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

[User]
Is there any evidence yet that infection with Omicron confers immunity to Delta or other strains of SARS-CoV-2?

Seems pretty clear that Omicron can at least partially evade immunity conferred by previous infection with other strains. But does this work both ways? Can other strains evade immunity conferred by infection with Omicron?

[Assistant]
>	Is there any evidence yet that infection with Omicron confers immunity to Delta or other strains of SARS-CoV-2?

No, not yet, because:

1.	There has simply not been enough time for some one to be confirmed to have contracted Omicron, and then become infected (or not) by other strains.
2.	Omicron is rapidly displacing other strains and they may simply not be around any longer, being out competed by Omicron.

>	Seems pretty clear that Omicron can at least partially evade immunity conferred by previous infection with other strains. But does this work both ways? Can other strains evade immunity conferred by infection with Omicron?

Not likely. The evasion has to do with certain epitopes (targets for antibodies) on the spike protein either being conformationally distinct (but still able to bind angiotensin receptor) or more importantly, to have amino acid substitutions that lead to the area being more positively charged. Antibodies are also positively charged so there is a repulsive force that has to be overcome as a result.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is IP geolocation not exact? Why does an ip tracker or ip lookup website show a place a bit distant from my street?

[Assistant]
IP geolocation works the same way someone could guess your location from your phone number.  Different area codes and prefices are assigned to different regions (or at least they use to before cell phones messed things up), and if you knew the pattern you could make a good estimate.

IP addresses work the same way, ISPs control certain ranges of IP addresses, and often break them up by region.  The location you are seeing could be an arbitrary point in the middle of the region that has IP addresses like yours, or it could be one of the ISPs routing junctions.  Or, as is often the case, it could be completely wrong.


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

[User]
How do train tracks withstand hot and cold temperatures?

In the UK, Network Rail explained why the UK rail infrastructure is unable to cope with hot temperatures, however, it also said that 'If we stressed our rails for exceptionally hot weather, they wouldnt be safe for the winter and wed have broken rail because its too cold.'

What I'd like to understand is how the rail infrastructure in places that do experience extreme sides of weather is able to withstand the extremes. In my head I'm thinking of cities in North America on the east coast which experience very low and very high temperatures. How does their rail infrastructure cope with extremes? How are they built differently?

[Assistant]
It has to do with continuously welded rail. Previously rail had a gap between sections of track, and this caused the clunk clunk sound for the entirety of the journey as each bogey passed over the gaps.

We in our infinite wisdom decided to then continously lay track and weld the sections together. No more clunking, but now there's no room for the rails to expand and contract with the weather. The high heat causes the rails to expand and cause stresses within the one continous piece of rail, it makes it warp slightly. So when the rails are in this warped state you have to slow down in order to not derail.


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

[User] ELI5: How do hand brakes work on automobiles? Do they use the same mechanism as normal brakes?

[Assistant] They typically operate the rear brakes mechanically as opposed to hydraulically. This is why they have been and continue to be called "emergency brakes" by some people, in theory they should still engage the rear brakes without brake pressure. There is an actual cable going to the rear brakes as well as a brake line full of brake fluid. This varies vehicle to vehicle of course.


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

[User]
Can you be an existentialist and not believe in the individual's agency?

Title. To my knowledge, existentialist philosophy states that the individual has agency over his life choices, but I don't see that as true. I believe that the social structure has a large influence on our life opportunities and our choices. Does that conflict with existentialism?

[Assistant]
> the individual has agency over his life choices

...

> the social structure has a large influence on our life opportunities and our choices.

These claims don't obviously conflict with one another.


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

[User] ElI5 Why was the shuttle's insturmentation (layout, technology, etc) so similar to that of your everyday A340 even when the two are vastly different?

[Assistant]
The pilot/co-pilot/flight engineer model is well known, well-tested, and still highly applicable. It still has to be flown (mostly for landing; takeoff is largely automated).

The details of each knob or switch may be different but the larger use case is quite similar.

**edit:** also, nearly all of the shuttle commanders and pilots were Air Force or Navy pilots. They already had thousands of hours of experience in that arrangement.


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

[User] [Star Trek] How does the Federation monitor the vast spaces between its star systems? Is there a dedicated sensor network? Specialized starships who continuously scan these areas?

[Assistant]
Yes.

The Federation (and other societies) maintains a network of beacons, probes and sensors throughout space. Many are in orbit around planets or star systems, either collecting data or warning others away.

The Federation also maintains a large fleet (I.e. Starfleet) of scientific and exploration vessels whose main purpose is to collect data, encounter new races, chart stars and their behaviours as well as investigate, note, and report just about anything of interest. These vessels work in a region of space suited to their capabilities, however if needed elsewhere they will be reassigned.

By coordinating all of this via subspace communication the Federation is roughly aware of most things of note happening in Federation space, and vaguely aware beyond that, but thanks to its ship placement and design it can become intimately aware of anything in Federation space in about a day, and in about a week for elsewhere in the Alpha Quadrant. The Federation has little to no knowledge of other quadrants beyond the basic physical properties of the stars.

Other societies have different equipment capable of detecting different things, which they may share with the Federation if they're in an alliance. An example would be the Dominion's deep space probe/sensor array which effectively allowed them to know the position of every ship in and around Cardassian space. The Dominion were notably at war with the Federation-Klingon-Romulan alliance at the time, so this sensor array was destroyed.


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

[User]
[Aladdin] Why didn't Aladdin become a prince when he wished for the Genie to make him a prince?

When Jafar gets the lamp we see that the genie has to grant any wishes he makes, he supernaturally compelled to grant them. Aladdin wished to become a prince, why wasn't the genie compelled to actually make him a prince rather than just making him appear to be a prince.

Also, I know people like to be cute and say that getting Aladdin to marry Jasmin made him a prince and thus the genie was doing some sort of long-con nonsense. When Jafar wished to be a genie, however, the og genie didn't send him through a bunch of bullshit. He just zapped him into being a genie. So the genie is clearly capable of just zapping people to make them change.

[Assistant] how do we know he wasn't made a prince? whether the genie brought into existence an entirely new nation with aladdin as prince, or snapped his fingers and made aladdin a blood relative of the sovereign of some pre-existing state, nothing about aladdin's current situation in that moment would have changed. the genie graciously tried to fulfil the spirit of the wish with all the prince paraphernalia, but really that wasn't necessary. so all that pomp and glitz is irrelevant. whatever change he made to *really* make aladdin a prince wouldn't be immediately obvious to us the audience or the characters themselves.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are natural sugars such as fruits not unhealthy to eat, but sugars from juice, soda, or candy are?

[Assistant]
Well look at it this way: sugar, and foods that turn into sugar like carbs, all break down to the same thing, glucose, or food for your cells.

The problem isn't what they become, it's how long it takes them to get there. Take a fruit for example. You're not eating just straight sugar, you're eating a lot of other components with it, like the fibrous material an orange is made out of. Your body digests it all at once, but the sugar in the fruit is tempered by the rest of the material in the fruit, causing the distribution of sugar in your blood to rise gradually instead of all at once with, say, soda or candy. The gradual increase allows the body to use the sugar as fuel without the blood sugar level rising too high too quickly, something that would trigger the release of insulin into the blood to lower the sugar level of the blood. Insulin is the body turning sugars into fats, storing them for use later instead of right now. So, if you make a habit of eating food filled with sugars, especially processed sugars which are much more potent than natural sugars (hard candy vs apple, which is sweeter?), your body releases insulin much more often, turning more sugars in your blood to fats to compensate and keep your body in balance. Foods higher in sugar are more easily and more quickly converted into fat when they don't have something else (like fiber) to balance out how quickly they're absorbed.


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

[User]
CMV: There should be a universal sign language the whole worlds learns in school or by parents.

In 2021, it seems perplexing there is not a universal language.

Clearly agreeing on one verbal language would be difficult (such as English or Mandarin).

I realize there are many sign languages too, which again,  is a similar problem to verbal languages in the sense of 'how do you pick one over the other'.

I think we should create a universal sign language of like 100-300 simple words.

It would make the world a lot better.

Tlde: the world would benefit from a universal sign language

Edit:

The language would be composed of 100-300 simple nouns and adjectives to help navigate foreign countries. This is not ment to be a full language, just a partial language to get by in the world, not to have complex discussions about philosophy.

Edit 2: In a Vsauce video on YouTube titled Zipy, he discusses how 50-100 words account for 50% of our daily language. Thereby making 300 more than sufficient for minor communication to occur through a new sign language.

[Assistant]
Honestly technology is reaching a point where this is irrelevant. Yes there is nothing better than conversing with someone with the same language in real time, but the accuracy of translation apps is only getting better, and only slows down conversation by so much.

Think of it this way, is it easier for the whole world to learn a new language, or for a few people to develop coding and applications to help with better translations in real time?


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

[User] [DC] Where does The Joker get the funds for all his crazy schemes?

[Assistant]
Crime, mostly. He's the Clown Prince of crime, after all.

Being a crime lord is his job. Going after batman is his hobby. His gang is doing various boring crimes offscreen to fund his plots to destroy the bat.


