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

[User]
ELI5: What do dryer sheets actually do?

I get that they supposedly make the fabric softer but how do they make it softer? What are they physically doing that softens?

[Assistant]
They coat the laundry in chemicals that feel soft. Not actually good for your laundry.

Can wreck some athletic clothing and towels and some types of fabric.

Dryer balls are better if you feel you need something else in there.


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

[User]
ELI5: What distinguishes light that reflects on a window and light that travels through?

If you go to a window, you can obviously see out of it and also see your own reflection to an extent. My question is: someone on the other side of the window can also see you in the window. So, if a photon of light is reflected from a point on your body, what decides whether that photon is going reflect on the glass or go through?

Follow up, no widows have patches of dark spots as you can see your entire reflection as well as the entire of whats on the outside. So is this a completely random selection process as a photon from the same point will sometimes reflect, sometimes not?

Im gonna be surprised if I get an answer to this, but I hope I do!

[Assistant]
First, ELI18, then ELI5.

ELI18: When any electromagnetic wave meets a discontinuity in a dielectric medium, part of the wave is reflected and part of the wave is transmitted. The amount reflected and transmitted depends on the dielectric constant (or index of refraction) of the medium and the frequency of the electromagnetic wave (it happens for radio waves as well as visible light waves). It also depends on the angle of the light to the interface, and if you are traveling from a medium with higher index of refraction to lower index, the wave will be totally reflected if the angle if incidence is below the angle of total internal reflection*. It also depends on the polarization of the incoming wave, with the reflection coefficient depending on both the angle and the polarization state.

ELI5:  When light enters a material other than air, some of it goes through, and some of it bounces off. How much goes through and how much bounces off depends on the material, the color of the light, the angle the light hits the material, and from which side you are shining the light.  For glass, if you shine the light straight at the glass, or look at your reflection, about 4% (or 1/25) of the light bounces back, and 96% (24/25) goes through. That amount changes if you tilt the glass. But what if you shined the light from "inside" the glass? In that case you can get 100% to bounce off the inside surface of the glass. For example, think about a fish tank. If you shine a light into the water, part will go through and part will bounce off. If, however, you shine a light through the side the aquarium at a shallow angle and off the surface, you can get all of the light (100%) to bounce off the surface and back out the other side. Similarly, if you shine, for example, a laser pointer into the edge of a sheet of glass so that it skims the edge from the inside, then at a low enough angle 100% of the light bounces back in. That is how optical fibers guide light - by shining the light *inside* the material at a low angle to the sides, the light just keeps bounding along the edges (or surface if the fiber is round) until it comes out the end nearly as bright at it started.

*edited based on zuppenhuppen's comment - thanks!


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

[User] ELI5: why does hair so readily absorb smokey odors that last all day, but shampoo smells only last a few hours in hair?

[Assistant] Cigarette smoke, and particularly the tar inside of it, is sticky as hell. Your lungs don't magically grow tar on them, they absorb it from the smoke because the tar sticks to your lungs. It's going to stick to your hair, too.


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

[User]
Are neutrinos so abundant because antineutrino annihilations are rare?

I've read in a few places that neutrinos are the second most abundant standard model particles in the universe (after photons.)

This sounds to me like it should mean that there are dramatically more leptons than baryons/quarks (that B-L is very negative.)  But it seems equally likely that the abundance is about half antineutrinos, so the net baryon number from neutrinos is relatively small.  Presumably, neutrino-antineutrino interactions are still very rare, so the abundance could stay high for quite a while even if the net lepton number were low.

So, what causes the high neutrino abundance?  Does it includes antineutrinos?  Does it imply a lot of extra leptons?  Is it likely to be (slowly) dropping as neutrinos manage to annihilate?

[Assistant]
Neutrinos are created in abundance all the time. On earth's equator there is an influx of about 65 billion neutrinos/cm^2/s from the sun alone (where they are created in the fusion processes).

