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

[User] ELI5: Why do we like unhealthy food so much? Shouldn't natural slection have forced us into liking things that make we live longer and healthier?

[Assistant] So, back in caveman days, sugar and fat and salt were very rare. We evolved to find them very tasty, so that we'd work hard to find those important, but rare foods. The problem is that it's only been in the past century that we've been able to get WAY more salt, or fat or sugar than we need. But our bodies are still in "We must get enough fat so we can survive the ice age and hunt mammoths!" and it takes millennia for evolution to have an effect.


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

[User] Does Foucault's pendulum demonstrate that the earth is spherical or merely that it rotates?

[Assistant]
The Foucault pendulum demonstrates that you are in a rotating frame of reference, so it shows that the Earth is rotating.

A collection of Foucault pendula at different locations could be used to infer that the Earth is spherical, as the pendula at different locations will have different periods.


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

[User]
[Star Wars]A New Hope Medal Ceremony... (not about Chewie and Wedge)

The day after the Battle of Yavin and the Destruction of the First Death Star, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo attend a ceremony in their honor. In attendance for the ceremony are no fewer then 90 pilots.  Two groups of 40 and two groups of five. Where were all of these pilots when the death star was being attacked?

-Red Squadron sent 12 X-Wing starfighters of which only two Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles surviving.

-Gold Squadron sent 7 Y-Wings of which only one returned Keyan Farlander.

-Blue Squadron sent 6 X-Wings and to my knowledge suffered between 0-2 casualties.

-Green Squadron sent I believe 8 X-Wings and their casualties were unknown

Even Excepting that neither Green nor Blue Squadron lost a single man, and allowing for Antilles and Farlander to have been part of the ceremony audience as well, we are left with 74 pilots who did not participate in the battle. Why not? I get that you don't want to send every pilot you have and risk losing them all. But only sending 1/4 of them seems a bit risky as well given the magnitude of the task at hand.

So my question is, why? Why didn't they send more pilots? I know that at the time there was no an abundance of X-Wing fighters in the alliance but there had to be Y-Wings and other craft. In a go for broke everything or nothing attack you would think you would want to send all of the help you could.

[Assistant]
Lack of combat worthy craft. This was the early days of the rebellion. They literally sent all the fighters into the battle that they reasonably could.

Sure, the rebels had some atmospheric craft, some fighters that were not currently flight worthy, and some heavier craft (combat modified cruisers and cargo ships, mostly), but none of those were compatible with the all starfighter trench run strategy.

Here's the real thing - in the early days, the rebellion was full of spirited revolutionaries, ready to jump in and strike out against the Empire. Many of them had experience with planetary security, and some had even gone through the Imperial flight school. The problem is, a bunch of good pilots come and join the rebellion. They didn't necessarily have access to starfighters, and those that did couldn't necessarily bring them with when they joined up. As such, the rebellion ended up with secondary and even tertiary crews for every fighter they had, not having enough ships for all their pilots.

Sure, later on they got better donors, captured more materiel, and became the New Republic, with proper taxation and acquisition powers. Then, they were able to supply fighters for all appropriate pilots. But early on, at Yavin? All the pilots at that medal ceremony were on the ready to go fly, so they all were able to attend, but they just didn't have anything that would let them join the battle.


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

[User]
ELI5 - What REALLY causes computers to slow down? Can it be stopped / reversed?

My computer is getting slower and slower with age and I don't really know why. I don't have any viruses, I have tons of free harddrive space, and plenty of RAM. Can anyone explain?

EDIT: Thanks everyone for the sound advice. Lots of research to do. Finding some answers should be much easier now.  :)

[Assistant]
I think your most likely cause is software.  OVer the years/months/whatever you will have installed a lot of software on your computer.  A lot of this software will have components that run in the background, this may be task bar icons or services that are idling on your computer waiting for a trigger (a disk to be inserted etc).  Installed software can also make changes to windows system files and registry which can also cause your PC to slow down.

Windows 7 is a lot better than previous windows versions at coping with this due to UAC and a good memory manager but it will still be affected.

To avoid this happening your best bet is to make sure you only install software from reliable vendors and you also only ever install software you actually need (a lot of people are big fans of installing heaps of stuff they dont actually use of need).

To fix it, you can do a complete system re-install using the windows install disks.  This isn't as scary as it sounds, just make sure all your files are backed up and then reinstall using your windows disks.  Note: this will also delete all your programs so be ready to redownload and install them.  After doing this, your computer will seem like new again!


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

[User]
[Mulan] If Mulan can wash out of boot camp why couldn't her dad?

So Mulan is a fuck up when she first tries to train for being a soldier, to the point that Captain Shang tries to drum her out and send her home.. so why wouldn't that be an option for her Dad who could barely walk without a cane a handful of steps to receive his conscription notice?

[Assistant] Mulans father was already a decorated war hero. They wouldnt have sent him to basic training. Shangs division was specifically raw recruits. Being a war hero, it would have been an incredible dishonor for him to wash out, or take an administrative position to avoid fighting. He knew he wasnt fit, but he was going to go until he keeled over, because thats what soldiers do.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] If flying carpets are banned by the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office, why aren't broomsticks?

I mean both functionally serve the same purpose, and I fail to see how brooms are any less conspicuous than flying carpets, so why are you not allowed a flying carpet, but it's fine to ride a broom?

[Assistant]
The official explanation is that you have to be a wizard (or witch) in order to fly a broom. But anyone could make one of these carpets fly.
You don't want muggles flying around on carpets do you? it would be hazardous.

But the real reason's much more sinister. You should know that carpets aren't banned in all of the wizarding world. Just the UK and a few other european countries. And it was done to protect the internal broom markets.

Any idiot with even half a whiff of magical talent can make a broom, and though it won't be comfortable, it will fly. But even the most advanced models you can buy today will hold a candle to the comfort and performance of a good persian-made silk carpet.

To compare it to muggle standards, imagine your thunderbolt 2001 to be the equivalent of a Peugot 107. Whereas even the basic 1001 nights line carpets are the equivalent of a top-line Mercedes or Rolls Royce.
The european broom industry just couldn't compete with the middle-eastern carpets. And so, faced with tons of forced layoffs and a rather sizable economic crisis the ministry, grasping at the straws of a few self-powered carpets, the kind anyone can use and issued a blanket ban on magic carpets. Shutting out Persia, Arabia and other large scale producers entirely.


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

[User]
If you had a sufficiently shielded suit, could you 'base jump' from the ISS back to earth?

Lets assume a suit exists that can sufficiently shield you from heat. Would you just need a small thurster pack to break orbit and you could casually freefall and use a regular parachute? Do we currently have the materials to construct a suit that could do this? Finally how awesome would that be?

[Assistant] We basically have that already. It's called a Soyuz reentry module. It has the minimum necessary to deorbit a human being into an aerobraking trajectory, keep him alive through it, then return him to the ground in a semi-controlled fashion via parachutes and braking rockets, and *really not much else.* You could make one smaller, in principle the ones currently in use hold up to three people but it's hard to imagine how you'd make one much simpler.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do animal clones die prematurely but plants can be vegetatively propagated (essentially cloned) many times over with no ill effects?

I've read that for animals, say, a cloned mammal the DNA of the original host is the same used for the clone, so it's already aged and degraded from time. I grow many plants, and so I regularly make clones via cuttings and divisions. So I wonder why the new individuals can have the same vigor as it's parent plant? Does DNA not degrade in plants? I've also read that inbreeding can occur in plants. On a side note, about the super massive tree structure Pando, that Aspen forest from only like 1 tree I think. It's estimated to be 80,000 years old and is technically a single individual, as every stem (tree) comes from the same roots and has the same DNA. Meaning at some point a long time ago a single seed made 1 tree which eventually became a forest occupying over 100 acres. How does DNA replicate so many times over in plants with no issues? Is it because the differences between plant and animal cells? I don't know a lot about these things, just a random thought I had. Any explanation would be appreciated :)

[Assistant]
Plants are in general evolutionarily closer to having duplication as a legitimate reproduction strategy. Some plants straight up reproduce by sending out suckers and growing new plants from them, and those plants can be easily and simply divided.

It's not impossible to fix damage caused to DNA by replication, it simply isn't done in animals, because dying off to make room for a new generation with new combinations of genes and mutations means that a species is more adaptible to changing environments and can therefore migrate faster and survive disasters better than a species that can't. Typically adaptability isn't a strong selector for species that don't move with simple environmental concerns, which means purposeful die off is a waste of resources.

Importantly telemere damage doesn't occur for some types of stem cells, otherwise all species would eventually die off. The same process just happens longer in an individuals life in plants.


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

[User] [Warhammer 40K] What happened to the Gene-Seed of the Traitor Legions?

[Assistant] They have real problems with that. There were a lot of Crusades fought by Chaos legions to get gene seeds. Also a lot of experimentation on genes with a lot of mutations is done by one chaos marine but his name escapes me atm.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it inappropriate to "speak ill of the dead" even if the person who has died wasn't a very good person?

