10^51 cubic kilometers.  About one interstellar comet per 10^26 cubic kilometers, meaning each is surrounded by an area 10^9 kilometers across (about the distance from the Sun to Saturn).  Finding the one interstellar comet in that volume (among the perhaps million such stellar comet/asteroids of that size in the same area) is very hard.

Put another way, the Earth traces out tube about 7000 km in radius, and 60 kilometers long, every second.  That's 10^9 cubic kilometers per second, or one impact from a kilometer sized interstellar comet every 10^17 seconds (which is about the age of the Earth).

So probably once in the Earth's history, we've had a kilometer sized interstellar comet has hit us.  This should scale like the size to the 2.5 power, so 300 100 m objects (every 10 million years).  But a similar sized object from within the solar system hits us every 10 or 100 years.

The same ratio comes up - between a hundred thousand and a million solar meteorites for every interstellar meteorite.  So if we took an age measurement of enough meteorites, we should find one that's interstellar.  But that's a lot, a lot of tests, which aren't easy or automated.  There just isn't enough labs, people, funding, or recovered meteorites.  The chance is just too low.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Why is Dr Doom so strong?

I have heard that he is really powerful and even has killed celestials at one point. What are his powers, and why is he so powerful? Aint he just a guy wiht a powerarmor and a little magic?

[Assistant]
Imagine a man who is *nearly* as brilliant as Reed Richards. An expert in engineering, particle physics, chemistry, and a dozen other sciences.

Imagine a man who spends *nearly* as much time working on and perfecting his power armor as Tony Stark (with slightly less ADHD-like tendencies).

Imagine a man who *just barely* lost out to Dr. Strange in the contest to be deemed Sorcerer Supreme of Earth. A man who has fought and defeated godlike, interdimensional beings on more than one occasion.

Imagine a mortal man who is *nearly* as ruthless and manipulative as Apocalypse, then give him his own legitimate (albeit small) nation to rule as his own.

Then smash all of these men together into one man, and you have Doctor Doom.


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

[User] From an evolutionary perspective, why do fetishes exist?

[Assistant] Not everything that evolves has to have a purpose. The **ONLY** thing that evolution via natural selection does is weed out traits that reduce your chances of survival or procreation. A sexual fetish would not affect that.