They also don't interact as much as most particles. They are only involved in weak & gravitational interactions and have a very low mass.

**TL;DR:** A mix of abundance due to high production and a low(er) annihilation probability than most particles.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it easier to whistle after licking your lips?

After wetting your lips, it is much easier to get a good tone and more accurate pitch. Why is this? Does saliva work as a lubricant of some sort?

[Assistant]
Not a lubricant, a sealant.  It's the same principle behind moistening a suction cup before trying to stick it onto something.

When your lips are dry, they don't fit together as perfectly.  There are tiny nooks and crannies that can let air pass by.  When you try to whistle, air escapes through these and messes with your pitch.

When you lick your lips, you fill those nooks and crannies with saliva.  Water has a high surface tension, so it likes to cling to itself and to surfaces.  When you press your lips together, all those extra escape passages for the air are blocked by the saliva.  The air only goes where you want it to go, and you get good pitch.


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

[User] [God of War 2005] Did Kratos believe in Ares as a tangible god with whom he could commune or was his desperate plea for vengeance given without hope? Was Kratos someone who went to temples, made offerings to gods in his youth or in any other way knew them to be real?

[Assistant]
Kratos literally met Ares, in person, as a child. Ares kidnapped his brother, and then punched Kratos in the face. Athena, who was also present, is even called out by name (albeit in a different language).

Kratos may not have been making offerings (doesn't seem the type), but there is absolutely no way that Kratos didn't know the gods were real.


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

[User]
[The Mandalorian] Why do Dark Troopers fight stupid?

When the first Dark Trooper got through the door, it had Din Djarin pinned to the wall. It punched him in the beskar helmet to little effect and then . . . did it again.

I assume that the beskar would have given way eventually, but it seems really stupid. Just attack the exposed neck!

We know droids can fight smart. IG-11 is one example. Why did the imps make such stupid droids?

[Assistant]
Highly sentient droids have a way of misbehaving. Would you really trust C3PO or R2D2 to carry out your instructions to the letter, or would you be worried about them making creative interpretations?

The Dark Troopers are dumb muscle, because dumb muscle doesn't talk back. If they're smart enough to plan complex melee combat, they might be smart enough to fuck up your orders, too.


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

[User]
[Wolverine] What makes Wolverine more dangerous than lets say, any other mutant with healing abilities?

Wolverine, for how great he is, at the end of the day is just a mutant with healing factor and claws. There are other mutants with healing factors too, some better or worse than Wolverine, but usually those mutants might also have other better mutations than just claws.

So what makes Wolverine so special? On paper he seems so forgettable, "I got metal claws and I can heal" sounds pretty lame when you think of other mutants who got badass powers, like Cyclops, Magneto, Ice Man, Quicksilver, Nightcrawler etc. Yet, Wolverine makes it work. Is it just the fact that he lives to tell the tale while numerous others die?

[Assistant] Wolverine also has enhanced senses which many mutants lack.  He's got the adamantium skeleton.  Mostly though, he's just a really good fighter who has a lot of experience punching above his weight class.  Mutants like Cyclops are used to shooting people and them staying down.  Wolverine does not stay down, and suddenly claw to the face.


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

[User]
Works on applying Sartre-like existentialism to daily choices?

After reading some Sartre, specifically on authenticity and bad faith, I'm trying to find any works on how to apply these concepts. That is to ask, assuming I've accepted that I have radical freedom, how can I then determine what my authentic self is? How do I determine which of my choices are authentic, and which are in bad faith?

Are there any works/philosophers which address these questions?

[Assistant] Try reading some of DeBeauvoir's *Ethics of Ambiguity* - it is about the consistent application of freedom within the scope of your action.  Her account of freedom might help you see, by counter-example, what the structure of inauthentic choices would look like.


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

[User]
[DC/Marvel] What are some landmark court decisions related to the existence of superheroes and villains?

Are there any key judicial decisions that have arisen specifically from cases involved super-powered individuals or groups?