[Assistant] The dead cannot defend themselves. In most ethical systems, a person has the right to confront their accuser and attempt to defend themselves, or choose a person to defend them.  The dead obviously cannot do this, so it's generally considered impolite to attack them.  This idea has been around for centuries.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] How did the Klingons achieve technological parity with the Federation when all they want to do is fight?

So the Klingons are basically space Vikings, right? They're interested in battles and prophecies, not science and learning. So how did they develop any advanced technology, like warp or cloaking? And how have they not fallen behind technologically, when species like the Vulcans and humans are clearly far more driven by curiosity and innovation?

Is this ever explained anywhere? Did they steal the technology? Did a Romulan warbird accidentally crash on Qo'nos one day and they just appropriated the tech?

Or are there elements of Klingon society we're not familiar with that do all the academic stuff? I wondered if maybe there was a Klingon 'underclass' who did all the innovating; similar to how in ancient Sparta all the citizens were warriors, and the craftsmen and merchants were a separate class.

[Assistant]
There almost certainly are Klingon scientists, engineers, researchers etc, warfare is a major part of their culture, but that doesn't mean other parts of their culture is completely absent. It's also quite likely that the Klingons have obtained technology from the indigenous populations of other worlds they have conquered - something that the Federation has certainly had many opportunities to do, but rarely actually does because of the Prime Directive and the general reluctance to engage in imperialism.

As for the cloaking device, that was pretty clearly obtained from the Romulans in exchange for superior Klingon starship designs during their brief alliance that occurred around the third season of the original series. The cloaking device and plasma torpedo were really the only technological advantages the Romulans had over other powers, they lagged behind both the Federation and the Klingons in power generation and warp drive technology.


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

[User]
ELI5: Is the process of dying different for plants than it is for animals?

When a plant is dying (e.g. when it doesn't have enough water) it seems like it is usually a long process and often reversible (e.g. when it is watered after a long time), whereas humans or animals just kind of die. Is there any difference in the way death occurs in plants vs animals? Is it possible for a plant to instantly die in the same way that an animal could? Not sure if this question is stupid or not, just curious!

[Assistant]
It's not a dumb question, it's a non-obvious consequence of the major differences between plant and animal cells and body structure.

Your cells in your body are highly specialized for very specific purposes and are extremely energy hungry.  They require a constant supply of nutrition and a great deal of support from other specialized cells to survive.  The cells in your brain are especially bad offenders, they exhaust their energy stores in minutes and die if they lose blood pressure.  Since all other cells rely on their command, the rest of the body dies shortly after.

Plants don't have this degree of specialization or that kind of energy demand.  Their cells operate much more slowly and are better at fending for themselves.  The nutrients in plants aren't actively pumped around by other cells but rather drawn in through simple physics.  Damaged parts get thrown away and regenerated, every cell has an armored shell to defend against attackers.

Plants don't usually die rapidly like animals, the individual cells can persist for days or weeks after the stem has been severed.  Some can even fully regenerate from just a chunk of root if necessary.


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

[User]
What is the reason the market is not recovering?

In Canada, economically it looks like most people are doing great. Like minimum wage here moved up to $15.65, food costs barely moved up. The average warehouse job where there are plenty of is at least $20/hr.

This is almost better than it was in the past 10 years. My teen brother who is in grade 10 is making $18-$19/hr serving food in a food booth as his first job.

My first job was $9/hr working my ass off in a fish factory, and then my jobs after that were like $12-$16. There are so many jobs available atm as well. Consumer goods don't even seem to have increased that much, except for popular supplements like creatine and whey protein.

With all this, why is the economy not recovering, or doesn't seem to be?

[Assistant] Wages are going up, but in most contexts they aren't keeping up with inflation, meaning decreased consumption power for most people. This coupled with a 'hawkish' central bank in most countries means rising interest rates, making it more expensive to invest. These two things mean most markets are seeing people pull money out.


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

[User] Multiple ponds and lakes have been around for 100s if not 1000s of years, sediment goes into them every rainfall, how can they stay there so long and not fill in?

[Assistant] Short answer, compaction. Long answer is, its complicated and every system has different variables as to how much sediment is depositing, fluid flow in/out of the lake or pond. But in general, as sediments get buried by new incoming sediments, it compacts due to the weight of the Warner and sediments above which leads to a reduction of pore space between individual grains, thereby reducing its volume.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why is cafeteria food made en masse so bad, but restaurants and fast food chains can make food so good

Sounds kind of like a dumb question, but it really puzzles me. Why is food prepared en masse (say in a hospital or school) so bad, yet restaurants and chains can make food taste so good in such a short amount of time? Is there something inherent in the process of cooking food in large quantities at once that makes it more difficult to make tasty? Or is it simply that cafeterias have less well trained staff or cooking materials?

**edit:** Thanks to everyone for all the responses, now the whole cafeteria food vs restaurant/fast food thing makes sense!

[Assistant] Large corporations that own large food chains have lots of money. They can buy high quality food. Your local school system has nowhere near this amount of money, forcing them to buy lower quality food. Support your local educational system!


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

[User] ELI5: Why does being really cold tend to make your nose run?

[Assistant] Cold air is less humid. The cold dry air dries out your nose and airway. Your body produces increased mucus to compensate and keep your airway from drying up. Also the water vapour that you exhale from your lungs condenses in the cold airway of your nose and makes your nose run.


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

[User]
[Batman] The inflation and crash of Gotham's carnival industry.

At one point in history Gotham must have been the world capital of Circus's and then.. the whole industry must have collapsed. There are some many abandoned carnival tents and amusement parks Batman and the Joker practically meet up at a new one every month.

And it can't just be the same one, Batman, the world's greatest detective is constantly getting lost and trapped in them. I mean the fact that Gotham PD hasn't set up permanent patrols  in every Carnival ground is ridiculous.

So how did Gotham's once booming carnival industry crash overnight? It can't have been due to the unpopularity of the joker, they're far too old.

[Assistant] In the past, The Court of Owls subtly arranged for many circuses to visit Gotham in order to recruit acrobats as Talons. Why were lots of fairgrounds built instead of simply reusing the same one on a rotating basis? Because the Court is an architectural cabal whose methods involve building structures with hidden symbols, chambers, passageways, etc. The more of Gotham they design, the more they appropriate for the conspiracy.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Would Luke and Leia have any titles on Naboo post ROTJ by virtue of being the former Queen's children?

I know Queens have been elected on Naboo, but I'm curious to see if they would be granted any sort of recognition. Is it possible Princess Leia is a princess of two world? I've read a fair amount of both old and new EU books, but this just occurred to me last night as I was listening to the Doctor Aphra audiobook during >!her trip to Naboo!<.

[Assistant]
They would only have titles if they were acknowledged as being part of House Naberrie (which is a minor noble house), not because of Padme's former role as queen.

In canon there's no indication that Leia even gets that much, she just gets some of her mother's belongings, and Luke isn't acknowledged at all.

In Legends they didn't even unearth who their mother was until *forty years after the events of the OT*.


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

[User] ELI5:Is there a physiological explanation for 'seeing red' during a fight? I don't mean being knocked unconscious, more like battle rage.

[Assistant] When you are in a rage, your body releases tons of adrenaline.  Adrenaline is a hormone which prepares your body to "fight or flight".  This redirects blood flow away from processes which are "non-essential", and to other areas which can help you run or fight.  This means a lot more of your blood is going to your muscles, and less of it is going to your brain.  Potentially, this can cause your brain to be short of oxygen, which could impair your ability to see straight, the same as when you are about to pass out.  This can cause your vision to fade to red or black, or give you tunnel vision.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Did this whole avada kedavra bouncing back at the caster because of love thing ever happen in the history of the world other than with Harry Potter?

[Assistant]
The key thing here isn't just love, it's that the protector had to be *given the option* to leave and save themselves, but to refuse it.  After all, James Potter died protecting his son as well, but he didn't give Harry any protection, because Voldemort killed him fighting and didn't give James the option to run.

So it was a pretty specific set of circumstances - not an impossible one, but considering how small the magical community is and how few people are committing murder, a pretty rare one.  The odds that it happened a few hundred years ago and that it wasn't recorded thoroughly is probably pretty likely.  Harry's just the most recent and obvious case, so he's the only one that's known and understood.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Just prior to the Mandalorian Wars, how did Mandalorian population, industry, and territorial size compare against the Republic?

How could a relatively small power challenge the Republic?

[Assistant]
I can try to illustrate this with made up, unit less, numbers.

Imagine the size of the rebublic is 200

The size of the mandalorians empire is 10

The Republic military is huge but only a small portion of the things the Republic does. Let's say 1% of the Republic is military. That gives them a military of size 2

The mandalorians have a very different culture and attitude. Let's say 90% of their efforts are military in nature. That gives them a military of size 9

More than 4 times the size of the Republic military effort.

Now, let's say they attack. Their size 9 military vs the Republic's size 2 military.

They're gonna rampage for a while. Not only are they more powerful, they're more focused. They're not spread out defending a size 200 empire.

But let's say the Republic reacts by increasing military spending, they up from 1% to 5%. Now, suddenly they have a size 10 military. They begin to focus it where it's needed.

Longterm the mandalorians can not hope to win the war. The target is just too big, too much.