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

[User]
Why is it so hard to desalinate ocean water?

I understand that our current method of desalination (evaporating the water and then collecting it again) consumes a ton of energy, but why do we need to do that method in the first place? What is it about salt in water that makes it so difficult to remove the salt?

[Assistant] Well, it's that the salt is...*dissolved*.  It's not like there are little chunks of salt floating around in the water.  The water has chemically broken the Na-Cl bond and all of the salt is floating around as Na+ and Cl- ions in the water.  That means you can't just filter it out with a normal gravity-fed mechanical filter.  You need to either boil off the water and condense it, or push the water *really hard* through a special filter that lets only H*_2_*O through.  Both of those require a lot of energy.


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

[User]
ELI5: How people discover complicated bugs in video games that take a lot of specific steps to reproduce.

I like watching speed runs and when watching the Zelda OOT speedruns, they often take advantage of a lot of different glitches. Those glitches often required a bunch of steps and all of which have to be done in order, in very specific ways.

I also remember learning a duplication bug in PSO (Gamecube) when I was younger. You had to do a lot of crazy steps to get it to work. It always worked when you did it right, but it was pretty difficult because of how exact you had to be.

So how do people figure out these types of bugs?

[Assistant]
Another way is to pore through the code of a game. You'll sometimes find minor inconsistencies in the code that you can exploit.

DayZ used to have a duplicating glitch that was discovered from the code. Somebody looked at it and realized that your inventory only saves when it is closed. So, they tried having somebody empty your inventory, then you close out of the game without ever closing your inventory. Next time you load in, your inventory reverts to the last save, which makes it full again. Now you and your friend have each have a copy of all the shit that was in there.


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

[User]
I think civilization as we know it will end during my life time. CMV

To give an idea of what "during my life time" is, I am almost 30 years old. I really hope that I am wrong about some of this stuff, because the future is looking really dark in a lot of ways, so please CMV.

  The biggest threat I think humanity as a whole faces right now is global warming. It is a scientific consensus that global warming is happening and that the consequences could be disastrous. Recently, even the more conservative estimates are on the quite disastrous side. Humanity MAY have still have a window to stop greenhouse gas emissions and escape the worst, but I think this is unlikely. Recent signals of feedback loops being triggered (arctic ice, tundra melt, methane emissions from the ocean, Amazon going from carbon sink to carbon source) indicate that we are probably not going to be able to reverse this. This leads to a few reasons why civilization as we know it cannot continue:

1. Pollution is killing off species and warming is destroying habitats. If enough species die, we could see a mass extinction event in a short time with a quick ecological collapse.

2. Disasters caused by global warming have already displaced millions of people around the globe. Also, events such as droughts starve millions. If these kinds of things continue to worsen, the global economy won't be able to stand in the face of the disruption.

3. Food resources will grow scarcer from the above stated reasons. Ironically, oil is also becoming more scarce (this is a good thing for reducing emissions, but probably too late for that). As resources dwindle, we are going to see war increase as a scramble to grab the last remaining energy and food supplies. You could argue that civilization will continue for the victors, but certainly not for large parts of the world population.

4. Arguably none of the above would have happened if we hadn't expanded human population during the 20th century so rapidly. We are probably way past the long-term carrying capacity for the Earth and will see it corrected shortly. Again, you could argue that civilization will continue for the survivors, but I doubt it will look much like it does now.

I guess I could word it a little differently. I think large amounts of people are going to die during this century, and whatever is left over will inevitably be more of a rebuilding than a continuation of civilization. CMV!

[Assistant]
No prediction of doom for humanity has ever come true even once in human history, and there have been a LOT of them.

Global warming science says that the planet is warming, sea levels are rising, and it is our fault. There is nothing there about not being able to stop it; there is not even anything there about not being able to deal with rising sea levels.

I agree with you that it will probably end up killing many, many people, but it won't be anywhere near the end of civilization. If it kills even as many people proportionally as the definitely-not-world-ending Spanish Flu I'd be surprised, but even if it kills as many people as the still-definitely-not-world-ending Black Plague civilization as a whole would be fine.


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

[User] [Crusader Kings 2/ Europa Universalis 4] Glitterhoof has replaced all known people with horses. Now it is the year 1453 and he makes contact with Ming and the rest of the world. What happens?

[Assistant]
Well by 1453 Glitterhoof has begun assembling the great counter invasion against the Aztecs who dared to invade the HRE (Horse Roman Empire)

Glitterhoof, the Emperor who single handedly killed an elder god with a boat and an axe, will then cross the ocean with the greatest armada the world has ever seen to obliterate the Aztec menace once and for all.

Once that happens, well Ming will of course be invaded so that Glitterhoof can take up the Manedate of Heaven, and from there the inexorable march of conquest will continue until at last with Glitterhoof's invention of space travel, when horses can into space, they will at last cleanse the whole galaxy of the non horse so that all may know and fear the name, Glitterhoof.

Short answer:

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a human face, and a hoof trotting on it, forever.


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

[User] ELI5: Is the 'neutral' of the pH scale based on something scientifically objective, or simply what is ideal for humans?

[Assistant] It's objective. pH is all about the fact that water molecules (H2O) sometimes separate into charged fragments known as ions: H+ and OH-. A neutral pH (such as is found in pure water) is the level at which the number of these two types of ions is equal. Adding other substances can skew the balance to Acidic (more H+) or Alkaline (more OH-).


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

[User] Are there any other examples of objects like the Rosetta Stone that have been vital to understanding not just Egyptological matters but other lost languages and obscured civilisations?

[Assistant] Yes! There's a much-underappreciated carving on a mountain in Iran called the Behistun Inscription, which was crucial to the decipherment of cuneiform, and thus the ability to read ancient texts from the Near East that were rediscovered in the 18th and 19th centuries. It's a carving commissioned by Darius (the ruler of the Persian Empire at the time of the First Greco-Persian War), and it lists some of Darius's accomplishments in three different cuneiform languages: Old Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian. It's basically the Rosetta Stone of cuneiform.


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

[User]
How can a material be lighter than air but not float?

Since there is air around us and it is lighter than air why won't it float on air?

[Assistant]
Imagine you have a cardboard box of 1 cubic metre. You put it on a scale and it weighs 1kg. You then invite a journalist to report about your cardboard box, which is awesome. You tell the journaliast that it weighs 1kg and measures 1 meter in every direction. The journalist then writes an article titled "Cardboard box discovered that is lighter than air", because the cardboard box only weighs 1kg, and a cubic metre of air weighs 1,3kg.

The headline ignores the fact that the cardboard box is itself filled with air, that also weighs something. However, air normally does not show up on a scale so the air in the cardboard box is ignored. The headline thus comes from comparing apples to oranges: a weight on a scale while ignoring any air is compared to the weight of air, which does not even show up on a scale.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does euthanasia require only a small pill, but executions require several large vials of chemicals?

[Assistant]
The lethal injection method is actually controversial. There have been studies done that show the process may actually be quite painful if the doses aren't right. One of the drugs paralyzes the body, but sometimes you're still essentially awake for the rest of the process, and can feel everything that's happening. Some people don't care about this obviously because they think the person deserves to suffer.

It would be a hell of a lot easier and probably less expensive to just overdose somebody on morphine. So to answer your question, there isn't some specific "euthanasia pill" for humans, but you could easily kill somebody with just one type of drug in a painless manner, whereas the lethal injection process is just unnecessarily complicated.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some people have good singing voices while others do not?

[Assistant]
Classically trained singer and choral conductor here...
All people have nice voices it's just a matter of learning. Remember when you first started coloring with crayons in coloring books? At first you just scribbled all over the page. Well singing better is about learning how to stay in the lines and choose better colors. One day when you are older you won't even need pictures to color because you can make your own books. Some people keep coloring and drawing, and find other people to teach them how to doing better, until they become great artists and work with other stuff like paint, and others just keep coloring in books. Same with singing some people just keeping singing happy birthday and stuff they hear on tv of the radio, but some people want to sing longer and harder songs so they find people who can show them how. Every person has a nice voice to start but the best singers who sound the best have learned how to do this from someone else. To people who don't know the difference between talent, which is your voice when you're born, and skill, the voice when you've learned some things, it seems like magic.


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

[User] ELI5:How does tap water stay drinkable although it being in the pipes for weeks/days?

[Assistant] There is a small amount of disinfectant, chlorine or chloramine, put in the water.  This is enough to kill little things but not big things like you.  If you ever have delicate fish in a fish tank, you must remove the disinfectant or it will kill the fish.


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

[User]
Why is methanol so toxic to the body when it is only one methane group away from ethanol?

I've always been curious about this.

[Assistant]
Methanol is toxic ~~because it is so similar to ethanol~~ as a result of enzymes that normally react with ethanol not having the speceficity to preclude methanol as a substrate.  Like you said methanol and ethanol are structuaraly similar.

Here is what happens, methanol is oxidized to formaldehyde by an alcohol dehydrogenase and then to formate by an aldehyde dehydrogenase.  These enzymes normally react with ethanol however formic acid is toxic whereas acetic acid (oxidized ethanol) is not.  Formic acid goes on to inhibit cytochome c oxidase which leads to cellular hypoxia.

