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

[User]
Is the question "where does life begin" a question of biology or epistemology?

As the title says. Can the question "where does life begin" be proven through biological study and observation, or will the conversation always boil down to what is considered to be alive between a different perspectives that hold different standards to what is "alive" and "dead"?

[Assistant]
From a biology perspective the "where does life begin?" question is completely off base. This is because the sperm and the egg, which combined to form the zygote, were both alive long before conception. The egg has likely been alive since the women it belongs to was in her mother's womb. The sperm has been alive for months to years depending on the ejaculatory habits of the man it came from. In either case, the act of conception is not a situation where we have gone from 0 life to 1 life. On the biological account, we have gone from 2 lives to 1 life.

Perhaps you want to say we're not interested in life, but human life. I'd with you that this is stepping in the right direction, but biology still isn't much help to you. If by human life, you mean human cells, then the sperm, the egg, and the fertilized zygote all constitute human cells. As do skin cells which we lose thousands of every day. This is not so privileged a category to consider it's death a tragedy. So what you're looking isn't whether something that is a human cell, so much as when a certain combination of human cells can be considered a human life. This is where biology can no longer help you. You've now left the realm of science and entered the realm of philosophy. To transition to philosophical terms, what you're actually asking is when personhood begins. Again, this is not a question biology can answer (at least not without philosophical criteria directing it).

So the answer to your question is that biology can answer when life begin, in the most boring and useless way that contributes nothing to the abortion debate. The kind of "life" the abortion debate is interested in is a completely different definition than biology uses.


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

[User]
ELI5: how are we able to consciously read while zoning out at the same time?

You could be reading a book but then your mind starts to wander off about something completely different as you are reading each word and come to find that at the end of the page, you didn't take in anything you read.

[Assistant]
Every action you can do is done with the coordination of multiple parts of your brain. Your eyes, in particular, connect to many different parts themselves.

To read, you must track the text, interpret the symbols, interpret the words and grammar, consolidate that into meaning, and store that meaning. The part that tracks the text and controls your eye movements involves your muscles in a way that takes very little conscious effort. If you get distracted and that part of your brain doesn't get the order to stop reading, it will just keep going even if the other parts of your brain get interrupted.

Every part of your brain can only do one task at a time. Each part can do a different task, but they have to work together for complex tasks.


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

[User]
How do we know that Plato accurately represents Socrates' opinions?

I was reading some answers on this lovely subreddit, and my copy of The Republic earlier, and I came to a thought "why do we assume that Plato accurately represents Socrates' views on anything?"

Plato was the one who wrote all of these things down, it makes no sense to me that we can assume anything written by him is accurately reflective, thus we should really be referring to Plato's opinion when we oftentimes say "Socrates said [insert quote here"

So, how do we know what is, and what wasn't Socrates' opinions?

[Assistant]
Well, the short answer is that we don't know which opinions are Socrates' and which are Plato's. Socrates himself never wrote down his own opinions for us, so it all come down to how much we can trust what other people say about him.  The three contemporary-ish accounts of Socrates' philosophic practice and opinions come from Aristophanes, Plato, and Xenophon, and they all present him in rather different lights. Plato explicitly rejects Aristophanes' portrayal in the Apology, but then we're back to the same question: How much do we trust Plato?

Within Plato's works, there's a shift in theoretical standpoint that happens over time. It's usually believed that the early dialogues better reflect Socrates' opinions, because they were written before Plato would have had the time to develop his own philosophical views. But this again doesn't really solve the main difficulty you're bringing up. If the early dialogues are closer to Socrates, just how close are they? We don't know.

Another thing to keep in mind is that when people say "Socrates said [insert quote here]", they don't mean "The real-life historical Socrates said...". They mean "Socrates, the character from Plato, said..." It would just be irritating to have to say that explicitly every time.


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

[User] If I let a bunch of ants loose on my laptop, would they clear away all the crumbs and bits off food that I keep dropping into it?

[Assistant]
Ants in the tropics have been known to invade laptops and yes, they probably ate all the crumbs, but also the insulation on the wires, so this ends up not being a good idea (ie. ruined laptop).

tldr- Ants will make your computer very buggy!


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

[User]
Could any plants grow anywhere on Mars?

Seeing as Mars has a wide variation in temperature and ground water could any plants from Earth grow anywhere on the planet for even a short time? If not, how close are any plants to being able to grow there?

[Assistant]
It would be difficult for plants that reproduce sexually to spread, but simple plants like algae, and even some colony organisms like lichens might find suitable conditions in isolated locations.

As for flowers and trees,  the conditions on Mars are extremely dehydrating. They would quickly freeze and lose their water, so even if something like an alpine flower or a pine tree were prepared by wintering it beforehand, exposure to the Martian surface conditions would do it in.

As for compatibility with the soil, there are no bacteria or fungi to cycle carbon or nitrogen, and peroxides/perchlorates in the soil would make it deadly for plant tissues.

It's not a garden, nor will it be one soon.


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

[User] ELI5 When a person is affected by amnesia (Ive only ever seen it portrayed in movies) How are they still able to speak English properly?

[Assistant] Different parts of the brains handle different things.  Language is in one part of the brain, so is doing other stuff like walking and using tools.  Amnesia typically affects only the memory portion of your brain.  So they forget their memories, but retain language an the use of tools and how to walk and stuff.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does your lung recover with a hole left after surgery?

Long story short,I had an operation on my left lung and after it I had a tube stuck in it with a big glass jug to filter out the remaining stuff after the surgery. But when it was removed,only my skin was stiched where the tube was inserted. My lung still had a hole left in it? How does my body deal with this and isn't this very bad?

[Assistant] Potentially the hole was into the cavity between your lung and your chest wall.  When you have any injury to the lung it can cause air to escape into the cavity which prevents the lung from inflating (pneumothorax).  To fix this the tube is placed inbetween the lung and the chest wall to remove this air.  Perhaps your 'stuff' was in this cavity, not in the lung itself.  Like the rest of the body, a small cut or injury on the lung itself will self heal but a larger or re-occurring injury would most likely require surgery.


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

[User] [Marvel/DC] What is the most blatantly criminal thing a boss type villain (Kingpin, Penguin, etc) has done in the public eye and gotten away with?

[Assistant] In the Gotham tv series Penguin kept Riddlers frozen body (he technically wasnt dead) in the middle of the Iceberg Lounge and convinced everyone that Nygma had asked him to freeze him due to an as yet incurable terminal illness.


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

[User] [ASOIAF/GOT] Are the Iron Born so reckless and (often) irrelevant because their leaders are often brain damaged from their baptism?

[Assistant] It's that their stronghold is on a useless rock they call an island. There's nothing there worth having, and it isn't even all that close to important sea trade routes. They have to play fast and loose to have anything close to adequate lives. Now span that way of life over centuries.


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

[User]
If new elements are created by fusing old ones together (I'm aware that this is greatly simplified). Are there infinitely many undiscovered elements?

Are there infinitely many undiscovered elements waiting to be created (regardless of the difficulty of creating said element) or is there some sort of invisible wall that we might hit?

Thank you.

[Assistant]
No, probably not. The IUPAC sets the criteria for the discovery of a new element, and one of them is a minimum lifetime of around 10^(-14) seconds. That's roughly how long a nucleus needs to live for in order to form an electron cloud and be considered a chemical element.

You can have nuclei with much shorter lifetimes than that, but that's what the chemists decided is the limit for a chemical element.

We can produce heavier and heavier nuclei, but the nuclear force saturates at some finite radius, so I'd find it pretty hard to believe that you can have bound nuclei of arbitrarily high mass number.

As you go higher and higher in A, there should eventually be a region where the system is so unstable that ground state lifetimes start to dip below 10^(-14) seconds, even near the extrapolated valley of stability.

So these nuclei would not be able to form atoms, and would not meet the IUPAC definition of an "element".


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

[User]
[Edge of Tomorrow] If Tom Cruise was kept in a safe place the entire war, could it have just progressed naturally without either side restarting the day?

Assuming the Army believes his death restarts the day, but not willing to risk the Mimics getting the power back, could they keep him in sum fortress and go about the war regularly? Who would win in this scenario, Humans or Mimics?

[Assistant] That would stop Tom Cruise from restarting the day, but the Mimics still had reboot power as well - he didn't *take* the ability from them, he was just added to the list of alphas that could start the day in the omega.  Mimics would just carry on doing what they were doing - restarting the day every time one of the alphas was killed.  Mimics win.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do people moan during sex?

How and why is it a natural reflex?

[Assistant] I know you already marked this as explained, but moaning is just the easiest way to communicate. It doesn't require any effort at all, and you can signal to your partner to keep going. If you said actual words instead of moaning, for a second or two, you would be taking the focus off of the act and focus on the words said instead. The reason some elderly people are completely unintelligible when they talk, is because they don't have the precision in their articulation (because it takes effort to be precise) and it gets the point across. When you moan when you are at the dentist because he has all the tools in your mouth and you're in pain, you are signaling the dentist to stop without saying a word.