A long time later, in a galaxy far far away, a country called Japan would run into the same issue fighting a country called the USA. Matching economic output is as important in war as competing on technology.


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

[User]
[Phineas and Ferb] What is the public reputation of Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated?

They own a very prominent tower in the Danville skyline which is openly plastered with Evil Incorporated, so what do passers by think the company does?

Speaking of which, does D.E. Inc. have any legitimate front businesses that bring in actual income? Or does Doofenshmirtz have the occasional of-screen success to bankroll all the failures that we see?

[Assistant]
Hey, it's not like other major companies *aren't* evil. At least DE Inc is honest, you know?

As for what they do? They seem to be primarily in the business of buying assorted other businesses, as we seem from their self-storage location, the vacuum factory location, their cake factory location, etc.

They then use these to do evil, but presumably they also make money from them in the meantime.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it often hard to sleep even when exhausted/sleep deprived?

Have you ever found yourself feeling somehow "too tired to sleep"? Isn't it super weird when you consciously want something that you know your brain (and rest of your body) needs, and yet it refuses to cooperate? What gives?

[Assistant]
According to the sleep training doctor, Dr. Mark Weissbluth; sleep begets sleep. When you sleep it settles your nervous system so its easier to sleep in the future. When you miss sleep and have a sleep debt then the nervous system goes crazy and goes on heightened alert essentially making it harder to sleep in the future. Its kind of a wired but tired kind of thing. The nervous system is wired but you are tired.

The best way to fix this is to stick to a constant sleep schedule. Get up at the same time everyday. Your body will get into a rhythm and youll sleep well and much deeper and feel rested. It takes a while to override the nervous system because of sleep debt. Get up at the same time even if you are tired. Eventually your brain will know what is expected and it will relax at the same time every night and it will determine what time you need to go to bed. We all require a different amount of sleep. Your body will tell you when to go to bed if you are telling it what time you want it to get up every single day.


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

[User]
[Spiderman] Who knows Spider-Man's webs are not organic?

## Is the general public aware he has web shooters? Does J. Jonah Jameson know? Are any of his villains or allies unaware he has web shooters? Does he like to keep this secret?

[Assistant]
In comics, most people know since he talks about his web fluid pretty frequently and the shooters are visible.

In the vidya game, it's also assumed that it's well known that they're not organic since Doctor Octavius helps you build some without having to be told that Spidey uses tech.

In the MCU, Tony Stark knows for a fact that they're web shooters so presumably does Rhodey.  No one else is as acquainted with him/them except perhaps the Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange but they didn't bother to ask.


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

[User]
ELI5: How come when you have an upset stomach, its looser or watery stool? You would think things are being digested less, leading to solid in, solid out.

Im sure there is a lot more too it. However, why would something spending less time in your stomach lead to it being more broken down? It also seems that the more upset your stomach, the more rapid and liquified your BM is.

[Assistant]
A lot of water is added to the food you eat during the initial parts of digestion. Saliva, stomach acid, and the small intestine all add liquid to the food.

The large intestine is where the water is absorbed back into the body, and that takes time. If you're sick, the body doesn't want whatever made you sick to stay in your system, so it gets sent out faster than normal, so there isn't time to absorb that fluid back.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is sunset so much more colorful than sunrise?

[Assistant] Because at night there's not as much activity. In the morning it's cool and particles like dust settle or stick. As the day progresses the sun causes things to heat up and dry out and activities of the day, animals, people, weather, can stir up a lot of dust.  By the time the sun is setting there's a lot more "stuff" up there (particles) that the light from the sun can bounce off of.  It's dispersed and bounced around creating the wonderful colors you see.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are dreams so much weirder when you have a fever?

I'm babysitting my little brother, and he's sick. At the dinner table, he drops this question: "Why are my dreams so strange when I have a fever?" I can't answer. Help me?

[Assistant]
Your brain likes it to be warm. But not too warm. About 37 degrees celsius, to be exact. If it gets too cool (34-35 degrees), or too hot (40-41 degrees) things start going wrong.

Why? All the cells in your body have been made to work best in a specific, and quite small, temperature range. This is kind of like cooking - if you cook something, you're doing chemistry, and there's lots of chemistry going on in your body.

Your brain's thoughts (and dreams, because those are thoughts too) are all being "cooked up" at just the right temperature.

You know how you can't cook an egg without a fire (too cold!), and if you make the fire too hot, the egg would burn and go all black and horrid (too hot!)? Your brain (and all the cells in your body) are like that too.

So even if you've got only 1 or 2 degrees fever, your brain's "cooking" is a bit off, and things are coming out a bit "burnt" (funny).


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

[User] [Magic: The Gathering] Im a planeswalker and I usually summon the legendary Kumena, tyrant of oracza to command my merfolk army. Am I summoning the actual Kumena or am I creating a copy from my memory. What about the other legendary creatures in my army?

[Assistant] It's a copy. With legendary creatures, there's a bit more to it than just forming a random merfolk and the copy goes a lot deeper to get their memories, but it is still clearly distinguishable from the original.


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

[User]
ELI5: Quantum suicide and immortality

I read the wiki, didn't understand it that much (I got bits and pieces but am confused to what it really is)

It has been asked on ELI5 before but the guy deleted his post which I never got to see.

Edit: wow, went to a wedding and came back 13 hours later to see my post has lots of responses (which I have all read) thanks a lot, I think I really understand it now.

[Assistant]
You have to remember that it is a thought experiment so you will need to go back and forth a bit.

So you are in a room and a photon's spin is measured every 10 seconds. The measuring device will kill fire the gun if it's going clockwise and the measuring device will not fire the gun if it's going anticlockwise.

The first measurement happens.  It's anticlockwise.  So you have survived.  And the second measurement happened.  It's also anticlockwise.  This could theoretically keep going.  You could go through a million iterations and still survive, despite this being such an improbable thing.

However, the many-world interpretation says that each time this measurement occurs, the universe is split into a universe where it was clockwise and a universe where it was anticlockwise.  So to the you right now, you think that you have survived.  But you died in another universe where the spin was clockwise.

So that means even if you do die in this universe, you will be alive in another universe, and you can keep getting the device to measure the spin of photons and it can keep saying that it's anticlockwise, where you are immortal.

What this thought experiment is saying, is that in this universe, where you survived 1 million times, you are conscious of having survived. That means that you are aware that there are universes other than this one in which you did die.


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

[User] [LotR] What is the ultimate fate of the hobbits/men who traveled to the undying lands while still alive? Do they just chill with the elves forever, or do they somehow join the rest of their race in wherever it is they go after death?

[Assistant]
They live and die normally, and leave the bounds of Arda.

They are not called the Undying Lands because no one dies there; they are called such because the Undying live there. The Gift of Iluvatar is irrevocable. Mortals in Valinor will actually die sooner than otherwise, like a plant in too bright sunshine.


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

[User]
LI5: How do radio signals work?

Placeholder text for possible future edits.

[Assistant]
Let's say you drop a rock in a pond. You'll notice a bunch of ripples, small waves, coming out from where the rock dropped.

Now, let's say you had a friend on the other side of the pond, and you wanted to talk to each other, but it was too far to yell. What you could do is make up a code using those ripples to communicate. Something like morse code for example. Maybe two ripples right next to each other is an A, and three ripples right next to each other is a B, etc. So long as the pond is still enough, you can communicate across the lake by using these waves.

Radio signals work the same way, except instead of water they use air, and instead of a rock to generate the waves, they use a wire. When they charge up that wire and discharge it, it gives off an electromagnetic pulse, like a sound, which sends these invisible waves through the air.

Now, you may be thinking, there's an awful lot of people talking to each other using these waves. Radios, cordless phones, wifi networks, etc. The way they manage to do this is everyone uses a different frequency to communicate on. Imagine people are singing to communicate. If everyone sang at once it would be hard to figure out who's saying what, but if you got each person to sing a different note, it'd be simple. These radio carrier frequencies are like the notes of the musical scale.


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

[User]
magnets have the ability to do work, and energy cannot be created or destroyed, so how are they able to do SO MUCH work (w=fxd) over their life?

My guess is that its potential energy is tied to its electrons, NOT joules?

[Assistant] Magnets create a magnetic field. Magnetic objects in this field have _potential_ energy. The situation is similar to masses on earth. They gain potential energy when you lift them up. However, the earth itself (or the magnet) does not create the energy. No, its _you_ who does the work, by lifting them up.


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

[User]
What is going on between Israel and Palestine?

I'm 19 and I know I should know what is going on between these two countries, but I don't. Why was Gaza invaded? What's up with Hamas? What started the conflict between the two nations?

I know this is a seriously controversial issue and it's hard to not be biased (I assume, based on the reactions I've seen from people), but please just try to explain to me what's happening leaving out personal opinions.

Also, yes, I know I'm a moron for not knowing anything about this already. My natural instinct is to "just Google it", but I'm worried about whether articles will be too one-sided.

EDIT: Thanks to everyone who responded. Please keep responding if you feel like you have something to add, but I feel like I get the general idea now.