Methanol poisoning is usually treated with lots of ethanol.


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

[User]
[Marvel] What would the Hulk be like, if Bruce Banner had a great childhood?

The Hulk persona is largely due to Bruce's crappy childhood. Compare She-Hulk and Amadeus Cho to the green rage machine.

So what if Bruce had a wonderful, happy childhood, while still becoming the Hulk? Would he be more like Professor Hulk or something else entirely?

[Assistant] He would basically be a large, green Bruce Banner. What you have to remember is, the Hulk has existed for as long as Bruce Banner has. He was originally just an alternate personality. He didnt turn into a giant green guy until the gamma incident.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do phones get slower over time?

[Assistant]
They don't, at least not to a non-reasonable amount. As the years go by, technology advances. Video game apps gets much better graphics, which takes more processing time.

Newer phones are faster, so by comparison, the older phones are slower, even though they felt fast to begin with. Going from good to better isn't that motif me; but going backwards (better to good) is much more noticble, as we have something to compare it to.


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

[User]
[Ratatouille] Why didn't Skinner simply destroy the documents proving Linguini's lineage?

He was the only holder of proof that Linguini was Gusteau's son. Why wouldn't he simply destroy that proof instead of keeping it in a folder in his desk?  He had no intention of handing them over, and Remy had to take them by force and lead a chase through the city. All of which could've been avoided if Skinner tore them up and put them in the trash.

[Assistant] He may have had use of them-- perhaps he was planning to use Linguini's apparent genius to help expand the Gusteau's product line, as he later attempted to intimidate Remy to do, and was planning to use them as leverage.


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

[User] [Star Wars] as a normal citizen what are some reasons as to why I would prefer the C.I.S over the republic?

[Assistant] It probably depends on your planet's living situation. Many planets were desperate for things like relief aid from disasters, or increased security from pirates and mauraders, but the corrupt and beurocratic Senate was so slow to act on these issues if they did at all, that their help seemed nonexistant. Dooku promised a reformed government that would be swift to help citizens and root out any corruption with extreme prejudice.


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

[User]
ELI5: You see someone taking bets with random ppl in the crowd. How do they keep track of who's who and how much they bet?

Maybe it's just a movie thing, but like Karate Kid 2, a guy is taking bets with people at the bar on if he can break the ice. How do they handle who bet what, it would take too long to write down and putting that many faces with that many numbers seems impossible to remember all, or prove after the fact if the better argues.

Probably more common in fighting matches, just can't remember a movie name where it happens.

[Assistant] It's mostly a movie thing, but to the extent this happens, the guy taking the bets is a bookie.  Bookies typically only work with people they know, and remembering bets is a job skill.  People who make those kinds of bets are regular gamblers, and if they piss off their bookie, they don't get to gamble.  Also, people who take illegal bets on illegal activities are usually not shy about resorting to illegal means to collect.


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

[User]
[Dresden Files] What happened between the Seelie and Unseelie courts to cause the recent cold snap in Chicago?

We've seen how the weather can be affected by how the different courts interact. We've had both heat waves and cold snaps caused by various trouble within or between the courts. What is it this time? Does Dresden know about it, and is he working on it? Previously we've seen a lot of snow, but not this level of cold and freezing. Someone, please give me some insight.

[Assistant]
I would guess that there are outsiders operating in the city. Mab has come to deal with them bringing a significant portion of Winter with her.

I suggest staying out of the weird places. If there is this much of Winter in Chicago there is something there that warrants their presence...


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

[User]
Why are people able to express negative emotions more easily than positive ones?

For example, in a relationship, you feel very shy/scared to tell the other person what you feel about them (despite the relationship not being new), and attribute it to your inability to "express feelings in general". However, it is no trouble for you to express displeasure and irritation.

How is it that someone can have trouble expressing only selective feelings?

[Assistant] One possible hypothesis is that our brains have evolved more to express negative emotions. For example, there are roughly 35 identifiable regions associated with sadness, but only about nine for happiness (Reeve, 2018). Historically, expressing negative emotions helped us survive as a species, so our brains today may reflect that natural selection.


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

[User]
Spaghetti code

My supervisor tell me this but its a new word for me. Can you tell me what is the meaning of a spaghetti code in programming?

[Assistant]
Im pretty sure the analogy is its code that runs in strands that then tangles itself into an unstructured mess of knots.

Its a derogatory term for code that is unstructured, and usually the result of someone setting out to code themselves out of a problem without preplanning. The literary comparison would be writing stream of consciousness and run on sentences.


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

[User]
CMV: More "traditional" music (vocals and instruments played in time) takes tremendously more skill than electronic music solely composed on a computer.

Right off the bat, I'll admit I have personal bias. It's my personal taste that EDM and most electronic music is pretty garbage. On that, not really open to having my mind changed. I am open to having it changed on how much skill it takes to make the music.

As I see it, the most glaring component of making music that computer-composed music lacks, in terms of required skill, is having to play the music in the moment. That alone is a skill that takes years of practice to get right. Whether it's a single guitarist that's singing and playing, or an orchestra all having to sync up with eachother, timing is everything.

Writing music on a computer takes its own set of skills, sure. Being tech-savy isn't necessarily an easy task, and then having to write the music itself is difficult. But the "traditional" artists have to write the music (and the vocals, which much of what I've heard of electronic music lacks), and *then* they have to practice and perform it. Skills required aren't even close.

I know not *all* electronic music is made or performed this way, thats why I made the distinction. I'm not super familiar with the genre (why would I be if I dislike it?) so I'm rather clueless as to how much of it is purely composed on a computer, and how much of it is performed live.

EDIT: really appreciate all the replies! Well, most of them anyways. I'll go through them more closely and give out deltas later today or tomorrow when I get the chance, and probably craft some more responses/ask more questions/answer some.

[Assistant]
So the biggest issue that comes to mind is that traditional musicians and EDM composers are not mutually exclusive at all. I'd say the overlap on that venn diagram is huge.

Are you completely opposed to considering a computer with audio-engineering software to be an instrument?


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

[User]
CMV: President Trump deserves credit for the apparent de-nuclearization of North Korea

I feel like I need to preface this by telling you how fully and completely I detest the current President of the United States.  I'm one of those people who actually voted for Hillary and was quite happy to do so, and if you want to talk about that decision, let's take it outside, lol.  Suffice it to say that I am, in no way whatsoever, a Trump supporter, and it really pains me to hold this view.  When I say "change my view", I'm really saying "please for the love of GOD change my view".

But honestly, I can't think of a lot of great reasons to think of this sudden 180 by Kim Jong Un as anything other than the result of the Trump administration's tough talk.  North Korea has, up until now, steadily increased in their aggression and technological progress towards a missile that could inflict serious harm on any country across the world, and the sudden change in attitude over the past month or so seems to contradict literally everything this country has been working towards for, what?  Decades?

What changed?  The "fire and fury" speech seems like the most obvious.  The tough rhetoric from Trump.  Nobody ever took the approach that he took, the approach to just say outright that we'll blow the fuck out of your country if you send a nuke at us.  I think North Korea is pretty well aware of how thoroughly the US could dismantle their country, but perhaps they were skeptical that it would actually happen?

There are, I suppose, two other explanations for this sudden shift:

1\) North Korea has always known that it really sucks as a military on the global scale and just wanted to demonstrate its ability to nuke everyone to get respect on the global stage.  Now that they've shown everyone that they can do that, they have respect, so now they're like "okay, point has been made, so we can back off now".  And perhaps Trump is getting the credit because he got to be the one to respond to North Korea's demonstrated ability to fling nukes all over the planet.

2\) North Korea is lying to all of us.  This is a more terrifying prospect, though I also wonder why they would bother with this "being nice" phase if they want to blow us all up in the end.

CMV.

[Assistant]
>What changed? The "fire and fury" speech seems like the most obvious.

Nah. Their underground nuclear test site collapsed after their last test and it will take some time to rebuild it, so Kim, upon the advice of China, is taking this opportunity to play denuclearization checkers for awhile while they get some sanctions relief and possibly get an orange moron to withdraw American troops from South Korea.


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

[User] ELI5: Where is Edward Snowden and what will probably come of him?

[Assistant] Edward Snowden is living in Russia and is supported by the Russian government. As he has FSB bodyguards on him 24/7, it is unlikely that unless the Russians give him to the US voluntarily, or he can be tricked out of the country somehow -- *so the CIA or FBI can arrest him* -- he will likely be living in "exile" in Russia for a very long time.


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

[User] [LoTR] What made Numnoreans different from other humans? Was there a time when Numnoreans were the only humans? If not, did they both "awaken" at the same time and why were super-humans made in the first place?

[Assistant]
When humans first awoke, Morgoth had already secured control over vast areas of Middle Earth and had corrupted men to his cause (who were more easily swayed than the Elves).

Some men, however, resisted the call and headed west, joining the Elves in their fight against Morgoth. These were called the Edain. After the final battle, the Valar rewarded the Edain who had fought on their side by granting them the island of Numenor to live and govern themselves. Those who lived on the island were the Numenoreans.