We all know about key legislation like the Superhero Registration Act, but have there been any cases as fundamental to our understanding of the law as *Brown v Board of Education* or *Roe v Wade*?

[Assistant] *Cobblepot vs. The City of Gotham* was settled in a Federal court, and effectively permits evidence gathered by superheroes to be used in court.  Specifically the plaintiff, Oswald Cobblepot, claimed that he was sentenced using evidence, specifically a ledger, which was stolen by the Batman and which should have been thrown out since no warrant had been issued.  DA Harvey Dent contended that the ledger was legally obtained by the GCPD during their ongoing investigation of the Batman, and therefore could be used by the prosecution in the Cobblepot case.  The Court sided with the DA's office.


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

[User] [FMA/ FMA brotherhood] Would human chimeras pass down their chimeric traits to offspring ? can they even still have offspring with regular humans ? what about children between two different chimera types ?

[Assistant]
I would say even human chimeras are incompatible for mating with regular humans, because they are now a different species. Even if they started human, their DNA is now mixed with animals and no longer able to impregnate a human/vice versa.

As for offspring between chimeras, as long as they were of similar builds( a dog/man chimera could probably breed with a dog/woman chimera, but not with a bird/woman chimera).


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

[User] Is there a limit to how many elements there can be?

[Assistant]
Yes, probably. But we don't know what it is, and it's likely higher than what we're currently capable of producing experimentally.

The IUPAC has strict criteria for what can be considered an "element". One of this criteria is that it has at least one isotope with a lifetime at least on the order of 10^(-14) seconds.

As you go up in Z around the superheavy elements, they become very unstable to alpha decay and spontaneous fission. If you extrapolate the lifetimes to heavier species based on trends in nuclei that we know of, eventually you'll probably reach a point where no heavier species has a lifetime which meets that criterion in the definition of an element.


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

[User]
[Waterworld] The map on Enola's back.

How did Enola come to get the map on her back?  Was she once on dryland, if so what would be the need for the map, and why did she leave.  In general it seems a horrible spot for a map.  The best I can think is there are slavers on dryland who use the map tattoo to get their property returned and as lures for more slaves.

[Assistant] Enola was once on Dryland. She lived with her parents who were the only other people living there. Her parents were dying and knew that she would not be able to survive on her own. They sent her adrift so that someone might find her and take care of her. They tattooed a map back to Dryland so that she might make it back one day.


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

[User]
[MCU] Was T'Challa happy to sacrifice thousands of Wakandan soldiers simply as a delaying tactic to avoid the death of a man he had never met?

Let alone the potential deaths of half of his population (and Trillions across the universe).

How could Captain America reconcile his "we don't trade lives" philosophy when he was trading one person's life for definitely hundreds, potentially trillions of lives?

Captain kills people as a soldier. Does he think that the certain deaths of hundreds of other soldiers (and possibly some of his other friends) are worth more than one of his friends? And if he does only care about his friends, is he 100% confident that they'll win and half his friends won't die anyway?

[Assistant]
Happy, no. But if you offer someone sanctuary, and a foreign military power comes to kill them, revoking sanctuary makes you look like a bitch. And a king can not afford to look like a bitch, especially if there is a legally coded procedure for your rivals to knock you off and take your crown.

As for Steve, compare "we don't trade lives" to "we don't negotiate with terrorists"; it's a moral stand, more about the principles at hand than the cold math of death. He's a supporter of the heat of the moment sacrifice play (crashing the bomber in his movie, the barb wire speech to Stark in Avengers 1, etc.) as a response to imminent peril, but one of his crew essentially volunteering to commit suicide during a planning session doesn't sit well with him.

Rogers went out on the field expecting to win; for him, the disintegration of 1/2 of all sentient life in the universe was more of a looming threat than a real prospect. Unlike Banner, he didn't get to see Thanos in all his power until they were committed to the battle at Wakanda, and by that point it was too late to change the plan.