[Assistant]
Palestine and Israel are two brother who can not get along. Israel and Palestine both claim the same room as theirs. Israel claims he had it long ago so it should be his, while Palestine argues that he lives there now, so it is his. Back in 1947, their mother, England, demanded that they split Palestine's room equally. Palestine was very angry about this and the day the split happened had his friends Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq attack Israel and drive Israel out of the room. To everyone's surprise Israel won the fight and took most of the room away from Palestine. Since then, Palestine and his friends, including his right hand, Hamas, have regularly attacked Israel and then been defeated. It's only because England and her other friends have insisted since 1967 that Israel hand back any part of the room that he wins that Palestine still has a corner of the room.

Hamas has been flicking a large amount of spitballs (small rockets) at Israel for over a month. Israel has been telling him to knock it off for over a month, but Hamas increased the number of spitballs ever time he was told to stop. Finally Israel has had enough and is now throwing stones (large rockets) at Hamas's vulnerable spots (military commander, prime minister's office), really hurting Hamas, and is moving to go give Hamas a beat-down. Everyone else is trying to figure out how to de-escalate the situation and get the two to stop fighting.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How is the AT-AT remotely practical?

Low angle of fire, vulnerable to attack on all sides but the front, takes forever to turn, doesn't seem practical on any terrain not fairly flat and stable, and not fast enough to be much of a transport either.

[Assistant]
It's a walking, near-invincible artillery piece packing enough weaponry and troops to level a city. It's designed for Tarkin doctrine. The effect is partly psychological. The Empire's main enemy consists of poorly trained and equipped guerillas. A giant behemoth that's practically immune to most weapons is a terrifying prospect. Nobody wants to fight that. Especially poorly trained and poorly equipped rebels.

They not designed to work alone either, they're always accompanied by a swathe of ground troops and AT-STs to protect the flanks.

Its height gives it a much greater range than conventional tanks, it doesn't need to look down because it'd never be deployed that close to enemies.


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

[User] ELI5: Whats the difference between white noise and pink noise?

[Assistant]
Former audio engineer here.
White noise = Equal energy of all frequencies that we can hear (approx 20hz to 20,000 hz). White noise has a high pitched, hissy sound.

Pink noise = Equal energy per OCTAVE of frequency.  An octave is a doublling of frequency, so there is a 20 hz difference between 20 hz and 40 hz (one octave)Between 1,000 hz and 2,000 hz (also an octave) there is a 1000 hz difference. There are more frequencies per octave the higher you go, therefore there is more energy at those higher ranges in white noise.  Pink noise has a less hissy, more rumbly sound.


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

[User]
[WH40K] Why would someone follow Nurgle voluntarely?

I know that Korne offers immense battle powers, Tzeentch incredible knowledge and Slaneesh the joys of flesh. But what does nurgle offer, except some very nasty diseases?

[Assistant] Immortality.  Papa Nurgle loves his worshippers and blesses them with immortality and pseudo immunity to his plagues.  Being sick stinks because you can't function and are dying.  What if you knew that being sick would never kill you, never leave you in pain and would make you feel cared for and loved like you were when your mother cared for you as a child.  Sounds pretty good to me.  Papa Nurgle is love and will provide those blessings and more.  He doesn't ask much from his followers, no sacrifices, no painful rituals, no blood or violence, just love and everlasting life.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we need to be in a state of sleep to feel rested?

Why are we not be able to relax and do nothing for 8 hours to get that same rest? What does the actual physical action of sleeping do that helps compared to just "resting" for 8 hours?

[Assistant]
Think of our minds as an oven.

When we are awake, the oven is turned on and is used for baking. However, splatters and drips from baking will accumulate throughout the day. Even though we are relaxing, we are still awake. It's quite difficult to clean a hot oven!

Sleeping lets the oven shut off so we can scrub it down. However, stuck-on, caked grease doesn't immediately get removed. Each sleep cycle (roughly 90 minutes of sleep, ideally, we want 5 cycles per night) is a cleaning cycle that takes off only a layer of the grease. We need multiple sleep cycles to remove all the crud built up over the day. When we are well-rested, it means we have a sparkling clean oven to start out the day!


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

[User]
[Gurren Lagann] What if it Simon where to have died? Would the humans have still won against the anti-spirals?

This is more of a two part question

First of all what if Rossiu were to have killed Simon for his crimes sooner? Like, before they evacuated earth. Would team Gurren have responded differently or would have Kittan have responded much more violently if this were the case? Would some one else have taken the helm as leader like Kittan or Yoko?

Second what if it was Simon to have died in Kaminas place, would have it had the same impact? or even the same ending?

would they have still won against the anti-spirals if ether of these came true?

Edit: would they have even beaten the spiral king?

[Assistant]
1) Simon, the most powerful human by a very wide margin, was barely able to defeat the Anti-Spirals even with everyone else's help. If he died there's really no hope for humanity.

2) There's no way Kamina beats the Spiral King. He might not even make it that far. The revolution most likely fails and humanity doesn't reach 1 million.


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

[User] ELI5 : Why don't animals attempt suicide?

[Assistant] Dolphins have been documented killing themselves on many occasions. Unlike humans, dolphins have to consciously take every breath. As a human, if you try to hold your breath, there's an instinctive reaction that will eventually force you to breath. Dolphins don't have this. They'll swim down and just slowly nod off as their brain loses oxygen. The man who made the series Flipper is on record saying that one of the dolphins used on the show swam into his arms, looked him in the eyes, and then stopped breathing and died there. It caused him to rethink everything he did and made making Flipper one of his biggest life regrets. He went on to make a documentary called The Cove. It's about an annual dolphin slaughter in Japan. It's really really good.


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

[User]
[DC/Marvel] Do superheroes interfere with international politics such as civil wars and invasions?

Would a county preparing invasion forces or starting disputes over territory warrant intervention from someone like Superman?

[Assistant]
Sometimes. This is a very general question with a lot of differing answers.

Heroes like Captain America and Wolverine have definitely fought in wars. Cap fought in WW2, which was started, in part, by Germany invading basically everybody. Logan fought in the US Civil War. Some heroes wouldn't join in the international politics.

For DC examples, Green Lantern is basically a space cop, so he's likely going to be called in for interplanetary conflicts. Wonder Woman's arch enemy is Ares, the God of War, and had fought against him in international conflicts, again WW2 is one example.

Then you're gonna have state sponsored heroes. Those who are at the whims of their governments, so if they are told to stop a civil war, they will. One example are the Watchmen.

On the other hand, there are going to be some heroes, whether super or not, that won't go into political fights. For the most part, the Punisher isn't concerned with politics, just in punishing those who cause harm. Heroes that mainly just protect their hometowns aren't going to go to another country just because they're having an uprising.


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

[User] When an adult learns a new language, does their brain store the words in the same way as when they learn new words in their native language (i.e. expanding their vocabulary)?

[Assistant]
There are two methods of learning words. The meaning-based method is used by childeren learning any language and adults learning new words in a language that they have a reasonable grasp of. New words are linked to the idea or object they represent. You think of that idea or object and the word will pop up in your mind. Adults learning words in a new language that they don't have a good grasp of yet will tend to use the word-based method. They will think of the idea or object, the word from their own language will come to mind and then they will try to remember the corresponding word in the other language. Normally once an adult has a sufficent grasp of the language they will automatically switch to the meaning based method. While speaking the other language they will no longer translate to their own language first. Only when they come up empty in the new language when thinking of an idea or object will the word from their own language pop up.

So to answer your question: initially they are stored differently, but with enough practice in the new language they are stored simmilarly. The only difference will be that a fluent multilingual person can have multiple words from the different languages connected to the same idea or object whereas a monoligual person will only have one word connected.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why don't batteries charge instantly?

I never really thought about it but if there is an infinite amount of potential electricity flow from an outlet, why don't batteries charge instantly?

[Assistant]
"if there is an infinite amount of potential electricity flow from an outlet"

There is not an infinite amount of potential electricity flow.

The amount of electricity flowing through a wire is limited by the wire. If you put too much electricity through a tiny wire, it can heat up and melt.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does water come out of the tap as soon as you turn it on?

How does it come out so suddenly? Wouldn't the water have the travel from where it comes from all the way to the tap? Is there some sort of reservoir beneath the tap?

[Assistant]
There's always water in the pipe. All the way to the water tower or whatever the source of your water pressure is. When you turn off your tap, that water that almost made it through? That's the first water to come out of the tap the next time you turn it on, whether it's a minute or a month later.

The whole system is fed by gravity. The source of the water is at a higher elevation than you are, so anytime you open the tap, the water will flow because of gravity, even if the water between the tap and the source has to go below your feet on the way to you.


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

[User]
ELI5 - Why does your heart never get muscle pains?

Seems like you can feel after-workout pain in all other muscles, so why not the heart?

[Assistant]
All living cells need adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to function. ATP is made by biochemical reactions inside cells, mainly inside mitochondria. In the presence of oxygen (aerobic respiration) mitochondria churn out significantly more ATP and is more energy efficient than without oxygen (anaerobic respiration).

During intense activity, oxygen becomes scarcer and our bodies triage it. This is why our stomach cramps if we exercise after a full meal. Your body is redirecting blood and oxygen to skeletal muscles for the exercise, making your stomach's smooth muscles rely on more inefficient anaerobic reactions for their ATP.

