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

[User] [DC] do superheroes routinely check up on the suburbs surrounding cities, or have villains learned to move crime out of urban areas?

[Assistant]
It's been seen on occasion. Spider-Man once had a very difficult time tracking down a criminal who commuted into NYC from the suburbs. (ASM 267, "The Commuter Cometh!", which was paid tribute to in Spider-Man Homecoming)

Supervillains are likely easier to spot and track in suburbs and unless they're in particularly wealthy areas then there isn't enough payoff to make it worth the risk.


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

[User] ELI5 Why do laptops (almost) always get their expectation of remaining battery life wrong?

[Assistant]
if you boot up your laptop and then let it idle for half an hour, the app that calculates battery life assumes that with THIS processor load you'll have hours-and-hours of standby-time

now you start playing a game, processor works 66% capacity, graphics card kicks in, heat rises, fans pop to active...

and therefore, now the app assumes: **29 minutes** (and starts planning to dim your display)


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

[User]
[Edge of Tomorrow/Live Die Repeat] Why did the other soldiers not like Rita?

It seems that the other soldiers aren't fond of Rita, giving her a rather unflattering nickname in 'Full Metal Bitch' and one soldier even going as far as to say that to her face. Why is this the case though? Didn't she basically win the battle of Verdun for them? Seems like she should be venerated as an angel, like the public seems to think.

[Assistant]
Her actions at Verdun, without the context of the time powers, may have looked coldly pragmatic to witnesses (ignoring pleas of soldiers she'd already attempted to save in previous resets, as a possible example.)

Her personality was also fairly callous. This, too, may have been a result of her experience with the time loop. Cruise' character goes through a change of personality to match his perspective. Rita probably had a similar experience that left her jaded.


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

[User] [Star Wars] What do you actually have to do to achieve the Rank of Jedi Master? Why can you be on the council but not a Master?

[Assistant]
Anakin was a special case, normally people are not allowed on the council without being masters.

Because Anakin was so integral to their plan to investigate Palpatine, he was given permission to serve on the council - likely as an advisory position but without actual power to command the Jedi Order (most likely because he was too young an inexperienced, and not emotionally stable enough to trust with that much authority).


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

[User]
ELI5: When you pass out after they give you general anesthesia for surgery, why does it feel like you've only been passed out for a few seconds when it's been way longer?

This has happened to me also when I used to use heroin, didn't even know you OD'd until you wake up with the paramedics, it's like instant.

[Assistant] Most anethesia doesn't cause "sleep" it causes uncouciousness. This why too much will kill you. It would take more to OD on melatonin (which doesn't even cause sleepiness, just enables sleepiness, if everything else aligns). Anesthesia interrupts concious thought and stops it, interrupting your ability to keep track of time/logic/what-have-you.


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

[User] ELI5- Do nuclear weapons expire?

[Assistant]
Not just do the cores themselves degrade over time, the actual machinery in a nuclear missile will degrade rather quickly over time.

The missiles also use particular types of fuel that is highly corrosive, so they can't be kept fueled all the time.

Basically, the whole process around a single nuclear missile, its silo and all the support equipment is very sensitive to degradation over time.  It's extremely expensive to keep these missiles in a ready-to-launch situation.


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

[User] ELI5:why is cold water so much colder after eating a mint?

[Assistant] **Menthol is the chemical in peppermint that stimulates the cold-sensitive nerve receptors in the tongue and skin.  It does not cause a drop in temperature, just the sensation of that.  Other chemicals that trigger temperature sensations are capsaicin (chili peppers) and zingerone (ginger) which both cause a sensation of heat (but don't change the temperature).**


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it more comforting to have even the thinnest blanket covering when sleeping?

It is just about being covered, really. I asked around a bit and most agreed they would even cover themselves in the hottest nights of the year.

But why?

[Assistant]
It blocks convection cooling (aka. wind draft cooling).

If your bedroom temperature is above your skin temperature ~35C (or 95F), then you will feel more comfortable without the blanket. But anything below that will feel uncomfortable because convection cooling is x10 more efficient than other cooling and is triggered by your body being hotter than the room.

What happen is a part of your body feel slightly too cold, and your body will heat it up a little bit. But that area is now slightly hotter than the air in the room, this causes a tiny draft of air to raise out of that area to be replaced by slightly colder air. This is efficient at cooling and your body need to work extra hard on that area that it didn't want to be that cool in the first place. If you have a blanket (no matter how thin) that gets in the way of that draft, it's much more comfortable.

Hairy people tend to not mind that draft, as the body hair is sufficient to get in the way.


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

[User] [Fallout] Hypothetically, what would Canada be like in the Fallout world with the culture being 50s inspired?

[Assistant]
If Canada survived, they're going to hate America's guts. And Canada may not have survived.

Canada basically got hijacked at gunpoint by the US in the years before the nukes flew. Having twisted Canada's arm into letting them place military units on the Canadian west coast to protect the Anchorage -> Lower 48 oil pipeline, those forces adopted a policy that can be described as "whatever we want, whenever we want, and fuck the locals". And after several years of acting like they owned a place, pissing off the locals and provoking resistance, the Americans stepped it up to actually annexing Canada and brutally smacking down any military or civilian forces. By all indications, the action was brutal. Shit was so rough that when it was time to show film reel to the U.S. public, they chose a *gunshot execution of an unarmed, kneeling Canadian citizen* as the face of the annexation, and narratives by participants (like Randall Clark >!aka the Father in the Cave!< from the Honest Hearts DLC) suggest that it was pretty much a big pile of war crimes against Canada's population.

Handicapped by that invasion taking down their military and civilian command and control structures, and (to our best knowledge) lacking a parallel to Vaultec to build large underground shelters, any Canadians who survived the nukes would have a long row to hoe in terms of rebuilding. Fewer groups would be able to hold out long enough to establish tribal-level communities, and as far as we can tell no NCR-tier nation-states have emerged in the generations following the war and the emergence from the American vaults. There may be nothing left up there worth describing... or there could be some descendants of the old Canadian partisans, who remember the sins of the past, and are waiting for the right moment for revenge.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can't all pills be chewable and fruit flavored?

I have to take a pill twice a day for my abnormal cholesterol and it tastes awful, I have to drink it very quickly with orange juice, and if it touches my tongue it tastes like rotten lemons, Why can't all pills be like flinstones vitamins?

EDIT: Thanks for all the answers, I understand why they can't all be chewable, but still a little sugar coating wouldn't hurt.

[Assistant]
Probably several reasons, but here's what occurs to me first:

Chewing a tablet releases the medicine much more quickly, and can allow it to be absorbed much quicker, too. For some medicines that's a good thing. But other medicines simply *aren't supposed* to be absorbed quickly, and need a delayed release for maximum effect.

Making it taste like delicious raspberries would just *encourage* people to chew it quickly, defeating the point of the pill in the first place. If it tastes like rotten lemons, you're going to get it down with as little interference as possible.


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

[User] [StarWars] Why did Yoda need to tell Obi-Wan that there is another?

[Assistant] It was more of a reassuring gesture than a need. Obi-Wan hand delivered Leia and Luke to their new families, and since Anikan was The Chosen One there was little doubt his children would be force sensitive. But as Luke leaves Obi-Wan is worried because he sees Luke as their last hope, Yoda is too old and they don't have much time. Yoda saying there is another is just a gentle reminder that if the worst comes to pass there is still hope in Leia.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why did doctors used to recommend heavy drinkers switch from vodka or gin to whiskey under the guise that whiskey was healthier?

I've read that Ian Fleming's doctor recommended that he switch from a fifth of gin a day to bourbon. Dean Martin's apocryphal last words were "I never should've switched from bourbon to martinis." Why was whiskey regarded as healthier?

[Assistant]
I can't speak for doctors in the early 1900s, but Vodka and Gin go down much too easy and provide far less of a hangover due to their makeup (they are distilled, often, 3-5 times, removing a greater portion of the impurities that cause hangovers).  This is why the greater portion of alcoholics are Gin or vodka drinkers.

Bourbon, however, punishes you if you drink it too much, making you realize the damage you've done.

Source: career bartender.


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

[User]
Why do moral realists hold that only one ethical system is true when math seems to accept multiple systems?

For example, mathematicians seem to treat both Euclidean and non Euclidean systems as "true" or equally valid, same for sets like integers, reals, complex etc. Do I misunderstand moral realism in thinking that this is not analogously the case in their ethical systems? A tangential question, does mathematical realism help clarify this?

[Assistant]
> For example, mathematicians seem to treat both Euclidean and non Euclidean systems as "true" or equally valid, same for sets like integers, reals, complex etc.

Actual space is either Euclidean or non-Euclidean, but certainly not both.


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

[User] How do birds mimic human speech without lips?

[Assistant] Not sure this is what you are looking for, but you know of course that your electronic devices pretty accurately replicate your voice without lips?   At its root, sound is varying air pressure.  Any thing that can do that within the spectral limitations of human hearing can replicate anything humans can hear, including biological forms of a loudspeaker.  Your means of doing that is learned and uses lips and other stuff.  A loudspeaker is a membrane, a coil, a magnet.  Birds have other stuff to do the same thing.