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

[User]
[Chemistry] Helium has a higher 1st ionization energy than any other neutral atom. Is it possible to create a compound which is more difficult to remove an electron from?

Helium's ionization energy is about 2370 kJ/mol which is higher than any other element's and is also higher than all bond energies (that I know of). However, is it possible to create some neutral compound which is harder to remove an electron from? I'm thinking teflon or some sort of fullerene would come closest but I'm not sure.

[Assistant]
i don't think that's possible. the ionization energy of helium is so high because it has two electrons closest to the core and two protons in the core. every electron you add will be on an outer shell and therefore easier to ionize. molecules have lower ionization energies in general because of the very same reason, except for H2
maybe.

However you can get higher ionization potentials by preliminary ionizing the matter :)


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

[User]
What's happening during the "walking ghost" phase of acute radiation poisoning?

I read that there's a latent period after acute radiation poisoning where there are no symptoms. Like, you take a huge dose of ionizing radiation, feel sick for an hour, and then go for days in seemingly good health, before you collapse and die. How does that happen? Why does your body suddenly break down after the "walking ghost" phase? Why don't you see symptoms right away?

[Assistant]
Acute radiation poisoning is the result of damage to very specific cell populations in the body.  Radiation is much more lethal in cells that are undergoing cellular division.  As a result, the stem cell populations that produce blood cells and intestinal tissue are most sensitive.

In short, what happens is that a large dose of radiation can destroy the underlying stem cells of the bone marrow that produce blood cells.  Normally, blood cells last about 1 month in circulation before they are removed/replaced.  After acute radiation poisoning, no more blood cells are produced, and your blood stops working when existing cells die off.  A similar effect occurs in the intestinal lining.

So the reason why there is a delay is - it isn't the functional cells that are dying.  The cells that replenish the functional cells are the ones damaged most strongly by radiation.

As an aside, this is why large doses of radiation are given as a preparatory regimen when someone receives a bone marrow transplant.  Patients with cancerous bone marrow come to us, and we give them what would ordinarily be a fatal whole-body dose of radiation.  By killing off the entire bone marrow, this destroys the cancer.  Then they are implanted with new bone marrow to resume normal blood functions.


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

[User]
ELI5:Quantum Mechanics and its relation to Physics

Up to date, I have not a solid comprehension of the term Quantum Mechanics.

[Assistant] Quantum mechanics is a set of mathematical approaches to making predictions about the behavior of very small things. It's conceptually similar to, but completely different from, classical mechanics, which is a set of mathematical approaches to making predictions about the behavior of normal-sized things.


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

[User]
If there is homosexuality in a species of animal, does that mean they enjoy having sex?

My uninformed self has been taught that animals only have sex to reproduce, assuming that is true, why would animals be homosexual?

[Assistant]
I think an issue here is that you are allowing a degree of human bias to permeate your assessment of animal reproduction.

Animals don't have sex to reproduce, they have sex because of a pleasure response (or in other words, a genetic imperative to reproduce).

This is an extension of the biases inherent in applying human emotional states to animals.


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

[User]
[General Science Fiction] Are there any universes/series where two spacefaring civilizations meet with similar levels of space transportation technology, but have very different areas in which one or the other is advanced or behind?

For example, two civilizations with FTL travel encounter one another, where one somehow has yet to split the atom but the other had already cured cancer centuries ago.

[Assistant]
Stargate is kinda like this. The Goa'uld have FTL travel and instant teleportation, as well as life extending devices that make someone functionally immortal, but their technology falls short of modern Earth tech in other areas (namely their military hardware).

Star Trek has some minor examples as well. The Federation is on the bleeding edge of most technology compared to other nearby factions, but every now and then they encounter a species that has more advanced tech in a particular area.


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

[User]
[Star Wars]What would have happened if the Death Star had survived the attack on Yavin?

Scenario 1: the rebel attack on Yavin fails.
Scenario 2: The Empire never finds the rebel base on Yavin, so they have the Death Star  but still have to hunt around.