As activity continues and oxygen gets scarcer, more anaerobic reactions happen throughout your body and lactic acid accumulates. This makes muscles sore and needs to be cleared out to allow proper aeration.

Why are heart muscles spared from fatigue?
Three factors:

1) Cardiac muscle cells have significantly more mitochondria than other cells. Hearts never stop beating until we die. They need to constantly make ATP to power heart contractions.  This makes them VERY energy and oxygen hungry. Cardiac cells are literally furnaces. They can metabolize an assortment of foods (e.g. sugars, fats, proteins, they are not picky). Our bodies prefer energy efficiency, which is why not all our cells have as many mitochondria. If all our cells had cardiac appetites, we would probably have to eat all day without rest.

2) Like the brain, our heart has its own dedicated blood/oxygen supply. Our bodies ensure our heart always has the food and oxygen it needs. A heart attack is when our heart muscles do not receive enough oxygen.

3) Cardiac muscle cells have enzymes, chemical reactions, and other mechanisms that avoid creating lactic acid and quickly removes it when it does.

Bottom line, our hearts are made of special muscle cells that have extraordinary adaptations to avoid fatigue, but are very energetically expensive.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is a mouth ulcer?

What exactly is a mouth ulcer? What's in it, what is it made of? Why does saline and mouthwash help, and why does acid encourage it? Also, can I cut it out of my lip?

EDIT: When I say cut, I mean, it's sticking out more that the rest of my mouth gummy skin, so like, how'd you'd peel a scab, but with the ulcer.

[Assistant]
No you cannot cut it out of your lip, put down those scissors! It is more like a blister than a cyst; you need the skin etc., don't cut it out!

I'll let someone more knowledgable answer the rest of your question. But just wanted to make sure someone said this before you got impatient and picked up a bread knife.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do postal addresses in India actually work?

I've just started doing international postcard exchanges and have sent two postcards to India. Both times the postal addresses seemed more like directions than a specific address i.e: opposite/behind X building, near X circle or similar. They also both had a pin code. This address format is very different from my own country and other countries I have done exchanges to. How does this system work? Genuinely curious as I really want my postcards to arrive :)

[Assistant]
Unlike in other countries, most cities/towns in India don't have any particular layout (in terms of sectors/streets/blocks) as the development and expansion of cities was (and largely is) pretty haphazard and unplanned. So streets and houses have names (sometimes multiple names) instead of numbers. Also, there is no systematic or sequential numbering of streets, houses and buildings in most areas, and even if there is, it is often the case that these numbers are not displayed prominently anywhere. So all of this means that once a postcard reaches the post office corresponding to a particular pin code, the postman delivering it may be better off having directions to the place rather than a precise address. The landmarks that you see on Indian addresses are typically the most well known places in the area, and people around the landmark are likely to know the particular address the postman is looking for. Given a choice between two landmarks, Indians writing their addresses typically choose the landmark around which more people are likely to know their place. A typical Indian address may read like this:

*Name of the house/building*
*Some landmark related info*
*Name of the particular colony/area*
*Name of a bigger area whose pincode the address corresponds to*
*City*
*Pincode*

The most important thing about making sure your postcard reaches the right Indian address is to make sure you get the pin code right. All postcards addressed to a particular pin code reach that post office, from where the postcards are further divided among the postmen for delivery as per their respective sub-areas within that pincode. Most postmen know every nook and cranny of the areas assigned to them, and even if they don't, they can make the delivery by asking around.


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

[User]
Why is Jupiter a different colour to Neptune and Uranus?

Since they are all made up mostly of Hydrogen and Helium?

[Assistant] Although mostly hydrogen and helium, the atmospheres of Neptune and Uranus contain higher levels of methane than Jupiter.  Methane absorbs strongly in the red and into the infrared region of the spectrum, this in turn gives Neptune and Uranus their bluer colours.


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

[User] ELI5: why is it that when I'm boiling pasta with a lid on the pot there is foam trying to escape, but it goes down as soon as I take the lid out?

[Assistant] When cooking pasta the boiling water will start to bubble because of the steam that is created in boiling the water, the starch that is released into the water by the pasta causes the foamy look. When you take off the lid, the steam that caused the bubbles can escape so the bubbles lower.


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

[User]
[Dinosaur Train] I've been trying for a while to buy a ticket to the Paleogene period, but none of the trains are in service. What gives?

I've been to the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods... but for some reason I can't get find any working stations in the next period, the Paleogene, and beyond.

[Assistant]
The conductor is effectively the only one who knows the terrible truth.  He travels back and forth through time to era that he finds comforting and keep himself sane..... but it seems all but inevitable that after numerous failures to prevent the extinction, he travels far enough in the future to meet humanity and he cracks and believes humans and other mammals conspired to create the extinction event, then he will travel further to the future to stockpile technology and with the help of the now evil Pteranodon familytry to enslave humanity.

Buddy is our only hope...


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

[User]
If a person has a constant amount of body fat over some period of time, is the actual adipose static, or constantly being broken down and renewed?

Essentially, is stored adipose something that's only broken down on demand, or is it constantly renewed?

This question comes from a separate question of whether, for a person on hormone replacement therapy (which causes body fat to accumulate in other areas): body fat actually moves locations without being broken down; body fat remains where it is, but only new body fat is put in the new location; or body fat is constantly being broken down and renewed, in which case the renewal starts to happen in the new location.

Thank you very much!

[Assistant]
The adipose tissue is anything but static. During the day and night, the body cycles through feeding phases with a temporary caloric surplus where fat is deposited in adipose tissues, and fasting phases with a temporary caloric deficit when fat is lost from adipose tissue.

On top of that, there is a constant in/out flow from the adipose tissue. It is the long term energy balance, in days or weeks, that determines the net loss/gain for the system but the tissue is certainly not static.

Edit: Learn something new every day. This time, it was english grammar :)


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

[User]
ELI5: Cricket... What the heck is going on?

From an outsider's point of view, Cricket seems to be one of the most confusing sports out there! I feel like I partially understand the general concept, I just don't get how scores can get so high.  Thanks in advance!

[Assistant]
If you understand baseball, you can think of a cricket match as one long inning. There are 11 players per side and 2 must be out there at a time for the hitting team. Once the fielding team records 10 outs or a designated number of pitches (bowls, in groups called overs) is reached, they switch. Since the ball is in play no matter what direction it is hit, the defense is much more spread out than in baseball. Any hit that reaches the boundary of the field is worth 4, any that does so on the fly is worth six. Any other ball in play, the two players from the hitting team can run back and forth between the two wickets, which function like bases. Every one is worth 1 more run. Outs are achieved by hitting the wicket with a pitch, catching a fly ball or hitting a wicket while the batsman approaching it hasn't reached it.

So, for the high scoring, you have a wide bat, a huge field with no foul areas, only 2 extra defenders vs baseball, 10 outs to work with and you effectively get a run for every base.


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

[User] [Avengers: Infinity War] What reasons did the Avengers have for not using the Infinity Stones they had in their possession (Time and Mind) against Thanos?

[Assistant]
Dr. Strange DID use the Time Stone to look into the future with 14 million different outcomes. He saw the one victory and put them on that path.

Vision had the mind stone and it's attached to his head. No one can just pluck it out and use it whenever they want. When Thanos takes it out, he dies. They were working on removing it in Wakanda, but that takes time and someone very smart.

Even if they did get the mind stone out, no one would be capable of wielding it. It would likely be the other way around. The stone would control the person trying to use it, and either warp their mind or just kill them. Vision was made with the Mind Stone and he even stated he never fully understood it. The only thing he could really do with it was shoot beams out. The Mind Stone is capable of a lot more than that.

Dr. Strange had to practice for years and research to be able to use the Time Stone on the level he does. Even then, he's still not mastered it.

Thanos is on another level when it comes to strength, knowledge, and will power. He gets the Stones and immediately knows how to use them in a very high capacity. None of the Avengers could pick up a Stone and use them like he did.


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

[User] ELI5: If you have bad eyesight, why are far objects in mirrors still blurry despite the mirror being close?

[Assistant]
The 'optical distance' has not changed. The blurriness, to ELI5, is based on how much the light has spread out since it started. The farther it travels, the more it spreads out.

The mirror does not cause it to scatter anew - if it did it would appear white instead of reflective. It retains the original amount of spreading out, and so the light has effectively just continued to travel.


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

[User]
Why aren't web servers run solely on GPUs?

So I don't know anything about GPUs. But I've read that GPUs have thousands of cores. What are the technical challenges for doing this? I'm not talking about GPU assisted web servers, I'm talking about autonomous GPU web servers. Also let me know what you think about this idea. What could be the pros and cons about this?

[Assistant]
GPU aren't good for 'general purpose' computing, which due to the vast variety of jobs a web servers can perform makes them not well suited.

They are good for massively parallel number crunching - like calculating pixel values to be drawn to a screen, or matrix maths like in Machine Learning, but they are not as fast for code with lots of branching like you would find in a typical web application.

