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

[User]
ELI5: why do pregnant women experience specific cravings?

Is there any science behind pregnancy cravings? I remember being told in my youth that the concept is a myth, is that so?

[Assistant] When a woman is pregnant, her body starts to pump around all kinds of hormones (special substances that cause different parts of the body to do specific jobs, so that the body knows it needs to feed and take care of the child growing inside her womb). It's these hormones that cause women to feel emotions (or cravings) that she normally wouldn't feel - similar to how women can get more upset during their menstrual cycle: it's all got to do with hormones.


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

[User]
CMV: I see no real benefit from Marriage that I cannot get another way.

I am trying to decide if marriage is right for me and my partner. I will explain our situation as I believe there are benefits for marriage in other relationships. I will state a few benefits I have read online and counter them. Please add other benefits that I am not aware so that I can consider them.

1. Immigration:  We are both U.S Citizens
2. Tax Benefits : We both make around 6 figures each, which means we don't get any tax reductions at all. I was surprised to learn that high income marriage was penalized in a way.
3. Health Insurance : We both are employed and have individual health insurances through our employer. They are both terrific plans.
4. Discount Insurance : We are both in our own families auto insurance so we are already discounted for now at least.
5. Inheritance : We will create a Will when we decide we need to, which is essentially the day we commit to each other for life.
6. Pension/Retirement : Since we both work, we would get little benefit in Social Security, especially since we make about the same. 401k I believe I can write a will or something that would be equivalent to giving her my retirement savings.
7. Visitations in jail : She better not make me use this
8. Medical decisions : I believe we can do a power of attorney doc or something that would give her control over me in these situations. And thinking about it, I am not sure this is a benefit until after a couple of decades pass. I believe my parents should be the ones responsible for me for the near future as they are pretty much the only people who will unconditionally love me and will always want whats best for me.
9. Other benefits : I have read other benefits like, married men make more, but that isn't a direct causation in my opinion. Or married men live longer, which can just be attributed to spending your life with the women you love.Something that can be done without marriage. Some may claim that I am scared of commitment, but I plan to have kids with this women, which to me is more of a commitment than marriage. I can divorce the following year if I wanted to and never see her again, with a kid, we are part of each others live forever.

These are some of the reasons I can think of on the top of my head. Please let me know if there are any I've missed. I primarily interested in ones that we cannot circumvent through some legal document and that are only accessible through marriage.

[Assistant]
>1. Immigration:  We are both U.S Citizens

What about moving to another country. What if one of you gets an offer of a lifetime to work your dream job in <insert your favorite foreign country>. Would being married not aide you in following your partner to that country or vice versa?


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

[User]
Will a length of rope with a mass of 500 lbs and with a tensile strength of 500 lbs break if suspended?

I was watching the scene in Princess Bride where Andre the Giant is climbing up the long rope up the cliffs and was wondering if that rope could or would break under it's own weight?

[Assistant] Every point on the rope will only be holding up the weight of the rope below it. So the only part of the rope that would experience the full 500 lbs of force is the segment of the rope at the very top.


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

[User]
ELI5: why does paper have weird sizes?

Why has paper those weird sizes, like an A4 is 210X297 (cm)? why isn't it better to have 210X300, or 200X300? I tought it would be easier to divide a paper with 200X300 than 210X297.

[Assistant] Basically, paper sizes have this quality where if you cut it in half, it retains the aspect ratio it originally has. You can try it by folding a normal sheet of A4. No matter how many times you fold it, the length of the sides will always be in the same ratio.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is the % midwife births in the United States so low in comparison to the rest of the world?

[Assistant] Most Americans that I've met know about midwives. However, the explanation I've gotten multiple times is that if anything goes wrong during the birthing process, it's better to have a doctor around. Most soon to be parents want to minimise risk and thus end up going to the doctor instead.


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

[User]
[Power Rangers] What Powers do the Rangers actually possess?

They obviously have a lot of Tech at their disposal but does "Morphing" into their suits actually provide them with increased fighting abilities at all?

[Assistant]
Oh, hugely. Most notable in the earliest episodes, where the Blue Ranger could barely fight outside of his suit, but could wreck shop while in it. The suits also provide a surprising amount of durability - the Rangers have survived some pretty impressive damage output.

More than that depends on the specific Rangers. They can gain all sorts of tertiary powers.


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

[User]
[Doctor Who] The Meta-Crisis Doctor was practically human -- lifespan, one heart etc. -- but with a Time Lord mind. Then why was Donna "burning up", while he was absolutely fine?

Both the Doctor-Donna and the Meta-Crisis seemed to be similar, in terms of their biology and physiology. Therefore, shouldn't the Meta-Crisis be "burning up" from having a Time Lord mind?

[Assistant] The MC Doctor grew out of a Time Lord hand, he's got a hybrid body like Jenny. Donna is purely human in body, a beige PC case that's had a GTX 1080 Ti graphics card put in it and is struggling to deal with the power it needs and the heat it puts out.


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

[User]
CMV: Obese people should be treated by society the same way smokers are.

To be clear from the start:

* When I refer to obesity, I am referring to body fat percentage, *not* BMI.
* I am not placing blame on either group, just that they should be held to the same standards.
   * I.e. Smokers pay more for health insurance due to the increased risks. Obese people should as well. (or neither should, but I don't want to get into a huge "health insurance should be free" debate).

I see very little to no differences between obese people and smokers. When laid out on paper they are extremely similar groups of people.

* Its well known that \[smoking/obesity\] is one of the worse things you can do to your body, causing countless medical issues and complications over a long period of time.
* There's loads on information available on \[smoking/obesity\] to all audiences, though PSAs, doctors, the internet, etc. Lack of information cannot be considered a cause in the year 2021.
* In many cases, people who are \[smoking/obesity\] know the risks, and chose to continue anyway.
* \[smoking/obesity\] is a form of addiction that can require emotional or chemical assistance to overcome. Neither is easier/harder to overcome.
* \[smoking/obesity\] is very largely related to a person's social network and upbringing.
* In those under 18 years of age, \[smoking/obesity\] is the responsibility of the parents/guardians to A. restrict access to and B. provide reasoning and information as to why.
* A huge portion of design and manufacturing (public and private) has been devoted to accommodating \[smoking/obesity\] even though its detrimental to society overall.

At the end of the day, there's are only a couple of differences I can think of, and neither should really effect my viewpoint. Open to consideration.

* Smoking can effect those around them through second hand smoke. I believe in restricting smoking in public areas, I do *not* believe in restricting where obese people can go.
* There are some legitimate medical situations in which an obese person might not have total control over their weight. There's no such excuse for smokers.

Please change my view. We as a society have chosen to take action on smoking (and rightly so). I wonder then why we seem to just accept that obesity is a thing as opposed to an epidemic (which is what it really is) and do nothing to legally combat it.

[Assistant] The most significant difference is you can become a non-smoker instantaneously. Becoming non-obese can take months or years of hard work. Becoming a non-smoker requires you to do nothing. Becoming non-obese requires you to do a lot. Treating both the same ignores the effort and reality of ending those statuses.


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

[User] ELI5:How do solar cells actually work?

[Assistant]
Ok, here is a very rough explanation, assuming you know what atoms and electrons are:
Solar cells consist of a semiconductor, for example silicon. There are two zones in the cell, one is positively charged and one is negatively charged (due to a process called doping, which means bringing atoms of other elements into the silicon).
Semiconductors normally do not really conduct electrons, like metals do, only if the electrons have additional energy. Where does that energy come from? From the light (often "photons" are mentioned here, which are light-particles, but that is another topic). So the light hits the semiconductor, gives an electron additional energy so it now can move freely. At the place where the electron used to be is now a hole (positively charged, as the electron is negative). The hole can also "move" when an electron from a neighbouring atom jumps into the hole - from a point of view the hole has moved to the other atom.
So the hole moves to the negative zone and the electron moves to the positive zone, from where it moves further through an electrode and cables and your lamp or motor or whatever you want to power, and finally fills the hole on the other side of the cell.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] If the Clones didn't show up at Geonosis, and the strike team all died, who all would have lead the Jedi?

If I remember right, the entire Council (other than Yoda)  would be dead, and there would be another 200 jedi master sized shoes to fill.

Side question: Would Palpatine have drawn out the war with anakin dead in this version of events?

[Assistant]
>Side question: Would Palpatine have drawn out the war with anakin dead in this version of events?

Yes, definitely. The point of the war was for Palpatine to gather 'emergency' powers to himself that he would never let go of. Corrupting Anakin was a side-gambit. Not necessary, but advantageous. *We* care about it a lot more than he did.


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

[User]
Why do we think that the universe should be slowing down without dark energy pushing it to accelerate?

How do we know that there is another force responsible for the acceleration of matter in the universe (i.e. dark energy) rather than the acceleration being a direct result of the big bang itself?  Why do we think that everything should be slowing down at this point without that force?  Having a bit of trouble with my phrasing as I'm not well versed, but hopefully this gets my question across.