How would the Empire do and how would they use the Death Star?

[Assistant]
Okay so without specifics I'll try to suggest some likely answers to these scenarios.

**Scenario One:** The TIE Fighter pilots observe Luke and his squadmates making a trench run towards the thermal exhaust port, and relay that information to Tarkin. Engineers aboard the Death Star inform him that an accurate Proton torpedo shot from an X-Wing would set off a chain reaction and annihilate the Death Star.

Tarkin immediately commands his crew to jump to Lightspeed just to shake off these pilots, just as Luke has fired his torpedoes. The Death Star jolts to Lightspeed and causes the torpedoes to hit the inner sides of the exhaust port, instead causing a chain reaction of damage to other systems across the Death Star. Coupled with the Death Star also being within it's firing sequence (that it abruptly stopped), many of the systems (like Navigation) are damaged, and the main Superlaser cannot fire without risking destruction of the Death Star. Tarkin decides to beat a retreat with the Death Star, jumping to Lightspeed ASAP. The Death Star makes it as far as Alderaan before konking out, and Tarkin orders repairs to be done immediately. It won't be quick though as the damage is extensive, and a lot of the engineers have perished in the Rebel assault.

Meanwhile the Rebels are simultaneously celebrating and arguing. They cannot decide as to whether they should celebrate forcing the Empire to retreat and use the period of relief to evacuate off-world, or instead they should make a follow-up assault on the Death Star while it's still crippled. Leia convinces the rest of the Rebel command that the threat isn't going to go away, and if anything if they give the Empire prep time they'll just repair the Death Star and fix any glaring weaknesses (like the exhaust port) now they know the Rebel's strategy. They immediately prep a new plan. Meanwhile Luke has had his first encounter with Force Ghost Obi-Wan, who begins training him in the Force (as he refuses to leave while the Rebellion is still in need of its best pilots). The new plan is revealed to be staging another assault on the Death Star, with the X-Wings piloted by astromech droids. Meanwhile two Rebels (an enthusiastically confident Luke and increasingly regretful Han) are to infiltrate a (relatively) nearby Empire encampment on Corellia, steal some Stormtrooper armor and two TIE Fighters (preferably without getting caught or by neutralising all present troops) before using them to infiltrate the Death Star hangar.

The astromech squadron begins their assault as Luke and Han approach the Death Star. They manage to get inside without much issue due to the chaos erupting outside, they land and inform the inquisitive Imperial Captain that they have pertinent information for Tarkin regarding a Rebel attack on Corellia that relates to this assault. The Captain insists they make haste to Tarkin, so Luke and Han jog out of the hangar bay. They make it round to the Superlaser section of the station, and notice the machinery and circuitry is heavily guarded. Han of course is cynical and critical of this mission and its seeming impossibility at this point, whilst Luke tells him to pipe down while he begins to concentrate. He gets in the right frame of mind, tells Han to keep quiet, and they approach the (obvious by the authoritative position) leader of these Superlaser guards. Luke informs the leader that the generator is under attack by Rebels, and that they've already dispatched the rest of he and Han's team sent to crush them. Using the mind trick he tells the leader to take his team to go find and kill the Rebels before they blow up the base, and the Stormtroopers oblige. After they disappear from sight, Han gets to work rigging a "simple power cycling disruptor" (with Luke questioning his performance). The two out back the circuitry panel and make their way out, caught by the leader of the Stormtroopers who Luke mind tricked.