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

[User] Can a gas/smoke stick to an adhesive surface? And if so, at what density would it require for this to possible?

[Assistant]
Smoke or gas? They're very different. A gas is a chemical that is above its boiling point and has evaporated, like water vapor, oxygen, and other components of our atmosphere.

Smoke is a colloid, a solid aerosol to be specific. It's made of solid particles of ash/soot suspended in the air, which absolutely do eventually settle on surfaces, which is why the smell of cigarettes persists in a smoker's car or house for a long time; the sticky smoke particles stick to any porous surface and are difficult to remove.


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

[User]
ELI5: If wine or beer were your only beverage, could your liver metabolize the alcohol fast enough to sustain life?

Asking out of curiosity, and not my crippling alcoholism.

[Assistant]
Yes. In fact hundreds of years ago before modern water delivery and detoxification systems most people drank alcohol as much as we might drink water.  The early colonists drank hard apple cider for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. However, their alcohol-percentage was lower than it is today.

You could survive on 2% apple cider but not 13% wine, for example.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do different species that are raised together not want to eat each other?

If you raise a cat and a rat together they will like each other, or so it seems from all the youtube videos of cats and rats snuggling or bird and a mouse hanging out. Why does this happen? If the cat gets hungry will it "relapse"?

[Assistant] Because under normal circumstances, eating your family is not conducive to survival. Similar animals when raised together, regardless of species, will often consider each other to be family. Because both animals are being regularly fed, there is no survival drive to kill for a meal and because both animals are familiar with each other, there is no safety/territory threat.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do explosives such as C4 smell of Almonds?

[Assistant]
When they manufacture C4 they add a chemical (2,3-dinitro-2,3-dimethylbutane, DMNB) to the explosive. This is done to intentionally make the explosive easy to identify by dogs. This particular chemical can be detected by dogs in incredibly minute quantities.

It's to prevent people sneaking it onto planes or other secured places.


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

[User] ELI5: Why have animals still not figured out that roads are dangerous for them?

[Assistant]
Busy roads have only been around for a blink of an eye. It generally takes much longer than that to evolve behaviours to deal with new threats.

Additionally, another thing to consider is that perhaps simply not enough animals are killed by roads to change their behaviour. If a squirrel has a (just coming up with random numbers) 1 in 20 chance of dying from a car, and a 5 in 20 chance of dying from a fox, there will be a much higher pressure on 'fox behaviour' than 'car behaviour'. And sometimes, the kind of behaviour that helps them deal with other predators is what gets them killed on roads.


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

[User]
(In-coming Senior, Econ Major) What skills should I learn this summer?

Hello! My Internship got cancelled due to the pandemic so now Im going to be at home during this whole summer. I was wondering what skills should I learn this summer? I was thinking of fully learning Tableau, any other suggestions?

Edit: Appreciate all the feedback! Thank you! Unfortunately, for some reason many of the comments are not showing up, hopefully this is fixed.

[Assistant]
You could always brush up on R, Python, or STATA (depending on your preference) and do a small project. Bonus if you have a professor who is willing to answer questions during that.

Maybe you could learn GIS and how it applies to economics, and do a small project there as well.

Im in the same boat as you, and Im currently planning on learning GIS, doing a small project with a language Im not comfortable with, and reading economics books.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] How many Muggles are aware of the Wizarding World?

We know that the British Prime Minister is aware of the Wizarding World. Presumably, the President of the United States, and other world leaders are aware, yes? How many no-maj know about the wizarding world?

[Assistant] Couldn't put an exact number on it but probably more then you'd think. All the immediate families of muggel borns will know as well as some extended families and friends. As you say lots of government officials will know. Even pure bloods who live in muggel villages might make a few close friends who they show.


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

[User]
Does Jupiter's "spot" move around like a hurricane, or is it a stationary storm?

Since the storm has been going for at least as long as we've been looking through telescopes, has it moved around, or is it always in the same spot?

[Assistant] The spot stays almost stationary in latitude (North/South) but it moves longitudinally (is that even a word?  >.>).  Because Jupiter is so large, the distance and speed it travels East/West varies quite a bit with even a few degree latitude shift.


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

[User]
ELI5: My electric shaver advertises blades that are supposedly "self sharpening". How can blades that are continually used without maintenance sharpen themselves?

Will the blades in my electric shaver ever dull if they are self sharpening?

Or is it just false/misleading advertising?

[Assistant]
Electric razor blades function more like scissors than a straight edge or safety razor.

In a self-sharpening razor, blade elements are designed such that as they wear down through friction against one another, the edges of the elements that meet each other (the parts that actually shear your whiskers) retain edge angles that are sharp enough  to slice your whiskers.

It's a bit like rubbing a block of wood over sand paper, except the block of wood is one blade element and the sand paper is the other.  The sand paper wears down the block of wood, but the edge where the block meets the sand paper is still a perfectly sharp right angle. Now imagine the sand paper has holes in it through which your whisker can enter. As the block's sharp edge moves across the hole, it pinches the whisker and shears it off.


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

[User]
Is someone piggybacking off of my research, or am I the issue? Dealing with "unchosen" co-authors

Hello everyone,

I need an honest opinion from someone far removed from this context.

My colleague, another PhD student, has had trouble with each of his papers as he apparently got into things he didn't know how to do. These are his words. Yesterday he told me he is just a social learner, therefore he gets into things he doesn't know how to do and that's how he learns, and then the problem is he needs lots of help and people's time, as he makes mistakes (this is verbatim what he told me). Complains that people would help without expecting anything in return in his culture, and that this country is individualistic.

To me it seems like everyone is helping him, the department gave him a statistician to work with, my supervisor does help him most of his time... so I do believe he lacks some self-awareness, and tends to blame other people.
My supervisor spends most of his time revising what he does, helping him write as his English is quite basic, etc. This PhD student has been in the project for 3 years.

After just getting started when I joined the research project a year ago, I quickly had a folder on my desktop called "Helping + Name". He needed a lot of help, writing, with reviews of papers... I was glad to. But slowly, I have come to the realization that this person doesn't have a limit, so to speak. And I would like to be less and less involved as time goes by. He has made promises in the past that looked like he was giving me an opportunity, and then he leaves it all to me.

Now, I do have trouble saying no. I can be slow, sometimes it takes me an extra day or extra hours to deliver which can be unreliable to my supervisor. I am not faultless or perfect. Everyday I try to be better, that I can say.

Yesterday, again, after one year, my colleague remembers about this paper when my supervisor comes to celebrate I am going to a conference. He says can I tag along? My supervisor god bless his heart says yes...

At the end of the work day, he suddenly comes again, asks how he can really help for this paper. I tell him a bit about my reservations (that months ago I discussed with my supervisor if we should remove him as a coauthor, there's no time to put him up to speed), but he really seems apologetic and I believe him somewhat when he says it is time for him to help, and please, to tell him to help with anything. I tell him well, let's give it a thought, maybe I could do with some help to check validity (with me having to put him up to speed first but anyhow).

The next day? My colleague suddenly calls during one of my lectures and startles me with something about a presentation tomorrow, and informs me that he wants to use this paper as one of his core papers for reporting. He tells me he needs to present it tomorrow because his model for his paper is not working.

I am uncomfortable. It is like I have been set up as he knew this presentation with the funding org. was happening way before. I say oh.. well I can send my slides, maybe you can put something vague together as findings are not definitive yet and you don't know much about this? Just speak about your project more and about this briefly?

The reason I am not rejecting this outright is because of my supervisor, and his good relationship with this person. I am also in good terms outside of work with him, he is alright...

But that's not where it ends. After some time today, he tells me maybe I can be the one presenting. On whose time!Surely not mine, I don't have it! This was also after work hours, presentation happening tomorrow.

Let me stress, he has done nothing. Literally 0. When I've discussed with him my ideas about structure, findings, topic... he listened and then brings up totally unrelated ideas that he thinks could be fashionable to include.

There's 2 months before I need to submit. He doesn't know qualitative analysis, he doesn't know how to use the software, his English is not great, his knowledge on the topic is only what he's heard from me...

Now, my supervisor likes him. From the outside he has worked with other people, no problem. Well, sometimes there's been conflicts but nothing crazy. Am I the problem?

I was forced to have him as a coauthor as this was a decision supervisors made almost before I joined - the premise was, his literature review identified my topic in relation to something else (2 lines) therefore could speed up the process giving me grounds for my paper (which it didn't but that's beside the point, I guess they thought it was a good idea and reported that to the funding body).

Removing him from the paper causes some extra reporting and when I raised it months ago my supervisor mentioned that it's such a hassle... He wouldn't like it. I also don't want to ruin the ambiance at work as I know this guy takes things personal from how he speaks of others.

But the truth is - I am afraid helping him is going to be simply a lot of time. I am also afraid to appear needlessly disagreeable....  Maybe the best decision career-wise might be to swallow it up and keep going, try for this not to slow me down.

I had not had a panic attack in 3 years, today I had one. I also don't know if my emotions are just getting the best of me. I don't have anyone I can go to at university without revealing his identity and don't want to badmouth in the university or anything... I don't think he is a bad person, but he can be reckless and just somehow takes people for granted? I don't know how to explain this, but chances are you've met someone like this.