[Assistant]
Not that different than throwing a ball up in the air. The initial throw gives it some upwards speed, but as soon as you let go of it, it's gonna start decelerating because of its weight. You expect it to accelerate downwards for all of the jump. No matter how strong you throw it, it's always going to accelerate downwards all the time.

When the right equations are laid out in cosmology, a similar (but not identical) situation appears, where all the known energy density components (matter and radiation) work by decelerating the expansion. It doesn't matter how fast the expansion velocity was at the BB, it's always going to slow down in the sections where only matter and radiation are present. There is no "force from the BB" just like there is no "force from your hand" while the ball is in flight.

The fact that the expansion is accelerating right now therefore requires necessarily a driving component with exotic properties (in particular, a large negative pressure) and this would be dark energy and variants.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are we able to back into tight parallel parking spaces but not able to pull straight forward into them?

[Assistant] The wheels on the front of your car pivot, but the wheels on the back of your car don't. You need the set of wheels that pivot to remain outside the parking space so they can guide the nose of the car into the spot after they've put the rear in. If you drove straight in, you wouldn't be able to get the rear of the car in the spot.


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

[User] [DC Universe]How do I learn magic?

[Assistant] You have a few options.  One, you could come into a magical artifact of some sort that grants you powers (The Helm of Nabu comes to mind, also a bit of trivia, Alan Scott's Green Lantern ring originally was a magically charged item, only later would the ring become a science/tech based item).  You could also make an earnest attempt at simply studying and learning the techniques and skills required (John Constantine is known to use magic in this fashion).  You could travel far into the future and return with technology that seems magical by todays standards (famously Abra Kadabra achieved his magical feats this way).  You may also strike a deal with a denizen of some otherworldy plane to grant you true sorcery (Abra Kadabra would later approach Neron with this plan, one which succeeded, granting him command over magic at will.)  You could also simply be born with your abilities (Zatanna is a prime example, the daughter of John Zatara, magician.)


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

[User] ELI5 how wireless charging works and why it can/can't be put in roads to power electric cars?

[Assistant]
Imagine you have two loops of wire very close to each other. You put an electrical current through one of the wires. This current creates a moving magnetic field around that first wire. This magnetic field drags the electrons in the second wire, creating a second current.

The problem is that, even under the best circumstances it's not very efficient. A lot of energy gets wasted as heat. That, combined with the extreme cost is why we are unlikely to see it in use on roads anytime in the near future.


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

[User]
[MW2] So I understand how the initial Russian attack got past the U.S. But how did the Russians keep themselves supplied?

The main Russian force is comprised of airborne units which carry only so much fuel and ammo. So, they need to get supplied via the ocean by tankers. But that's impossible, since they would have to get past the Atlantic fleet, which is larger and stronger than the Russian fleet. So, how did the Russians keep themselves supplied?

[Assistant]
The conditions in CoD are that Russia had seen a minor economic boom, had a successful modernization of arms plan, and had access codes to our satellite detection systems.

Using this advantage, they got the surprise attack on America. After this, the fleet diverted to help fight off Russian forces off the coast, leaving the Russian fleet able to overpower the remaining  US fleet.


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

[User] Are fingerprints genetic at all? Would you be able to tell that someone is related to another person if their fingerprints are similar?

[Assistant]
They're genetic, but they're also heavily influenced by environmental factors in the womb.

For example, identical twins have different fingerprints.

The foundation is genetic but it variations are introduced before birth.


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

[User]
ELI5:why are DLCs the standard for gaming now?

With many of the games coming out now downloadable content seems to be available for preorder immediately after the game is out. I don't play video games often for this exact reason, I feel as though I am being sold 3/4 of a game just to wait to buy the rest of it at a later date. From a business perspective why would a company not want to send out the whole finished product to make the game more appealing and an overall better experience?

[Assistant]
Some companies do that; hold back features to resell them as DLC. We call those companies assholes.

On the other hand, for companies that aren't assholes, you need to look at things with the timetable for development in mind. During the lifecycle of a game's development, different groups within the dev team have different amounts of work to do. There are months between the day a game releases and the day that the content-creation group stops having work to do, and historically a lot of the time that meant that those guys would either move to another project or get laid off. You don't need animators once the animations for a game are in place; there's lots of work being done, but it's QA and debugging past a certain point, things that the art guys can't help with.

Nowadays, those art guys can just jump right into working on any planned DLC. So even though there's still months before the game releases, you've got guys working on the DLC because they literally can't work on the main game any longer.


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

[User]
[Avatar the Last Airbender] If fire-benders bend energy, is it plausible for them to bend radar, radio, and microwaves?

I think fire-benders simply bend electromagnetic radiation. Fire is created by a combination of Infra-red waves creating visible light as oxygen in the air is combusted. To create different colors, a bender needs only change the wavelength, such as in the great masters' rainbow or Azula's blue fire.

If this is true the applications of fire-bending would become ridiculously versatile, especially in the late modern, and potential information age.

[Assistant]
All bending is energy manipulation to some degree, in that it's converting chi into kinetic energy. Firebending in particular is imparting that energy to the surrounding air-- essentially plasma-bending, which is why skilled firebenders can create lightning.

That is if you want to stick to a strictly physics-based explanation. In fact there's a whole bunch of spiritual shit going on.

Either way the answer is "maybe, but probably not very well."


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

[User] ELI5: They say that 95% of the ocean remains unexplored. Why is that we can explore billions of miles into outta space but not a couple of miles down in the ocean?

[Assistant]
Sea Pressure.

In outer space, it's essentially a vacuum. So the difference in pressure between the inside of the space shuttle and the outside is about 15 psid.

The deeper underwater you go, the stronger the sea pressure. Imagine a column of water. The water at the very bottom of that column is being squished by ALL the water on top of it. For every 100 ft of water, there's about 44 psi of pressure being applied.

So when you go down thousands of feet underwater, you have a LOT of water on top of you, trying to squish you. The underwater vessels can only be built to withstand a certain amount of pressure before they're crushed by the immense force of the water on top of them.


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

[User]
[Men in Black] Are aliens allowed to have romantic relationships with humans?

I know this is a weird question but I was curious about it.

Throughout the MIB movies, we only ever see aliens in relationships with other aliens. Are aliens allowed to have romantic relationships with humans? If so, is there any special procedures or paperwork that needs to be undertaken for the M.I.B to approve of such actions?

[Assistant]
Based on the aliens we've seen, it would be like a human having a romantic relationship with a sea cucumber or pine bark beetle. Their biologies are so radically different as to make human-like connections difficult.

But the MiB don't seem to discourage or care about other types of relationships, so unless it posed a threat for some reason, they probably don't regulate it.


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

[User]
ELI5: When you get a physical and the doctor has you turn your head and cough, what exactly are they feeling for and why?

I can't believe I've never found this out.

[Assistant] They're checking for an inguinal hernia.  There's essentially a weak spot below the abdomen called the inguinal canal that separates sections of the body.  If you do have an inguinal hernia, the doctor will feel that something normally not in the scrotum has either moved inside or is causing the canal to bulge.


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

[User]
[MCU] what are the ages and lifespans of the different aliens in GotG?

Other than quill and rocket we dont get any clues to how old any of the characters are and how long they expect to live.

I started to think about this when rewatching the first guardians Ronan says that his father grandfather and great grandfather have been at war with xandar. Its supposed to be taken as they been at war for a long time but what if he literally means that they been at war for like 4-5 generations over a thousand years.

Ive never read the comics so is there any indication of how old are heroes are?

Also wtf is kraglin if he isnt human.

[Assistant]
In Agents of SHIELD, the Kree are shown to have very long lifetimes.  It's a plot point that the same guy has been in charge of a slave colony long enough for three generations of humans to be born, live, and die, so that no-one still alive remembers a time before he was in charge.

This particular Kree is still considered quite young by his family.


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

[User] [General/Fantasy] Are vampires and werewolves an exclusively human phenomenon or are there dwarfish werewolves and elvish vamps and stuff?

[Assistant] In Dungeons and Dragons 3.5, any humanoid or monstrous humanoid can become a vampire, and any humanoid or giant can become a werewolf or other lycanthrope. The Monster Manual gives an example of a hill giant dire wereboar.


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

[User] Is full labor capacity possible without runaway inflation?

[Assistant]
Yes, as long as you have an accurate definition of "full labor capacity." Because there will always be some people between jobs, and some people with outdated skills, even in a tight labor market, "full employment" will always carry a positive unemployment rate. Full employment was probably achieved right before the pandemic.

In order to get an unemployment rate of zero, something would have to happen to cause workers to immediately choose any job available and to cause all employers to immediately choose any worker available. That's a somewhat apocalyptic scenario.


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

[User]
CMV: most people who claim to hate the government typically have no idea how it actually works or what it actually does.

I will be the first to say that the US government has more than a few problems to fix and that in the past few decades it has engaged in more than it's fair share of abuses of power and overreaches of authority (PATRIOT Act probably stands as the most egregious example off the top of my head). However I have noticed that anti government rhetoric is often remarkably thin on precise details.