Additionally there is cost associated with marshalling the information they are working on into GPU memory, and then back to normal RAM. This is worth it if they are crunching a large amount of numbers, but in a web server you want responses to happen immediately, you wouldn't want to batch up thousands of requests and process them all at once, because then the first requests to come in would take longer to serve.


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

[User] ELI5:Is it actually dangerous to expose children to sexuality or is it just our morals? If so, why?

[Assistant]
For the majority of human history, children lived in a cave or hut with their parents and sometimes others. They would have been completely exposed to sexuality. It's only when you start to have multi room homes that hiding sexuality from children became possible. even today, in many parts of the world, single room dwellings are the norm.

It's really difficult to say if it was dangerous, obviously people survived with the knowledge. If it harmed them, who knows? If it happens to everyone, it's normal. Although our definition of normal changes.

As to "morals", it depends on your definition. Unless you can prove that it would be bad for them, it's just custom and practice, which is sometimes mistaken for morals.


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

[User]
What's the moral ground/argument for caring about animal life but not insect life?

Any texts or schools of thought surrounding this? I'm familiar with animal right activism and their grounds, but I'm interested in knowing what response activists have towards insect life.

If killing a dog is cruel, why is killing a mosquito not?

[Assistant]
Peter Singer, iirc, talks a little about this towards the beginning of Practical Ethics.  (he talks about molluscs rather than insects but the same principles can be applied).

Basically, anything with a coplex brain, like a human, cow, dog, mouse etc, seems to have a capacity to suffer.  (others might render this as 'a capaity to feel good' or use both, the structure of the argument is basically the same).  Because of this, they hvae moral standing (we have moral reasons to care about them).

Something that lacks sifficient neurological complexity to have these sorts of experiences lacks moral standing, and so killing mussels or ants for food is fine (and it might even be fine to just kill them out of convenience).

Ofc, all this hinges on a) a story about the neurology of simple creatures, and b) certain theory-of-mind questions that might remain contentious.


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

[User]
[James Bond] In Casino Royale, would the villains scheme to make money be worth it?

In Casino Royale the villain hires a  bomber to blow up a brand new, state of the art airplane. The plan being that the villain would sell all of his stock in the company before the explosion and then the stock would crash. In the movie though, the stock will go up in price after the release of this new plane. Wouldn't the villain be better off selling his stock when it rises with the new planes release?

[Assistant] That's not what Le Chiffre was doing.  What he was doing is shorting the stock.  Basically shorting is borrowing someone else's stock selling it and agreeing to buy it back for them at a later date.  Let's assume the plane company's stock is worth $100, and destroying the prototype plane will drop the value of the stock to $50.  Le Chiffre borrows 100 shares and sells them for $10,000, he destroys the plane and the stock value drops to $50 so to buy back 100 shares he only has to pay $5,000.  Le Chiffre  would make $5000 on the deal.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is Anakin Skywalker so powerful? Does he have an origin story, or is it supposed to be left up to the viewer's interpretation?

I know from episode 1 that he came from a virgin birth. He has an uncanny connection with the force. And he is basically assumed to be potentially the most powerful dude ever. My question is did Lucas or any fan theorists ever predict why this is?

[Assistant]
They go into it more in the EU, but the movies kind of tell their own (different) version without as much detail.

Qui Gon worshipped "the living force", and believed in a prophesy which said that a special individual would come to "bring balance to the force". The movies say that Anakin was a virgin birth, brought to life by the Force itself.

Now most of the Jedi assumed that this meant he would be the one to wipe out the Sith. Obi Wan even says as much when he's about to fight Anakin.

But if you look at it from a strictly literal point of view... there were dozens or even hundreds of Jedi, and only two Sith. After Anakin and Palpatine killed everyone, there were a couple of Jedi hiding out and a couple of Sith. There was a nearly perfect balance.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Jedi, sex, and emotional attachment.

From Star Wars lore, it is said that the Jedi can have sexual intercourse as long as they do not form a emotional attachment. With this in mind, how common are gloryholes in Jedi Temples and planets with a large population of Jedi?

[Assistant] Not really, chiefly because the whole sex thing is more of a its okay every once in a while if you need it thing-not many Jedi actually do it, and in new canon Qui-Gon was not impressed with Rael Aveross sleeping around repeatedly. Not many Jedi were bothering to do more than just be celibate to begin with, and the most there would be is casual flings between Jedi or civilians, neither of which was seen as super great but were not frowned upon. Its why although he didnt know they were married or pregnant, Obi-Wan kept Anakin and Padmes secret because he knew they werent just fucking but had actual serious feelings for each other. If Anakin just wanted to hit it and quit it, he'd probably get away with it. But he actually wanted to like, cuddle afterwards and shit. That's not allowed.


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

[User] ELI5:Why does a car burnout make white smoke, but a burning tire makes black smoke?

[Assistant] A tire on fire is at a much higher temperature than one burning out. The higher temp allows the molecules that make up the tire break apart further creating more particles of more or less pure carbon. Carbon absorbs light and as a result appears dark, like charcoal. In fact exactly like charcoal since it is mostly made of carbon. The dark color comes from all of the elemental carbon molecules that are in the smoke. The white smoke contains longer chains of molecules, including water in a lot of cases, that react to light differently, scattering and reflecting it, so it appears more white or light gray.


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

[User] ELI5:Why is a photocopying machine so huge compared to a normal colour printer?

[Assistant]
There are very small photocopiers too.

On the large ones, most of the extra size is for complex paper handling: several large supplies of different sizes of paper; a collator that can make 10-20 separate copies of a whole document; sometimes an auto-stapler; a high-speed jam-resistant paper feeding and duplexing mechanism.


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

[User]
[Ender's Game] Where did the buggers think that the spaceships the humans they were fighting came from?

Buggers thought that humans were non-sapient. How did they miss all the technology and weapons and such that the humans were actively using to fight back?

[Assistant] They thought *individual* humans weren't sapient. They probably thought we had queens hiding somewhere they couldn't see, and since they hadn't killed any of those yet, they must not have done any real lasting harm.


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

[User]
ELI5: how does my heart beat 100,000 times a day for 80 years without getting tired or messing up?

it just amazes me. i thought the heart was a muscle. it never stops.

[Assistant] The heart is a muscle, but it's a different type of muscle from your skeletal muscle. Cardiac muscle cells have 10 times as many mitochondria as your skeletal muscles. Mitochondria are basically the "power plants" of your cells that break down glucose into energy. Because they have so many mitchondria, they have a basically endless supply of energy. Also, the heart beats rhythmically, with different parts contracting and relaxing at different times, so when one part is contracting, the other part is not doing anything, meaning every part of your heart gets a "micro-rest" during each heartbeat.


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

[User]
ELI5: What do doctors ask you to count backwards from 10 when administering anaesthetic?

Be it kid or adults, via injection or gas mask.

Edit: Why*

[Assistant] Just as another way of seeing when you're unconscious. They don't always ask to count backwards: they may ask you to recite the alphabet, or anything else that would involve you talking uninterrupted. It's not necessary, but for as long as you are still communicating to them, you are obviously still conscious.


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

[User]
Eli5; Why is it said that it is very difficult to change your IQ to a higher score?

Surely by training our brains it becomes more effective at seeing patterns and working faster?

[Assistant] Whomever is saying that is blatantly incorrect. It is in fact almost *inevitable* that your IQ score will change as time goes by, since the IQ test is meant to measure a person's (very specific) academic potential *compared to other people of the same age/background*. That is **not** something that remains static!


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

[User]
[MCU] If Wakanda has a small population and is cut off from the rest of the world what are all the skyscrapers for?

Any company or organization would just be to serve Wakandans and I would assume banking and such is minimal so why all the tall buildings? Residential?

[Assistant] Most sources peg  the population of Wakanda at 6 million, and judging by the documentary it looks like most live in the capital. With a 90 percent urban population rate that would put 5.4 million people in the city. I'd say a significant portion of those skyscrapers are residential.


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

[User] ELI5:How is the universe ever expanding, i thought the universe was all that existed?

[Assistant]
Put two pennies on a tabletop, side-by-side, just touching.

Measure the distance from the left edge of the left penny to the right edge of the right penny. (If your unit of measurement is a penny, it'll be two pennies wide!)

Now put a your left index finger on the left penny and your right index finger on the right penny and slide them as far apart from each as your tiny five-year old arms will allow.

Now measure the distance  from the left edge of the left penny to the right edge of the right penny. (If your unit of measurement is a penny, it'll be a *lot more* than two pennies wide!)

The number of pennies hasn't changed, but the distance between them has.

Similarly, the universe can expand without the amount of stuff ("all that existed") in the universe changing. What's expanding is the space between everything that exists, not the amount of stuff that exists.


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

[User] ELI5: How do hackers hack?

[Assistant] On the most basic level, they find a flaw or weakness in a system and exploit it. For example, the software that runs websites communicates with other computers. Sometimes, if you send it something it didn't expect to receive, it will work in an unexpected way. You can take advantage of that.


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

[User]
Do we know or have a estimate of the next system Voyager 1 will enter and how long it will take?

Since plotting and projecting is so common in astronomy that someone would have taken the time to make the calculations.