If you've made it here... From the bottom of my heart, thanks.

[Assistant] He can be you co-author, as it seems that your supervisor really wants this, but you don't have to help him. No last minute slides (that's absurd BTW), no teaching him, no presenting for him, just nothing. This would actually be the best help you can give him. It sounds like no one has made him figure stuff out for himself.


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

[User]
ELI5: what are muscle knots?

I was getting a back rub yesterday and my wife found a knot in my back that kept "clicking" when she would pass over it. What is it and what is the best way to get rid of them?

[Assistant]
Muscle 'knots' or trigger points are a frequent discussion topic among health professionals and no one can really agree on what they are.
There are a lot of conflicting opinions etc out there but we do know that muscle releasing techniques (massage/dry needling/acupuncture/foam rolling or using a spikey ball) can help alleviate any pain related to them.
As for the clicking, that can be caused by rolling tendons or bands of muscle across each other or over a boney point/surface.
It's normal for these to feel a bit sore when applying pressure to them so no need to be concerned or anything.
Stretching and the other aforementioned methods are great for treating these 'knots'. However please don't try to dry needle or acupuncture yourself.
That would be silly.


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

[User] [Monsters, Inc/Toy Story] Would toys ever try to stop monsters from scaring their kids?

[Assistant]
Considering that the monsters were human-like in most of their behaviour and can speak English, I'd assume that toys wouldn't interact with them.
Animals could interact with the toys because they couldn't communicate with humans, and therefore weren't a discovery risk (parrots might be an exception?)


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Is Hagrid secretly a magical prodigy?

He never made it past 3rd year, and yet he was capable of human transfiguration, nonverbal magic, the *Incendio* spell, and the *Aguamenti* charm, all of which are NEWT level*. If he hadnt been expelled, could he have become a Dumbledore-level wizard?

\*Edit: All with a *broken wand.*

[Assistant]
Most skills you learn in your teens are easier to pick up if you approach them later in life. Just try to learn algebra in your thirties-- it just makes a lot more sense.

Hagrid is in his (sixties?) He's had decades to learn and pick up skills "along the way," even if it wasn't a part of his formal education.

But Dumbledore is like a superstar scientist with patents, publications and awards compared to someone who picks up GED level biology courses in middle age. He was normally talented, and had a lot of life to learn in.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are dull knives more dangerous than sharp knives?

[Assistant] When cutting with a dull knife you have to use more force than a sharper one, you also have less control over a dull knife, this makes it very easy slip with a dull knife, and because you are applying more force with said knife you are more likely inure yourself when you slip.


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

[User]
ELI5: How tattoos work.

Basically, how do they get ink to permanently stain your skin? How does the ink stay in your skin even though your skin cells constantly keep shedding? How do they get the ink to get into the skin in the first place? Why is the removal of a tattoo so difficult?

Edit: Thanks for the replies. One more question: How does the needle and ink thing work? Basically, can you explain in a little more detail how the needle and the ink part of the process works?

[Assistant] basically, they use a big needle to put ink into the lower layer of your skin so it won't shed, and the ink particles are big enough that your body can't get rid of them, so they stay right there where they put them.


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

[User] How do scientists across the world accurately repeat experiments that use very fine weight measurements when the force of gravity isn't consistent across Earth?

[Assistant]
For the majority of experiments, the variations of the Gravitational Field are small enough that any affect on the results are minimal, and quite often not relevant.

If the experiment relies on a more accurate measurement of the force of gravity then any weights are re-weighed extensively and for very important experiments a local value of g can be calculated.

Often though, more relevant errors come from other sources which can contribute a lot more heavily to inaccuracies of results.


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

[User] Why isn't there any consensus in the philosophic community like there is in the scientific community?

[Assistant]
The simplest answer is that many of the objects of study in philosophy are not as directly experienced as the hard sciences are. If scientists disagree on the interior structure of an apple, they can obtain apples, split them open, view them through microscopes, and so on.

But if philosophers differ on the nature of Being, we cannot go look at the nature of Being. We can't pick it up and study it with a microscope. There are many theories about Being, but there are no experiments to see if Being really is this way or that way - because we cannot access it in that manner. The same is true for all these debated topics in philosophy: consciousness, ethics, value theory, knowledge, God, etc. We instead form justified beliefs about these topics based on what we can and do experience.

Of course, science is not wholly exempted from this either. Science depends on our sense experience, for example; if our senses do not convey reality to us, then science isn't conveying anything about reality to us either. It's just conveying the world we appear to see, so if that world is fake (like in the Matrix), the real world may be completely different. But if we assume our senses do convey reality to us as it relates to our senses, then science has a much firmer foundation. The same can be true for some other parts of philosophy; not everything is heavily debated or has no consensus. But all the same, there is little which is wholly unable to be contested, either.


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

[User]
[Monster's Inc. And Monster's University] When Sully transitioned Monster's Inc. from scare energy to laugh energy, what were the repercussions in monster society?

Entire universities, and I assume multiple energy companies all specialized in developing scary monsters. Being scary appears to be socialized into monsters at a young age. What happens to monster society when one of the qualities that defines their culture is no longer necessary? Did the universities all end their scare programs? Is there a faction of alt-right monsters who are against laugh energy and reminisce fondly about terrorizing children?

[Assistant] Scaring was a job. It was working in energy production. They didnt even have to switch out the factories. They gathered and stored the energy with the same equipment. Being exponentially easier to acquire would have brought the cost way down so there would have been some economic repercussions and it would have led to serious lay offs on the scarer floors. They simply wouldn't need as many personell for resource gathering. But again, that's just one industry in an entire economy. So it wouldn't have been a crazy big deal.


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

[User]
Is it possible to voluntarily control your own heartbeat like we can control our breathing?

Please no unverified anecdotes about yoga masters or shaolin monks.

[Assistant] You can temporarily lower your heartbeat doing vagal maneuvers. The best example is trying to force out a bowel movement. This actually causes many people to lose consciousness having an episode of vasovagal syncope, and is the reason why many older people pass out on the toilet.


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

[User]
By what methods do isolated ponds get fish in them?

There are a lot of isolated ponds out there with no connection to waterways. Like the ponds here and there on a farm, or the display ponds where I work. They all seem to have fish in them, usually little sunfish, none bigger than a few rare 6-7 inch specimens. How do these fish get to the ponds? I realize there's a variety of methods, probably things like stocking by humans or fish getting washed into a pond by floodwaters. Are there any more exotic or unusual methods?

[Assistant] Also migratory birds and waterfowl  transfer amphibian and fish eggs.  The eggs attach to the legs, down, feathers of the bird and are deposited (washed off) when the bird enters the next water source.


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

[User] "Jack Andraka, 15, invents cancer test that is 168x faster, 26000x less expensive, and 400x more sensitive than the current standard. 3 and 5 minutes." Is this an actually proven method or is just being hyped by the press and ignoring some shortcomings of it?

[Assistant]
In any of these "teenager discovers X" stories, the news articles always have almost zero details on what the person actually did, and this is no exception. What usually happens is that they are doing an internship in a professor's lab, and the internship goes well, and it gets picked up by the news, ignoring the details about the already existing infrastructure in the lab.

According to Jack's profile on the science fair website, he did things like Western blots and ELISA, and used an electron microscope. These are not things a 15 year old can do at home or in a highschool science class; the equipment costs tens of thousands of dollars or more. If you find the name of his supervisor, you'll find the lab where this work was done.


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

[User]
[Marvel] How does Black Panther's Vibranium suit handle heat?

Obviously the suit is pretty durable and allows for great feats but what happens if T'challa was dropped into a volcano? Would the suit protect him or would he just die eventually from being cooked?

[Assistant]
If the suit is a good enough insulator to keep you alive in a volcano for any length of time, then he'd keel over from heat exhaustion after a few minutes of exertion.

It's possible that it has Wakandan-clever ways of radiating heat when he's jumping around the place kicking people in the teeth, or that the heartshaped herb also cools you down when expending great effort, which is why we don't see him keeling over.

If it doesn't: he's gonna be Roast Panther on the bone.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do ice cream trucks have really unique and cool ice cream treats, while the grocery store has almost none?

Whenever an ice cream truck comes around, they have awesome ice cream treats: ninja turtle stuff, mickey mouse stuff, spider man stuff, sonic the hedgehog stuff, etc

A quick google search of "ice cream truck ice creams" gives a slurry of pictures of what I'm talking about. However, when you go to the grocery store, none of these awesome ice creams are anywhere to be found.

Why do ice cream truck drivers have this huge variety of awesome treats, while you're lucky if you grocery store has anything cool?

[Assistant] For the same reason as if you went to a Mexican restaurant, you'd find far better variety of Mexican foods than if you went to a diner that happened to serve tacos - It's a specialized endeavor, bringing people in with only one thing in mind - Ice cream and related frozen treats. It's not feasible for a grocery store to stock 40 different types of ice cream bars - tons of stuff is going to remain unsold and eventually wasted. They stick to the highest-volume sellers which for grocery stores, aren't Ninja Turtle Freeze Pops.