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

[User] [Silmarillion]How much of Turin's shitty life was caused by himself? Would Morgoth not cursing his family change it?

[Assistant]
A lot of it was on him.  Morgoth caused most of the strife and unfortunate circumstances that followed him, but he made the situation (much) worse through his selfishness and pride.

Usually when people close to him are explicity warning him of the mistake he's making, no less.  Leaving Doriath when Mablung suggested he not, ignoring Ulmo of all people and telling Nargothrond to fight out in the open, screwing over the Folk of Haleth.  It's not like he didn't know.


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

[User]
What's an obnoxiously difficult to understand paragraph from a philosophy text?

My friends don't study philosophy, but keep hearing from me about how difficult the language used is. I'm giving them a 'one paragraph challenge', where they have to figure out what a single paragraph of extremely precise language means.

Please be as obtuse as possible. Annoyingly hard to understand words would be ideal. It can't be something that makes no sense outside of the context of other surrrounding paragraphs; it has to stand on its own. Has to be from a textbook philosopher, like Kant or Hegel or Locke or whatever.

[Assistant]
From Sren Kierkegaard's Sickness unto Death:
The self is a relation which relates itself to its own self, or it is that in the relation that the relation relates itself to its own self; the self is not the relation but that the relation relates itself to its own self.


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

[User] [Star Trek] How is it possible for alien species to cross breed with humans?

[Assistant]
In short: The Galaxy was 'seeded' by an alien race, which resulted in many races having evolutionary paths that lead to near-similar results.

This can work with Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development, which postulates that "similar planets with similar environments and similar populations tend to gravitate toward similar biological developments over time." Somehow, this also spreads sociologically, such as the Kohms and the Yangs, the Yangs even possessing a Declaration of Independence and Constitution nearly identical to 18th Century America's.


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

[User]
CMV:Religion should not be a protected class in anti-discrimination laws

(Talking about America and the west in general) Currently, if an employer is, beyond a reasonable doubt, proven to have fired/not hired someone for their sex, ethnicity or religion, that's deemed illegal.

Let's ignore the fact that sexual orientation isn't on that list and focus on this. All of these traits share a common characteristic : They're innate and cannot be changed. A man cannot become a biological woman, a white person cannot become a black person, and (afaik) a gay person cannot become straight. Except for religion.

I see no reason for religion to be treated similarly. I know a lot of people are born into religious beliefs, but there's no legal barrier preventing you from choosing not to believe in or practise a religion. I think an employer should have the right to fire someone for being Christian, like they would if they just didn't like their attitude.

You wouldn't call someone bigoted for saying they generally are more likely to dislike republicans/democrats because they disagree with them, so why make that distinction for religion, when in the end it's all more or less an opinion?

That being said, my research is shallow, this is mostly just mental gymnastics I thought up randomly.

[Assistant]
>All of these traits share a common characteristic : They're innate and cannot be changed.

Well because of the inclusion of religion, which is one of the first protected classes recognized by the United States government, this is not the common characteristic between them. The common characteristic is that these are all social classes that have been historically used to justify discrimination. Discrimination based on race, sex, ethnicity, disability, and of course religion is well-rooted in American history and society. To ignore religion on the basis of "you can change it" (which is not always the case since religion isn't simply tied to belief but is often tied to ethnic heritage and cultural traditions i.e. Judaism) is to overlook one of the greatest sources of discrimination in American culture.


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

[User]
Are plants biologically immortal?

Unlike most animals, I've never heard of plants actually dying from old age.

[Assistant] No. Though some of them may be (some animals as well). Annuals (as the name suggest) live only for one year. The leaves on shrubs die every year, but the stem and roots remain alive. Something similar happens in perennial grasses. Plants are structured around tissues, and have few organs so it is hard to define "ageing". To add problems is the fact that no one really dies of "old age"; creatures die of age related stuffs; and for plants that have RELATIVELY simple organs and internal structures i have problem imagining what age-related problems they could have.


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

[User] ELI5 What would happen if the USA pulled all troops from around the globe and stopped involvement in foreign affairs?

[Assistant]
Day 1: Taiwan falls to china. Japan announces a plan for a nuclear weapons program in a last ditch effort to deter chinese aggression. North Korea invades South Korea. China denies bankrolling and supplying NK but everyone knows better.

Day 4: Israel announces an easing of restrictions on Palestinian citizens. They offer a legitimate plan for a Palestinian state in an attempt to hold off Arab aggression. It fails.

Day 7: Russia retakes portions of Eastern Europe. Economic sanctions be damned. EU nations begin considering development of nukes and a return to conscription.

Day 10: Republicans take credit for huge budget surplus.

Day 11: unemployment spikes after soldiers become unemployed, democrats announce a return if FDR style make work projects for young men.

Day 30: China continues to expand into SE Asia.

Day 45: Putin is assassinated.

Day 1009: Two hairdressers crawl out of a destroyed subway station. They admire a 6 eyes cat before clubbing it to death and eating it.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why does the human body eat muscle before fat when it's in starvation mode?

I would think (but could be totally wrong) that your body would want to eat the fat first in order to preserve the muscles, which would help with survival odds. What happened biologically/evolutionarily that made it this way instead, and why?

[Assistant]
While your premise isn't entirely correct that protein metabolism and fat metabolism happen sequentially, one right after the other, you are on to something here.

An important issue is that glucose is the preferred form of energy especially for your brain, and your body will attempt to keep the level of glucose in your bloodstream stable. Your reserves of glucose are in the liver. Once those are depleted, protein is essentially carbohydrate with added nitrogen. So, in order to maintain your blood sugar, your body will metabolize amino acids into carbohydrate by stripping the nitrogen (and throwing it away in your urine), and converting into glucose.

Your brain's second most favorite food, after glucose, is ketone bodies, which are created from fat. The metabolism of ketone bodies is the goal of the Atkins diet.


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

[User] ELI5: What happens that makes beer taste terrible after warming up and then re-chilling? What makes beer 'skunky'?

[Assistant]
Skunking occurs when beer is exposed to certain wavelengths of light. This is why beer is typically bottled in brown bottles. Clear and green bottles protect the beer less, which is why popular brands in those color bottles often have the distinctive flavor.

The chemical responsible for the distinctive flavor is called MBT, and is produced when the energy in light causes the riboflavin (produced by yeast during fermentation) in beer to chemically react with the alpha acids from the hops.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is eating fiber (which goes through my digestive system) good for my heart?

[Assistant] Your body uses cholesterol to make bile, which is what allows you to break down fats in the small intestines. Fiber binds cholesterol in your food and the bile you secrete. That bile would otherwise be reabsorbed into your body. So the fiber gets the bile out through feces, and your body is forced to make more bile from the cholesterol you have in your body. Without getting into too much detail, high levels of some types of cholesterol can cause blood vessel damage, which is why its bad for your 'heart.'


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is Nvidia buying ARM? Why is ARM so important, and why aren't other companies interested?

Like the title, I've heard a lot about Nvidia's purchase of ARM. Why is ARM so important and what does it do? Why aren't other, larger companies trying to buy ARM?

[Assistant]
ARM licenses the intellectual property for a line of small, low power microprocessor cores.  They are used in most cell phones and tablets today.  They are also starting to be used in server farms, because heat is a big deal in that application and their processing power/watt is good.

A lot of companies wouldn't want ARM because they are incredibly expensive.  Some companies wouldn't want it because if they owned ARM then other ARM users would bail and look for other solutions, making it much less valuable.

Nvidia has great processors for graphics and artificial intelligence, but no general purpose processor.  Until now.  They can't really get into the x86 market, but unless you want to play in the PC space that isn't necessary.  Having ARM gives them a full IP set for a lot of applications that are going to be big.  They will also not only get the licensing revenue from other people using ARM, but they can also fuck over potential competitors.


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

[User]
How can the sum of infinite rational numbers be an irrational number?

There are convergent series where every term is a rational number, and the sum (the limit of the sequence of partial sums) is an irrational number. An example is the serie formed by the sequence 1/n!, whose sum is e, an irrational number.

On the other hand, the sum of two rational numers is always a rational number.

How is this possible?

[Assistant]
This is actually how the reals are defined: the reals are defined by a collection of values such that for each value v some series of rationals that "Cauchy converges" (roughly, a series where all partial sums sufficiently far into the it are all arbitrarily closer to each other) cannot be separated from v.

For example, let's consider the series 3 + .1 + .04 + .001 + ... = 3.141... If we were to write out more digits, we'd get more digits of . While for every rational r we can say that this number is some positive distance from r, we construct the reals so that there is now some value  we can associate with this series which we cannot say it is separated from. Of course, any real number (rational or irrational) can be written in as a series using its decimal expansion, so the same works for any other rational/irrational number.