Dave Neiwert has an excellent book detailing the history of anti government activism over the past few decades (Alt-America) and how it contributed to the rise of reactionary politics in America. The books focusses on both traditional conservatism as well as the wing nuts like Alex Jones and is careful to deliniate between them.

One of Neiwert's key points in the book is to point out that most of what these people believe about the government is conspiratorial nonsense that is often invented out of thin air. A lot of anti government activists cite Waco and Ruby Ridge as evidence of governmental overreach despite the fact that those raids were done to neutralize a heavily armed cult and a white supremacist compound respectively.

And when Cliven Bundy engaged in his standoff with the Bureau of Land Management it was because he refused to pay to graze on land owner by the government like everyone else who used it. Likewise he sons seemed to have no idea what the wanted the government to do once they took over that wildlife reserve in Oregon (please correct me if I have any details wrong).

Most people are not as crazy as these people and I firmly believe that most people are perfectly reasonable. But the influence of these events on political discourse has been profound and I feel has resulted in a knee jerk rejection of the government as a whole in a lot of people despite the fact that government is the mechanism by which we can solve problems and ensure domestic bliss and general welfare and all that. I think a lot of people forget that the government is not this alien, unknowable thing hovering over the horizon ready to pluck away dissenters. The government is us and our elected officials.

[Assistant]
Democracy is two wolves voting to eat the sheep.

If you are on the wrong end of 4:1 opinion poll, you likely will not have your political goals realized.

In this way, gay rights were suppressed for centuries, because they lacked the social majority. In this same way, gay rights (or really any rights) are only a shift in the political winds away from being repealed.

If a political movement arouse, and gay rights became a 4:1 against position again, then it likely goes away. If a political movement arouse, and slavery became a 4:1 for position again, then it would likely be reinstated.

That's a scary thought, and fully consistent with how our government works.


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

[User] ELI5: What are the white spots on your fingernails and how do they get there?

[Assistant]
The white spots on your nails are known as lesions. They are caused by shock or damage while the section of nail is still growing, and also by air bubbles getting trapped behind your nail. Sometimes direct pressure to the finger/toe can cause these as well.

Basically, after being subject to damage the cells forming the keratin nails generate calcium-deficient, opaque tissue giving it a stark-white appearance. Under normal circumstances small dots of discoloration appear but if you develop issues with your liver or kidneys then white bands of discolored keratin will form.

It's the same process that gives your teeth those nasty white spots around braces.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is the gambler's fallacy not a logical paradox? A flipped coin coming up heads 25 times in a row has odds in the millions, but if you flip heads 24 times in a row, the 25th flip still has odds of exactly 0.5 heads. Isn't there something logically weird about that?

I know it's true, it's just something that seems hard to wrap my head around. How is this not a logical paradox?

[Assistant]
By the time you've hit 24 heads in a row you're already in the universe where the 1 in 16777216 chance happened, and in fact there is nothing special about it. The odds of *any* combination of heads and tails also has a 1 in 16777216 chance of happening in that exact order. You've thrown 24 heads in a row? Well, now there's a 100% chance you have 24 heads in a row, you already determined that; but there sequence HTHHTHTTTTHTTTTHHHHHTHH is just as likely even if it doesn't seem as special as 24 heads.

The 25th coin flip is simply determining if you're entering the universe where the sequence you already have produced ends in a heads or tails. Two options: HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH or HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHT. Those are your only two options at this point: and they are equally likely. 50:50

Edit: With the assumption the coin is fair to begin with. In the real world if someone *actually* manages to flip 24 heads in a row I'd stop thinking about the gambler's fallacy and shift towards thinking about potential fraud.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Was HYDRA actually loyal to Hitler or were they just using him for his resources?

So it seems to me that the members of HYDRA didn't seem overly obsessed with the whole Nazi Ideology and only seemed to "side" with them so that they could get funding for their research. Do you think that at war's end, had they won, they would've stayed on Hitler's side or just independently tried to take over the world?

[Assistant]
Hydra wants order.

If anything, Hitler was working for Hydra. Not the other way around. Even if Hitler didn't know he was working for Hydra, he was still being manipulated for their goals.

In the 1930's and 1940's Hydra tried to use brute force to bring order to the world. People objected to this in very strong terms, resulting in WWII.

It turned out that the brute force method of bringing order to the world does not work. People do not like that. Instead, threaten people such that they willingly surrender to order. People must do this willingly. Hydra attempts to do this now by making people feel unsafe, and then offering to protect them.

Security and order in exchange for freedom. Fair trade? Perhaps. Hydra thinks so.


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

[User] eli5: British parliament; why does the next PM have to be Tory? Can other smaller political factions at least put someone up for a candidate?

[Assistant] The party in power chooses the PM from their ranks of MPs, and only through a general election can a new party or coalition in power be chosen. Right now the Tories are choosing a new PM, but there has been no new general election.


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

[User]
[Special Moves] Why do people who usually shout the names their special moves when performing it not perform a different move to trick the enemy?

It seems like if you shout Hadouken all the time your enemy will predict it and have time to react. Why not mix it up?

[Assistant] It's not about being the most efficient fighter (in that case you would just stab people in the back, not agree to some open, honorable sort of martial arts duel), it's about demonstrating how awesome the techniques of your martial art school are. You announce the techniques by name for the audience, so that the fame of your school increases and people start talking about the famous "Wudang Sect" and their unbeatable "Silk Worm" style of Kung Fu.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do consoles still need discs even after installing in order to play a game?

[Assistant]
For the newest consoles where the data is installed to the hard disk, it's just to make sure you own the game. The disc is essentially a licence key.

They could have gone with a system like Steam where even if you buy something on a disc, you get a license key that links the game to your account. But that would make second hand sales impossible and console gamers aren't keen on that.


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

[User] If babies breathe through the umbilical cord, how do chicks breathe in eggs ?

[Assistant]
It's predominately diffusion across the eggshell.

>...up to the time when internal pipping takes place, when pulmonary ventilation is initiated, about 20 liters (O2 + CO2 + water vapor) have passed through 10,000 pores of an 80 gm egg.

--Pores and gas exchange of avian eggs: a review. Rahn H, Paganelli CV, Ar A.  J Exp Zool Suppl. 1987;1:165-72.

There's ample gas diffusion across the eggshell during most of the chick's development; the eggshell itself offers little resistance to gas exchange:

>A typical 60-g chicken egg has about 10,000 pores, each with a functional cross section of 150200 m^2; therefore, the total pore area is about 1.52 mm^2.

--Gas exchange in avian embryos and hatchlings. Jacopo P. Mortola.  Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A 153 (2009) 359377

Most of the resistance is from the membranes on the inside of the shell, and this resistance is reduced during development to keep pace with the increased requirements.

Very near the end of development, the chick can gain extra air through the air sac (the "internal pipping" mentioned above); but note, the air in the air sac also gets there through diffusion through the egg shell, during earlier development.

Chickens have it pretty easy compared to many other avian species. For example, ostrich eggs have a much larger volume-to-surface area, meaning that exchange is less effective. One way ostriches may compensate is by incubating eggs at lower temperatures, reducing oxygen requirements; more significantly and related, incubation time is relatively slower for birds with large eggs. Birds at high altitudes have larger total pore size, adapting to the reduced O2 pressure.

Actually, a more serious problem than oxygen exchange is water exchange. The egg needs to manage water loss (not too much, not too little), and the more gas exchange the more water loss. Accordingly, birds adapted to different humidities lay eggs with different gas exchange capacities (changing pore densities for the most part); birds in very arid environments, like gulls in Chile's Atacama Desert, have very low gas and water exchange, to the point where their developing chicks are relatively hypoxic (Reduced oxygen diffusion across the shell of Gray gull (Larus modestus) eggs. Monge CC, Ostojic H, Aguilar R, Cifuentes V. Biol Res. 2000;33(3-4):209-14.)


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

[User] ELI5. What would make a store not accept certain credit card brands? e.g. Taking visa not Amex, etc?

[Assistant]
Amex has a very high processing fee that it charges to merchants that accept it. Given that most customers already have a Visa/MC in addition to an Amex, why take it?

Amex is usually about 25% market share, and Discover is about 5% market share. From a merchant point of view, it might not always be worth it, the exception being businesses that cater to business customers or higher end customers, then accepting amex is a greater necessity.


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

[User]
I believe that college students should only be required to study courses relative to their major. CMV

College students in America are required to complete all courses in their major in addition to a number of general education requirements. For example, I am a biology major but I also have to take courses in history, english, foreign language, arts, etc.

This is a total waste of money and time for me. I could complete my degree earlier if these classes were eliminated, leaving me with less debt and providing me with an even stronger foundation in biology.

I understand that basic math and writing skills are important in all areas of study, so I would be alright with having math and writing courses still be a part of all majors, with the opportunity to be placed out of these courses if proficiency in them is exhibited.

The idea of a well-rounded student is a fantasy. Students often do whatever it takes to get a decent grade in gen eds and all of that information gets flushed right out once the class is over. Even if taking those classes does make a person slightly more knowledgeable, none of the students who enjoy those classes would rather have taken them than have less debt.