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

[User]
ELI5 death and dying.  (After suffering the loss of a family friend and her [near full term] unborn child to a tragic auto accident, I need explaining death to my 5 year old daughter and 4 year old son).

If there ever was a time for ELI5 to live up to its name...now is that time, because as a single father of 2 I feel a bit overwhelmed at the moment.  (& as an atheist I would prefer to keep "God" out of the conversation, unless it is to use this tragedy to rationally discuss different aspects of different religions, ideologies, and spirituality ect.  The ex and her family are catholic, so they will be getting plenty of theistic input).  Thank you Reddit.

[Assistant]
A body is kind of like a machine; you put food and water into it to keep it running, and it let's you move around and do stuff. But, like any machine, it can break down. And if it gets *really* damaged or really old, then it might stop working forever. We call this dying. Everything that lives has to die eventually; that's part of what being alive means. When the accident happened, [friend]'s body got too damaged to keep working, and doctors weren't able to fix it. That means we won't be able to see her any more. It's ok if that makes you sad, because it makes me sad too; she was important to us, and we'll miss her. But we can still remember her and be happy about the times we spent with her, and we can talk about her and how we feel about her being gone.

...

Then you ask if they have any questions and answer all of them as truthfully and simply as possible. Whatever happens avoid euphemisms like saying the friend is "resting" or "went to sleep", even if you qualify it with forever (as an atheist this probably won't be as hard as it is for those who are religious).


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40K] I Know Warhammer 40K Takes Place In The Ultimate Dystopia, But What Would It Take For It To Stop Being A Terrible Galaxy To Live In?

Let's say I am some sort of godlike being. Not infinitely powerful, but pretty powerful physically and psychically. I have decided to try to fix the wreck that is the 40K universe. What do I do?

[Assistant]
Sever humanity's connection to the Warp. That's it, that's the only hope. As long as we create daemons in our dreams every night, the galaxy can never be a safe place for sentient life.

The Emperor knew that, and he tried it. It didn't work out.


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

[User]
Is psychopathy advantageous from an evolutionary perspective?

.

[Assistant]
Reid Malloy submitted a paper in 2011 suggesting just that. Predators in the wild must be able to identify the weakest and easiest target or they will not eat. Malloy argues that psychopaths share that trait and that they can read the facial emotion from people better than non-psychopaths. Wheeler, Book and Costello in *Criminal Justice & Behavior* (2009) confirm that psychopaths can identify women with a history of victimization just by watching videos of women walking.

This research suggests that there is an evolutionary advantage to the psychopathic predator, and back in the evolution of modern humans, this may have been a selective advantage to find a female who won't fight off your advances. In modern man, it only serves to make psychopaths better hunters.


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

[User] If dark matter does not interact with normal matter at all, but does interact with gravity, does that mean there are "blobs" of dark matter at the center of stars and planets?

[Assistant]
Probably not.
For dark matter to be sitting in a clump at the center of a plaent or a star not only would it need to fall in, but it would then have to slow down.

Gravity is nearly perfectly restorative, meaning that all the gravitational potential energy is converted to kinetic energy.  This means the dark matter would fall straight through the planet, never interacting, then pass out the other side.

The dark matter, being unable to interact via em or the strong force has no way to get rid of this kinetic energy, so never slows down enough to remain bound to any system smaller than a galaxy.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What on fucking earth are Star Destroyers good for?

They always get raped by rebels, from ROTJ to Rogue One, all they do is dispatch Tie-Fighters, and form blockades or chase other ships, that's it.  Can they actually fight?

[Assistant]
Toy have to realise that the Rebel Alliance chose capital ships explicitly based on an anti-Star Destroyer doctrine. The Empire doesn't have this option. They have to pick tactics that will be reasonably effective against any potential opponent. The rebel alliance is only one possible threat, and they've not been active in large numbers for long.

The empire went for a policy of force projection. Large carrier vessels can be active for greatly extended periods, and have the flexibility to deal with a range of opponents.


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

[User] ELI5: why are large animals still often intimidated by smaller animals? Do they not immediately perceive their advantage if they were to fight?

[Assistant]
in the wild its often better to avoid a fight.

especially for predators that know if  they dont get a quick kill, they might be injured, if they get injured they cant hunt and they will starve to death if they are lone hunters.

bigger animals just prefer to not engage since its waste of energy, but make no mistake, if they are threatened, they wont hesitate to do what they must being either running away, or mauling you.


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

[User] ELI5: why is the color green the magic color for video editing?

[Assistant]
The idea is to have a color which is unique to the background or a portion of the image which is to be removed or altered. Blue is another color commonly used but red is avoided because humans tend to be somewhat pink in our fleshy bits which could be confused for the screen.

Another benefit of using green is that many digital image sensors have more green subpixels than blue or red. This is because the human eye is most able to detect differences in shades of green so maximizing fidelity in that range yields a better image. But this also means that cameras effectively have a higher resolution for the color green so a mask made using that color can be better than with a different color.


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

[User]
[r/nosleep] The subreddit clearly exists in-universe. What the hell is it a subreddit for?

Unlike most writing subs which are just story compilations, nosleep is entirely in character. People write as if they're making personal posts, people comment as if they're reading personal posts, writers and commentators interact in-character, the mods are involved with the stories, so forth so forth. It's clear that "in-universe", there's an actual subreddit that these people are actually posting their stories of encountering horrifying monsters on.

What on earth is that subreddit for?

It's get everything from mundane serial killers to dimensional travel to literal monsters to dark secrets about the universe to god knows what else. What's tying those various things together? What's the purpose of nosleep in the nosleep universe?

[Assistant]
I think it's used as an underground forum to share supernatural experiences with other people who have encountered them.  Like a support or troubleshooting forum, for all things paranormal.

And the ones that aren't asking for suggestions are instead giving a warning.  Each time you read about a wendigo, or a skinwalker, or a haunted door in a basement, you'll have gained more knowledge to use against whatever you encounter yourself.


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

[User] If you lived on a high-gravity planet would you develop super-strong bones and muscles?  Would you be able to jump off tall Earth buildings without injury?

[Assistant]
You would develop stronger muscles and bones, much like a weightlifter does, but nothing superhuman.  You'd also wind up being a lot heavier, which would counteract much of your gain in strength.  Top jumping athletes develop the muscles they need for jumping...you'd be developing all of your muscles.

In addition, you'd be more likely to develop joint and blood pressure problems, that could very well make you ability to jump worse.

You'd never be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do I get that gross taste in my mouth after I take a nap?

[Assistant] The leftover bits of food in/on your teeth start breaking down. Same reason people get morning breath. Brushing before you sleep helps, so does mouthwash when you get up, but it's basically an unavoidable biological process.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do people usually have to fast before an operation, and how does this work in case of an urgent, unplanned operation where the person has not been fasting?

[Assistant]
Because of the general anesthesia. General anesthesia and the intubation process can make people vomit or regurgitate, and since you're unconscious and your normal reflexes are suppressed, you could aspirate stomach contents into your lungs, which can be fatal. Also for surgery on part of the digestive system itself, obviously you don't want food in there while surgeons are operating.

As for emergency surgery, doctors will determine the risk of performing the surgery right away vs the benefit of waiting. Usually if it's that serious that you need emergency surgery right away, they're just going to do it. Aspiration is pretty rare anyway, so if you can avoid it, fine, but if you're gonna die without surgery, they don't really have a choice.


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

[User] [Star Trek] How long do Vulcans live for?

[Assistant] Probably around 230-250 years. Sarek was considered old at 205, but not hobbling-with-a-walker old. His death was premature due to Bendii Syndrome, which is incredibly rare. Even on his deathbed, he was capable of getting up and walking aroundonly his loss of emotional control and memory problems prevented it.


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

[User] [Hellraiser] If I open the box what will determine if I am tortured for eternity or turned into a cenobyte?

[Assistant]
The Cenobites as seen in the movies are flesh incarnations of various spirits; Pinhead, for example, is the flesh-suit of the Cenobite Xipe Totec (who was worshiped as a god in Aztec culture). So your body will only be turned into a Cenobite if one of those spirits requires it, probably because someone destroyed the flesh-suit they had been using previously.

This conversion is done by the Engineer, the usually-unseen leader of the Cenobites. The conversion process does not destroy the human soul, as evidenced by the fact that Pinhead was able to revert to human form. Instead, it's more like a kind of possession; the human soul is dominated by the Cenobite spirit, and has little or no control, but still experiences everything the Cenobite does, in all its horror.

The Engineer can also create Cenobites, or at least Cenobite-like creatures, when they are required to carry out a task. The Channard Cenobite is probably the best example, but in later movies, Pinhead would have a handful of early victims transformed into Cenobites just because he needed the muscle.

Also, you're going to be tortured for eternity anyway. The Cenobites themselves are constantly tortured. They are a religious order, and their "religion" is experience. They plumb the depths of pleasure and pain until they become indistinguishable. The only real difference is that the Cenobites welcome their torturous existence, whereas their prisoners would flee from it, if they could.