Underlying all of this is the philosophical question of why we need the real numbers. Why aren't the rationals enough? As the Greeks found out long ago, even simple right triangles with length-1 legs cannot have the length of their hypotenuse expressed as a rational. Any rational number you pick is either too small or too big. We thus fill in the gap with real numbers: those values that can only be reached by taking smaller and smaller increments of the rationals infinite times. Now there are no more such holes where some value is somehow either too big or too small compared to all numbers. The reals are, in both a formal and intuitive sense, the completion of the rationals.

TL;DR: It's defined that way, because we want infinite sequences in the rationals that seem to approach a value (in the sense that the terms all bunch up in the end) to actually have a number to converge to. Those values they converge to are called the reals, which includes rationals and irrationals alike.


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

[User] Are any species of animals other than humans affected by Down's Syndrome / extra chromosome?

[Assistant]
Trisomy in animals is relatively common but usually fatal. Downs syndrome is notable for being one of the few survivable trisomy disorders that (sometimes) doesn't cause the mother's body to auto-abort.

Botany is a rare exception where extra chromosomes can be desirable (to humans, not to plant survival).  People must then care for and propagate the otherwise-sterile plants; plants with three(or more) sets of chromosomes are how we get seedless watermelons, grapes, and bananas.


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

[User]
Is the phrase "Guns don't kill people, people do" fallacious?

In discussions about guns and gun restriction, the following statement is often made:

"Guns don't kill people, people kill people"

Can you identify any fallacy in this sentence? If so, what is a generalized form of the fallacy? What is it called?
If there is no fallacy, can the usual arguments that are made with this sentence be validated by it? Do good arguments arise from it?

Please don't start a debate about guns, I am interested in the logic of the statement and any argument that can be made with it (or, as I suspect, cannot be made with it).

[Assistant]
"Half Truths" (suppressed evidence): A statement usually intended to deceive that omits some of the facts necessary for an accurate description.

#Guns do not *make conscious decisions to* kill people, people *make conscious decision to* kill people.

"Equivocation": using a word to mean one thing, and then later using it to mean something different.

#Guns do not kill ("decide *consciously* to kill") people, people kill ("partake in the *act* of killing") people. A mental, conscious decision to kill  physical act of killing.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does upscaling work?

How does it compensate for lack of pixels?

[Assistant] If you're doubling the number of pixels, for example, you take the adjacent pixels and take a guess at what the one in the middle will look like. You can't necessarily take a simple average, because that might look wrong on edges and stuff, so IIRC there's edge-detection and stuff which copes with that.


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

[User]
ELI5: Do foreign languages have different speech impediments?

Since different languages require different sounds do they have different speech impediments? Are there speech impediments that exist in English that don't exist in say Japanese or Icelandic?

[Assistant] Yes, that is true. For eg. in Hindi the letter t has different sounds. "" (retro flex and unaspirated) and "	"like (but dental and unaspirated). Some people cannot pronounce the letter "" and end up saying "	". the difference in their pronunciation is quiet a lot. It would be like calling a toy, "doy" (though the pronunciation is completely different)


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

[User]
ELI5: If a mirror reflects all light and the color white reflects all wavelengths of light then why is there a difference between a mirror and a white sheet of paper?

Also what is the difference?

[Assistant]
If you drop a bouncy ball on a smooth floor like wood or even most cement, it will bounce straight back up. If you throw it at an angle, you can pretty easily figure out where it's going to bounce based on that.

Now drop or throw the same ball outside on some rocky or uneven ground and the direction the ball will go is much harder to predict. Even a small change in where the ball hits the ground could send it off in a totally different direction.

Now imagine we have a lot of balls and drop them at the same time making sure they aren't touching so they don't interfere with each other. On the smooth floor they will all stay in roughly the same positions relative to each other. On the rocky ground they will scatter everywhere.

A mirror is very smooth while a piece of paper is much more uneven on the small scale that light interacts with it.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why do Padawans pick different styles than their masters?

Obi-Wan uses the most defensive form of lightsaber combat styles. Yet, Anakin takes a different form from him, and Ahsoka uses a different style from him. Why the difference? If you were to be trained since you were a child until adulthood by one person, you would probably be very similar to them, including fighting styles (Anakin is an outlier, of course). Why does it seem that Padawans take different styles from their masters?

[Assistant]
Because of experiences.

Obi-Wan originally studied the Ataru form, but switched his focus to Soresu after Qui-Gon was killed, in Obi-Wan's opinion, due to the lack of defensive focus in Ataru. In actuality, Obi-Wan was one of the most prolific swordsmen of the order in his lifetime, and he studied and utilized components of almost every form at one point or another.

Anakin studied under a variety of masters, not just Obi-Wan, and settled on Shien as his primary form because the style matched his personality and strengths.


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

[User]
Why are Neanderthals considered a different species?

From what I remember in science class, two different species cant produce fertile offspring.

For example, a horse and a donkey can create a mule, but mules are sterile; therefore, horses and Donkeys cant have fertile offspring and are separate species.

But Many modern humans have Neanderthal DNA, meaning that Neanderthals must have interbred with our ancestors and produced fertile offspring.

Wouldnt that make Neanderthals the same species, by definition?

[Assistant]
For this exact reason, many researchers don't consider neanderthals to be a separate species, but count them as the subspecies *Homo sapiens neanderthalis*.

However, the whole "same species if they can produce viable offspring" principle is a good guideline, but often hard to apply in practice. There are several examples of closely related populations that will sometimes produce viable hybrids, but do so rarely enough that it doesn't produce much gene transfer and so they retain major anatomical and behavioral differences. And then there are examples of species that will produce viable offspring if made to in a lab but never do so in nature due to behavioral differences. And then there are really weird examples like sexual parasites.

So defining species barriers is to some extent a matter of interpretation, and in the case of neanderthals it appears that though there was some interbreeding, it was never the norm.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How effective would smoke bombs, flash bangs, and other blinding weapons be against Jedi?

I know that Jedi can sense their surroundings with the force, and some such as Kanan and Chirrut (Yes I know he's not a Jedi shut up) are able to be very competent fighters while being completely blind. But these individuals have been blind for significant periods of time in which they could adjust and train to compensate their disability. How affected would a run of the mill Jedi be by a blinding attack?

[Assistant]
I mean most Jedi in old Order START their training with parrying stings from a remote blindfolded.

While the blinding flash might momentarily startle anyone, including a jedi, a properly trained Jedi will not remain startled or impaired for long, even if his vision doesn't return for some time.

The sensory assault has to be continuous in order to interrupt concentration and prevent the Jedi from using the Force, otherwise they'll be able to adapt relatively quickly.


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

[User]
[Vampires/Christianity] Can Vampires be Christian?

Can a vampire be Christian?

Ok first of all, I ask about Christianity specifically because thats what I am and I dont know enough about other religions to discuss this question properly.

Cool, great, now, vampires.
In the fiction world, theyre typically seen as undead monsterised humans right? Once a human, dies or is turned and now theyre undead, but they still have their soul (I think) and are still who they once were.
So say a religious person (in this example, a Christian) gets turned?
Would that be possible? What would that mean for interactions with holy water or crucifixes?
Would they be able to resist such weaknesses of a vampire because they have a real faith? Or is their soul gone and replaced by a consciousness that just REMEMBERS the life of the bodys old soul?

Its something Im actually really curious about so I cant wait to hear what your thoughts are!

[Assistant]
In most fiction works vampires \*are\* christian, in the sense that the know god exists, and that's why crosses repel them.

The thing is that they are damned in the eyes of god, so they won't be able to get to heaven.


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

[User] [Cowboy BeBop] What about bloody eye gives Asimov the ability to dodge bullets?

[Assistant] Bloody eye gives the user increased strength, speed, and most importantly, reflexes. It's not so much that he was able to dodge bullets, it's that the enhanced reflexes allowed him to read where the shooter was aiming and the enhanced speed allowed him to duck out of the way in time.


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

[User] ELI5: Say I'm in danger, and due to adrenaline, I am able to lift something. Does adrenaline also help with making sure I don't tear my back in the process?

[Assistant]
No, but adrenaline and other nervous system reactions will make you less susceptible to pain from tearing. For example, your significant other is trapped under the front of a car. You run over, filled with adrenaline, and manage to lift the front of the car far enough for someone to pull your SO out.

If you lift wrong, you are completely liable to tear/damage something in your back. However, the adrenaline response (fight or flight) may keep your brain from "recognizing" the pain and you'll continue to lift. This is why people that are injured when filled with adrenaline (car crashes are a great example) don't notice their injuries until afterwards. People will often step out of a car after a accident and be stunned when they see blood from an injury they had, as they can't really feel it.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it that in most cultures around the world men wear pants and women wear dresses/skirts?

I'm referring to older cultures (an those cultures who have traditional clothing) as pants has become a globally accepted piece of clothing for both genders to wear.