The leader states that they found no Rebels onboard, and before Luke can attempt to mind trick the leader, Han interjects "Rebel Scum! They must have already made it into the exhaust port manifold! There's no time to waste!" as he and Luke jog past the speechless and confused Stormtrooper leader. They make it back to their TIE Fighters and leave, signalling to the Rebellion to send in their frigates. The naval might of the Empire arrives, firing upon the Death Star to little effect. Tarkin is getting antsy, and orders the Turbolaser crew (who reported the fully charged weapon as ready to fire) to fire upon the biggest command frigate. Unfortunately for the Empire, Han had reversed the energy flow from the Superlaser back into the Death Star's power generators, causing an overload of power that in turn would destroy the Death Star. The Death Star blows up, and the only Rebellion losses are all but one of the astromech squadron (of course being R2-D2), and the Rebellion immediately beats a retreat back to the Rebel base on Hoth (as the Empire would know about Yavin 4) before the Empire can track them there. The rest of the later plot happens pretty similarly to usual, except Luke is slightly better trained with the Force than usual, and Han is a less reluctant member of the Rebellion.

**Scenario Two:** This is much less of a lengthy scenario. Leia knows the Millennium Falcon is being tracked, and so instead of landing on Yavin 4 they instead land on Yavin. Han carefully removes the tracking device, being careful not to deactivate it. They plant it in some nearby ruins, and quickly leave to rejoin the Rebels on Yavin 4. Taking a larger frigate ship loaded up with X-Wings and their pilots, a small cadre of Rebels pilot the frigate off of Yavin 4 and jump to Lightspeed to get out of the Yavin System. Han and Chewie leave the system also in the Millennium Falcon.

The Death Star arrives in the Yavin System. They begin prepping to fire upon the "Rebel Base on Yavin", awaiting confirmation from Rebel scouts investigating the planet. They come under attack by Y-Wing bombers (sent from Yavin 4), which the Imperials take as meaning that the Rebellion *is* on Yavin (and that they're defending their base). The Death Star preps to fire, as the frigate reappears from Hyperspace. It deploys its X-Wings, and they enter attack formation on the Death Star trench. The Turbolasers fire upon the Rebellion frigate, and the Superlaser is fired at Yavin (hoping to disorient the attacking Rebels). Unfortunately for them, Yavin was the decoy base. Unable to recharge in time to destroy Yavin 4, Luke and his wingmen complete the trench run (with assistance from Han causing Vader to fly off into space). Events from here on go more or less the same, albeit with the Rebellion taking a more careful and intricate approach to all aspects of their operations in seeing how close they were to getting detected (by the ship possibly being tracked back to Yavin 4), and summarily blown up (as Yavin was).


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

[User] [Star Wars] Could the Death Star beam be deflected by a lightsaber, if it was big and long enough?

[Assistant] Probably not. A lightsaber can deflect a blaster bolt because both use magnetic containment, but the Death Star is essentially a huge laser, and nothing about the magnetic shell of a lightsaber indicates it can reflect those. If it were big enough, the plasma inside might disperse the beam for the same reason the second Death Star couldn't just blast through Endor, but we'd be talking a lightsaber the size of a planet.


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

[User] ELI5: Why can you become "blackout drunk"? Why can't you remember anything after?

[Assistant]
Your body is basically shutting down (to prevent you from drinking more poison/speed recovery from the amount you already drank). The same way a computer shuts down and there's the blue screen before it turns off, you enter that "windows is shutting down" area in real life where your body is taking over for you, and you don't remember because memory isn't the priority when you've been poisoned/are about to die. The same way documents arnt saved if you shut down your pc with them running, it's worried about closing programs not saving data.

In a little more real terms, the alcohol interferes with receptors in your brain responsible for many things including the areas for memory, it affects everyone to a different degree and increasing consumption adds more interference, making you lose more and more memory until you potentially lose the whole night.


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

[User] ELI5: why do we never see clouds form, and why do they always appear to be at the same height?

[Assistant]
Cloud formation is relatively slow; if you're not staring at the sky and paying careful attention, you won't notice a cloud growing larger (or smaller, for that matter).

Clouds are generally pretty far away, so they look like they're all around the same height. But I've definitely seen clouds that are well above/below another set of clouds. It's just that there aren't many reference points in the sky for you to regularly notice that the clouds today are higher/lower than the clouds yesterday.