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

[User] ELI5 How do people die when they jump from bridges into water yet there are plenty of people who do this for fun?

[Assistant] I assume you are referring to people jumping from the same height so basucally what it comes down to is experience/training. Hitting the water from significant height means a person is traveling quite fast. Faster than it takes for the water to move out of the way. There are positions and techniques to mitigate potential damage. Also there is a mental aspect. If a person hits the water and isn't prepared for it they may over react or panic, they may get disoriented and swim down instead of up, or they may inhale involuntarily, etc.


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

[User]
How does tar from smoking get out of your lungs?

Ive quit smoking.  For the first while, my nose was runny for like a month.  I think that was because my cilia came back to life.  However, nowusually once a dayusually in the morning, I seem to be blowing my nose and black/brownish phlegm comes out.  Is that tar?  I thought it would come up from coughing.

[Assistant]
The cilia in your lungs slowly sweep up gunk and tar (we actually call clearing out the lungs via various techniques the pulmonary toilet). When they sweep things up it usually goes up and then swallowed into the esophagus.

Now, if you were sleeping on your back all night that gunk could make its way up into the nasal cavity where it would then be blown out.

Congratulations on quitting smoking. Keep it up! This will be one of the best decisions you will ever make in your life to improve your health. Not only does it help the lungs, it also helps just about every other part of the body too.


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

[User]
Why does Best Buy charge $45 for a 100ft ethernet cord when Amazon charges $17?

My gf was upset cause she thought she was gonna have to spend $45 on a ethernet cord. She works from home and they installer couldn't run a coax to her bedroom, so she has the the modem in the living room.

So I go on Amazon and boom $17 for a 100ft cable. I guess the installer said something along the lines of if the coax is too long it'll cause connections issues.

I hope this is the right sub, if not I'll repost to the right sub if someone could redirect me.

[Assistant] well im sure a best buy employee will back me up but besy buy typically has a 400% markup on cables because people that go there are desperate and need them now. Easy profit like gas stations selling those USB 12v cig to usb chargers and cables and such for $10 you can buy on ebay for less than a buck.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we interpret music in the minor key, and dissonance and such, as "creepy," or "sad?"

Whenever there's a scene in a movie that suddenly turns sour-- a character reveals bad news, or a dead body is found-- without fail, the score becomes dissonant or shifts into a minor key. In any horror movie, the music for the "scary" parts is in the minor key. In general, songs feel "sadder" or "creepier" once they change and become more dissonant.

(I've studied singing for years but suck at music theory so please forgive me for my lack of proper terms! hence my need for an explanation like i am five.)

Anyways, why is this?? What in our brains takes a certain succession of musical notes and translates it into an emotion like that? Like, I remember when I was watching Milk, (spoiler for Milk/historical event ahead) when Josh Brolin's character was walking around, suddenly the music switched into a minor key and then I knew something bad was going to happen, and then he went and shot Harvey Milk.

If anyone could explain to me in simple enough terms why this is, I'd be so curious. I'm not very scientifically minded but this still interests me a lot.

[Assistant]
I think it's just cultural conditioning. In the Middle East, among other places, minor keys are used all the time for celebratory music.

Plus, it's not just minor or major keys, tempo and style have a lot to do with it as well.


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

[User]
Why did Scopenhauer call well-being a negative element?

Here is the exact quote:

 *"Pleasure and well\-being is negative and suffering positive, that happiness of a given life is not to be measured according to the joys and pleasures it contains but according to the absence of the positive element, the absence of suffering".*

I understand the main point that a life devoid of suffering provides the most happiest but I'm unsure why he referred to suffering as positive and well\-being as negative? Is it simply to emphasise that the absence of suffering carries that much more weight than pleasure and well\-being do?

[Assistant]
Schopeenhauer sees all living in a state of dissatisfaction of strife and therefore suffering. So suffering is the default, therefore positive state. He only thinks there is a neutral state when when we contemplate art. And therefore become 'disinterested spectators' in existence. Well being is a negative state because it never truly defeats disastifaction and strife. That is always there.

As an analogy its like living in a monsoon. You are never truly dry, you make shelters to limit how wet you get. But the rain and moisture is forever present. Wellbeing is therefore a negative state because it never permanent and exists only to negate the positive state.


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

[User]
[The Boys] Why does Homelander bother taking orders from Vought?

I'm fairly certain Homelander despises having to answer to "insects" when he has power that they lack, so why does he bother obeying them? Why not just lay waste to Vought, or try to take control of the company for himself since he's so convinced that a man with his power should be the one who's in charge? It's not like they, mere mortals, can really face the full might of Homelander. I know that in the comics he starts a war against the US government itself, but why did Homelander ever bother letting simple humans with no "real" power boss him around?

[Assistant] Because he thrives on attention. He loves people loving him. Though he could pretty much end anyone, he doesn't want the hero worship to end for him. That's exactly what would happen if the public sees him turn on humanity.


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

[User] if the deepest a modern nuclear attack submarine can go in the ocean is 2500 feet down before its hull collapses, how do animals survive that deep and deeper?

[Assistant]
Submarines must remain full of air, and they remain close to 1 atmosphere, so as they descend, the pressure difference between outside and inside grows tremendously. At some point, that pressure difference is too high, and the submarine crunches.

But deep marine life doesn't have those pockets of air, they allow the water inside of them, and they stay at the same pressure as the water around them. Thus, they have equal pressure pushing in from the outside as they do pushing out from the inside, making the net force zero.


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

[User]
If an animal within a group (chimps, wolves, etc.) is infertile, are they ostracized by others of their group, or is it not 'noticed' at all?

As the title says! I've been reading up on evolution, and for some reason this question came to my mind. The book (The Human Body) puts a lot of emphasis on how natural selection played a role in making our bodies are they are, obviously through breeding 'advantageous' characteristics, and it made me wonder what happens to animals in the wild who are infertile.

I had a quick look on the internet, of course, but really couldn't find much in the way of evidence to answer my question.

So:

Is infertility 'noticed' somehow by the whole community (e.g. horde of chimps or pack of wolves?). After all, these animals can smell/sense/see when a female is in her most fertile period, so is it possible they can also sense when one of their females/males is infertile?

What happens if such a thing is 'found out'? Will the animals be ostracized for not being able to breed?

Does it affect their individual behaviour in any way, e.g. do female animals feel more motherly or less towards offspring from different females?

PS: Yes, I am aware all of what I have said it really really generalized and a lot of species will differ from each other in this regard, but I'm only looking for a simple, basic overview. Also, please don't nitpick about what evolution/natural selection really is, but focus on the question at hand. I have not explained either of the concepts very well, most likely. I am not a biologist. I'm simply interested and would like to know the answer to my question, not fight about what evolution and natural selection are in detail.

[Assistant]
In the cases of wolves and chimps, the answer is surely "no". Most of the group do not reproduce anyway. Their function is to make the group stronger, while the alpha male and alpha female (in the case wolves) or all the females (in the case of primates) actually reproduce. Non-reproducing individuals pose no threat to the leadership or other individuals with a hope of taking over, and are useful troop/pack.

Larger troops/packs do better than smaller ones, so the more members you have who aren't disrupting the hierarchy, the better.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why is it bad for young kids to weightlift?

Why do medical professionals advise against intense strength training for little kids?

[Assistant] Muscle development that outpaces normal activities for a child can have detrimental effects on bone growth. It can cause stress in areas while the bones are still calcifying, resulting in a multitude of different issues including: bone deformities, contractures, etc.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] What makes replicated food different from the "real deal?"

Two months ago I completed my first successful away mission in the Beta Quadrant.  Much to my surprise, Captain Hansen commended me in front of the whole crew, even calling me by my full name!  Even though it was a boring deuterium survey mission in a nearby collapsing nebula, my bunk mate insisted on celebrating that evening after our duty shifts.

Thinking we'd hit the holodecks, I was surprised yet again when he produced a bottle of 18 year old scotch he had squirreled away in a loose bulkhead.  He told me he'd been saving it for a special occasion.

"Why can't you just replicate a bottle instead of violating several starfleet protocols to sneak it on board?" I asked.

"No, I'm sick of that replicated stuff.  This here is the 'real deal.'"

Not wanting to report him for such a minor infraction, or seem insensitive, I thanked him and accepted a tumbler full of that rich oaky liquor.  Don't get me wrong, I'm no syntheholic, but I couldn't turn his offer down without insulting the guy.  He clearly went to great pains to save this stuff.

The only thing I kept thinking is that it just tasted like replicated scotch.  Our ship uses standard Starfleet protocols to calibrate all of our equipment, and they are maintained rigorously.  I could imagine one being able to notice a difference if, say, an EPS relay fused to a plasma conduit, overloading the array, but no such event happened.  Our replicator should be making duplicates that are accurate to their database templates within .3 microns.  There's no way one could tell the difference!

Does anyone else notice a difference between replicated foods/drink and the real deal?