[Assistant]
Horse back riding.  The horse has had a huge impact on our cultures.  There is more protection for the inside of your legs with pants than with a skirt.  Before we rode horses people in warm climates wore skirts regardless of gender.  In colder climates whole body suits made out of different furs were worn, creating something like pants, because it's essential to have a microclimate around your whole body to keep you warm.  A skirt dissipates heat by increasing the surface area and open air in the area around your legs.

Men wore pants because they were the ones hunting and fighting, and using horses to do so.  Heals were also invented for men riding horses.  Later, women started to dress like men and started to wear heals and pants, and now you have women's fashion having directly evolved from male fashion.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are there so many great Eastern European Boxers, strongmen, and and mixed martial artists?

[Assistant]
Different cultures place different emphasis on different sports. In Eastern Europe, the strongman/strongwoman sports are much more revered than they are in other places. As such, more people take those sports up as their childhood sport of choice, which means that there is a larger talent pool for elite athletes to emerge from.

It's also worth noting that the startup costs for getting into these sports is very low. All you need is some padding, some gloves, and someone with a bit of training to show you the ropes, and you can *get started* at boxing. Compare that to, say, equestrian sports, which require a horse, full time lodging and care for the horse, and a host of other costs. A lot of Eastern Europe is poor compared to Western Europe and North America, so again, that funnels people into these sports.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are ancient buildings, cities and structures usually found buried underground?

[Assistant] Survivor bias. The interesting archeological sites are the ones that were protected by a big pile of dirt or sand. The ones that didn't get buried aren't around to look at anymore. They were sacked, demolished, renovated, or eroded. Pompei being buried in a volcanic eruption is an extreme example of this.


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

[User] ELI5: How do translators deal with unavoidable puns?

[Assistant]
This is one of the things that makes translation challenging and exciting. Not only do you need to know two languages, but you need to be a wordsmith with your target language. When encountering puns, we first have to determine if the humor is essential to the meaning of the passage. If not, we can just gloss over the pun and convey the overall meaning of that section in straight-forward language.

If the humor is essential, than we have a couple of strategies. Is there a similar pun in the target language? If there isn't, then can we switch out some of the words to create a pun in the target language while still maintaining the feel of the original? Failing that, can we just replace it with a completely different pun that can still be humorous in this situation?

Sometimes, though, the language pair you are working in can make puns easy to translate or neigh impossible. With so many cultural similarities and shared vocabulary, working between, say, French and English would be much easier. Working between Japanese and English, on the other hand, presents serious challenges, as the languages and cultures are drastically different. Ultimately, though, all languages are complex, organic creatures. There is no fail-safe strategy to translating puns, and it is something you really just need to approach creatively on a case-by-case basis.

Edit: Added a sentence for clarification.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do information leaks happen?

[Not sure if repost, checked but couldn't find anything related] One I'm especially curious about is government information leaks. Who leaks this kind of information, and how do they get it in the first place?

[Assistant]
That all depends on which "flavor" of leak you're talking about.

There's the Edward Snowden type of leak where someone deliberately shares private and confidential information with the public because they felt the public needed to know.  Conscious intent and action.

Some leaks aren't intentional at all like the Podesta emails, and are obtained through illicit means like hacking/stealing/espionage.  Malicious intent and action.

Then there's the flat incompetent/accidental types of leaks like when the boss left the company's failing budget and list of people to get laid off next month on the printer for a bit too long.  Genuine accident.

There are also tactical leaks used by politicians.  You can spot these whenever the reporter is citing "a Senior White House Official" in their report.  This lets the White House "react" to this new national issue and put public pressure on political opponents without looking like the bad guys.

Wall Street types will also use this to manipulate prices.  Day traders are constantly watching company financial reports, and the pros are often looking for insider tips from big companies so they can make their plays ahead of the public.  These leaks are often traders calling college buddies that work for Apple's Engineering department looking for key tips like "the next Iphone has a 2hr battery life" so they can sell before it tanks.

In all cases, reporters that get the first leaks are often personal or professional friends that have developed a trusting relationship with the leaker, who is trusting that they leak it appropriately, on their schedule, and for maximum impact.  Politicians for example, may give a leak to a story, but ask the reporter to sit on it for a couple of days to avoid suspicion.  Should the reporter jump to publish early, it fucks the politician and virtually guarantees the end of secret sources for that reporter.


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

[User] ELI5: Why professional cameras are so big in comparison with a cellphone that also take pictures? What are the advantages of being bigger in size?

[Assistant] A bigger piece of glass collects more light, giving the camera more information to work with.  A bigger sensor collects more data points per frame.  A better sensor (because it doesn't have to be tiny) collects data with less noise.  Bigger cameras also allow interchangeable lenses, optical filters, moving glass elements for optical zoom, motor controlled glass elements for vibration reduction, optical aperture control to control the amount of light going into the camera, shutter speed control to manage depth of field and motion blur, more space for controls, bigger batteries, higher energy flash, and other features.


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

[User]
How does buying expensive paintings etc. help with money laundering?

 I have read about it in a lot of places and saw it in many TV shows and  movies. People will buy a painting for millions of dollars. Now, it is  much easier for them to move the painting than such a large amount of  cash. But the painting is still worthless if no one else agrees to pay  that much for it.

[Assistant]
This isn't really an economic question, but in short: art is a potentially convenient way to store value in something that is readily portable and can be hidden away and stored or moved across borders with less effort and often while attracting less regulatory attention than commensurate amounts of cash.

Lines can get blurred sometimes about how art purchases are funded, and even if pieces are only valued at a fraction of their value on illicit markets it still tends much better than nothing.

Many modern above-board marketplaces often tend to be more conscientious about the provenance of pieces offered for sale/auction, but this is far from universally true. Some buyers too might be willing to turn a blind eye, either just to have the pieces for their own enjoyment or else hoping that provenance might still be camouflaged into the future.


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

[User]
CMV: People shouldn't make fun of Madonna for being old.

She can't control the fact that she gets older.  To me, she's an artist continuing her career and doing what she loves.  People make fun of her because they're used to seeing 20-year-old singers and young artists, but being a musician should be just like other careers; nobody would make fun of a 56-year-old lawyer, but when Madonna continues singing into her old age she gets made fun of for being a "dinosaur" and gets criticism for "Trying to stay relevant" by collaborating with Nicki Minaj.  **Of course she's trying to stay relevant.  All artists try to stay relevant.** It's how they make their living.  I just don't see anything wrong with Madonna continuing to perform into her 50s.

[Assistant] People aren't making fun of Madonna because she's old. They're making fun of her because she's not aging gracefully. No one is suggesting she shouldn't perform, they are suggesting that she shouldn't continually try to tie her brand to far younger performers in *failed* attempts to seem youthful. It all seems very transparent and people find it off putting.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are the words "eleven" and "twelve," so different from the pattern of thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, etc?

[Assistant]
Those two words came from Germanic words meaning "one left" and "two left", referring to how many things are left over after ten have gone.

The -teens come from -ten. For example, thirteen was three-ten, fourteen was four-ten, etc.


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

[User]
What happens after a hormone binds with a receptor?

For example: Insulin binds to the insulin receptor, which causes a chain of events to happen to ultimately move GLUT4.

After insulin binds to the receptor, what happens to insulin itself? Does it get released from the receptor? Absorbed? Does it change/get recycled? Break down?

[Assistant] Pretty much every ligand-receptor pair has a dynamic binding mode because you dont want the signal to stay on forever (constitutively active receptors are often drivers of cancer). The respective on and off rates are governed by how physically accessible the binding pocket is and how tight the binding interaction is. Evolution has tuned those interactions and they can often be further tweaked by other ligands (allosteric modulators) or protein cofactors (other proteins that bind to the receptor and alter its shape). Alternatively the signal duration can also be changed by physically removing or degrading the receptor to stop its action, e.g. cell surface receptors being internalized. On the flip side the ligand can be removed (e.g. neurotransmitter reuptake transporters) or degraded (e.g. thyroid hormone deiodinases). Which is all to say that you have to look at particular ligand-receptor pairs for specific answers.


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

[User] ELI5:Why did health insurance prices go up in the United States when almost all Americans have it now? Shouldn't prices have went down?

[Assistant]
Law student studying insurance law here.

Insurance companies used to be able to pick and choose who they insured. That means they could exclude people with preexisting conditions or really high likelihoods of being sick. BUT. Now under ACA, they are not allowed to exclude anyone because of a preexisting condition.

This seems like a really good thing. Everyone gets healthcare now! The problem is that insurance is about managing **risk**. You can think about it like a form of gambling. You're effectively betting a certain amount of money (your premium payments to the insurance company) that you'll get sick and incur MORE money in medical bills than the amount you are paying. If you get sick enough, you "win" the bet and the insurance company "loses." BUT, that's ok, because overall enough people who are also paying insurance premiums will "LOSE" their bets by NOT getting sick. The insurance co can use some of their "winnings" to pay out to you and everyone is happy.