[Assistant]
For many students going into college, they don't know what their major is at all. Kids change their majors *all the time*.

If anything, general requirements are a good way to introduce students to different topics or fields and produce a foundation to make sure they can adequately be informed about what a department is like.

And besides, for most serious colleges, their overwhelming mission is to educate students  not to be a diploma mill.

Part of educating means making a person as well-rounded as possible. You state how important basic math and writing skills are.

What about basic history? Basic biology? Basic understanding of the world and foreign countries? I'd argue that it's also extremely critical to becoming a well-rounded and highly functioning member of society.


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

[User]
Why is 90% sulfuric acid more corrosive than 99% sulfuric acid?

I tried doing some research on this but the only reason I can find that explains this is that 90% acid has a higher water content. However, that is not too clear to me why the extra water content affects corrosion.

[Assistant]
The applicable definitions of acids refer to their ability to produce H+ in solution or to donate H+. They can only do that when they are in solution, i.e. dissolved in water.

The water allows for dissociation of the proton, H+, yielding H+ and HSO4-. It's the H+ that does the work of corroding metals and reacting as an acid.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Were there wizards that didn't use wands? And why not bind a wand to your very body seeing as the two are bonded?

[Assistant]
Staffs and Orbs used to be more common but have since become impractical in terms of hiding from Muggles and Wands became the norm.

Wandless magic is possible but highly difficult to control as magic becomes easier to use when concentrated through a magical object.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] In Episode 2 when the leader of the Kamino cloners says that THIS clone army is ONE OF THE FINEST they've ever created. What other clone armies is he comparing it to?

The Jedi seem surprised of the existence of an army of clones which to me indicates such armies aren't a very common thing in the galaxy, on top of that the very planet where clone armies are being produced is hidden from even the jedi council probably making the existence of clones something really secret to the inhabitants of the galaxy. Yet, the leader of the Kamino cloners speaks as if there were many more armies such as this one but I've never heard or seen any of them mentionned in any Legends or Canon material.

[Assistant] I always assumed they'd been hired to make small clone armies to serve as planetary militias or private paramilitary forces for the rich and powerful, but probably never anything on the scale of an army for the Republic.


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

[User]
Do Thermometers have beliefs?

On functionalism, would it be correct to say a thermometer has a belief? Namely, it believes the room should be cooler or warmer in various moments. The "belief" being cashed out in terms of function, the thermometer is disposed and acts to make the room cooler or warmer.

I assume a functionalist would not say thermometers have beliefs, and that I'm misunderstanding the theory...

[Assistant]
Thermostats do have functions but functionalists dont believe that having a mind is nothing more than having a function. Television remotes also have functions but that doesnt make them minds.

The functionalist position is that what constitutes a mind is a *specific* kind of function, not any old function. Since we couldnt run the function of a mind on a thermostat its definitely not the kind of thing that has a mind.


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

[User] Will Fish evolve to not bite hooks?

[Assistant]
Obviously the fish doesn't think it is a hook (/bait) but an insect, small fish or whatever (depending on the species).

For fish to evolve to avoid biting hooks they must

* be able to distinguish between the bait and a real/normal source of food

and/or

* have an alternative food source (avoiding the bait-like-looking food)

(and possibly)

* a large enough portion of the fish must be caught in order to have sufficient evolutionary pressure (or the fish is simply fitter because of other genetic reasons).


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

[User]
[Star Wars/Mandalorian] Where did the Tusken Raiders get the wood to create the scorpions they used to fire bolts at the Krayt Dragon?

Exactly where are the trees on Tatooine?

[Assistant]
While Tatooine does not have the traditional kind of forest trees you'd think of, it does have a biosphere that includes plant life.  Japor ivory wood being one example that would be suitable for construction, but other types of wood are available as well.

Beyond that, Tusken Raiders aren't completely non-technological, and they do trade as well.  The ballistae need not be constructed entirely of native wood.


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

[User]
How are open source programmers able to create and maintain so much thought-out, complicated, open source software and still survive?

I am learning Python and there are SO many wonderful packages that people have created to give functionality to the community.  I love that, it's wonderful.  But I simply don't understand how it is economically possible.

I am working hard to build some simple apps which, by comparison, take little effort and I can barely fit it into my life around my job/family.  How can people put in the amount of effort required to create Python, it's packages, or any other open source software and not be paid for it?

What would be the reason for them to do it?  It's great to give back to the community but some of this free software must've taken years of development.

[Assistant]
Do you have hobbies?  For some of them, this is their hobby.

And while they might not get paid for it, but it will help their career by putting it on their resume or just increasing their skill and knowledge or creating business connections based on their work, which translates to more money down the line.


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

[User]
[WH40K] When did humanity first come in contact with xenos?

When did humanity make first contact with xenos? What were humanities interactions with xenos like prior to the great crusade?

[Assistant]
The first known contact between Humanity and Aliens as sometime in M18, after the development of the first Warp Drives allowed humans to rapidly expand outside of it's local stellar group.

This led to the first 'Alien Wars', but also to the development of treaties and alliances with various Xenos species throughout the galaxy. Because Humanity was not united into a single political entity, individual federations dealt with various aliens as they pleased, with Orks being a notable exception, as they were almost always hostile.

During the Age of Strife, some alien species took to preying on the isolated human worlds, which is what drove the Great Crusade and later Imperial policy regarding Xenos. It wasn't all species, of course, and some worlds maintained very close relationships with aliens during the period, until being destroyed by the burgeoning Imperium.


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

[User] Eli5: How is it that Cows can consume the same fibrous grass that makes every other herbivores scat into tight balls, somehow manage to produce turds of such low density as to be called "cow patties"? ?

[Assistant] Basically because cows are not as good at conserving water as other herbivores. Because their bodies arent trying to save water they dont spend the energy to reabsorb the water in their poop. An herbivore who lives in an environment where water is scarce wants to loose the least amount of water through its poop as possible, so their bodies spend the energy to pull as much water from their poop as possible. Water is not a limiting resource for cows, so their bodies are not adapted to be efficient at saving water.


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

[User] Why are rainstorms frequently accompanied with lighting, but snowstorms/blizzards rarely (never?) have lightning?

[Assistant]
Lightning requires energy. Lots of static electricity and heat to generate the charge differential that leads to lightning. Temperature difference between ground and air can do it, too.

Snow storms happen when it is cold. Meaning not as much energy source for lightning. When it does happen, it is called thunder snow.


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

[User]
[A Quiet Place]: It seems silly that the people haven't been able to defeat the creatures. A few questions regarding it

I just watched the movie A Quiet Place and honestly, it seemed like if the people used common sense all this would not have taken place. For eg they could have used a remote mode of starting a sound, drawing out the creatures and used a variety of remote measures, like a remote controlled firearm or something to get rid of the creatures. In fact the army or the police was easily equipped and intelligent enough to do this. Yet they failed. Does not make sense.

The family should have lived in a open place where they could see any creature coming. Instead they chose a barn in the middle of a corn field (and not even a rice field). They then kept a variety of items scattered all over, that actually has the potential of making sounds if tripped. The family could have built a war, tripwires since the creature is blind. The wider people around are alive and they are sending out newspapers, yet they couldn't provide manuals on how to do this? Does not make sense.

Why hasn't the army figured the weakness of the creature yet if simple frequencies get them disabled?

[Assistant]
We don't know how the creatures appeared or how many of them there are, but they seem to have appeared in a way that prevented an organized response.  They seem to have arrived in large enough numbers to send society into anarchy quickly before the threat could be understood and countered.  Yes, some newspapers were produced, but those seem to have come from the early days of the invasion.

The farm was likely a place that struck a balance in the family's eyes.  It was not the most secure place, but the family had other needs beyond just surviving the creatures.  The needed food, for example, and they also benefited from its proximity to an urban area for scavenging things they needed.


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

[User]
[MCU] Would Killmonger have aimed to conquer the stars, if given the opportunity?

Assuming that Killmonger lived and/or succeeded in his goals, would he have then aimed towards the stars? Would he set his sights on Asgard? Nova Empire (if he found out about it)? Or would Erik have been satisfied with just Earth?

[Assistant]
We may never know. Taking his explicit goals at face value, no, he would just want the Earth-- the Kree and such never oppressed his people-- and he probably wouldn't even want the Earth (freeing black people from colonialism and oppression doesn't necessarily mesh well with him ruling over them as a dictator).

If you interpret him as a run-of-the-mill dictator who couched his aims in ideological language, or if you interpret him as someone whose violent tendencies would be corrupted by a taste of power, then there's a chance he'd come up with an excuse to expand.


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

[User] ELI5: What is camera exposure and why does it make picture look so good?

[Assistant] The exposure is the amount of light that hits the picture-making part of the camera. Good exposure is important because cameras are not as good at seeing really bright things and really dark things at the same time as people are. Really bright things go totally white and dark things go totally black, like when you walk out of a dark room and into the sun. To allow you to see, your eye responds by closing down its iris to let less light in. A camera performs in a similar way by closing down a metal iris. The hole the iris allows is called the aperture and its size is measured in "stops," which are a ratio of the size of the opening to the focal length (zoom-in-ed-ness) of the lens.