[Assistant] Replicated food isn't made by exactly duplicating a real item of food, as that would be too complex.  Instead it replicates a tiny portion of food over and over, and assembles that into a replicated meal.  So every piece of spaghetti tastes EXACTLY the same as the other pieces for example.  Eventually you start to notice.


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

[User]
I've heard that PI do more administration than research. Does this mean they stop having first author papers?

Just curious. Most people I've asked (grad students and PIs alike) say that PIs do far more administration and overseeing than actual research. So do they stop having first author papers?

[Assistant] Correct, most of the time. It depends a bit on the type of research. If they're a pure theorist or mathematics, they may still have the time to do the work for first author papers. But the job of most PIs is to train their students in research, guide the process, and secure funding to keep it going. So it's more research management and advising than hands-on research.


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

[User]
Why is forward, but not lateral, neck immobility a sign for meningitis?

When considering meningitis, doctors check if a patient can tilt his head forward. Why is the forward movement (chin to chest) an indicator for meningitis but other neck stiffness (inability to turn or tilt head to the sides) is not?

Disclaimer: of course the question arose from personal interest, but I have already been diagnosed by a professional as not having meningitis, so I'm not asking for medical advice. Just wondering what the physiology is.

[Assistant]
Meningitis is an irritation of the coverings of the brain, called the meninges. Forward neck movement will cause the meninges to stretch and because they're irritated, it will cause pain. Lateral head movement doesn't cause a significant stretch on the meninges and won't cause the same neck pain.

Think of it like this. The brain and spinal cord all share one continuous covering. When you lean forward you're effectively making that covering longer, which will stretch it. When it's irritated, that stretch causes pain.

Hope that answers your question!


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

[User]
[Dune] How would events have played out if Paul was born female?

Lady Jessica was ordered to bear only girls to Duke Leto, with a view to future marriage into House Harkonnen.  How would the events of Dune have gone if she had obeyed?  Presumably the emperor would still have set his trap for House Atriedes on Arrakkis.

[Assistant]
An interesting question.  There are many possibilities:

If the Reverend Mother was telling the truth that she wanted a marriage and alliance between Harkonnen and Atreides, then the Bene Gesserit may have "encouraged" the emperor not to go through with his trap.

Alternatively, Lady Atreides may have been taken away from Caladan to a Bene Gesserit school, keeping her safe from the Arrakis trap.  From there she could have been married to Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen as an offering to stop the slaughter of House Atreides.  Or the Bene Gesserit could have let the slaughter continue and kept her theirs, house-less.  She could then seduce Feyd-Rautha some time later.  Marriage was not required to conceive the Kwisatz Haderach, only one night of drunken passion with a "nameless girl".

Of course, it's entirely possible that Lady Atreides might have failed the test of the gom jabbar.  Part of what allowed Paul Atreides to pass was the Mentat training he'd been given from Thufir Hawat.  An Atreides daughter may not have recieved the same training.

If Lady Atreides did go to Arrakis with her family and fall into the trap, her first interactions with the Fremen would have gone differently.  She would likely have ended up a wife of Stilgar or even Jamis.  From there she could possibly have led (either overtly or from the shadows) the rebellion against Beast Rabban.  But without the same abilities of foresight that Paul had, it's unclear how successful that rebellion would have been.

Still, the Baron Harkonnen was setting Beast Rabban up for failure against the rebellion, in order to be replaced by the savior of the people, Feyd-Rautha.  So it's *also* possible that the Lady Atreides could have wed him, ending the Fremen rebellion and fulfilling both the Baron's and the Bene Gesserit's original plans.


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

[User] ELI5 How clothing retailers can get away with such astronomical markup.

[Assistant] They can charge what you are willing to pay. If it costs you 5c to make lemonade, and all your friends are willing to pay 15c for it, you can charge that. But if they suddenly can't, you have to lower your prices or sell less.


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

[User]
Where is the line between a bad choice and a bad person?

At what point does a person become the sum of their choices?

First post but I think about this often.

I'm going to provide the following example but after typing it, I realize I'm thinking more towards daily life but please keeping reading:

An extreme example being a person committing one murder. We've all seen stories where a murder could legitimately just be a bad choice (obviously), factors at play lead from one wrong move to another. And then there are serial killers. Quite the difference.

Is the line drawn by intention? What if the single murderer WANTED to murder just like a serial killer, but only did it once.

Is the line drawn by learning from mistakes? Commits murder, oh that was a bad choice, I never need to do that again, doesn't do it again.

What I ponder more on are life choices like choosing a life partner, choosing a job/career path, choosing your friends, choosing when/whether to have a child, choosing a tattoo, choosing to get a pet.

What if a person chooses a burdensome life partner who only causes stress in their life, quits a job they should have stayed at, is surrounded by toxic people, has a child but is not ready to be a parent, gets a terrible tattoo (not so serious but we all know the kind), gets a pet but can't properly care for it, etc. etc.

If that person has great intentions:
I can change the partner to be better.
I will be less stressed at a different job.
These people are good for me to be around. (Idk)
A child will bring me and my partner happiness.
This tattoo is a good idea.
A dog/cat will bring my family joy.

But they end up in an abusive relationship, dead end job, asshole friends, neglected children, terribly tattooed, with a dog/cat they keep locked in a crate all day.

You know what I mean? These are like kind of specific descriptions but are just what I can think of off the top of my head.

At what point can you still say a person is a good person if their life reeks of bad choices?

I understand we all have a built in my metric of good/bad and thus the answer may be only true to our individual perspective.

I also understand factors that affect decision making. (Parents, early life, trauma, accessibility.)

I believe everyone has a purpose, and none are more important than the other. One purpose may be to save the world from poverty, another may be to take frequent naps and only work when needed. Both are equally important to the world. I'd love for napping to be my purpose.

Anyway. I hope this resonates with someone. I'd love some opinions. I'd also love light shed on the biases that are present in this writing. What does it mean that I put so much emphasis on choices? Why do I care about being a "good" person?

Thank you

[Assistant]
Psychologically, one might draw a distinction between a behaviour that was due to someone's disposition and a behaviour that was due mostly due to circumstances. Clearly, the two interact, but if someone is disposed to be violent, for example, they are more likely to commit acts that others would deem immoral. If that disposition is so entrenched, one might be entitled to call them a 'bad person'.

Interestingly, there some evidence that different people have different intuitions about this. Some tend to see people as having a moral core or moral fibre that is either good or bad. If someone commits a bad act, these people are more likely to judge them as a 'bad person'. This tendency is more prevalent in people who self-describe as conservative, and can help explain things like tough on crime, mandatory sentencing, retributivist rather than rehabilitationist approaches, etc.

Others tend to see actions are being more the product of circumstance and experience. So if someone does a bad act, these people might be more inclined to chalk that up to a rough upbringing, disadvantage, bad luck, including one-off bad choices that lead to circumstances that produce other bad choices (say, a gambling addiction), etc. This is more common among self-described progressives, and can help explain the tendency to focus on systemic problems, rehabilitation and being less retributivist.

Of course, there's a great deal of variation within and between these populations, and there's a recent phenomenon in parts of the progressive left to adopt a more 'moral fibre' perspective. But it's interesting to note that intuitions can vary about what constitutes a 'bad person' and whether they can be rehabilitated.


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

[User]
Why is it impossible for objects weighing less than 0.02 milligrams to form a black hole?

Whats so special about that mass that you cant form a black hole below it?

[Assistant]
A black hole of mass less than around .02 milligrams or so would have a Schwarzschild radius of around a Planck length or less.  At this scale, general relativity cannot be trusted; we need a theory that incorporates general relativity and quantum field theory.  Thus, at the very least, we can say that such a black hole could not be described by general relativity.

But we can go further.  Quantum mechanics tells us that an object with such a mass would have a Compton wavelength greater than its Schwarzschild radius, which would make it not possible to constrain this mass to be in a small enough region to form a black hole.  It is reasonable to expect this to hold even in the eventual quantum theory that incorporates gravity, and if so, that would preclude the formation of a black hole with such a mass.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it so hard for a camera lens to capture the depth and the quality as seen with a naked eye?

[Assistant]
The simple answer is that it is just as hard for the eye.

Our eyes also have depth of field issues, but we constantly shift the point of focus. Rather than thinking if the eye as taking a photo think of it more like a video camera that can refocus almost instantly. As soon as we look at a blurry part of the picture it immediately snaps into focus.

Our brain then stitches it all together so we perceive it as a sharply in focus world.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do flies seem to swarm and buzz around a dead animal rather than land and stay on it?

It seems like there are more flies in the a air than actually on the carcass.

[Assistant]
This is a great question, one I'd never thought of before.

Flies are competitive and fight for "landing rights" on a carcass. Those fights occur both on the dead animal and in the air above it, making a flying swarm over the corpse as they jockey for position.

Beetles that crawl up to the corpse, on the other hand, fight as they get closer and closer to it, making a higher concentration of beetles near the edge of the carcass, with fewer initially getting up on it and towards the center of the body.