Now, gambling only works if there is, in fact, a **risk** (meaning some sort of uncertainty). Without a "risk," there's nothing to gamble on. Think about it. You gamble on football games BEFORE they happen because there is a certain measure of uncertainty involved (i.e., you don't know for certain which team will win). You legitimately cannot gamble on a game that has already happened, because everyone already knows the outcome. The same is true of people with preexisting conditions. There is nothing to gamble on because they already KNOW they are sick. The football game is over. The home team has won. There is nothing to bet on. THAT is why insurance companies would historically exclude people with preexisting conditions. They were effectively always "winning" their bets because they would inevitably pay in less than what they were getting out. Sure, they may pay premiums, but the premiums will always be less money than the amount the insurance company has to pay out to cover bills (that's the whole point of getting them coverage in the first place! They couldn't afford to pay for their own coverage, but they COULD afford the premiums).

That's where ACA comes in. By forcing insurance companies to accept people despite pre-existing conditions, they effectively forced the insurance company to take on a LOT of losing bets. The insurance company has to be able to pay somehow, though (or go bankrupt....which some did), so they have to **raise everyone ELSE'S premiums** in order to pay for all of these losing bets.....but that means all the healthy people are suddenly paying wayyyyyy more than they're getting out.

This caused some people to do some mental math and realize that even though they would be FINED for NOT having health insurance (as mandated by the ACA), it was less expensive to pay the fine than it was to keep paying for health insurance. Additionally, because the insurance companies wouldn't be allowed to turn them away if/when they eventually DID get really sick, they could just hold out until then and wait to reenter the health insurance market when they really really needed it.

This causes a MASSIVE death spiral. The pool gradually gets smaller and more healthy people choose to drop out and take the fine, mostly leaving behind the people who are already sick and really do NEED the insurance. Because of this, the insurance companies are faced with even FEWER healthy customers who are "losing" their bets and a higher and higher percentage of sick customers who are "winning" their bets, forcing the insurance companies to raise prices still further.

Hope this helped!

edit: TL;DR: making insurance companies accept people with preexisting conditions means more insurance companies lose money which means higher premiums for healthy people and more healthy people dropping out.


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

[User] ELI5: What is a community college and why is it looked bad upon?

[Assistant]
College is the same thing as university in the United States; it's an optional school after high school.

A community college is often small and local, and they get most of their funding from the state (like, California or Oklahoma). They also must meet certain requirements for state curriculum and must be certified, so they have requirements for what, how, and how often they teach students. Those standards let everyone know that the degree they can earn will be considered equal to a degree from any other community college. Since there may be many community colleges in high-population areas, they may develop specialties in study (arts, biology, culinary, etc.) while others focus on different specialties. It's rare for a community college to have more than one school (liberal arts vs. engineering at a university) or a wide variety of advanced studies.

Community colleges are looked down on for a few reasons:
- They're the "cheap" college. The cost of attendance is much lower, with expensive community colleges rarely reaching above $15,000 for 4 years. Private and state universities are much larger, have wider options for degrees, host graduate studies, and do much more research (among other things), so they have higher costs.
- They also do 2 year degrees and certifications other than degrees. This leads to many people assuming that anyone who attended a community college *only* got a 2-year degree or a certificate.
- They have lower standards for admissions, so it's possible for students who did poorly in high school or got a GED to go to community college. People then assume that people who went to a CC weren't smart enough to go to any other schools.

Overall, it's the comparison of community colleges to more expensive and better funded universities that makes them looked down upon. They lack the prestige of a university. A positive look at CC's may view them as efficient, cost-effective, and more flexible for scheduling and financing.


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

[User]
What would have happened to Oil if humans had never drilled it?

Does it become a rock if left alone? Become a gas that bubbles though the cracks to the surface? or has not enough time passed yet to say?

[Assistant]
Buried hydrocarbons work their way through the carbon cycle in one of two ways:

A - they may find their way to the surface, either through the joint action of uplift and erosion or natural oil/gas seeps. In this case, they get oxydized and converted to CO2 by specialized microbiota. Some of these seeps support rich faunas of specialised macrobiota living complex often symbiotic relationships with methane consuming microbes.

B - they get buried at progressively deeper levels until they reach temperature conditions where they become unstable. Throughout that burial process, they will convert to progressively shorter carbon chains through a process called thermal maturation. At maximal maturity, hydrocarbons are mostly stored as single-carbon bearing molecules (methane). Beyond the thermal stability of methane,the molecule will convert to inert carbon (graphite) and release hydrogen which usually at those depths and pressures binds to oxygen and forms water or hydroxyde.

The carbon cycle through the lithosphere is a dynamic process which never really stops, albeit its progress rates seems insuffferably slow at the scale of human lives.


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

[User]
Bifurcated (2) needles for vaccination?

Why was this type of needle used for small pox?  Have 2 needles ever been used on other vaccinations? Thank you.

[Assistant]
The bifurcated needle was used because it was one of the rare examples of something being: fast, cheap, and good.

The small pox vaccine needed to be delivered just under the skin.  Previously a jet injector had been used.  These basically fire a jet of vaccine through the skin with compressed gas.  Whilst quick theyre expensive and unreliable.  The bifurcated needle allowed the vaccine to just be poked under the skin, a dose could be delivered simply with some rapidity.  The needles were cheap to produce.

As far as Im aware the smallpox vaccine is the only medicine to be delivered in this way.  Although the technology is still good, and we may see it used again in the future.


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

[User]
ELI5 - What is the weird sensation you feel when you clean your bellybutton?

Okay, I hope I explain this well. Every time I clean my bellybutton, I get a really weird, almost painful sensation deep inside my body (not immediately below the below button) but a little lower and deeper inside. What causes that to happen?

[Assistant] The inside of the belly button like around the abdominal cavity is exquisitely sensitive and its sensory nerve fibers relay input back to the spinal cord at the same level as the nerves that relay sensation from your bladder and urethra. So it feels kinda like pain from your urethra but its not coming from there, that might explain why it feels deeper. Cuz its like coming from not as far down and you mind aint used to it, or something.


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

[User] [The Avengers] How do they dispose of all the dead Leviathans around NY?

[Assistant]
Thank you for your query!

Damage Control, Incorporated was behind the major cleanup processes after the Battle of New York City. We are a service in the New York, Great Lakes and Los Angeles region that helps deal with the damage and 'leftovers' that are left behind after a major metahuman conflict.

We were formed after the destructive battle between the Incredible Hulk and the Abomination, as the media referred to it, in the neighborhood of Harlem. After six months of intense work, most of the major damage was fully repaired with hefty donations from Stark Industries and Advanced Idea Mechanics.

The massive Leviathans that died as a result of the Hulk, government defense or being stranded on Earth were chopped apart with high-intensity saws and sent off into government custody, with Damage Control handling the major reconstruction efforts after they've been removed.

Grand Central Station is still being renovated and restored to her rightful beauty, as is large sections of New York, with the assistance from expert architects, engineers, and metahuman assistance and volunteers.

Damage Control is currently hiring, please visit our website for further information regarding employment and donations or business inquiries.


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

[User]
[Batman] Is The Riddler actually smart?

Clearly, The Riddler thinks he's way smarter than he actually is. But beyond that, he appears to just be not particularly smart, in absolute terms. Example: He creates puzzles with discernible solutions and acts like they're literally impossible, OR he pretends that stupid puns are brilliant riddles. He's seems to just be a crazy person who is obsessed with cheating (either cheating to win or accusing his opponent of cheating when they win).

Does he have actual impressive feats of intelligence, (beyond the cunning to commit crimes and create his various deathtraps and such)?

[Assistant]
The riddler is an extremely gifted person with many great talents. He's definitely several steps above every normal human and really only pales in comparison to ultra-geniuses like Lex Luthor.

However, his biggest problem is that he CAN'T create an unsolvable puzzle. His mind will not let him cheat like that. It's beneath him to trick someone into a situation they can't figure their way out of. Yes, he often gloats that people are too stupid to figure out his tricks and riddles, but the solution is always there. He must prove that Batman is a dunce once and for all by confirming he can't detective his way out of every situation. Riddler is PERFECTLY capable of trapping, tricking and killing most everyone in Gotham, but he never will.

There's also the often discussed theory that he wants to be caught. He wants nothing more than the attention his escapades bring him. Either as a psychological need, a fetish or the boredom of a mind incapable of doing anything else. (Like anonymous does it for the lulz, he does it for the Bat's eventual fists)


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

[User]
If you ground up sand to be finer, would it act like silt? What about silt ground down to the size of clay?

From what I've read, the main difference between sand/silt/clay is the particle size, as well as the shape of the particles to some degree. But I haven't found any resources that effectively explain what sand vs. silt vs. clay actually *are*. Sand is ground up stone, which are primarily silica (SO2), right? So is silt roughly the same composition but smaller? Or is silt and clay only made by organic matter decomposing? If anyone has some good reading resources on the subject, I'd love to go through them.

[Assistant]
The terms "sand, silt and clay" are a reference to the grain size of ground up stone and is inorganic and that's really all it is.