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

[User]
[Neon Genesis Evangelion] Why do the angels attack one by one?

 Are they just not sentient enough to understand what cooperation is? Although one of them seems to understand psychological warfare. And are they waiting somewhere until it's their turn to wreak havoc? Or do they come in existence shortly before their attack.

[Assistant]
Because each Angel is a totally unique organism with its own set of goals, priorities, and behaviors. Some Angels are sentient, some are not, some are screaming hypercubes, and some are handsome twinks. Their individual reasons also vary, as some Angels are just naturally drawn to Lillith's body like moths to a flame, and others seem to be curious about the Lillim, whether it's communicating with them directly or by interfacing with their technology.

So it's difficult to judge "Angels" as one homogenous faction, or even as one unified species. Instead, it's best to ask why Zereul doesn't work with Ramiel, which is kind of like asking why a gorilla doesn't work with a colony of bees to help find food.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it so hard to figure out the optimal diet for humans?

Seems like with other animals and our pets, we more or less have a good understanding of what they need, and why. And yet when it comes to what WE should eat, it seems like scientists can't agree on anything and there are countless opinions of what we should eat. Why is it so hard to figure out?

[Assistant] Humans can eat a variety of diets and still be healthy. So long as you get adequate protein, fat, and carbohydrates for your body size, essential vitamins and minerals, some fiber so you can poop, and enough calories, you won't die! At least not right away! It could eventually give you obesity/heart disease/cancer/ diarrhea/bad breath what have you. But that usually takes years and years. People want to live as long as they can without any health problems and that's where you run into trouble because the healthiest diets are pretty plain and don't give you the taste explosion that Doritos and pizza can give you.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do people care so much about kitchen cabinets, why do they cost so much, and what makes them out of date?

I watch a lot of home and garden tv shows, and kitchen cabinets are usually a big deal when it comes to renovation or house hunting. Cabinets that look fine to me are called out of date, and it can be enough to stop someone from buying a particular house. If someone wants to replace their cabinets, it costs like $20,000+ - they're just wood!

I really don't understand this - why don't people just replace the handles and resurface/paint their cabinets if they don't like the color? It just seems like an absurd amount of money for what you get.

[Assistant] Cabinet styles go out of date just like anything else in a house such as an old brown shag carpet. Also any proper wooden furniture is more expensive. Take a look around your house, and notice how much "wood" isn't wood, but particle board with a veneer. On top of that cabinets have a lot of moving parts, and nicer ones will line up correctly, and not have gaps between doors. The hardware can be expensive too, like ones with mechanisms that prevent them from slamming.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do bodybuilding supplement shops sell Ben and Jerry's ice cream?

I've seen Ben & Jerry's being referenced regarding body-building and working out all over the internet too, such as fitness forums and even /fit/ on 4chan. I then saw it for sale at a local body-building supps shop; the kind of place to sell protein powder. I think the ice cream is delicious, but it must be horribly unhealthy. With the amount of sugar and fat that must go into those tubs, especially with flavours such as "cookie dough", how on earth can the fattiest, sweetest ice-cream on the market be constructive towards a healthy diet?

[Assistant]
If you've got a heavy exercise regimen, it's easy to introduce some extra calories into your diet without any problems. Bodybuilders and serious athletes can struggle to eat enough calories.

The idea that sugar and fat are bad for you holds if you're an average Joe with a desk job. When you're 250 pounds of muscle and working out daily, you've got different rules.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some foods quickly become overwhelming? Like a quadruple chocolate cake or foods that taste very "rich".

[Assistant] Rich foods tend to have a lot of free fat and other things that coat the tongue (like chocolate). This can create an overwhelming feeling in the mouth because you're *constantly* tasting chocolate and can't access other tastes. Adding some other taste - especially something acidic - can help to refresh the mouth. This is why cream cheese (mildly acidic) frosting is so popular. Also why the secondary flavor of a dessert is often something citrusy like lemon or orange.


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

[User] [Marvel] Where does Juggernaut live? What does he do when he's not running through things and punching people?

[Assistant]
SHIELD data seems to indicate that Cain Marko spends a significant amount of time using various civilian guises to live as a normal human when not actively being a supervillain. He's fond of going to bars, watching sports, and other mundane activities. He does cause far more barfights than most. He tends to use money from supervillaining to support these cover identities, which eventually either dries up or gets revealed, causing him to blow the cover and return to a life of running through things and punching people. He'll also occasionally crash with his hetero life mate Black Tom Cassidy in Ireland. It is assumed that Black Tom Cassidy is the one who arranges the false identities that Cain uses, as they stand up to sufficient scrutiny that he is able to use them for months at a time.

As an occupational hazard, most heroes who fight the Juggernaut try to banish him to other dimensions or deep in space or the such because physically defeating him is nigh impossible, so he also spends significant amounts of time off world. But as he can not be stopped, he inevitably returns.

He has had one short stint as an X-Man, having infiltrated the team claiming to have reformed, a longer stint as a member of the British super team Excalibur, during which time he lived in London but was an active superhero, but then fell back into old habits.


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

[User]
[arcade shooters] Why do you have to destroy all the tiny planes that don't even shoot at you?

They just fly around in silly formations... Are they incompetent kamikazes? Cargo planes delivering stolen equipment? Spy drones?

[Assistant]
The enemy is throwing everything it has against it. A lot of these ships are non-military utility craft just sent into the vicinity of the nightmare-killer that has been wreaking havoc on any and every countermeasure sent to stop it.
The enemy is in panic mode. A single, one-person craft has been able to take down large planetary task forces, massive capital ships with complex offensive protocols redesigned to take on a solitary fighter-sized ship, and even black-project level secret tech originally intended as a contingency plan. Official orders demand anyone with a craft capable of flying send it into its path to obstruct it's relentless onslaught to help prevent making it's way into key military and social constructs, i.e. giant biomechanical brain centers, flagships, etc.
Many of these ships are just drones reprogrammed to fly in groups at the attacker; their original purpose being so different from combat, the only effective use is sending it in large quantities towards the attacker.


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

[User]
If UV light is invisible, why do UV LEDs (on blacklights etc.) have that unique violety-blue colour?

Just wondering why you can see that unique colour if UV light is meant to be invisible. Is it actually the colour on the cutoff of the spectrum where it turns into UV?

[Assistant]
You answered your own question, the colour that you see is at the far end of the range of visible light. We define the UV part of the spectrum as being adjacent to the visible light part, but since the definition of the transition is somewhat arbitrary, there's a fuzzy overlap area between visible and UV (and between infrared and visible on the other end).

Having UV lights emit some light within the visible range can be very helpful, because it gives immediate visual feedback that the light is turned on and functioning normally.


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

[User]
Since Veblen goods exist, will a luxury tax increase the consumption of luxury goods?

Will a tax on Veblen goods (luxury tax) make such taxed Veblen goods' demand increase?  If so, then aren't taxes on Veblen goods a great tax since everyone (consumers, producers, and the government) wins and no one loses?

[Assistant]
Luxury taxes are pretty common - in fact they existed in the USA until 2002, levied against watches, yachts, race cars, etc. The theory behind it is more or less exactly as you say.

One thing that complicates this is that the people who buy luxury goods are also the same people with near infinite capital mobility - which means they can just buy luxury goods from a place with no tax, and that not only means you get paid no tax you also get no economic benefit. This has played out in China, where the high luxury tax has created an entire industry of people who fly to Paris, buy Hermes handbags on behalf of other people, and fly them back.


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

[User]
[DC] is Black Adam a good ruler?

Does he actually care about the people under his rule, or is he like Doctor Doom, where he "thinks" he is the best ruler ever, but is actually a tyrant?

[Assistant] Kahndaq typically does pretty well under his rule, and not so well otherwise. He will respond to threats and criminals very, very harshly (public executions or simply being killed in the act), but he genuinely wants the best for his people and does what he can to better their lives.


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

[User]
[MCU/Infinity War] Are Heimdall and Loki Stupid?

At the beggining of IW, We see that Thanos and his gigantic army decimated the Asgardians. But wait a second...

Loki could have just opened a portal to another part of the universe and saved everyone at any moment using the space stone. I can see why he would prefer to keep the tesseract without Thor knowing, but everyone on that ship was in mortal danger, including himself.

And then, there's Heimdall. He could have just opened the Byfrost and saved everyone, but he also choses not to do this.

There were 2 guys on that ship who could have saved everyone at any moment. Why didn't Heimdall/Loki open a portal to earth when they realized How big of a threat They were aout to face? Why were they on that ship in the first place, If they could have just teleported to earth using the byfrost/space stone?

[Assistant]
The most Loki has been shown to be capable of with the Tesseract unaided is to teleport just himself. The last time he held the Space Stone he needed a machine to keep a portal open for his Chitauri Army. Hed grown as a person by the time of Thanos attack and didnt think just disappearing by himself was the right thing to do.