Wisdom, height, beauty, and long-lives were innate qualities of the Numenoreans. It is only through corruption that these qualities diminished. The non-Edain, who were born and lived under the shadow of Morgoth, never reaped these rewards, and so their descendants bear the penalties of their ancestors.


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

[User]
[Full Metal Alchemist] Why are tattoos not more abundant with State Alchemists or combat alchemy in general?

Like the title says, why are tattoos not a huge deal with Alchemists for combat? General Mustang has shown in Brotherhood he needs to change gloves when they are damaged, but why not just tattoo his palms? Almost anyone could use Edward's clapping technique or Scars deconstruction if they simply had palm tattoos, so why not tattoo different body parts like their faces or palms to do this? Do tattoos simply not exist as a practice or is this overlooked?

[Assistant]
IIRC, General Mustang doesn't just use the transmutation circle on his gloves. His gloves are also made of a special material that creates sparks when he snaps his fingers.

He first transmutes the air to a specific concentration of oxygen and other things and then snaps his fingers to ignite it to create the fireblast effect.


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

[User] If a magnet attracts something, it uses up some of its energy, right? Can you completely "de-power" a magnet by attaching ton of things?

[Assistant]
Magnetic fields are produced by circulating electric charges in the magnet's material. The power for these charges can be added from outside (as in an electromagnet), or can come directly from the atoms in the magnet themselves. The strength of the magnetic field is determined by the amount of alignment of the spins of the atoms in the material. Some materials find it quite easy to line up all or most of their atoms, and take a very long time to become demagnetized. Others (like those in an electromagnet) fall out line almost completely when the current is removed.

So, about your original question: When a magnet attracts something, it does work on that object. As soon as the object touches the magnet, no more work is done and the object will actually decrease the magnet's tendency to demagnetize; **increasing** the magnet's 'life.' This isn't really the heart of the question yet. The key is that while some amount of energy does come from the particles in the magnet, the majority of the energy used to exert a force comes from the energy YOU put into the system.

Magnetic fields have potentials- a fixed amount of energy capacity which depends on the configuration of the field. Any work you put into the system (i.e. moving a magnet to a piece of metal or a piece of metal to a magnet) is simply transformed or stored.

Tl;dr you CAN de-power a magnet by having it attract a bunch of things, but the magnet does not lose energy, it loses the cooperation of its atoms to line up the same way.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why werent James or Lily their own Secret-Keepers?

In *DH*, we find out that you can be your own Secret-Keeper, since thats what Bill did.

[Assistant]
You would actually have to leave the safety of your home to invite someone. Having someone you trust on the outside makes communication with the rest of the world much easier. Bill never was as hunted as the Potters were so it's wasn't that dangerous for him to leave his home.

Of course you could do it like the Order did with Dumbledore writing the adress down but that's pretty risky as well.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why mixing all colours of the rainbow creates white but mixing lots of paints creates brown

Bonus: why does the mixing of, say, red and blue create purple, even though red and blue both have greater wavelengths?

[Assistant] Subtractive vs additive light. Paint absorbs all light but the color they emit (red paint absorbs all light but red), light emits only the color (red light emits red light). When you mix two lights, you mix the wavelengths, when you mix paints you are combining what colors they absorb, mixing more colors means they absorb more colors, leading the color they emit to turn very brown.


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

[User]
Why do we briefly lose connection with spacecrafts upon reentry?

When a space craft is reentering the atmosphere, their connection with the guys back on the ground is cut off for a few minutes. I've been told "ionized plasma around the craft" is the reason, but that doesn't tell me much of anything. IF that's correct, why would the ionized plasma prevent the signals from reaching each other? If that's not the case, please explain :) Thanks!

[Assistant]
Plasma (ionized gas) consists partly of free electrons. So the electrons will respond freely to any signal whose frequency is below the plasma frequency (a function only of electron density; typically in the far IR for reentry, signals are in the microwave-radio). Electrons that oscillate back and forth re-radiate at the same frequency: the net result being reflection, with some absorptive losses due to collisions. Any transmitted signal is exponentially decayed through the plasma.

It's the same reason metals reflect visible light. The plasma frequency of metals is typically in the ultraviolet.

The only reason regular gas like air doesn't reflect like a plasma is because the electrons are tightly bound to their atoms and can only change energy is large discrete jumps. When electrons are free in a plasma, their energy states are much closer together, so they behave approximately classically when there aren't too many of them (the subtlety comes when you consider metals, which though there are many possible states for the electrons, there about as many electrons to fill them, so you have to worry about things like Fermi statistics).


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

[User] Does very hot water dull sharp knives?

[Assistant]
As AnatomyGuy answered, no: boiling water is not hot enough to detemper or otherwise damage the blade of a knife.   (The lightest tempering color, pale yellow, is about 300F)

Two things, however, may be associated with this:

1. Putting knives in the dishwasher will dull them due to the abrasive action of the detergent and the uncontrolled sloshing about.

2. Wooden handles may be damaged by soaking in water, so it's considered bad practice anyway to put them in the dishwasher.


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

[User] ELI5: When i use red or blue shower gel/shampoo, why is the foam always white?

[Assistant] Foam is made up of small bubbles, the walls of which are very thin.  The vast majority of the light either reflects off the front surface, or reflects off a surface one or two bubbles deep, so the total distance through the soap is minimal, so the dye has little chance to absorb light.


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

[User]
Would a being living in a hyperbolic space be able to tell that its space was a hyperbolic shape?

Also, if our hyperbolic being was a 18th century timid mathematician, would he be able to conceptualize euclidean geometry and see it as complex as hyperbolic is to us?

[Assistant]
In hyperbolic space, curvature is negative. If the curvature is negative enough, the being would notice it, in several ways:

* If two people start out walking next to each other in parallel, and both keep walking straight ahead, then they will move away from each other, their paths will diverge. The amount of divergence is a measure for the curvature. (Note that on Earth's surface, which has positive curvature, the opposite happens: the paths will converge.)

* If you form a triangle from three straight lines, then the sum of the angles will be smaller than 180 degrees. The difference between the angle sum and 180 degrees is a measure for the curvature. (Again, triangles on Earth's surface have a degree sum bigger than 180 degrees.)

* The area of a circle of radius *r* will be larger than *r*^(2) . (On Earth's surface, it's smaller.)

* The volume of a sphere of radius *r* will be larger than 4/3  *r*^(3).

The mathematician would still have discovered Euclidean geometry (just like the ancient geometers concerned with Earth's surface discovered it) since in every space, no matter the curvature, Euclidean geometry governs the smallest scales. Tiny triangles always have an angle sum of about 180 degrees, tiny circles always have an area of about *r*^(2) , etc.


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

[User]
[Watchmen] When Dr. Manhattan said he would try to create life, I always thought he meant he would try to spark genesis and create simple life - a feat humans have not been able to accomplish scientifically - but later unofficial add-ons to the comic show him effortless creating human life. Can he?

So I'm asking from the point of view of the original comic, but looking at the new stuff while understanding it's further interpretations of the original.

But in the original comic, despite being very powerful Dr. Manhattan is still a scientist and spends a lot of his time researching in the lab.

My understanding of his powers is that he can manipulate matter - so very useful in isolating elements like lithium or moving particles around for experiments.

He's helped advance human technology to electric cars and has lead to breakthroughs in physics and understanding of science.

But that does not mean he can effortlessly generate human life from nothing - because if he could, that would be way more advanced than anything like electric car batteries.

Being able to control matter does not mean he could perfectly shape it to create a human being out of nothing, because it is too complex.

That's one of the reasons he is so amazed by Silk Specter - because she's a child born out of incredible circumstances - billion-to-one-type odds, that lead to the creation of her.

My feeling is Dr. Manhattan could not just create something like Silk Specter out of thin air - it's way outside his understanding, if not directly his ability.

That's what makes his arc with SS so compelling.

Dr. Manhattan can walk on the surface of the Sun, but someone like SS is like gold spontaneously turning into air - something totally impossibly unlikely.

But SS is real, and it reconnects him with his humanity and helps save the world (sorta).

So am I right in my thinking, that when Dr. Manhattan talked about creating life he meant trying to generate actual life like here on earth, and then watching it evolve over millennia (since he is also immortal)?

He's not just like BAM create human beings! that's outside the realm of his very incredible powers.

[Assistant]
It's totally within his powers. From his perspective its all the same, stacking atoms for a dna molecule is nothing more difficult than stacking atoms for a battery, it's all just atoms to him.

What he was amazed of by silk spectre was that *specificly her* was created at random. It was less "man dna sure is awesome" and more like " all the random things that lead to this specific moment is pretty amazing how unlikely that is".


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

[User]
[Star Wars]Is Thrawn an actual military genius or does he only seem so because everyone else in Star Wars is an idiot?

like how does to compare to our military leaders?

ya know how like clone troopers are described as good soldiers but fight like a bunch of cover hating blind idiots.

[Assistant]
I think a major part of Thrawn's skill comes from his ability to read and know his opponent, and he is genuinely extremely talented at that.