These distinctions become important when calculating porosity and permeability of fluids.


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

[User]
How do mutations occur that happen to be beneficial for the environment?

The fact that an organism adapts extremely good to the environment is very strange to me. I understand evolution so my question is not how organisms are so well suited for the environment, it's how they can even develop mutations that is suited to live. I feel like we are heads landing consecutively thousand times.

I hope my question is clear I am having a hard time formulating it.

Edit: Thank you all so much for taking time to respond. I read it all and it was very helpful. I now understand the answer.

[Assistant]
I think you may be a little confused about evolution.

Organisms don't adapt to environments, they are simply born with whatever genetic tools they have and either reproduce or die.

Species on the other hand are what we see from the natural selection of organisms that survive (or not, i.e. extinction).

A well adapted species is landing heads a thousand times but what you don't really are the millions of previous throws that failed. That's really the beauty of natural selection, if you have a strong enough pressure then you will either only get those organisms that can survive or the species will go extinct.

We can see this selection and survival of the fittest play out in real-time with antibiotic resistance and bacteria.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does Google Maps sometimes default to a particular route while simultaneously telling you another route is a minute or two faster?

[Assistant]
One thing Google tries to do (and Waze too, for that matter) is stagger drivers across different routes so that one route doesn't get too plugged up. If one route is 2 minutes faster and the routing server gave everybody that route every single time, it wouldn't be the fastest route anymore before too long.

It also gives you that option because you should be able to override the decision that the routing server made for you if you so choose. And most of the time you can with no problems, if you just look at traffic conditions along that route. But that's the ultimate goal, to stagger people across different routes so as to keep the traffic flow more or less balanced (even though it will never be quite so perfect).


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

[User] [Lovecraft] What would a hypothetical war between humans and Elder Things look like? Since the Elder Things are mortal like humanity, would we have a chance if we developed technology as powerful as theirs?

[Assistant]
If we got our tech base high enough to A) have a hard counter for massive shoggoth swarms and B) pursue the Elder Things into space, then yes, we could probably take them, though we don't really know the full scope of what they're bringing to the table.

We know that they built the shoggoth to serve them, were able to travel to earth, and could square off against the Mi-Go and the Great Race of Yith, though we don't know much more than that. They might have mechanical super-weapons, and biological/material engineering sophisticated enough to build a bespoke slave race certainly implies they could be capable of building something much more dangerous as a sort of dedicated war machine.


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

[User] ELI5: While smartphones and televisions keep getting cheaper with bigger and better screens, why are awful twisted nematic LCD panels still the standard with most consumer grade laptops?

[Assistant]
Primarily, they're cheap.

One thing TN panels do well is refresh rate. There are better options with regard to contrast ratio or colour, but to the vast majority of standard users, that doesn't matter.

Not that we're still in the days of LCD panels so slow they smear, but response rate is something that did bother people which is why TN became as ubiquitous as it did.

Remember TN replaced horrific passive displays. Compared to those they were nirvana.

People who care about better quality colours and stuff will find laptops that do what they want, but for most people it'd be an extra expense that they'd not be bothered about.


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

[User]
[Star Wars Legends] Why did it take so long for Thrawn to get word of the Empire's fall and return from his campaign?

Wouldn't other imperials have told him, at least to get reinforcements against the Rebellion? Wouldn't he have noticed his supply lines or troop rotations are different?

[Assistant]
He knew of the fall almost immediately but stayed in the shadows for tactical purposes. Thrawn became a Grand Admiral upon killing Grand Admiral Zaarin but this wasn't public knowledge as Palpatine had promoted him shortly before dying on the Death Star II. As far as the Rebels knew they only had eleven Grand Admirals to go after.

Thrawn built up his Empire of the Hand for the next ten years. He figured the Imperial warlords would wipe each other out and/or get killed by the Rebels/New Republic, which is exactly what happened.

Now Admiral Daala, on the other hand, was so isolated in the Maw Installation that she didn't know *Tarkin* was dead, much less Palpatine.


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

[User]
[WH40K] Some Space Marine gave me the Emperor's Unholy Finger and told me to "Shove it in my Eye of Terror" Who do I contact to get them punished?

The guy was wearing Yellow and part Red with a big looking face on the side, and said something about being Angry, but that's irrelevant now.

What's the Chain of Command in Space Marine chapters?

 Who's at the top, who's at the bottom? What organisations hold sway over the Adeptus Astartes? Who do I contact to get that marine punished?

How will they be punished? Does that depend on my position in the Imperium? I am quite  rich Noble man who has a Knight to his name you know!

[Assistant]
Are you kidding me? You, a human, with influence that probably spans over a single planet, is daring to even THINK that they deserve an apology, or some sort of recompense because a Space Marine hurt your feelings?

Let me tell you about that Space Marine. If he's average, he was probably picked up when he was a child because he slaughtered an entire pack of wolves, or killed a fully grown Ork, or murdered his entire village. He was then pushed through training that only 1 in 1000 survive, and he was then given surgery to ensure that when he was sent to battle, he was as strong as an Ork, as smart as a Tau and as durable as a hab-unit.

He was then given the best weapons and armour that the Imperium can forge, and sent into battle. He has faced the horrors that lurk in the shadows, and he has fought the beasts that scream through the cosmos that your petty, insignificant world floats through. He has been doing this for decades, and was a hardened veteran before your father was even born.

To him, you are nothing but a bug. The Imperium would gladly sacrifice 100 people like you if it meant they could have one more Space Marine. You can complain all you want, but don't be surprised if you are, at best, laughed at, and at worst, shot for daring to question the actions of one of the Heroes of the Imperium.


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

[User]
[TheMatrix] In The Simulated world, do they have history books? if so, how much of it is virtual history?

Do they have history books in The Matrix? if so... how much of the world history in the virtual world is real?... or what history is real and when does the fake history begins to take place?

[Assistant] The history is accurate, right up until the time that The Matrix is simulating. There's really no point for the machines to fake anything from the past, since the time they are simulating is so far back, there wouldn't be any benefit to it.


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

[User]
ELI5: The difference between Existentialism, Nihilism and Absurdism

Thanks :)

[Assistant]
Nihilism - nothing has inherent meaning, and it never will.

Existentialism - nothing has inherent meaning, but maybe you can make your own meaning.

Absurdism - nothing has inherent meaning. Haha, that's pretty weird right? Go do something that makes you happy.


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

[User]
ELI5: How cough drops work.

I've always wondered how just putting a piece of solid 'vapour relief' works.

[Assistant]
Menthol is a soothing agent and topical anesthetic. It also increase salvia production and is a local analgesic

What this means in laymen's terms: tthroat lozenges/cough drops bomb numb the throat and reduce your ability to feel your throat. It also increases the amount of spit you create which greased the wheels and reduces inflammation a little bit.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do multi-lingual people seemingly, with no reason, switch between languages while talking to someone who is also multi-lingual? What benefit does it have over staying with the language they started the conversation with?

[Assistant] It's called code-switching, and it allows the speakers to draw from both languages' vocabularies to express ideas. Some words in one language don't have nice, short, or eloquent equivalents in another, so if you're speaking to someone who knows both languages, you use whichever one helps you to most easily get your ideas across.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why milk is better than water after eating baked goods?

If there is a scientific basis behind this, I would like to know. Why does milk taste so much better after eating baked goods (cookies, cake, donuts, pie, etc) as opposed to drinking water? Water only seems to spread the sugars around in my mouth. Is there something in milk that makes it so much better?

[Assistant] Milk has lots of fats suspended in it, which are a good counterpoint to the high carb content of baked goods.  Also, because of this, it can effectively move both oil-soluble and water-soluble things around in your mouth.  Even though oil and water don't mix, the fats suspended in milk can gather up and move oils effectively.  This can also help to clear your palate so you can enjoy the next bite without the flavor from the previous one interfering.


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

[User] [MCU] Is Stormbreaker's handle as durable and strong as the axe/hammer head?

[Assistant] It didn't explode into a cloud of sawdust when Thor hit Thanos with it, so it's definitely more durable than wood. Probably not as strong as the uru metal the head is made of, but still stronger than anything you could make on Midgard.


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

[User] ELI5: Why did people start to overwhelmingly prefer much shorter, singing music over long classical pieces?

[Assistant]
The normal folks _always_ had short music. Folk songs. Madrigals. Any form of minstrel work.

Three to six minutes is about as long as a single performer of average skill can be expected to go without a break and still keep the quality up.

So long orchestral pieces are the tasks of the "professional athletes" of music. People who can afford to spend all their time working on their skills and stamina.

Also most catchy story-songs don't have enough material to go for more than a couple of minutes.

So you've got a historical misunderstanding. Virtually all music for all of history was short-form. We just _remember_ and _note_ the classical ages peices because of their literal rarity. There are few of them. The probable millions of songs that were never written down or preserved are simply lost to time. And the few that were written down were not particularly sought out or preserved.