The bifrost is a machine that Heimdall uses. That machine is gone. Heimdall was only able to summon the bifrost once for one person and he made the best possible choice.


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

[User] ELI5: Why cant most console video games support cross platform multiplayer?

[Assistant]
They actually can, but is there any point in doing so? It's not going to increase sales. If anything, as it is, some people might buy the same game twice because they want to play with their friends on both PS4 and XB1.

The problem with making it cross console/PC is that PC will always be superior in terms of control - we have a keyboard and a mouse, whereas console shooters have to mess around with a controller, and often have autoaim to compensate. That just creates too many balance problems to be worth it.


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

[User] [Doctor Who] The Daleks got their hands on time travel tech, and quickly used it to grow into a civilization capable of challenging the Time Lords. Could humanity do the same, if given time travel tech? Could Earth spring-board itself into a Time Lord Level civilization like the Daleks did?

[Assistant] Well it did, hence Jack Harkness existence, but while humanity definitely built itself into a powerful stellar civilization in the future, nothing suggests that it approached the transcendent time civilizations of Daleks and Gallifrey.


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

[User]
CMV: Warcraft should've been on TV instead of a movie

I thought the movie was okay, but almost to the point of it being painfully average. I think me being a huge Warcraft fan made it more enjoyable than anyone else would have found it.

I think the biggest issue with the movie, is that it was a movie. The special effects were pretty good, the actors were mostly decent at least, the action was fun to see, where it fails is the story resonating with its audience.

The problem was that it was stuck to a 1.5-2 hour format so it was always rushing to get more plot explained. There is so much story to the first war that even the simplifications the movie made still made it a hard thing to put on the big screen.

What effect does that have on the audience? Imagine if the first season of Game of Thrones was a 2 hour-ish movie (SPOILERS WILL FOLLOW). Would you have found Joffrey more than mildly annoying? Would Cersei be truly despised? Would Ned's death have truly saddened you? Probably not, because the movie would be so constantly rushed to explain more things and for more plot to happen that we would've developed little to no connection to the character. I get emotional somewhat easily from movies, games, books, etc but I felt nothing at watching Lothar's son dying, absolutely nothing. I felt little for any of the characters, only some for Durotan but even then in a tv format it would've been so much better IMO.

Id argue that not only would it have resonated more, but the plot would've been better in a TV format. I understand the Sargeras inside Medivh thing is WAAY too much to explain in a movie, but 1-2 seasons could've gotten that across and it would've been better than "he just got the fel".  Hell showing the orcs drink Mannoroth's blood, showing the manipulations of Kil Jaeden, giving some backdrop to the Burning Legion would've been better than just "fucking fel man".

To sum up, I think that the movie was okay but greatly limited by the fact that it's not as fit for movies as it would be for a tv or miniseries.

[Assistant]
I agree that as a story it probably could have been better told as a series.

The issue is really around expense.  If you look at the CGI and special effects required to create live-action Orcs, there is no way that any television network would have had the budget necessary to fund that kind of series.  GoT is one of the highest budget shows on the air right now and the visuals in it are nowhere near the visuals that were in Warcraft.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why did Piett say they didn't need bounty hunter scum to a subordinate officer within earshot of Vader? Wouldn't that be viewed as insubordination of Vader's command?

It puts the subordinate officer in a bad place because he can't disagree with either of them. Also what was Piett trying to accomplish by saying that to someone who had no influence in the matter?

[Assistant]
It was a power play.

By that point there was only really one force-user: Darth Vader. (The Emperor kept his Sith status as a secret.) The rest of the Imperial Officers were generally dismissive of the entire thing and showing up Vader was seen as a badge of courage.

Consider:

>Admiral Motti: Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the rebels' hidden fort-...

It was only Tarkin who talked Vader down from force-choking the Admiral. Even then Vader was subservient saying "As you wish..." showing that Tarkin had more power.

Basically, showing that you didn't fear this old, broken cyborg and his dumbass "Force" shit was showing that you believed in the power of the Empire, not the power of Vader.


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

[User]
What is the mechanism behind the theory that Uranus' tilt was caused by an impact?

The current theory as to how Uranus tilted is that it was hit by a large object that caused a drastic change in its orientation.
This has always puzzled me. I would think that being a large ball of gas, an "impact" would be different from that of a solid planet, that there's nothing there to hit and it would simply plunge into a cloud of gas.
Does gas at that mass behave differently? Is the impacting object so large that it doesn't matter what it's interacting with? Or am I just fundamentally misunderstanding some basic aspect of physics/fluid dynamics?

[Assistant]
When two things collide, conservation of momentum (both linear and angular) will hold. It doesn't really matter what they're made of; rock, gas, water, a person, whatever.

If Uranus was spinning normally, west-to-east (let's call that angular momentum +1) , and something large came in fast retrograde (so, going east to west, so its angular momentum around the system's center of mass is negative), and they collided in *any way t*hat resulted in a single object after the dust settles, then the angular momentum of that final object will be the original +1, added to the incoming object's X, where if X is <-1, you now get a backwards rotating planet. Uranus might not have been exactly this scenario, and of course the incoming object would probably have angular momentum around a different axis too, but, same idea.


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

[User] ELI5: When musicians say a piece is in a certain key, what do they mean?

[Assistant] The key is where "home" is.  Sing "row row row your boat"--that note you started and ended on is the bottom of the scale that that song uses and is called the *tonic*.  If that note is a C, then you just sang it in the key of C major.  You could sing the whole thing starting on a different note, and it would be the same song in a different key.


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

[User]
[Jurassic World] Are dinosaurs really more effective than humans, drone technology, or bombs?

In Jurassic World, the conceit is made that dinosaurs are possibly more effective tools at war than humans, bombs/missiles or drones.

How could this be true?

[Assistant] We still use dogs to find and track things, despite all our technology it's still deficient compared to a dog's nose. Now imagine that nose attached to a more intelligent, and deadlier creature. Would Dinosaurs replace bombs? Maybe not, but raptors or the indominus-rex the size of a raptor (Which is what they wanted to get eventually) would be very effective in search and destroy missions.


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

[User]
[Phantom Menace] are Sidious, Maul, and Dooku the only sith alive in the galaxy?

If not, then where is everyone else?

[Assistant] Plageuis and Palpatine weren't exactly public with their Sithiness. There very well could have been 2(or more) other Sith elsewhere, keeping it equally secret. No way to know. Sith don't go building giant temples in the middle of the capital city or taking people's kids in the thousands to indoctrinate into their religion.


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

[User]
CMV: Life is short. You shouldn't spend half of it working.

I'm 22. I'm not poor. But I'm not rich either. I have enough money to last me at least 10 years or so while still living comfortably. Why is it so wrong to not work if I don't necessarily have to? Maybe I'll have to eventually, but if I'm smart with my money I can find ways to grow it without putting too much effort in. It's kind of a shitty plan, but I figure that life is meant to be enjoyed and if half of it is spent slaving away at something that isn't important to you then what's the point? I have things that I want, but I'd much rather be able to do what I feel like doing every day than be rich or drive a fast car or have a nice house etc.

I want someone to prove me wrong because even though I'm doing what I want to, it still doesn't feel right. It still feels like I should be trying to achieve things even if I don't have to. I'm caught in the cycle of working towards something and giving up shortly after I started simply because I think to myself that I don't *need* to do this.

Edit: Hey guys, just woke up. Thank you for your replies. I will read all of them, but can't promise I'll respond to everyone.

[Assistant]
If you have money to live 10 years comfortably, without working, i would say you are rich.

However working per se is not something awful. Life is not that short, or well, it depends what longitude plans you have.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do people sweat more after a run instead of during the run?

I ran today and I wasn't as sweaty until I went into a building for a cool-down. Then, it hit me and I was sweating a pool.

[Assistant]
When you were running you were sweating, which was evaporating very fast tocool you. But when you stopped running there was still a fair amount of sweat being produced at the same time as your skin's temperature was going down.

So the sweat didnt evaporate and clings to you instead. This signals to your body to stop producing excess sweat, but there's a bit of a delay. Just long enough to soak into your clothes before it stops.


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

[User]
ELI5: How come when you call any call center, they're always really busy?

It seems every time I call a call center, they are always "experiencing a higher than anticipated call volume". Is this because every call center is understaffed? I don't understand.

[Assistant] Partly understaffing, but its also a known trick for CCs to use. It is the quickest way to weed out calls that arent actually important. Someone who has a major issue, will wait, but someone just wanting to complain about nothing will more often hang up.