He probably knows what command style you favor even before the battle begins. If he's talking to you, he studies your facial expressions and speech patterns to predict what you're actually thinking. He pays attention to details that other people just don't pick up on.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why did the trade federation form of a blockade of a singular line around the planet when ships can move in three dimensions?

Every blockade we see from the federation seems to be a cluster of ships surrounding the circumference of a planet but it usually in one line... So what if someone comes from "under" the planet. I know "under" is a relative term in regards to space travel but planets are huge. What if someone came out of hyperspace and the planet is directly above them as in, they are approaching from the southernmost point of the planet, would they just fly in undetectable to the trade federation?

[Assistant] Its because when you come out of hyperspace you end up in a certain area. If the blockade is right in front then there is no real point of placing your ships vertically. Its also why blockades in Star Wars rarely ever surround the whole planet.


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

[User] [BBC Sherlock] What exactly is Sherlock's sister Eurus's power and how does it work?

[Assistant]
Her "power", as it were, is something akin to Lex Luthor level intelligence in a world with no Lex Luthor. When she was tested as a youth, the evaluator who called Mycroft Holmes (the guy who can basically run the UKs entire counter-intelligence program in his own head) merely "remarkable" described her as "incandescent". The Holmes Brothers are on a level where their intelligence could be mistaken for precognition or psychic talent, and she's *a step beyond that*.

As far as how she uses it, she's pretty much able to piece together what people want, what they need, and what they fear, and uses this to manipulate them. Not only to manipulate them, but to convince them *that it's in their best interests to be manipulated*. She's good enough that most targets won't even piece together that a game is being played, let alone that they're losing; to them, it all seems perfectly organic, natural conversations leading to natural changes in opinion, and not an act of malice.


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

[User]
[DC] It is said that Brainiac has a 12th level of intelligence, what should I imagine under this term?

What can he do with such high intelligence?

[Assistant]
Hes basically maxed out any quantifiable aspect of intelligence. Can perform complicated mathematical operations in his head instantly. Near infinite knowledge storage. Analysis on multiple concurrent data streams. Photographic memory with perfect recall. Perfect deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning.

Basically if its an aspect of intelligence that can reasonably be measured, hes maxed it out.

Of course not all of intelligence can be properly quantified and this is where hes 12th level intellect falls short.

Both Superman and Lex have pointed out that while hes basically the ultimate living computer, he lacks imagination.

A relatively less intelligent being like Lex or Superman cant quite reach him in terms of raw intelligence, but can outdo him in pure insight, imagination, and creativity.


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

[User]
[Warhammer] Why dont the Skaven make extensive use of firearms, especially small arms?

In Warhammer Fantasy the Skaven are known for having more advanced technology than pretty much any other faction. Notably, while most factions havent even started using gunpowder, and those that have are using roughly renaissance level munitions, the Skaven have access to ~~sniper rifles and Gatling guns~~ warplock jezzails and ratling guns. If they have this level of firearms technology why dont they create small arms for their armies: a regiment of Stormvermin with bolt action rifles could dominate practically any infantry the other races could field?

[Assistant] Because theyre very expensive to make and there are so many skaven its not worth it for the higher ups to consider it for any but elite and wealthy skaven (you know the ones who matter not those filthy slaves/clan rats) to be equip with them. Better just arm a million slaves with nice cheap knives and slings and drown the enemy in bodies. Its a much more effective strategy for them in both warfare and population control. They also have a tendency to explode and kill the skaven using them.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can you have only a limited number of tries to decrypt a hard drive?

Over the years I've seen a number of news stories claiming "person X has critical (financial) information on their hard drive, but they've forgotten the password and have only Y tries left!". I don't understand how this can be the case. A computer might lock you out after a number of failed login attempts, but you should always be able to just remove the drive and read all the data plain as day using some external equipment.

If the drive is encrypted, that presents more of a problem, but I still don't understand how there could be a hard limit on the number of tries to decrypt it (again, if you remove the drive and use external tools).

*(Note: obviously good encryption would preclude pure brute forcing. I'm talking about situations where the user has a chance to remember, guess or somehow reconstruct the password/key - they might just need a few dozen or few hundred tries).*

Are these news stories poorly researched, and do the individuals in question actually have a better chance of recovering their data than is reported? Or am I going wrong somewhere in my assumption that removing the drive and reading the (possibly encrypted) contents from a separate machine is always a possibility?

[Assistant] You can get encrypted USB drives, for instance.  They can come with a keypad on them for putting in a PIN or passcode.  If after X number number of attempts at inputting the code fails then the drive breaks itself.  This wipes the information on it.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Is Anakin supposed to be clever and intelligent, or a complete moron?

I know Vader is a brilliant tactician and military commander (not many people mention this, but Vader is mainly dominating the rebels in Empire by outsmartng them) but what about Anakin?

How smart he is in Clone Wars is a matter of debate depending on whether you attribute his military success to genuinely clever, outside the box type tactics or the Force keeping him alive for as long as possible (i.e his plans were mostly shit and he got lucky).

In Phantom Menace he's a child prodigy, working as the mechanic at Watto's shop and straight up created C-3PO at the age of 9.

In Attack of the Clones he's more powerful and skilled at 19 than Obi-Wan was at 25, though that may be less intelligence and more just Chosen One stuff. Don't really see any evidence for or against his intellect otherwise.

And then he's sort of just a complete moron in Revenge of the Sith. He's easily manipulated, loses to Obi-Wan after fighting like an idiot (seriously, he had an entire shore to jump onto and continue the fight, why choose the only spot where he actually can get hit?). In the Opera House scene, Palpatine is doing everything beyond literally shouting up and down, "I'M A SITH LORD ANI!" and Anakin still doesn't learn the true until Palpatine directly tells him.

Basically, is Anakin a moron?

[Assistant]
Have powerful, vivid visions of the most important person in your entire life dying and feel - as the most powerful person in the WORLD - powerless to stop it.

Then tell me how smart your decisions are.


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

[User] ELI5:How did Japan make such a quick and powerful cultural and economic comeback following the dismantlement of the imperial government and culture?

[Assistant] Because America basically rebuilt them in its own industrialized image after WWII. We learned our lesson after leaving WWI Germany to languish and decided that we needed to put Japan on solid footing. So we turned them into an industrial superpower in the hopes that they wouldn't feel the need to try to take over Asia again.


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

[User] If we know the bacteria that cause pneumonia why can't we make a vaccine for it?

[Assistant]
Pneumonia just refers to an infection in the lung parenchyma. It can be caused by many bacteria and viruses but the most common is *Strep pneumoniae*, also called pneumococcus.

There are 2 vaccines for pneumococcal pneumonia: Pneumovax and Prevnar. The first covers 23 serotypes of the pneumococcus bacteria and the second covers 13 of the more virulent strains. There are specific age and comorbidity guidelines for who gets the vaccines.

Why doesn't everyone get the vaccine? Because of cost, risk/benefit, and low person-to-person transmission of pneumococcal pneumonia.

Why does pneumonia still exist if we have a vaccine for them? Because there are other types of bacteria and many other serotypes of pneumococcus that can cause pneumonia.


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

[User] ELI5: How does a phone on speaker transmit your voice but not the other end of the conversation.

[Assistant]
You can think of the phone having two lines, one that's coming in carrying the callers voice, and one that's going out carrying your voice.

When the callers voice is coming out of the speakers the microphone listening for you voice also hears it.  But the phone knows that it should take sound that it's putting out from the callers voice and subtract it from the noise it's receiving from your voice.


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

[User]
Do high flying birds need less oxygen?

Do high flying birds need less oxygen in their breaths, or do they take breaths when they are lower altitudes (like whales surfacing for air)?

[Assistant] Birds have efficient lungs, they have air sacs connected to the lungs and oesophagus, when they breath their lungs and sacs get filled with oxygen and when they breath out the spent air in the lungs leaves and the sac air goes into the lungs giving them a double dose of oxygen.


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

[User] [Terminator] After the nuclear holocaust, what are the Resistance eating?

[Assistant] Remember the scene in the future when the picture of Sarah burns in the Terminator attack? Before the attack Reese is looking around and see some kids hunting rats. They probably mostly hunt, gather, and scavenge. Also, skynet has human slaves and must be feeding them something. It probably has robot operated farms scattered around. The Resistance probably steals a lot from Skynet.


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

[User]
[The Last Airbender] Is it possible that some Air nomads survived the Air Nomad genocide besides Aang?

Here me out here. Before Aang ran away, the Air Nomads were known to travel the world along with living at their respected temples.

Could it be possible that on the day of the genocide some monks or nuns survived solely because they were away from the temples at the time of the attack?

If they didnt earn their tattoos then it could be possible that they were to blend wherever they decided to hide out. Hama is a perfect example of this because shes a water bender living in the Fire Nation. Whos to say the fleeing nomads couldnt do the same?

[Assistant]
Yes, the comics covered this. Many survived outside the temples.

The fire nation kept a watch on lots of air nation relics and killed anyone who looked them up and hunted the remainder down. By aang's time there were none left.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do classical songs always have in D minor, in E minor, in G major what do those mean?