So its not that the long form was preferred. Indeed those long pieces were reserved for special occasions for the wealthy.

But any well-appointed house had a "music room" and any lady or gentleman was expected to be able to play at least one common instrument.

Meanwhile in inns, and tap rooms, and campfires there was the songs of the day just like today.


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

[User]
ELI5: why manual cars are dying off even though they're more fuel efficient and keep the driver focused

Manual transmission. They're more fun, too. And **cheaper.**

[Assistant] Because automatics are easier to drive. Also, the fuel efficiency gap between standard and automatic transmission has narrowed considerably over the last few decades, meaning that there is far less of a financial incentive to purchase a manual transmission over automatics.


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

[User] [Batman] How many investigations does Batman have going on at a time?

[Assistant] Many many. While he may be focused on one particular one, he's keeping an eye on any number of others and if he happens to run into someone with a warrant that he remembers, he'll take time out to deal with it.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is binary with transistors used in computers? Why not other states like 3 or 4?

I saw this in a video and they said that it was because if there are more states, there'd be "interference" from other devices?

What does it mean? Transistors make use of semiconductors and flow of electrons, why not divide certain voltages for more states?

I apologise if I got any info wrong, but please make me wrong. Layman terms would be appreciated.

[Assistant]
Two states are easy. On and off. This is very easy for transistors to compare. You don't need to be careful about what exact voltage the transistors output - just on or off. Making a system that sets exact voltages and differentiates them would likely just end up being a bunch of different interwoven binary systems running at different voltages. Not really a step up.

Now, analog computers have been attempted, but they are less reliable and more difficult to make than digital ones, and ultimately digital was the one that humanity chose to use.


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

[User] [Fallout] Why does the Commonwealth have so many more suits of power armor than out west or in the Capital Wasteland?

[Assistant]
There weren't many factions who desired or knew how to use them. The Brotherhood was well established on the West Coast and in DC, they picked any good armor out of facilities that they could.

There is also a far larger amount of experimental labs in the Commonwealth. There are a fair amount of special armor you can find that you find in labs.


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

[User]
ELI5:Commission on Net vs Gross. Whats the difference?

Whats the difference between net and gross spend  please clarify what should be included when calculating gross media spend that wouldnt be included when calculating net media spend? A media agency wants to have commission a gross spend while I would like it on Net spend.

[Assistant]
I don't know how this would apply to media, but generally these are the definitions:

Gross:  the total amount of a transaction.  You sell a $30,000 car, you get commission on $30,000.

Net:  the total amount of a transaction, *reduced by expenses*.  You sell a $30,000 car, you get commission on $8,000, which is $30k - $22k (what the dealership paid for the car.)


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

[User]
Starting a phd - whats one thing you wish you had?

Have a friend/colleague starting a phd shortly, need to get them a gift. Its a science based phd if that makes a difference!

Notebook is an obvious choice, would an academic diary be useful? Whats one thing you found most useful and/or wish you had when doing your phd?

Thanks!

[Assistant] I vote for something non-academia related. Money gets tight and so you don't feel like you can splurge on anything so try to think of whatever hobbies they have and maybe get them something for that. Double bonus gift too because it's important for people doing a PhD to do literally anything else besides the PhD. Get them a 10 pass punch card to the local climbing gym, a bike trails guidebook, a bunch of fancy yarn and fabric, etc.


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

[User] [MCU] How did Justin Hammer react to finding out that Starks Ultron program failed catastrophically?

[Assistant]
Eh... It didnt fail because of Tonys lack of ingenuity or lack of intelligence it failed because the Banner/Stark AI went bonkers.

I dont think he would take that much joy in the ultron incident since it did demonstrate how insanely good tony is with robotics.

It would be like building a crazy advanced car but the tires had a defect that resulted in a crash.


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

[User]
[Marvel] How can Susan Storm's psionic shields be broken other than by using brute force and magic?

Looking for an in universe answer (maybe it's already been done) or maybe a science based answer.
I read on the Marvel wiki that her force fields are permeable to sound waves (which as far as I know need a medium to travel), so does that mean an airborne toxin or something similar can easily pass through??

TIA.

[Assistant]
You don't need the Marvel wiki to tell you her shields are permeable to sound waves. If they were not, no one outside her shield could talk to someone inside, but that happens all the time.

A sound wave doesn't require the medium to pass through, just the wave. Waves can transfer from one medium to another. That's how a microphone works: sound waves strike a diaphragm, causing it to vibrate. The diaphragm is attached to a coil, which generates a small electrical current. (Speakers work the same way, but in the other direction.)

So for a sound wave to pass through, all it has to do is cause some kind of vibration in the shield (this could be just a modulation of the shield's energy) which then gets transferred to the air on the other side by the the same process in the other direction. No actual air or other matter needs to pass through.


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

[User] [DC/Marvel] Are there any other planets with super hero drama like ours?

[Assistant]
Well, there's the Super Skrull.  Basically a Skrull with the powers of the Fantastic Four, a "Captain America"-like figure for his empire, working to avenge his planet for having been eaten by Galactus.

Then there's the Shi'Ar Empire and all their shenanigans with the Phoenix Crystal and the X-Men.

In DC, there's that whole "Green Lantern Corp."


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

[User]
ELI5: What happens to juvenile offenders that turn 18 while they are incarcerated in a juvenile detention center?

Do they get transferred to the adult prison or get to finish their sentence in the juvy? What happens to their criminal record?

[Assistant]
They'd get transferred to adult prison.

It's a consideration that would be taken into account before they were sentenced.

If thier sentance is long enough to pass thier 18th birthday, it's probably a serious felony and will be on record.


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

[User] [LotR] Are the Black Numenoreans as powerful and long-lived as the Dunedain?

[Assistant]
They certainly lived long lives as Numenorians did. But by the time of the Third Age there isn't much proof of many being left. Only one is named canonically, the so called "Mouth of Sauron"

There might also be a few left controlling the dark city of Umbar in the South and some of the Haradrim lands surrounding it.


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

[User]
[Classic Doctor Who] Why does the Doctor sometimes quote mistakes and misunderstandings from human scientists?

The most striking example is the 4th quoting that "it's scientifically impossible for bees to fly", something that was believed by humans at the time but later turned out to be a mistake from a human mathematician that got propagated.

Thing is, the Doctor was educated in science and mathematics on Galifrey, by scientists far superior to those available to humans at the time, so why is he quoting silly human errors?

[Assistant]
He was making a point about "impossible" things being possible. In this case, someone bypassing a robot's prime directive to not kill.

In this case quoting a Terran certainty of the aerodynamic impossibility of bee flight was quite pertinent, since it demonstrated that there was something unknown that would make it appear possible.


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

[User]
How much do we know about the other side of the of the Milky Way?

Most maps of the observable universe that I 've seen have a large blank spot that, from what I understand, is caused by our inability to "see through" the gas, dust, etc. in the galactic plane.  Are there any objects or phenomena that we could observe that are located in this portion of the sky? (opposite side of the Milky Way of course)

For example, could there be a galaxy just as large as Andromeda, <100,000 ly away from the opposite edge of the Milky Way? Could we be in the initial stages of a galactic merger and simply not know?

[Assistant]
You are correct in saying that we cannot 'see' through the center of the milky way.  As you hinted at, there is a large amount of dust in the galactic plane which blocks light that we would describe as being in the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.  However, it is possible to peer through this dust using different wavelengths of the spectrum.  One such wavelength is simply radio waves.  Using radio telescopes, astronomers are able to get past the dust and observe objects in the center of the galaxy and beyond.

Now, observing things on the far end of the galaxy can certainly be difficult, as there are a great number of radiation sources in the way.  However, making use of radio waves and other wavelengths, such as x-rays, would surely allow us to observe something as high in radiation as an entire galaxy.


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

[User]
CMV: The violinist argument begs the question

Fwiw, I in no way want to take away access to abortion. I understand the motivations behind them, I think outlawing them would just create a back-alley scenario, and I'm only 50% sure fetuses are actually people, whereas pregnant people are unambiguously people. Still, I feel very uneasy with my current position and wish I could be unambiguously pro-choice with a clear conscience. I can never know in principle whether fetuses are people or not ("personhood" seems too big to ever get a clear and obvious definition), so the only way to get there is by saying that even if they *are* people, abortion is still okay. People often bring up the violinist argument for this.

I'm sorry, but I don't get it at all.

The general idea behind it is "if you were attached to someone and forced to let that person use your body for nine months because their life depended on it, wouldn't you want to unplug yourself and go free, in spite of their need?" And everyone else who hears the thought experiment - even pro-life people - seem to think that it would be morally licit to unplug the violinist. They treat it as self-evident. Is everyone crazy? A scenario where someone loses nine months of their life is obviously superior to a scenario where someone loses their existence altogether. While I wouldn't be happy if I were kidnapped and tied up to the violinist, I would understand the kidnapper's reasoning and while I don't know that the ends would justify the means, it would certainly be morally wrong of me to attempt to leave at that point. Maybe this is more of a defect in my personal psychology, but I just don't think that my autonomy is worth more than another person's existence. So an argument that's built on the assumption that autonomy *is* that important doesn't convince me, even though I actively *want* to be convinced.