[Assistant]
If Voyager were heading straight to the closest system, it wouldn't arrive for around 60,000 years. As it is now, it won't even get past the Oort Cloud, which is part of our Solar System, for 15,000 years or so.

Voyager isn't headed to the nearest solar system, so it'll be much longer than that.

Space is really, really big.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some runners/drivers get a head start in pro races?

[Assistant] If you're talking about racing around an oval track, the competitor on the outside has to cover a longer distance than the competitor on the very inside, which is unfair if they all started at the same time.


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

[User]
Why is gravity not a violation of the second law of thermodynamics?

Note: I come from a chemistry background and this is an astronomy question, so I may be off on some of my assumptions.

This is a question I've struggled with for a long time and haven't been able to get a clear answer from my previous professors:

The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of a system will increase (or at least not decrease) over time.  From a chemistry perspective this was exemplified by molecules in an isolated system being organized in the most diffuse manner possible.  So if I had 10 particles bouncing around the inside of a box, then doubled the size of the box, over time the particles would on average be farther apart from one another.  This was given as one example of the disorder increasing.

However, the matter of the universe tends to congregate into comets, asteroids, planets, stars, galaxies, local groups, etc.  This is, of course, because matter has mass, and gravity causes mass to be attracted to mass.  So, over time the matter of the universe is collecting into relatively small areas.  To me, this sounds like a decrease in the entropy of the universe.  If entropy was increasing I would imagine that collections of matter would be disintegrating into the void of space to produce the most uniform and diffuse distribution of matter possible.  Why not?  Why isn't gravity a violation of the second law of thermodynamics?

EDIT:  Thank you all for your input.  It seems that the incorrect assumption is that positional entropy is representative of total entropy, which actually includes other factors like the relative heat given off.

[Assistant]
Something similar was asked about attracting magnets recently. The answer is the same: When the things come together due to an attracting force, the potential energy that's equivalent to that force has to go _somewhere_ (First law of thermo!).

If two asteroids attract each other, they'll accelerate towards each other, and eventually collide. Where does the kinetic energy go? It becomes heat. And _that_ means entropy. So while the entropy is lower strictly in terms of how stuff is dispersed, the _total_ entropy is higher because of the change in temperature.


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

[User]
[Marvel Comics/Movies/MCU] Is Adamantium actually indestructible, or could it be crushed by something as strong as a hydraulic press that can crush cars and tanks?

Asking because Magneto seemed to be able to bend Logan/Wolverine's claws, and Silver Samurai cut off Logan's Adamantium claws. I don't really know if being "indestructible" is actually consistent, or if it's just a general statement.

[Assistant]
In the comics, adamantium is all but impervious to physical damage, but it *can* be deformed or even broken in a handful of ways. Magic and reality warping are the big ones, but since adamantium's strength comes from the unique structure of its molecular bonds, anything that can alter those bonds can also alter adamantium.

That's why magneto is able to reshape it; his power effects the magnetic links between atoms, allowing him to manipulate adamantium just like any other metal. The Molecule Man, the Beyonder, Franklin Richards, and others could (probably) pull off the same trick.

In the Fox universe, adamantium is much weaker. Super-heated adamantium is able to cut through it, as you saw with Silver Samurai and Logan. It's possible, however, that this Logan's skeleton was secondary adamantium, which is essentially a failed attempt to recreate true adamantium in the lab. Secondary adamantium would be vulnerable to true adamantium.

In the MCU proper, we just don't know, because it hasn't appeared on-screen yet.


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

[User] [Marvel Comics] How does TChalla have time to be an Avenger when hes the king of an entire country?

[Assistant]
All of the other nations in the world consider Wakanda a third world country, so they don't really have much to do with them and are just glad they don't require charities or disaster relief. Most international businesses just see a bunch of farmers in a country with little to no natural resources that can really be traded for any significant profit.

The country itself is had several clans with their own leaders that don't really require guidance from their king and can take care of things without bothering him. Really all T'Challa has to do is make sure any chiefs butting heads don't go to war and keep tabs on the other nations from time to time.


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

[User] ELI5: The legal concept of bail. How can a court justify releasing a potentially harmful person for a large sum of cash?

[Assistant]
You'd had a response from a US perspective, so I'll give you the UK answer.

Here, as in the US, it still comes down to being innocent until proven guilty - therefore, if you're awaiting trial you should remain free.

However, we will put restrictions on someone on bail - we won't insist on money like in the US, but the court might insist that they report to the police daily/weekly/whatever, remain at a certain address or perhaps surrender their passport.

That said, if someone has been charged with a particularly serious crime, or the court believe there's a high likelihood of reoffending, then bail will be denied.


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

[User]
ELI5: What causes websites to crash after sudden, consistent high traffic and how are they fixed?

If a website encounters an influx of unexpected traffic for multiple weeks causing it to crash, how do they fix this and how long would it normally take? Also, how could it still not function during lower traffic times?

[Assistant]
Websites are hosted by something called a Web server and the people connecting to it are called web clients.

Imagine a drive through restaruant, let's call it McRolands, serves people that arrive in cars one by one. Each car places its order (requests a web page), McRoland cooks the webpage and gives it to the client. It can handle the normal amount of traffic coming to it fine.

Now imagine all of a sudden a bunch of coaches turn up with 80 people on board. It's got to serve all them tasty web pages to the people on the coaches while the usual amount of traffic is still coming to the restaurant. There's a big hold up, people can't get their BigWebs and WebShakes.

McRoland has a big back order of requests that it needs to serve and people aren't getting their stuff. Annoyed, some of the people drive off because they can't get their stuff. Meanwhile McRoland might still be trying to process those requests so it's still trying to serve up a Royale with Java, walking round the car park trying to find some one who's already left.

Sometimes the server will eventually catch up as the timeouts expire on the requests and they start throwing uncollected orders in the bin. Sometimes it may just crash the whole system and requires the Area Manager to step in and turn the restaurant off and on again.


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

[User] ELI5:Why has the USA not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child?

[Assistant]
Originally, because it forbade both the death penalty and life imprisonment for children. The constitutionality of these punishments for children was not conclusively decided until 2005 and 2012 respectively.

It also contradicts US adoption laws in many states.

Note that many countries that have adopted regularly violate it, so its practicality is not certain.


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

[User]
[Three Laws of Robotics] Would any of the laws prevent my robot from doing this?

The first rule states that a robot may not injure a human. If I were to tell my robot to snatch a purse off a bench, without harming the owner. Would the rules prevent him from doing so?

[Assistant]
Nope. The robot would snatch the purse if you order her to, but before doing so, would advise you that it's illegal and strongly suggest you reconsider.

By the way, you'll be liable for any legal penalties as the theft was the result of your intentional actions, and the robot had no ability to refuse.


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

[User] What is it about radioactive materials that make them most suitable for fission? Why can't we split iron atoms?

[Assistant]
You could split iron nuclei, it's just that the process could never be self-sustaining.

Elements less heavy than iron could fuse and release energy.

Elements more heavy than iron could split and release energy.

The process is self-sustaining only when energy is being released. So fusion "pushes" small nuclei towards the size of the iron nucleus, whereas fission pushes big nuclei towards the same size. Basically, iron is at the bottom of the mass defect valley, and things on either side tend to roll down towards it on their own.

But could you push things up from the bottom of the valley? Sure, if you spend some extra energy from outside. Just don't expect it to happen spontaneously.


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

[User] Is hearing loss like a noise gate (you can't hear quiet sounds), or is it like an overall volume reduction?

[Assistant] It's a volume reduction, but by different amounts at different frequencies. Usually in noise-induced hearing loss, the high-mid frequencies are lost first, and those provide clarity to speech. As a result, sounds start to become muffled and hard to discern.


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

[User] ELI5: Why aren't there more hybrid vehicles before we go to all electric cars & trucks?

[Assistant]
For a conventional gas powered vehicle, you need the engine, transmission, rear end, etc.

For an electric vehicle, you need batteries, motors, charge controllers, etc.

For a hybrid, you need all of it.

All of it, means all the complexity, price, failure points, and maintenance costs of both systems, so overall it's less attractive than just picking one or the other.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Revenge of the Sith - Revenge for what?

Listening to Darth Plagueis; in chapter 7 hes talking about the credo of the Sith. Revenge and the reacquisition of galactic power.

I get the second part, about wanting the galactic power, but the Jedi didnt impose the rule of two and keep the sith down for 1000 years.  Bane did. So whats with the revenge thing?  They literally handicapped themselves, and theyre mad about it?

Bane wanted the rule of two because of the infighting, right? Well if the Sith could quit being jerks to each, they mightve gotten something accomplished and taken over the Galactic rule a thousand years earlier.

Is there something in deeper lore that the sith want revenge for?

[Assistant]
> Is there something in deeper lore that the sith want revenge for?

For foiling their plans, time after time after time. Great Hyperspace War, Jedi Schism, Old Republic - etc. etc.

Sith grudge against Jedi is millenia old. And they've been sitting on that hated for ages. Bane might have taken them out of the lime-light, but that was all just so they could get stronger and stronger, so when they were ready to get their revenge, it would be decisive.