Maggots, on the third hand, dig and use digestive juices to liquify the corpse. And fly eggs are laid in masses and hatch fairly simultaneously. So staying in large masses with other maggots makes eating easier, as digestive juices are shared among all.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is lifting items with your back dangerous? Why cant back muscles be strengthened?

[Assistant]
While you sure can injure your back muscles and that is a significant risk (due to the leverage disadvantages of your back muscles vs. your arms when pivoting on the spine), the main issue is your spine. It's very easy to slip a disk, or otherwise onjure your spine, when trying to lift a heavy load with your back.

And "very easy" here is not a hyperbole. It really is VERY easy. People have thrown their backs out trying to lift trivial weights, usually specifically because the object was so light that they didn't even consider it "lifting". It's usually due to repeat strain.

If you lift with your legs, back straight, that force is supported vertically, which is the direction your spine is strongest. It also means your back muscles don't have to do such a disproportionate amount of work.


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

[User] [40k] Realistically, what steps can humanity take to preserve itself as top dog in the galaxy?

[Assistant]
Realistically, their best chance would be for the Mechanicus to pretend that some Tau tech was actually coming from an STC, and reverse engineer it. If they had the Tau rifles for every Imperial guardsman then things would definitely get better.

Their main chance is increasing their technology, but tbh the main issue is Chaos. With Chaos in the mix, anything they do that is not absolutely authoritarian (and so therefore against change) is doomed to failure. If you could somehow deal with the Necrons to construct more of those Chaos-killing pylons, then maybe?

Dealing with the Dark Eldar would be a temptation, but the Dark Eldar are always going to screw you somehow. Exchange a few worlds for an STC, and they'll give you a useless one or a chaos-corrupted one. Not worth it.

Or maybe a Blank breeding program could do it. That one would be a long-game kind of play though. Either way, get rid of Chaos and the Imperium would recover in mere centuries.


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

[User] [Indiana Jones] Is it ever revealed why the US government is stockpiling religious artifacts including the ark of the covenant?

[Assistant]
As opposed to just leaving that stuff lying around? These things are dangerous, and if the Americans don't take steps to ensure they aren't winding up in hostile hands, the body count could be massive.

Consider the Ark; while an unconventional weapon system, if wielded by a hostile power with the good sense to keep their eyes closed, it could be capable of massive damage. Imagine the fatalities if a Nazi submarine crew managed to land the Ark in New York or another major metropolitan area or port of embarkation.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some dogs wipe their feet after "doing their business"?

[Assistant]
I read this explanation a while back, and thought I'd share it:

> Dirt scratching, or scraping, has been studied by ethologists. These are mostly observational studies, where numbers of canids were observed performing various elimination, sniffing, and marking behaviors. The behaviors are counted and the surrounding circumstances recorded. Dr. Marc Bekoff points out that it hasnt been studied all that much in dogs though, compared to the study of other animals. He and others are gradually filling in the blanks, however.

> Here are some of the functions for ground scratching that ethologists have proposed:

> - Dispersing scent from the dogs urine or feces.

> - Dispersing scent from glands in the dogs paws.

> - A visual demonstration in real time, in the presence of other dogs.

> - A visual demonstration in the form of leaving marks on the ground.

> Dirt scratching may be communication to other dogs, but speculations by ethologists about the content of that communication are still very conservative.


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

[User] Why does it take multiple years to develop smaller transistors for CPUs and GPUs? Why can't a company just immediately start making 5 nm transistors?

[Assistant] Ex Intel process engineer here. Because it wouldn't work. Making chips that don't have killer defects takes an insanely finely-tuned process. When you shrink the transistor size (and everything else on the chip), pretty much everything stops working, and you've got to start finding and fixing problems as fast as you can. Shrinks are taken in relatively small steps to minimize the damage. Even as it is, it takes about two years to go from a new process/die shrink to manufacturable yields. In addition, at every step you inject technology changes (new transistor geometry, new materials, new process equipment) and that creates whole new hosts of issues that have to be fixed. The technology to make a 5nm chip reliably function needs to be proven out, understood, and carefully tweaked over time, and that's a slow process. You just can't make it all work if you "shoot the moon" and just go for the smallest transistor size right away.


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

[User] ELI5: What kind of environmental impact comes about from the tons upon tons of salt that gets added to roadways during the winter, and does it differ based on location (such as proximity to water)?

[Assistant] I wrote a whole report on this last semester. The short answer: yes. A lot. Salt is really bad for vegetation on the roadside, and any animals in water nearby. And some cities don't really care about how much salt they spread. But other places are looking into alternative deicers.


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

[User] [Fallout] If I tell someone I'm going to sell them 100 head of cattle, how many will they expect me to show up with?

[Assistant]
50 Brahmin, but honestly I'd be more worried about the fact that you're about to get ambushed like crazy. That kinda herd is gonna draw mad amounts of what ever local vermin and raider variant ya got.

I'd hire some guns for the cattle drive.


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

[User]
ELI5:how do the chips on credit cards provide extra security?

That is their purpose right, to be more secure than before. Additionally, how come sometimes a pin is not required? Without a pin, anyone can use it.

[Assistant]
Magnetic stripes are easily duplicated. The information on them is unencrypted and the machines to duplicate them quite cheap.

A chip on card is basically a unique encryption key. The reader has an active conversation with the chip to verify the authenticity of the card. Pin not being required has been done largely to reduce the resistance to adoption. It is an additional layer of security that should be used but its absence does not lower it to the simple pinless magstripe transaction as the difficulty of reproducing or emulating an individual cards chip is prohibitive.


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

[User]
[Avatar: Legend of Korra] Im an Equalist. Amon just took away the bending of the last airbenders and also captured the Avatar. Im disgusted by his actions. What can I do?

Yes, I made a horrible mistake. I joined the Equalist hoping that we can bring change to the United Republic. I thought that Amon and the Equalists would make our cries louder and that we can have a seat at the big table, making life better for us nonbenders.

But I didnt sign up to see benders become persecuted at the boot of Amons new anti-bending government. I didnt sign up to see my friend and neighbor get their bending forcibly taken away. They were good people who were just living an honest, humble life. They didnt try to hurt me or my family and they didnt try to use their bending to exploit any nonbender. My friend is a firebender and he is a hardworking man who teaches firebending classes to the lower-income kids around here. My earth/metalbending neighbor is (or at this point, was) a cop and he personally took down some Agni Kai goons when they tried to invade my apartment one night (he even got severely burned in the arm when he took a fire blast for me). My coworker is a waterbender and she volunteers at the local clinic whenever shes free and she seeks no recognition for her selfless work.

I didnt say anything when Amon started militarizing the Equalist since I rationalized it as hes just doing this as a show of force and this is meant for our protection. Then when gangs of chi-blockers started running around attacking benders, I continued to rationalize these actions by telling myself they were just chi-blocking criminals. But when we started committing acts of terrorism in Republic City, I knew that I made a terrible mistake. I didnt sign up to become a *terrorist*. I didnt sign up to bomb government buildings from an airship. I didnt sign up to see my friends, neighbors, and innocent benders lose their bending.

And now that Amon has just successfully taken away the bending of *the last airbenders* as well as *capturing Avatar Korra*, I feel like I no longer consider myself an Equalist. Im sorry, but I can now no longer support the Equalists when theyve decided to do such a cruel and unspeakable act like taking the **last surviving airbenders** bending away as well as **capturing and imprisoning the Avatar**. This is going too far. Im done. Me and some fellow finer Equalists feel the same way about this whole disturbing ordeal and I want to find a way to put a stop to this. What can we do? Who do we even contact at this point?

[Assistant]
You made a mistake. A mistake of judgement. Amon and the Equalists were not what you thought they were, and they exploited your trust and naivete to win your support. What they've done is on you, as much as it's on them. If you want to make this right, you've got a lot of work ahead of you.

You should resist Amon and his government directly. Fight, with word, deed, and blood, or face the same date as those that Amon has preyed on.

You should work to help former benders reintegrate into society - they've not only lost their jobs, but many will be feeling a terrible, terrible loss of identity and spiritual connection that was at the core of their very selves. They need you now.

And do everything you can to rally others to do the same. It requires bravery, but it's the only in justice that you can find peace.


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

[User]
Explain Like I'm Not a Football Fan: Tim Tebow's career and why it seems to have suddenly soured.

I know the basic *basics* of football, but certainly not enough to really recognize many pro players and I haven't been following the game for years now.

From my perspective, there seemed to be this Tebow guy that was a pretty good quarter back but had a certain religious controversy to him. Nowadays, there seems to be jokes surfacing everywhere on how he is out of the job and nobody wants him anymore.

Was this due to his controversial beliefs? Was he ever really that good of a player? Did he have a single winning streak but never got that good again? I honestly have no idea and was hoping someone had a good rundown of his NFL career.

[Assistant] He took his college team to a national championship and won, get won the heisman trophy as a sophomore (both of these are a pretty big deal). Throw in the fact that the gators (his college team) have a huge nation wide fan base, he's very open about being a Christian, and a good win steak (against bad teams) and all the sudden this guy has millions of fans. After these fans saw he couldn't live up to the hype, he became America's punch line.