If you think "you're only saying this because you haven't actually been put in that situation," I concede that my animalistic impulse to escape might overcome my moral reasoning in that situation. But I wouldn't be morally *justified* in trying to escape. That's ludicrous.

[Assistant]
> A scenario where someone loses nine months of their life is obviously superior to a scenario where someone loses their existence altogether.

3,000 Americans die every year waiting for bone marrow donations. Fact is you are already complicit in their deaths whether you know it or not. Should people be forced to donate bone marrow?


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does the tounge muscle not grow even if it's constantly moving?

For example, when you workout, your muscles (biceps, pecs, legs, etc.) get bigger by time. Why not the tounge?

[Assistant]
Muscles get as big as they need to be, I.e. if you dont work out your bicep and just use it for your normal day to day going about your business, it will settle at a certain size, that size will be different person to person.

The cardiac muscles dont keep growing just because they are beating all the time, they get as big as they need to be to carry out their work then stop growing.

I suppose it is possible, you could set up some sort of resistance training rig for your tongue and strengthen it, it may even grow bigger.


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

[User]
Could antimatter destroy a black hole?

Since black holes are made of matter, could a large enough quantity of antimatter sent into a black hole destroy, or at least destabilize, a black hole?

[Assistant]
No. Antimatter still has positive mass it just has the opposite charge as it's normal matter partner. So antimatter that falls into a black hole will increase the total mass of the system.

So why won't the matter-antimatter annihilation cause the mass inside the black hole to disappear? First to assume that annihilation can happen we have to make certain assumptions that somehow the initial matter that fell into the black hole will retain some kind of individual identity. We need this because a positron and say a down quark won't annihilate. Only only an particle and *its* anti-particle.

For the sake of argument lets assume this is somehow true so an infilling positron could find an electron at the singularity to annihilate with and it does so. We've not actually changed anything about the "mass" of the black hole. Yes we've eliminated the electron and positron, but in their place we've created two new photons with the exact same energy as those two particles had. These photons will continue to contribute to the gravity well as if they were still particles.

This would still work since unlike the two particles photons always move at c, except at this point we're within the event horizon of the black hole, and the photons will therefore be unable to escape.

So at the end of the whole thing we've still got the original electron's energy in the black hole and the added positron's energy is also bound within the gravitational well thus we have increased the energy of the black hole.


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

[User]
ELI5: How exactly does dry cleaning work? (And are dry clean-only labels a scam?)

I've always been a bit confused on this one - even more with places that offer BOTH dry cleaning and basic laundering.

[Assistant]
Dry Cleaning Shop Owner reporting in!

Cabtab314 is correct, (we use a solvent called Perc in the UK), and yes because Perc is a solvent the garments get thoroughly "wet" but the solvent evaporates in the dry cleaning process.

In regards to your other question, we have a huge issue with dry clean labels... Many companies put Dry Clean only on their brand because it has a reputation for being a gentler clean, even though solvent is heavier than water and the machine uses the same/similar mechanical action as a washing machine, the solvent just doesn't take as much life from the garment.

Sadly though, many clothes get the dry clean classification approved before they add a lot of the decorations. Dresses with beading that has been glued on will generally... Not... End... Well...

But yes, you can wash a lot of dry clean only garments, just on a cold wash with a very small amount of detergent. Suit jackets with padded shoulders look dreadful if you wash them though!

I hate this industry sometimes!


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

[User]
[Batman Begins] So the wealthiest Man in the state walks into a dinky little bar that a Mobster is sitting in...

This Falconi Mob leader clearly knows who he is, and yet he still threatens, and points a gun at Bruce, spouting off about fear or whatever...

He does realize if he wanted, Bruce could hire a private army and wipe Falconi's dinky little mob, which doesn't even exist a few years later, off the face of the Earth right?

[Assistant]
As Falcone says, the power of FEAR is one you can't buy. He knows that Bruce is insanely wealthy and powerful, but just doesn't believe Bruce will have the balls to use that against him. Indeed, Bruce must learn to control his fear before he can return to Gotham and take down Falcone and his fellow mobsters.

Whereas Falcone is comparatively far less wealthy, but isn't afraid to get his hands dirty, and is aware that everyone in the city knows this and fears HIM because of it.

Power, in this case, comes from fear and not money.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Are there any other known twin wands besides Harry's and Voldemort's wands?

[Assistant]
Due to the nature of wandmaking, there are probably quite a lot of sibling wands. Many wand cores are made from magical animal hairs, and it would make sense to harvest more than one hair at a time. Even with Dragon Heartstring wands it would make sense that you could get multiple cores from a single dragon's heart.

Wandmaking is hardly industrialized, but just looking at how many wands Olivander has in his shop it seems clear that he probably doesn't make wands to order. Building up the stock of wands that we see in the background of his shop (and, although we don't see it, the store of wand parts he has to make more wands) doesn't make sense if he only receives one hair per thestral or unicorn that the core is harvested from. Wands are presumably affordable enough for wizards and witches to buy when necessary, and that (reasonably low) price doesn't mesh with the idea of harvesting only one wand core from each creature that can create them.

The reason Harry and Voldemort's wands were notable for their relationship was the nature of the animal that donated the core material. Phoenixes are fairly powerful magical beings, and Fawkes seems to be an extraordinary example of a phoenix. Add to that that phoenix feathers are fairly rare and that Fawkes only donated two feathers to be made into wand cores and those wands are almost guaranteed to be special.

Let's also not discount the potential effect that Harry and Voldemort's relationship itself adds to the situation. Wands are tools to channel the natural magical energy of witches and wizards, not the source of the magic itself. Harry had a piece of Voldemort's soul in him, and was presumably drawing some magical energy from that soul fragment. Voldemort's magical energy (from Voldemort) interacting with his own other magical energy (from Harry) is bound to create some weird magical situations, and even more so that both of these are being focused through very similar wands and that weirdness is going to be extra weird (such as what happened at the Gaunt graveyard during the Triwizard tournament).


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

[User] [MCU - GOTG] Did Yondu ever discuss the birds and the bees with Peter? What was that like?

[Assistant] Yeah he would've gone into great detail about how to get women into the sack, what goes on in the sack and probably loads of details about which colours of space human are sexually compatible. Yondu wasn't exactly shy or awkward.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why doesn't the ocean's water leak out the bottom and into the earth's crust/mantle? The ocean bottom can't be completely free of fissures, can it?

I was looking at the ocean the other day and wondering how it just contains all of its water.

[Assistant]
* the water doesn't have anywhere to go.  There aren't gaping holes for stuff to fall into.  Any holes there are has stuff coming out (lava), not stuff going in.
* any water that does actually make it to a hole gets turned to steam pretty quickly (by the lava), and starts going right back up.
* rock is more dense than water.  That doesn't just mean that rocks sink in water, that means that water _floats_ on rocks.  The natural place that water wants to be in relation to a rock is above it, in the same way a beach ball wants to be above water.


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

[User]
CMV: Automation will not result in mass unemployment

I've heard it repeated as fact constantly over the last few years that the rise of automation and improved AI will result in mass unemployment. (For example, this point is often used as a key justification for proposals such as universal basic income.)

This argument is almost exactly what the Luddites said in early 17th century England as they smashed their mechanical cotton mills. In reality, the new availability of cheap, mass produced textiles led to an explosion of new possibilities. Yes, many cotton weavers lost their current jobs, but it didn't result in increased unemployment in the long term.

Every new technology requires new jobs to maintain, manage and develop it further - \*and\* increased productivity enables a cheaper end product which means it can be used in ways which would have been cost-prohibitive before. Technological advances shouldn't be something to fear, we should welcome the fact that menial roles will increasingly be filled by robots, allowing people to focus their energies on more creative tasks.

[Assistant]
Every new technology also requires less people for the same result, and the new jobs require a higher level of knowledge and education.

Agriculture is already heavily mechanized, and getting more so. There have been advances in robot warehousing -- Kiva Systems, which was bought by Amazon. There's a lot of interest in self-driving cars. Amazon is working on unattended stores and already has one. There have been efforts to have fast food restaurants where you order on a tablet, and they're looking into having robots do the burgers as well.

Eventually, the low end jobs get drastically reduced. And when where do the high school dropouts go? You can't possibly think they're going to be robot designers, right?

Also, here's the thing -- the luddites were right, in a way. People don't riot for shits and giggles. Yes, the machines resulted in enormous advances, but they also ruined the lives of people who now became unemployable, and society didn't give them any workable alternatives to feed themselves and their families at the time.

Suppose trucking is automated by 2030. What's a trucker who did nothing but that for 20 years supposed to do? Sit home hungry, happy at the benefits to the economy that resulted from better logistics, in which they are no longer a necessary part? Go to school and study engineering? Where are they going to get the money for that?