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

[User]
CMV: The reason that Marvel phase 4 and beyond isn't doing as well as pre-Endgame Marvel is not because there's been a significant dip in quality

Marvel movies are 100% as good and bad as they have ever been. There are several reasons they are comparatively under performing (although still a massive success) that are unrelated to the execution of the movie/tv show. In no particular order:

1. People are primarily remembering how exciting the culmination of phase 3 was and comparing the lack of interconnectedness in phase 4 to it. Phase 1 did not at all feel interconnected and that really didn't start fully coming into focus until Civil War.
2. Marvel blew their load with all the super big name heroes in the infinity saga and of course people are going to be less excited about lesser known characters and/or properties where their beloved characters are passing the mantle to the next generation.
3. The multiverse saga is jumping in pretty much immediately with far more convoluted and "nerdy" ideas like the multiverse coming into play in the 2nd property of the entire cycle. The infinity stones didn't actually have any kind of purpose beyond a vague "we don't want Thanos to get those" until goddamn Infinity War.  This saga requires a lot more commitment from the viewer. This is an inherent problem with the MCU and comics in general. Nearly EVERYONE reaches a point where it gets too convoluted to stick with it indefinitely.
4. Anti-social-progress buffoons ~~can't~~ need to lash out at anything that is made that doesn't gingerly cradle their fragile egos and shows the perspective of characters that they don't identify with

I think I had another reason but I got a phone call and forgot. Change my view.

Edit: Corrected an initial editing mistake.

[Assistant] I'd like to change your view that these movies aren't "doing as well." The latest Thor movie made twice as much as the first Captain America movie. Guardians of the Galaxy was considered a giant hit for Marvel and yet the latest Strange movie made about $175M more. The latest Spiderman movie made more than the first Avengers movie, made more than any MCU movie except the last two Avengers mega-event movies.


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

[User]
Can a homogeneous mixture of two miscible liquids become non-homogeneous over time?

I work in the chemistry laboratory of sanitizer/soap manufacturing facility.  On occasion, we have noticed some weird results when testing samples from the top of a tank compared to a sample from the bottom of the tank.

Mainly we noticed this with a product that is primarily water and isopropanol.  I know that water and IPA are miscible.  Would the difference in testing of a top and bottom sample be a result of improper mixing or do the two liquids form a gradient concentration mixture throughout the tank after a certain period of time?

[Assistant] How tall is your tank? Its possible that a gradient will form based on pressure differences regardless of prior mixing.  The two fluids cant be perfectly miscible, so over and extended period of time, and with a large enough pressure difference, a gradient can form.


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

[User]
[Predator] How would the Predators like it if THEY were the ones being hunted?

Like let's say we spend time and resources into capturing a Predator, stripping him of his weapons and armor and hunting him in the woods like a dog....Maybe for some reality TV show in the future. Datelines To Catch a Predator 2 or something idk. How would their society respond if they found out. Would they be cool with it or would there be like real repercussions?

[Assistant]
They'd absolutely love it so long as their honor code is intact. If we reach equal levels of technology or become a threat to their colonies and homeworld then they'd probably just wipe us out in a war. But kidnapping lone hunters and challenging them to mortal combat without stealing their technology would give them the biggest trophy hard ons imaginable.

But some clans wouldn't like it and declare smaller wars against anyone involved in it.


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

[User]
ELI5: How exactly does cancer kill?

Obviously cancer is bad, but I never understood how exactly it kills.

[Assistant]
When people get cancer, it affects certain organs. How bad the cancer is depends on what organ it's growing on (although, no cancer is good). Things get really bad when the cancer *metastasizes*, that's when it spreads to a different organ.

When an organ has cancer, it's like it's carrying around a 50 pound backpack full of stuff it doesn't need and it gets tired really easily. There comes a point when the organ is so tired it's not going to work at all. When this happens to an organ that you need to survive, you die.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do a few inches of recline make a difference on airplane seats during take off/landing?

[Assistant] Because your seat reclines into the space of the seat behind you.  Airline seats are very, very close together, often only 14 inches of space.  If you take up 3 of those inches by reclining your seat it makes evacuation for the people in the row behind you slower in the unlikely event of an emergency.  But, since those emergencies can be super dangerous and slowing the evacuation could kill people, you're not allowed to recline your seat when the plane is close to the ground and the warning time of an emergency might be very short.


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

[User] Why do I need to eat food when taking antibiotics but I don't need to when taking pain relief such as panadol?

[Assistant]
Actually some antibiotics should be taken without food, some with food, and some at specific times of the day regardless. There are a lot of physiological changes in the gut after eating that can affect the amount of medicine absorbed from the gut into the bloodstream. The recommendation of when to take a drug, **so the right amount is being consistently absorbed**, is dependent on how that particular drug is absorbed, how it is affected by certain components in food, how it is affected by acids, how it is metabolised etc.

For example: is the drug absorbed better in an acidic environment? Take it with food. Is it less effective when exposed to an acidic environment? Take it on an empty stomach. Certain components of food, such as calcium or iron, may also bind to certain medicines and reduce their absorption into the bloodstream leading to reduced effectiveness. Some pain killers like apsirin are recommended to be taken with food to reduce nausea and stomach upset. Certain foods, such as grapefruit, can interfere with a drugs metabolism leading to side effects.


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

[User] ELI5: How does those heat packs with a tiny metal disc inside work?

[Assistant]
The packs contain a liquid (actually a gel, usually made from a solution of sodium acetate) which has the property that it releases heat when crystals form in it.

When you flex the disc it simply causes a sudden sharp point to occur within the substance. This is enough to start the crystallisation process which then rapidly spreads throughout the entire gel. It therefore heats itself up and then gradually emits that heat over the next hour or so as it slowly cools down.


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

[User] ELI5: In court, why do you need to place your hand on the bible for the oath. Also, say a Jewish person went to court. Would they place it on their holy book? What about atheists?

[Assistant]
(In the USA) You *can* use the book of texts of your faith, if that's your choice.  So you could do it on a Bible, Torah, Koran, or what have you.  Some Judges are fine with it.  Other Judges do not allow books, objects or anything else to be used, just your word in a public affirmation.

You don't have to use any sort of physical object to swear on, though.  All they're really interested in is getting you to say, in court, that you aren't lying.  Because if you are, you're going to do some jail time.


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

[User] ELI5:Can someone explain what an isomer is in layman's terms?

[Assistant]
An Isomer is a molecule with the same kind of atoms, but they are are a different shape.
Imagine a lego set, put it together one way to make a plane.
Take the plane apart, use all of those pieces to make a ship.
The ship and the plane are isomers of each other, same stuff, different arrangement.

EDIT: OK just might want to make this clear, the ship doesn't actually have to be made out of the plane, they just use the same kind of pieces in the same amounts.


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

[User] ELI5: While I was on the observation deck (103 stories/1300 feet up) of the Willis (sears) tower, I noticed there were a lot of spiders on the outside of the windows. How do the spiders get up there and what do they eat to survive?

[Assistant]
Spiders will kite, using their silk as balloons, to float in the air and get to other places.  This is how spiders can invade islands that are in the middle of the ocean.  There are also insects that will kite like a spider, caterpillars and mites, and those are probably in the spiders' diet.  Gnats are also something they like.

I think this problem is especially pronounced in Chicago.  It's apparently the Orb Weaver spider, and they are all over the place on Chicago high-rises.  The spiders ride the lake winds up and up and up.


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

[User]
If a galaxy 2 million light years away is coming toward us and we see it as it was 2 million light years ago, doesn't that mean it's already here?

If a galaxy 2 million light years away is coming toward us and we see it as it was 2 million light years ago, doesn't that mean it's already here?

[Assistant] Remember that the galaxy in question is traveling slower than the light that it is emitting; thus the light is reaching us know, but the galaxy will not arrive for some time.  In the case of Andromeda, which is about 2.5 million light years away, it'll be somewhere around 4 billion years till it reaches the Milky Way because it is moving towards us at tiny speed compared to the speed of light.


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

[User] How has the US ban on onion futures affected the onion market with respect to similar agricultural products?

[Assistant]
The Onion Futures Act was put in place because Vincent Kosuga successfully cornered the entire onion market back in the 50s. By buying essentially every single onion in the region, he was able to jack up the price of onions and then slowly release the stock of onions while making gigantic profit. In fact he made even more profit by also shorting the onion market when the price collapsed... because he collapsed the price by selling his stock of onions. At one point a bag of onions was cheaper than than the bag the onions came in.

The ban was a direct and knee jerk reaction to this event. The biggest problem is that it creates volatility. Onions are usually planted in April and harvested in September. That means in September, you have a gigantic inventory of onions that you have to pay extensive storage costs on as you figure out how to get them to last till the next September. There's also significant lag between onions being sold and them actually reaching kitchens. So when prices go up, you see a flood of onions from the inventory, which depress prices, so farmers withhold inventory, and that cycle goes round and round.

Consequently, the best thing for farmers is to be able to pre-sell all their onions in September for each forward time period, maybe holding some back in case of excess demand. With futures, you can predict demand almost perfectly since there's a forward contract. But without a futures market, you're left trying to guess what the market demand for onions will be - which you might notice is not generally what onion farmers specialise in.

As such, onions today are one of the most volatile agricultural commodities in the US. Beaten only by India, where onion prices are even more volatile because of local demand and weather conditions.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do clear sunglasses work?

Are clear sunglasses better or worse than traditional sunglasses?