[Assistant] Its because much of classical music is purely instrumental and has no lyrics and even, in a related way, no titles. After all, the titles of songs almost invariably come from the lyrics, directly or indirectly. So the names we use for many classical pieces are not really titles at all, only descriptions, and the musical key (e.g., C major), form (e.g., sonata) and tempo (e.g., allegro) are useful differentiators.  There are even numbering systems used, e.g., K331 to address this same problem.


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

[User] ELI5: What makes flies important to the ecosystem?

[Assistant]
They're part of the nature. They seek out decomposing flesh and lay their eggs on it, and their larvae eat it and help to break down the rotting flesh in to more basic components that can be absorbed in to soil to fertilize it for vegetation. They also aid in pollination of certain plants. They're also a key part of the food chain for lots of other creatures.

They may seem like a pest but they're integral to the natural balance of the world and without them lots of other animals like birds, lizards, toads, and a bunch of other species that don't come to mind right now would have a harder time surviving; and when their population dwindles, so does lots of other species. The natural food chain is a delicately balanced thing, and any disruption to it can have rippling effects.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do musical chords sound good?

Why do the notes that make up a major chord sound good together and others don't? Why do three random ones sound terrible?

[Assistant]
Acoustics, physiology, and cultural bias.

Imagine each note on the piano is a square grid, and each grid is large or small depending on how the note is.  Now take two grids that have similar proportions and lay them on top of each other, this set will create shapes that are symmetrical and in alignment with the other grid.  Now imagine that you have two grids that aren't similar sizes, when you overlay these on top of each other the shapes that are created look random, and are definitely not symmetrical.  These grids are very similar to what happens acoustically with "good sounding chords."  Every note has an overtone series on top of it, which is like the grid, and when the notes are pleasing the grids line up in a sort of symmetry. You can see this mathematically as well, a perfect fifth, a very pleasing interval, the foundation of the power chord, is a ratio of 2/3.  But a minor second is a ratio of 11/12 (when tuned justly, which is a whole other thread).

Our ears also process sound in a specific way based on how it is shaped.  Inside our ear, our hearing cells are kind of similarly laid out like a piano keyboard.  The nerve cells for things that aren't pleasing are close together, and some theorize that the cells are bumping into each other.  This bumping into each other could be unpleasant, but they are still trying to figure this out honestly.  If someone else knows more information about this please correct me!

Finally cultural bias has a great deal to do with what sounds pleasing and good.  For example, Gamelan music from the south pacific uses a pentatonic scale with two notes that are close together but not in tune for each scale degree.  This scale is called the Pelog scale.  To westerners this music is very dissonant, but to those in the region the music is considered to be extremely beautiful.  Using the first example, this music uses grids that don't line up very symmetrically.  The culture of both regions impacts very much what people interpret to be "good sounds."

It's a little bit of all three columns at the end of the day.


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

[User]
[The Matrix] What's down the nasty-looking alley?

The second time Neo meets Trinity and they're riding around in the car with the rest of the gang, Neo almost gets out of the car and walks off. There's a shot of an alleyway, and Trinity warns him that he's already been down that way (obviously speaking figuratively - or is she?) and that he knows where it goes, that he's been down that way before and doesn't want to be there again.

My questions: what is down the metaphorical alley, i.e. what's the path it represents him choosing? Is it just ignorance of what's really going on? If it does represent this, then his returning to it seems to suggest he had left the ignorance before and would be returning. But this doesn't make sense in the story.

A scene or two before is when Agent Smith puts the bug into Neo's body in the interrogation room. Is Trin possibly referring to that? The "you've been down there before" line seems too close to the bug scene for her not to be talking about that room. Or am I just reading too much into it?

[Assistant] This alley is not metaphorical. Later, in the third movie, Neo and Agent Smith have a fight to the death in "that" alley. And in fact, these two have had this fight down this alley in all previous Matrix incarnations. Trinity's words are more of a prophecy, since she is not yet aware of any previous Matrix "versions" or "reincarnations", yet it holds true.


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

[User]
[Predator] What is the Yautja word for xenomorphs?

There has to be at least one word for this species in the Yautja language, right?

[Assistant]
"Kiande amedha"... Kinda.

Apparently this word translates as "Hard Meat" (animal names can just mean normal words sometimes, but this is also a pretty generic phrase so... Hence the "kinda") approximately, but it is used to refer to Xenomorph's, atleast in one case:

Aliens vs Predators: Prey, page 3.

An official 1994 novel.


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

[User]
How big is the universe and how did people find out the size out it?

I know it's huge and all, but help me grasp how *truly* huge it is.

Edit: Oops, it's: how did people find out the size **of** it.

[Assistant]
Space is big.

You just won't believe how **vastly**, *hugely*, **mind-bogglingly** *big* it is.

I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.


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

[User]
[Batman] Do batmans one night stands know whats up?

Bruce Wayne is often considered a romantically successful bachelor but  we also know he doesnt actually have any time to spend fooling around. So does he just pay women to pretend they were with him? Dont they suspect a thing? Do they find Robins presence strange?

[Assistant]
So... apparently the various models and actresses and other such women in Gotham City have traded notes, on how Bruce Wayne keeps ducking out of their dates on vague emergencies he can't speak about, how he's a perfect gentleman but none of them have actually gotten him to actually open up, let alone get laid at the mansion, and have come to the only logical conclusion.

Bruce Wayne is gay and totally in the closet. But hey, as long as Wayne keeps taking women out on expensive and fancy dates to keep people from realizing the truth, they don't mind being his beard.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40k] Could tyranids succumb to Chaos?

What would happen if Chaos took over the hive and could it?

[Assistant] No. Tyranids are immune to daemonic possession. Although they have a very strong psychic presence with their connection with the Hive Mind, they have no emotions which daemonic entities spawn. They do not feel pain, greed, lust, anger, or anything for that matter and are thus unable to be corrupted by Chaos. The Hive Mind is also an immense shadow in the warp that is so alien and strange even the 4 Chaos gods avoid and fear. On the other hand Tyranids cannot consume Chaos daemons either. For Chaos daemons are not a physical beings, they have no DNA, they are not even matter, but pure warp energy. That being said, because Chaos thrives off of the emotions of the living, once the Tyrandis consume every living thing in the galaxy, there would  be no emotions or conflicts where the Gods of Chaos could exist. There would be no war (Khorne), no lust (Slaanesh), no manipulation (Tzeentch), no plague (Nurgle), and with nothing, there is no Chaos.


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

[User]
If scientists do not read Newton and mathematicians do not read Euclid, then why do philosophers read Aristotle?

Note: obviously this question does not concern those three specific men.

[Assistant]
Learning the history of science/maths may be rewarding but they're not required for a scientist or mathematician to do their work. They don't need to know who's Newton developed his theories in order to use them.

 In philosophy, however, history is used to track the meaning of a word or the development of an idea. Philosophers refer to the works of previous philosophers. And you sometime might want to read the original text "unfiltered" by any secondary account of their work and form your own study.
Unlike maths or science, which are generally taken to be universal, the philosophical literature is a product of its time and place in history.
If you want to discuss a concept (say "virtue") with another philosopher you have to have to know the context and the background.


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

[User]
[Venom] Does having a symbiote slow aging?

Given a compatible symbiote can repair serious damage to their host, I have to wonder if they might slow or even stop a lot of the negative effects of aging. Obviously it would only work with an actual symbiotic relationship like Venom and Eddie have though. Maybe the symbiote can't fix everything so you'd still age eventually, but even if it can only fix the symptoms rather than the cause, I'd imagine that alone could extend your healthy lifespan significantly.

[Assistant]
Kind of. The host will still age, but the symbiote can do a lot of patchwork.

In the alt universe story, Venom: The End, Eddie is kept alive for eons. When his organs fail, the symbiote replaces them with its own goo. When his own nuerons expire, the symbiote replaces them.

But as a result, the line between symbiote and host is blurred. Brock's had so many of his memories and body parts replaced by Venom he isn't fully himself anymore.

That's assuming there's a symbiotic relationship like the one between Venom and Eddie. A symbiote is also capable of dominating it's host and absorbing so much energy that the host ages incredibly fast. There's a What If? story where Venom stays bonded with Peter, drains him of his spider powers and then abandons him for a new host, leaving Peter an old man.


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

[User] ELI5: How UPS drivers save gas by avioding left turns.

[Assistant]
UPS drivers drive a large and not very agile box truck.  This means that for a left turn, they must wait, idling the engine, until a rather large gap is open across both directions of the road.  (In the US, the left turn crosses to the far lane.)

If their route only involved right turns, and it was the same length, then they would use less gas idling, because they would only need ot wait for a gap in the near lane.  Computer software can arrange that, and thus they make left turns only when the distance traveled is significantly less than could be achieved with right turns.  In the US, road networks are dense and one-way roads uncommon, this turns out to be almost never making a left turn.


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

[User]
How does a large lower class effect the economy either positively, negatively or perhaps both?

Im sorry if this is a bad question. I would say Im fairly new to economics.