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

[User]
[Predator] Is there anything a Predator wouldn't consider hunting?

Title edit: Or might consider hunting but decide against it.

Anything a Yautja would think is too powerful to hunt?

[Assistant]
There's an entire hierarchy of game available to each yautja. For instance humans and other intelligent aliens are considered restricted game to unproven hunters. Predators are also required to match the capabilities of their quarry in the hunt. So while a Kodiak grizzly may be a lesser quality hunt than a human any predator fighting it must do so hand to hand since bears don't use tools. Similarly predators used to hunt humans without plasma casters until humanity developed more modern firearms in the mid 1800s.

So with these rules in mind most predators stick to challenging but fairly reasonable game with only higher ranked predators taking on more epic challenges. Ahab for instance went after an engineer after spending centuries tracking one down. But their are certain legendary hunts that are allowed but so dangerous they're rarely undertaken unless absolutely necessary by their honor code. Hunting a queen xenomorph has only been successfully done by a single lone predator using wristblades and a spear. Any other queen hunt is usually undertaken by a group so a lone predator may reconsider the loss of honor for fleeing the hunt an acceptable alternative. There's also the abomination hunts which are exceedingly rare but considered mandatory for any hunter that is aware of a predaliens existence to stop everything it's doing and utilize every tool they have to kill it. Ignoring the hunt or fleeing from it is a death sentence for predators. Then there's bad bloods who are predators that have broken sacred laws or become so dishonorable they are marked for death. Many younger predators will flee from a bad blood hunt rather than risk the challenge of fighting one of their own which in turn will see them labelled a bad blood for refusing to honor their duties.

So there's a handful of named hunts that are considered extremely risky but available to many hunters that may refuse often at their own peril. The vast majority of hunter however choose hunts that are within their skill range and purposefully handicap themselves to make the fights more challenging. A hunter rarely will ignore a hunt when given an opportunity and is more likely to be denied the hunt by it's superiors rather than risk the shame of turning down a challenge.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does streaming videos with a resolution larger than my screen work?

For example, streaming a 4K video on a 1080p monitor, or a 1080p video on a 720p laptop screen. I've never been able to wrap my head around this concept.

[Assistant]
Imagine you have a 40x40 pixel black/white image, and you want to display it on a monitor that can only display 20x20 pixels. Let's say every second pixel is black, so you get a chequered pattern.

Leaving out every second pixel is not an option - it would work well in this specific case because of the halved resolution, but it would also result in a wrong picture (completely black, because you would skip every white pixel)... and cases with not-so-nice differences in resolution would get complicated.

A better method would be taking 2x2 pixels, calculating an average color value for that area (grey, in this case), and displaying it as a 1x1 area in your new picture. This will *basically* do the job (chequered original picture would look grey, if you aren't looking at it from up close), but won't look very nice in the end since small details will most likely just get "blurred out" - but it's the basic concept... you will take certain areas, and recalculate their color values based on what they should look like "shrunken down" to the new resolution. There are several different algorithms that do exactly that (bicubic interpolation, Lanczos algorithm, ...) while trying to conserve as much image quality as possible - of course they are more complex than simply averaging out color values.


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

[User] ELI5: Theres a bug (one of those that looks just like a leaf) thats been sitting on a window outside for the past 3 days and it looks like its still alive. Why do bugs stay in one place for so long?

[Assistant]
Bugs are literally too stupid to get bored. Their nervous system is so simple that they are basically like robots.

Bug not hungry => bug has no reason to move.

Bug not being threathened => bug has no reason to move.

Result: bug doesn't move until something comes up that concerns it.


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

[User]
ELI5 How do chip manufacturers keep their IP from being reversed engineered.

How do chip manufacturers keep their IP from being reversed engineered?
Is it too difficult for other companies to understand how the chips and boards were made and try to come up with how to make it themselves?

[Assistant]
Chip manufacturing is (largely) more a question of manufacturing than of design. It's pretty common knowledge what a chip should look like, but less common how to make that en mass. Some details of the process can be reverse engineered, but others are not so possible. For example, some steps of the process involve applying a protective coating and then washing it away, leaving no evidence of what material was used, how it was applied or how it was washed away.

For some details that could be reverse engineered, most companies would patent those, so anyone else hoping to use them would have to pay a large fee to do so.


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

[User]
We often see ship hull breaches in space movies, but do they accurately depict the vacuum's pull?

Subquestion:
IRL how strong is the vacuum's pull?

[Assistant]
The vacuum "pull" is nothing but the internal pressure pushing against a lack of external pressure. So the force is given by a pressure differential of about one atmosphere acting on the area of the breach. For a small hole this is not a lot at all: Atmospheric pressure is 1 bar = 10^5 Pa = 100000 N/m^2 . If you have a breach with a cross section of 1 m^2 , the force would be 100000 N, i.e. roughly the equivalent of of 10 tonnes of weight distributed over that area. A hole with 100 cm^2 area (a fist sized hole in the hull) would only have 1000 N force, roughly 100 kg worth. Enough to lose air, but if you want to plug such a hole by putting e.g. a body part or a book on it it will hold.

If you have access to a vacuum pump (e.g. in a science lab) put your finger over the tube and you will feel a slight pull - this is exactly what would happen with the space scenario.

Movies rarely let science get in the way of a good story.


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

[User]
If we can calculate/know the speed and direction of particles in the universe, couldn't we theoretically know the future? What is the counter argument for a deterministic view of the universe?

This plays into whether we actually have any willpower (i.e. can actually make choices). I know one theory is that quantum events in our brains could be the source of our (potentially perceived) willpower, but to me it still seems possible for choice to remain just an illusion.
I know this may count as a philosophy question as well, but I'd love to hear the science side first.

[Assistant]
We can't know both the speed and position of a particle with arbitrary accuracy. Heisenbergs uncertainty principle, which is one of the cornerstones of quantum mechanics, states that the more accurate our measurement of the position of a particle, the less accurate its speed measurement will be and vice versa.

Ultimately, that's a fairly hard restriction in simulating our universe.

Furthermore, there's a more philosophical aspect to it. Suppose we could simulate our universe on some large computer. We can then see the results and potentially take actions based on what we learn. However, the simulation has to take into account this as well, in order for it to be accurate. The computer that runs the simulation has to include itself running the simulation in its simulation.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it negative to hold students back in school?

Children develop at different rates, so what does it matter if a student wasn't ready for, say, fourth grade? Why is this stigmatized?

This may snowball into a 'philosiphy of education' thread, but that's okay. Education is arguably one of the most important foundations if society, and it's an worthwhile discussion.

Why do we in America push marginal students through school?

[Assistant] Basically, school, particularly primary/elementary school isn't just concerned with academics. A good school should be trying to nurture fully rounded human beings and a large part of that is found in the social sphere. Separating a child from his peers can cause anxiety, depression, a drop in self esteem etc etc. generally it's viewed that boost in academic learning is not worth the trade off in the other less tangible areas. Particularly when most studies show that the child who repeats a year generally find themselves at the bottom of the class again within two to three years.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does taking the contraceptive pill reduce the risk of ovarian cancer?

[Assistant] Every time a woman ovulates, her ovaries sustain a bit of damage due to the egg rupturing out of the ovary. OCPs decrease the number of lifetime ovulations which decreases the risk of ovarian cancer, since you decrease the number of lifetime damage.


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

[User]
[DC] The Flash is sitting down, calmly eating dinner. I draw a bead on the back of his head with a sniper rifle and fire a supersonic bullet. What happens?

The bullet is going to hit the Flash before its sound can reach him, and neither I nor the bullet are in his visual field. So the first point at which he can possibly be alerted to the danger is when it first touches the back of his head. What happens next and why?

Follow-up question: If the Flash easily survives unharmed, how exactly do DC speedsters *ever* get hurt? Or fail at all?

[Assistant]
This has happened several times to both Barry and Wally across various mediums. They feel the pressure of the bullet, and move out of the way.

As to how they can be hurt? User error. The Speed Force isn't a power that's always on. They can and do make mistakes, and Wally in particular is known to be more headstrong than he is actually smart (though he's not an idiot).

Hell, one of the first arcs of the New 52 has Barry literally overthink all the different ways his current scenario could go while a bullet is coming at him, to the point where he fails to completely move out of the way and gets grazed by it.


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

[User] ELI5: If humans cannot withstand a 9G acceleration, how come some Formula 1 drivers managed to walk away, with minor injuries, after impacts that are subsequently higher (eg, Verstappen and his 51G impact, and Grosjean's 67G crash)?

[Assistant]
You cant survive *sustained* high g acceleration because your heart isnt strong enough to pump against it and you pass out.

Very brief but intense acceleration events like an F1 car going for a ride into the wall dont have this issue.

Those have a separate problem where your bones stop but your organs dont, leading to the possibility of serious internal injuries.


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

[User] [Dragon Ball Super] Where did all the Dinosaurs go?

[Assistant]
Vegeta had a barbecue.

Seriously though, the dinosaurs are still around, but are mostly restricted to wilderness areas far away from major cities and the wastelands favored for combat, so they've mostly been off-screen (or off-the-page, if you prefer, which you should).