[Assistant]
The medical purpose off sunglasses is to protect your eyes from UV radiation. The secondary purpose is to give your eyes rest from bright light.

While traditional sunglasses have dark glasses, this is not necessary to block UV light. The purpose of the dark glasses is to give your eyes some rest so you don't get bothered by reflecting surfaces or the bright light itself.

The problem is that while some cheap sunglasses might give your eyes this comfort they do not always block the UV radiation. Thus still letting it damage and possibly burn your eyes.

So to come back on your question: Clear sunglasses are healthier for your eyes than cheap normal sunglasses because they are specifically designed to block UV light. Though they will not give your eyes relief from the bright light so they're worse for tasks that need your focus and attention (like driving for example).


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

[User]
[generic fantasy] How does a reanimated skeleton power its movements?

If it is the necromancer's magic giving the skeleton energy, why not animate something sturdier than bones, like iron?

[Assistant]
Magic energy. That's also why animated skeletons "die" when they are damaged, when the wholeness of the dead body is destroyed, it doesn't function as well as a vessel of magical energy.

> why not animate something sturdier than bones, like iron?

Have you ever heard of golems? They are animated statues that can be made of many different materials, most commonly clay, stone or iron.

Although a necromancer couldn't create a golem, since necromancy is all about dead bodies and souls. Unless it was a bone golem or something like that.


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

[User] [Walking Dead] Whats the best place to set up a community?

[Assistant] An island. Place like Hawaii, or maybe Alcatraz Island if you could somehow get to it and clear it. Enough land to farm. Isolated from other humans and walkers. Alcatraz is very defensible, and would be suited to a small group of less than 100 people.


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

[User]
ELI5: Will dimmed lights use less electricity, or is it just wasted in a different way?

Thanks for the replies. Summary is, yes they use less electricity if its a modern one, although maybe more than you'd expect by looking at the brightness. Reason I asked is that my kids sleep with them dimmed right down.

[Assistant] the dimmer uses some power too.  but lights are most efficient at full power.  so 100% light uses 100% power, but 50% light might use 60% power.  so as they are dimmed, they use less power, but are less efficient.


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

[User] [W40k]How precisely does the Dark Eldar murder-fornicating slaves actually prevent Slanesh from nom nom noming their souls?

[Assistant]
Imagine, if you will, a cup filled with wine.  The wine is the soul, and a hole in the cup is Slaanesh draining it.  A soul stone is a sphere surrounding the cup, keeping you/the wine inside it regardless of Slaanesh's efforts to the contrary, with World Spirits acting similarly.

Dark Eldar use the pain and suffering of other souls to fill the cup with more wine/soul faster than it drains out of the hole.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do hunters bother with camo when they always wear bright orange?

[Assistant]
Deer are color-blind. They see shapes and movement more than bright colours, particularly when those shapes have a regular or plain pattern and are showing in relief against a background that doesn't look like them, which most non-camo jackets and pants have a tendency to appear like.

Even if it's just on the arms and legs because a fluorescent vest is being worn over the chest, the camo helps break up the outline of the hunter against a background of leaves or branches or bushes, while the orange provides high visibility to other hunters or search-and-rescue parties.


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

[User] [Marvel Comics] Would Spider-Man's Spidey Sense warn him if he started to develop cancer?

[Assistant] I wouldnt imagine so. Hes gotten sick with cold and ulcers before and didnt get a warning, plus his clones dont get recognized. Seems like diseases and stuff that arent from supervillains or whatever wouldnt get caught.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, but when it's more then 85 degrees out I feel hot?

[Assistant] Your optimum body temperature is 98.6 F, but your body's metabolism produces enough heat that it needs to *lose* heat to keep itself at 98.6 F.  When it's cool out, there's no problem losing heat, and in fact your body may try to reduce heat loss by shunting blood away from the extremities.  However, when it gets too hot outside, your body has a hard time losing that heat, and you start sweating and feeling hot.


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

[User]
[Doctor Who] If Time Lords can make TARDISes impenetrable to Daleks, how did the Daleks stand any chance in the war?

We've seen before that the Doctor's TARDIS is impenetrable to Daleks. In fact, the Doctor has put his TARDIS onto a Dalek mothership without any fear at all. How could the Time Lords have been locked into a stalemate with the Daleks if they had access to that level of technology?

[Assistant] "Last time we fought the Daleks, they were scavengers and hybrids, and mad. But this is a fully-fledged Dalek Empire, at the height of its power. Experts at fighting Tardises, they can do anything. Right now, that wooden door is just wood."


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

[User] ELI5: How did automatic transmission become the standard in the US while manual transmission is the standard in other parts of the world?

[Assistant]
The first commercially available automatic transmission was developed in the US by GM. GM mass produced the first few cars with automatic transmissions in the 30s but didn't really start selling them until the second world war when they incorporated them into tank designs. By that time they had perfected the mass production system for the automatic transmission and were able to start churning out tons of cars with them.

Other American car designers soon realized their popularity and tried to catch up. It became a bit of a race to market and popularize the automatic. Because US fuel prices are so dirt cheap compared to most other countries in the world the reduced fuel efficiency of the automatic was just never an issue.

Because the technology was first developed in the US, and US car companies were less involved in international markets at the time, it simply didn't catch on in other places. It wasn't until much later that European and Japanese car companies began developing their own automatic transmissions, and by then many of these respective countries simply decided they liked the manual transmission more.


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

[User]
ELI5: What kind of prison would a transsexual go to?

Suppose a transsexual commits a crime worthy of Prison, would they go to a male or a female prison?

Male-to-female, and Female-to-male?

[Assistant]
In Texas you are sent to the prison of your birth gender and usually put into a special cell block where you don't have a roommate.

I was a guard in the early nineties, and one person came in with male anatomy and breast implants.  He identified himself as a woman but still had a penis, so there was no way he was going to a woman's prison.  They kept him in the same cell block as the other men who identified themselves as women or just pretended to so as to be safely kept by themselves.

fun fact - kool aid powder was the defacto make-up used for those guys.


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

[User]
ELI5: When and why did the US military change their camouflage to the more "pixelated" design that soldiers currently wear?

Was it just a stylistic decision or does it serve a more pragmatic function?

[Assistant]
The objective (and it can be argued whether or not it was met) was that the new uniform be functional in more environments. The older uniforms were good for Woodland OR Desert. The newer uniform was meant to work in Woodland AND Desert.

The digital pattern was meant to help achieve this pattern.  If you remember the older uniforms, there were large blobs of color, and large blobs don't usually happen in nature. The digital patterns are more broken up and help to achieve a more natural camouflage.


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

[User]
Is it Unethical to be a Law Professor at a Very Low Ranked Law School?

My friends and I have recently been discussing whether it is ethical to be a law professor at a very low ranked law school. This quandary comes from two sources. First, these schools generally have absolutely atrocious employment prospects. As such, law professors are directly taking part in a system that saddles students with large quantities of debt while giving most of them no method of utilizing their law degree to pay off that debt upon graduation. Second, these schools have incredibly low admission standards in terms of grades and test scores, which are used as surrogates for assessing student ability. Thus, law professors are also directly involved with the bestowal of law degrees and the churning out of attorneys who likely shouldn't be practicing law and will not provide good or even adequate service to their clients. I believe these concerns apply to fields outside of law as well, but law school seems like a very good example through which to explore them. Would love to hear others' thoughts about this.

[Assistant]
I think your ethical responsibility as such a Law professor is to actually make the best of the students you're given. Focus on maximally improving your teaching, and through that, make sure those future attorneys sitting in your class *do* achieve the minimum level required. There's always plenty of opportunity to improve your own quality of teaching.

Join the educational boards on your school, push for policies that improve the quality of education at the school, and you'll increase both the ranking and quality of alumni of your school. There's lots of ways professors can influence the quality of the school. Act in a way that you're not part of the problem, but actually make an effort towards solving those problems.


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

[User] ELI5: Since the tech industry is so big, and the US government is very sensitive to lobbying, why hasn't the tech industry lobbied the government to leave it alone?

[Assistant] The tech industry does not want any one thing.  It wants MANY things at the same time and many of them contradictory.  The tech industry does also not want to be left alone, it wants favorable treatment.


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

[User]
Could the technology behind mRNA vaccines be used to combat cancer?

For example, could they put mRNA instructions for apoptotic proteins or other inhibitory/interference proteins to a cancer cell's pathways in order to fight it from the inside out? I'd imagine this could either be injected directly into the tumor or the nanoparticle could be modified to have antibodies or other small molecules with high affinity for cancer specific receptors? This would circumvent some cancer's ability to use efflux pumps to export chemotherapeutics from the cell.

[Assistant]
The problem has never been killing cancer cells.  The problem is distinguishing them from their healthy neighbors and targeting only the cancer cells.

Cancer cells sometimes have unique proteins on their surface (tumor-associated antigens) and these can be used to target them with immunotherapy.

In this way, mRNA vaccines may be helpful.  But you must have a unique antigen to target so you are not killing healthy cells.