The reason for this question (with the risk of starting political debates in the comments) is Ive heard of both political parties wanting to keep the poor poor. This in turn made me question what effects a large lower class would have on the economy. Id assume both parties want to have a good economy, and Id also assume theyd want to bring people out of the lower class so they spend more therefore growing the economy further. But thats just it, Im only assuming. Although, Ive heard the lower class is terrible at saving money and practically immediately spends their money, so perhaps having a lot of people do that is good for the economy? I really dont know, so any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

[Assistant]
> Ive heard of both political parties wanting to keep the poor poor.

Well, politicians like to criticise each other. It may be true in some cases though.

> This in turn made me question what effects a large lower class would have on the economy. Id assume both parties want to have a good economy, and Id also assume theyd want to bring people out of the lower class so they spend more therefore growing the economy further. But thats just it, Im only assuming.

You're generally right in your conclusion, having a large lower class isn't helpful. But, it's more about productivity than spending. If workers have higher productivity then that increases their wage and it increases production across the economy. So, if people gain skills then it improves the economy in general.

> Although, Ive heard the lower class is terrible at saving money and practically immediately spends their money, so perhaps having a lot of people do that is good for the economy?

No, it's not good for the economy. Keynesians (New or Old) believe that people spending money on consumption is good for the economy *in a recession*, but not otherwise. Even Keynesians think it's not the only option, they advise that the government spends it's money instead if consumption is too low.

There may be political reasons for politician to want this or that, but that's a different story.


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

[User]
[DCEU] In "Superman vs The Elite", Superman claims to have punched someone into orbit at Mach 7. If this was true, at what speed would someone's body tear itself apart?

We're implying that an individual doesn't have any peak human or supernatural durability, metahuman or not.

I'm using this question as a reference to a project I'm working on that's heavily influenced by the superhero genre. Since I don't want such an odd question in my search history, I thought I'd ask here.

[Assistant] If Superman hit a normal human at Mach 7, his fist would travel through the body like it wasn't even there.  The following concussive shockwave through the air from something traveling that speed would turn the rest of the body into a fine spray of liquid mixed with small shreds of skin and connective tissue.  The heat from the compressed air would probably flash cook everything too.


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

[User] ELI5: how come if I have a watercooling loop in a computer, it will grow algea even though there's no food or light. What do they survive on?

[Assistant]
Heat and micronutrients in the water. Also there is likely some light getting in too (or at least off of LEDs in your computer, it doesn't take much).

Think of algae growth in covered swimming pools and water coolers.

I would recommend using distilled water or a water and glycol mixture to prevent biological growth. This is commonly used in residential and industrial heating and cooling systems.

Have a great day!


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does everyone take the lump sum rather than annuity payments? If the 1.3 billion dollar jackpot is only worth 806 million, why wouldn't it be a better idea to opt for the payments?

Why leave half a billion sitting on the table?

[Assistant]
Because it's not on the table yet.

The $800 million is how much they have in the prize pool. If you take the cash option, that's what you get. If you choose the annuity, they invest the money for you and you get the money plus interest over 30 years.

If you take the cash option, you can (and certainly should) invest it so you can earn interest.

So, you're not leaving anything on the table -- the difference it interest that hasn't been earned yet.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that humans are more likely to remember stuff we forgot to do while were trying to go to sleep?

[Assistant]
Sleep is not like switching a computer off. While most of your muscles and your consciousness are disengaged your mind is in fact very active (varying between phases of REM and deep sleep).

While you sleep your short term memory is processed and integrated with your long term memory. And memory pathways are reinforced based on your recent stimuli.

Your brain's neural network is an immense series of links and new memories are gradually interlinked with your existing memories. This happens to some degree during the day but far more intensely  during REM sleep.


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

[User]
ELI5: Explain art.

Why are the works of Jackson Pollack, Piet Mondrian, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline considered great art?  And I just can't understand why Jeff Koons is so popular.

[Assistant]
Art is meant to entertain. Because life has no definite purpose, art is created in order to help give life purpose, or at least take our minds off of life's lack of purpose. Almost anything can be considered an art.

Paintings that depicts realistic looking scenes like landscapes and portraits do this in a very closed-ended way. That is, if it's a painting of a tree, there's really only one way to interpret that painting.

However, abstract art like that of Pollack and all of the other artists you've mentioned, fill the void of existance in a more open-ended way. Their paintings are meant to inspire feelings just like any other painting, but the viewer has more of a choice in what feelings are being inspired because they have more choice in what they are seeing.


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

[User]
ELI5: Multi-core processors

most of the explanations i can find aren't dumbed down enough for me. i need something simple and to the point. i understand that processors are like the brains of computers, but i'm lost when it comes to cores and stuff like that, anything is helpful.

[Assistant] Imagine a single-core processor being a single lane of a stretch of highway. Each car that passes through are information that needs to be processed/calculated. Though we can increase the speed limit (CPU clock speed) of the highway for faster processing, we can also create a new lane to do this. Thus, a highway with 2 lanes is a processor with 2 cores. The more lanes you have, the more cores, and more processing power.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we still do $0.99, or $49.99, and not just round up that penny? Why did we start this in the first place, and do other countries aside from the U.S. do this?

[Assistant] Marketing. People are more likely to buy a product with ending in 9 as the human brain only comprehends the first number effectively. A $49.99 reads like its $40, even though we know its $50. Psychologically, it drives more sales for the business.


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

[User]
Why didn't the universe collapse into a black hole immediately after the big bang?

All the stuff, matter, energy that would ever be was in a space that would seemingly have to be dense enough to be a black hole. Why are we not crushed inside of a black hole?

[Assistant] One important condition for the formation of a black hole is that the spacetime away from your distribution of mass you'd like to be a black hole is asymptotically Minkowski, meaning it gets quickly flatter and flatter as you move out. This is not the case for the early Universe since it was homogeneous (all points were identical).


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

[User]
I'm thinking I should quit my PhD

I read a lot of advice about choosing a PhD, and having a good advisor was important to me.  I spent some time with mine before I joined and I decided she was the right person, and I liked that I was expected to publish a lot and there seemed to be a lot of support.

When I started she vanished almost immediately.  I tried asking her for a weekly meeting, but she just blew me off.  So I've basically been on my own for several months with just google.  The project I'm working on has also turned out to be different than what I was originally told, and I feel like I've been lied to.

Then I found out that the group of five others I joined was actually three: one was a professor emeritus who is never around and one had just left.  And worse, the other two are leaving in the next couple of months, and there are no grants to hire anyone new.  So it'll likely be just two of us for most of my PhD.

Worst of all, she has no contacts beyond a couple of former PhD students, and she's very opposed to me going to conferences or to trying to find collaborations.  I've brought it up several times and I get told no every time.  She has alienated everyone in the field and the university.  The woman who is leaving has nowhere to go because no one likes dealing with us.  She told me last week she'll likely be waiting tables in six months.

I've lost all motivation to study.  I've been considering this for a couple of weeks now, and I think that it's best that I quit now before I'm too deep.  I guess I just want to write it all out and have someone impartial read it, have you either confirm or deny my worries, because right now I think it's highly unlikely I will find a postdoc.

[Assistant]
>Worst of all, she has no contacts beyond a couple of former PhD students, and she's very opposed to me going to conferences or to trying to find collaborations.

To me that's a major red flag. PhD supervisors should be train and mentor their students to enter academia. Discouraging them from networking or presenting their research does the opposite of that. Unless she is protecting you because you're not ready to present, or something like that. But if that is the case she should be upfront about that and work with you to improve your presentation/research skills.


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

[User]
One should never expect people to use invented pronouns (xe, xir, etc.) CMV

I see people on the Internet often argue that people are "misgendering" them by not using their special pronouns that they've invented. They claim that since they are "nonbinary" they don't identify with "him" or "her" and need to invent a new pronoun like "xie" or "bunself".

The thing is, English has a gender neutral pronoun. "They". And it's not just a plural pronoun. It's been in the English language for hundreds of years referring to a singular person.

Pronouns are not something to just make up. They're for other people to identify you when you aren't there. You have something you can choose. It's called a name. You can have as crazy of a name or a nickname as you want, but making up crazy pronouns is off limits.

tl;dr: I will happily call someone by their preferred pronouns so long as they aren't a stupid made up pronoun.  A pronoun is not a silly second name. Try to convince me otherwise.

**EDIT:** The most common argument seems to be "all words are just made up." I have explained multiple times why this argument doesn't fly. Please try some other argument please.

[Assistant]
Not that long ago, if you were a woman, you were either referred to as "Miss" or "Mrs."  Your marital status defined you (while men, of course, escaped such a thing).  "Miss" denoted young, innocent and weak, while Mrs. was property of the husband, as in "Mrs. John Smith".

So, some women came up with a stupid made up term "Ms.", which was scoffed at by a lot of people.  But now, it's common, and makes sense.

Not long ago, people from China or Japan were called "Oriental", a reference to being from the East.  Of course, it was only the East relative to Europe, and the people from there got tired of the term and asked to be called Asians.

Sure, there's a limit of reasonableness that needs to apply.  You might not know a persons preferred gender designation when you meet them and use the wrong term, and they should have no right to get pissed off.

But what harm does it do to make a small accommodation to acknowledge that the term of address that they prefer is a better one to use than an ill-fitting one-size-fits-all approach?