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

[User] ELI5: Where does a specific person's "Musical taste" come from? And why do we grow bored of songs?

[Assistant]
Big question, but here is one part of it:

Music is kind of a language, and kind of a game.

It's a language, in that there are a set of sounds that communicate information----you know that the dissonant violins in the Psycho scene scene aren't happy, for example. That's because that's a first grade level of communication in our culture. Things like the tempo, key, and chord progression all communicate information and make a song happy or sad or whatever. By the time you're a teenager, you're familiar with the idioms of music in our culture, and you would know that the lion king song "the circle of life" is positive, while the song "The Beautiful people" by Marilyn Manson is not, EVEN IF YOU'D NEVER HEARD EITHER.

But music is also a game, or a competition. Music is used to alter out enhance mood, and just like most mood altering substances, you develop a tolerance. This means that no matter how much you loved Eminem's "Lose Yourself", it begins to lose the power to move you as it once did.

This is where the competition lies---people are effectively competing to create the most effectively resonant new songs, by combining familiar idioms in new ways, and slightly altering existing idioms, in such a way that it still effectively communicates the intended feeling, while incorporating enough novelty to be maximally stimulating.

This is why people have genre favorites---the language you understand best, which therefore works best on you.

And This is why people lose interest in songs they like----the sings can no longer conjure the same feelings.

Older people seem to lose the ability to learn a new musical language that strays farther from the ones they adopted in childhood, hence growing musical tastes seem to stop for almost everybody by 30.

None of this really touched on how music is a component of a person's identity (example: you expect heavy metal fans to wear black, but don't expect strawberry ice cream fans to have, say, short hair cuts. Why?), but this is a major component of the why in this case.


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

[User] [Terminator] Do we know exactly how future John Connor defeats Skynet?

[Assistant] Generally, yes. Before the recent *Genesys* incarnation, it usually involved the Resistance assaulting Skynet's physical central mainframe at Cheyenne Mountain. Certain depictions indicate that Skynet had completely dismantled or converted that mountain as its physical form expanded.


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

[User]
What kind modern day weaponry would be needed to take down a Dragon/Drake/Wyvern?

I work at an Air Force base and one day my girlfriend told me about a nightmare that she had in that a dragon attacked the base. I got to thinking, what kind of modern-day weaponry would be needed to take down a dragon? Feel free to post about various sizes and power levels of dragons and different attack methods (assuming ground sea and air vehicles).   To start, I think a 22lb/10kg (M829A3) APFSDS round from the 120mm gun of an M1 Abrams would be sufficient to take down something the size of Smuag, but I am curious about what others may think as I am lacking in dragon lore/knowledge.

Edit: Thanks for all the responses!

[Assistant]
Dragon scales are made of Beta-keratin, the same substance avian and reptilian beaks, scales, and claws are made of.  The difference is that dragon scales are up to 3-4 inches thick.  The scale layout is very efficient at dispersing kinetic energy, making dragon scales extremely effective against pre-modern weapons.

Typical anti-personnel fire would likely not get you very far.  Hollow point rounds would just bounce off, while AP rounds would get lodged in the scales.  Enough AP rounds would cause the scales to ablate, disintegrating the scales before eventually causing them to fail and allow further rounds to penetrate.  Once they've penetrated the dragon's hide, you'll start doing actual damage to the dragon, but with such small rounds, it will still take sustained and concentrated fire to bring it down.

Anti-materiel rounds (anything 12.7mm and up) would get you a lot further against a dragon.  Kinetic rounds would function much the same as AP anti-personnel rounds, but would disintegrate an impacted scale with just one or two shots, and would do significantly more damage once it gets inside the dragon.  Explosive or incendiary rounds (particularly if they penetrate before detonating) would be even more effective.

TL;DR: If it can take out a vehicle, it can take out a dragon.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do middlemen exist?

If we, as consumers, can buy directly from the source, why would we pay the markup that a middleman charges? I think this is more relevant today because people can easily sell their merchandise directly by opening up a store online, instead of going through a retailer like Amazon.

[Assistant]
Because running a store takes a lot of work and effort.

Some suppliers do this, but many don't.  In a nutshell, they would have to start shouldering responsibilities like inventory management, website management, store front management, shipping orders, customer service (to a larger degree), etc.

By selling to a middleman to resell, they can avoid the hassles that come with selling direct to customers.


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

[User] What lifeform has the shortest genetic sequence?

[Assistant]
It depends.

The organism with the smallest genome for naturally occurring cellular organisms is probably *Mycoplasma genitalium*.

There are synthetic cells that have a smaller genome, but these are lab-made, not free-living.

Then there are viruses; are they life forms ? Thats another debate. If you include viruses, then *Circovirus* probably has the smallest genome.

Pushing it to the extreme, youd have viroid genomes, which are only a couple hundreds nucleotides, but that might be really pushing the definition of what a life form is.


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

[User]
ELI5: Canadian government

I promise I'm not dumb as shit but I've never been taught or I clearly didn't retain anything about Canadian government. So please explain like I'm 5 how the Canadian government works and whats the difference between liberal, NDP, and Conservative. So that If I'm ever in a situation where I had to talk about it I'm not completely clueless!

[Assistant]
The head of state of Canada is the Queen of England, although nominally it's the Governor General her appointed representative in Canada. However this position is almost 100% ceremonial.

The higher house is known as the Senate. Intended to be a mirror of the House of Lords in England it's purpose is to be a 'Sober Second Thought' on laws and legislation. The senate is made up of appointed officials, mostly affiliated to the parties. It's purpose is nominally to be a retirement plan for party officials and supporters.

The real power is the Parliament. Parliament is made up of elected officials each representing a riding (A defined geographic area, like part of a city).

Members of parliament can be independents, but almost all belong to a political party. Since the largest party is the dominant one in the house, being a member of a party is essentially a requirement to get any kind of significant power.

The leader of the political party in power is the Prime Minister, the most powerful political person in Canada. The Prime Minister appoints a cabinet, made up of party members (who are almost always sitting members of the house) each with a portfolio which dictates their responsibilities in running the government. Such as Minister of Finance, Health, Defense, National Parks, etc

Canada has numerous political parties but in it's history only 2 have ever had enough seats to form a government, the Liberals and the Conservatives.

The Liberals have had more years in power than any other party. The are generally middle of road politically, but leaning left. This means they support the rights of workers, government run programs, unions, same sex marriage, etc.

The Conservatives are Canada's primary Right Wing party. Although conservative and right wing they are far more left leaning than the equivalent right-leaning parties in say the US. Conservatives believe in supporting big business, fiscally responsible government, religions and traditional values.

The NDP were founded in the 1960's. They are far more left leaning than the Liberals and therefore push more so for things like healthcare, child care, unions, and workers rights. The NDP didn't implement Canada's healthcare plan (that was the liberals) but the leader of the NDP Tommy Douglas came up with the idea.

The Block Quebecois is Quebec's nationalist and separatist party. They are right-leaning and put forward an agenda that supports French Canadians and the province of Quebec first. They have declined in power significantly since the 90's.

The Green Party is Left-leaning and supports Ecofriendly policies. They are a fringe party that is gaining popularity and maintains 1 seat in Parliament.

The People's party is a growing movement right-wing party started by offshoots of the Conservative party. They currently have 1 seat.


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

[User]
When a computer screen is cracked at one spot, why does the entire screen no longer work?

From what I've seen, when a computer's LCD screen cracks, all the pixels around the cracks turn completely black while everything else goes completely white. Why does that happen? Under what circumstances will a part of the screen not be effected?

[Assistant] Pixels turn completely white (transparent) when you switch them off. When your screen cracks a conductor that is wired in series is severed, thus pixels are powered off while background light keeps running. The black blotch is the result of messed up polarizing filter and/or pixels cracking and leaking (thus the name liquid crystal display).


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

[User]
[ATLA] Since bending is based on martial arts, would a bender still be a good fighter even without their element?

If they don't have their elements available, would the techniques they've learned be useful in combat, or would they be too used to not actually be in physical contact with their opponent to fight?

[Assistant] They would know the movements, but they possibly wouldnt have the strength behind them and knowledge of how to leverage that into actual attacks. Look at how Zuko trained himself not only in firebending but martial skills as well to ensure he could fight without bending.


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

[User]
Should I Avoid Zizek?

According to some people, Zizek is not a proper philosopher and is rather a "pop" philosopher. Is this true? Is Zizek the equivalent of someone like Sam Harris in the eyes of mainstream philosophy?

[Assistant]
If one takes a proper philosopher to be one who publishes books and articles which engage and innovate upon philosophical theories which are then cited by other philosophers, then Zizek is by all means a "proper philosopher." Zizek is also a "pop" philosopher in dual senses: he engages routinely with the public in non-academia contexts, and he analyzes pop culture and current events using his philosophical framework.

Should you avoid him? While it does appear like he's perpetually afflicted with some sort of cold, his sniffling isn't contagious  don't worry. However, I've heard from people who have attended his talks that you shouldn't sit in the front row unless you're ready to get quite intimate with his saliva.