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

[User]
Why do some people jump straight into a PhD program without doing an MS first?

Looking around at a few CVs, I noticed how common this was. Why is this? I thought the usual case was to get a BS then an MS then a PhD.

[Assistant]
That's the usual pattern in most of Europe, but not in the US.  In the US, most masters programs in the sciences are "terminal masters" programs: they're designed for people who aren't planning to pursue a further degree.  (That's not to say some people don't, just that it's not the focus of the program.)

Instead, US PhD programs are often a bit longer, because students spend the first one to two years primarily taking courses.  That is, the first one to two years of an American PhD program are basically equivalent to a masters program.


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

[User]
What makes Light move?

I understand that light moves at a velocity but what powers this movement. This seems like an unanswerable question to me but maybe you guys could shed some light on the matter. (terrible pun intended)

[Assistant] light can't *not* move. That's just its nature, and the nature of all massless things. They're always in motion. When it's created, it's created in motion and can't be stopped unless it's absorbed by/interacting with charged particles in a material.


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

[User] Why are some people very photogenic, and some people just aren't (even though they may be very good-looking in person)?

[Assistant] I think it has a lot to do with the forced smile. Many people become nervous when it comes to taking pictures, even if they look good, because they can't "force" a smile. This can lead to a "bad" picture.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do people from rural areas tend to be more conservative and people from urban areas tend to be more liberal?

[Assistant]
From the fiscal side of things, social programs are cheaper on a per-person basis in urban areas.

Spending 10 million dollars on a transit system in a dense 1 million person city will cost $10 dollars per person, and can create a system that most of the citizens can benefit from - meaning most citizens will be walking distance from a bus stop.

Spending that same 10 million dollars on a transit system in a sparsely populated 100,000 person rural environment will cost $100 per person, and because the rural environment is much larger, it will only create a very bare-bones transit that will benefit a small portion of the population.


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

[User]
CMV: servicepeople (soldiers, police, firefighters) are not automatically deserving of admiration

In the United States, one of the largely unchallenged aspects of culture is the almost religious veneration for servicepeople, especially soldiers. They are nearly-universally and automatically awarded the title hero or described in glowing terms. However, many servicepeople have done little or nothing personally to distinguish themselves as heroes. In my view, the following criteria can establish someone as a hero:

1) Heroic intention, i.e., selflessness and willingness to sacrifice:

A person who willingly risks their life primarily to save another person or to promote a right cause is a hero. MLK is a good example of this; he bravely advanced the cause of Civil Rights even though it presented a clear danger to him.

There is no doubt that many servicepeople have heroic intentions; however, there is no way to be sure of a servicepersons intentions *just* because of their occupation. There are plenty of other incentives for a person to choose a risky occupation: monetary, education, lack of other opportunities, family tradition, self-aggrandizement, etc. It would be incorrect to assume every serviceperson has heroic intentions and is truly selfless. The mere fact that servicepeople risk their lives does not make them heroic; otherwise, lumberjacks and miners would be the most revered members of our society.

2) Heroic action

A person who initially has no heroic intentions may still become a hero if they perform a heroic action. A person desiring only to receive praise who runs into a burning building to rescue an infant may never achieve the first criterion, but is undoubtedly deserving of admiration.

Again, there is no doubt that many servicepeopleeven if they do not have heroic intentionshave performed heroic actions. But it is equally certain that not all have. There is no way to be certain whether a person has taken heroic action *just* because they are a serviceperson.

Many servicepeople are deserving of our deep respect and admiration. But not all are, and it is wrong of us to assume the heroic intentions or actions of a person just because of their occupation. CMV.

[Assistant] Calling them heroes isn't just a result of their intentions or actions, it is encouragement. Promoting admiration and social benefits for its workers is an effective way to get people interested in working for the government. It also makes people more likely to comply when confronted by a serviceperson.


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

[User]
CMV: Autism is a mental disease; it should not be accepted as normal and neurodiversity should not be pushed as "good"

  First off, I shouldn't have to say this, but I've been downvoted in this sub before for no good reason, so as a foreword, I would just like to make it clear that I'm not a troll, this is a view I have, and I'm willing for my view to change.

  It is my belief that autism is debilitating mental illness that causes lasting problems for those that have it for the rest of their lives. Because of this, I believe that it should not, in any way, be honored or accepted as "normal." One way that I see it being treated as normal is through the neurodiversity movement. This movement basically states that it's okay to have a different brain makeup than the standard or "neurotypical" person and that while there are downsides to being neuro-atypical, there are many benefits that would be lost if one was nuerotypical. I disagree with this. For one, the downsides heavily outweigh the negligible benefits to being born with a broken, strange brain. Some may be inclined to feel the need to not attempt to cure themselves or loved ones due to this believe that it's okay that they're not normal. I believe that it is in fact not okay that they're not normal because the world revolves around neurotypical people and the world hasn't, doesn't, and shall never find quarter for those that do not fit the norm, mentally. I'd also go as far that it *should not* why try to accommodate those with a disease rather than try to cure them of their disease?

  And yes, I know there's not really a "cure," just treatments of symptoms. However, some don't even wish to do this. I've read that certain self-advocacy groups challenge pushing verbal speech as a measure of success. This is ludicrous! In this world that we find ourselves in, people communicate using *words*. They communicate using sentences, not mono-syllabic commands and strange, aggressive arm flaps. It's unrealistic an unhealthy to use unique measures of success when the rest of the world doesn't care; they'll operate the same way they always have while someone will live in squalor because "it's okay that they're different."

  As extension of this, it should be a parents obligation to terminate if they have strong reason to suspect their child will be born with autism. I know this isn't a realistic reality, and forcing someone to terminate their unborn child makes me squeamish, so I'd be content with just knowing that mothers in the future would acknowledge this as a moral option.

  I shouldn't have to say *this* either, but I already know people will see my explanation in a different light if I don't. I suffer from Asperger's Syndrome (now known as High-Functioning Autism). And no, before you assume, I am not self-diagnosed. I was diagnosed as a child via psychologist, and no, not some quack doctor either. I also regularly speak to my psychiatrist Since I was diagnosed early, I've been able to iron out some of the more harmful symptoms. I was even told by one person that I revealed my secret to that I seemed relatively normal and that it seemed that I worked hard to get to where I am today. I'm not your stereotypical Asperger-sufferer who only likes math and science (I much prefer literature), has no imagination, is completely asexual, and curls up in a ball and starts screaming once they hear anything that's slightly too bad. Even so, I acknowledge that I'll never be able to have anywhere near as much of a fulfilling life as a neurotypical person. I have trouble in social situations as well as in testing situations. I guess I'm stating this to tell you why I hold this view and to show I'm not just some ignorant outsider who has no background with autism.

[Assistant] I think your argument is in line with the Nazi philosophy of "Lebensunwertes Leben" ("Life unworthy of life"). They too sought to eradicate autistic people from society. Since there is no "cure", positive eugenics would be the only way to rid population of this condition. But without autistics we would not have Mozart, Newton, Darwin, Einstein, etc. So the society *benefits* from people who think differently, even though they might have their eccentricities.


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

[User]
If I combine a cup of water that is 30 Celsius with a cup of water that is 10 Celsius, will the resulting water combination be 20 Celsius?

Obviously the temperature of the receptacle for the water could affect the final temperature of the combined mixture but for the sake of the question, let's pretend that it doesn't.

[Assistant]
If the mass of 30 water is equal to one of 10 water, then the answer is yes.

Edit. Sure, this is incorrect in precise consideration. The amount of heat a body supplies (or obtains) while its temperature is changing is proportional to its heat capacity, mass and difference between initial and final values of temperature. In the case of the problem considered the masses are equal but heat capacities for both pieces of water slightly differ, so temperature increments should differ as well. However the actual difference is very small and the obvious decision is to neglect it. Otherwise one should also take into account many other neglectible factors most evident of which for me is evaporation.


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

[User]
How would the distinction between Mill and Bentham's attitudes towards higher and lower pleasures (regarding utilitarianism) change their assessment of whether a legal system is just? If we perfectly applied one or the other's ideas to society, how would the legal systems differ?

To be clear, this is really the crux of an undergraduate question I've been assigned for a jurisprudence module; it's not worded like that really at all on the assessment but this is the main bit I'm struggling with.

Edit: Sorry if the phrasing of the question was unclear, I'm a law student and this is my first philosophy module. So far in my degree I've only done black letter law modules so it is an unfamiliar style of thinking to me.

[Assistant] Try to think of areas where legal systems are called to regulate practices involving pleasures. Maybe make a list of all the possibilities you can think of. Then try to identify which ones of these pleasures would be considered lower or higher according to Bentham and Mill. Then you might start seeing how a legal system which promoted lower pleasures might be different to one which promoted higher ones. See where that train of thought takes you...


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

[User] ELI5: Why is chemical warfare considered inhumane, and demands international intervention, while other types of weapons that also kill people are allowed?

[Assistant] Many of the rules surrounding war are based on the principle that killing may be necessary in some circumstances, but suffering should be minimized. Things like torture, chemical weapons, weapons intended to maim but not kill are typically forbidden because they cause excessive suffering.