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

[User]
CMV: Putting "Veteran Owned Business" on a store is just virtue signaling and doesn't speak of the quality of the business/service at all.

I know this can be pretty controversial and I don't mean it to be. I do not mean to disparage veterans or people in the military. I am thankful for those that serve. But if I am looking for a plumber then I want the best plumber. If my choice is between someone who has 5 stars or someone who has 4 stars but is "veteran owned" then I am sorry I am choosing the 5 star. Having a veteran or not does not affect the outcome of the job. Is there any other reason people would put that other than just saying "wink wink look at me I'm a veteran"?

Edit: I do not mean "virtue signaling" in a negative connotation.

[Assistant]
Because people *want to* support vets?

Its your money, so it's your choice, but I'd imagine there are plenty of people who would gladly support a vet owned business when given a choice.  Fellow vets, military families, patriotic types, etc.  It seems perfectly reasonable to market to those people.


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

[User]
[Marvel] What's the largest object that Bullseye can throw accurately?

There has to be a limit somewhere, right? And by accurately, I mean accurately enough to kill a person over a distance greater than your average living room.

[Assistant]
Whatever he throws he has perfect accuracy to however far he can throw it.

His ability takes into account things like weight, wind resistance, and object shape. He does not have reality warping powers or super strength. If an object can potentially be thrown and hit a certain target in a certain way, he can do it. If it is physically impossible to ever hit that target he cannot.

There is a perfect way to throw a penny so that it lands on its edge standing up and he can do this repeatedly forever with 100% accuracy. He can never throw a penny to the moon and he can never throw a penny so that it sits at a 20 degree angle to the ground.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is hot water better at cleaning than cold water?

[Assistant]
Hot water denatures proteins, proteins often get stuck to surfaces. Like eggs or fish on a grill.

Hot water lowers the viscosity of fats, oils and grease to help it get washed away.

Heat also helps detergents and solvents work faster, reducing the need for long dwell times.


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

[User]
[Food Commercials] Are there dangers from eating cannibalistic foods, such as Cinnamon Toast Crunch or M&Ms?

There are videos of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal pieces eating others. Also, there are videos of M&Ms eating other M&Ms. Aside from the normal dangers of eating sugary foods, are there any dangers from eating cannibalistic anthropomorphic foods,? Could I get a prion disease?

[Assistant] The m&ms and toast crunch that you eat have had multiple organs removed (note the distinct lack of eyes and mouths). This includes their nervous systems, reducing the risk of prion transmission to negligible levels.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is it even possible to just create a CS language out of nothing or out of an existing language?

How was the original binary code made where a computer could understand the code and produce an end result?

How can someone just take one CS language and create a new CS language like Python? How do you teach the computer how to understand and execute the code or commands you create?

I have very little to no CS background so I need someone to ELI5.

[Assistant]
A computers CPU is like its brain. That's the part that actually processes the code.

When CPUs are designed, they are setup to take in specific binary code, and output specific output. It's literally built into the hardware. Like the binary code 0101 may tell the processor to store the next byte in memory or 0110 may tell the processor to add the next byte to the byte thats in memory.

Once you know the binary code that the processor needs, you can write a human friendly language pretty easily. All you need is a compiler, which is like a translator. It takes the human readable code and converts it into binary for the CPU to use.


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

[User]
I think it's sinister and inaccurate that we view men's issues as resulting from a devaluing of the feminine. CMV.

Or even worse I've heard it stated that it's as a result of a "hatred of women".

I think this rhetoric is dangerous as it adds fuel to the fire of any gender issues being essentially one-sided. Not to mention I think it's quite inaccurate.

I see the stem of the argument. Boys are taught to "man-up", don't be a pussy, don't share feelings, that we've demasculinised these traits. It's extremely circumscribed and I agree it's definitely something worth addressing, as I imagine it's a huge reason behind the increased amount of depression and suicide among our men and boys.

To suggest it's because of a "hatred of women" (which some people seem to understand by patriarchy) saddens me though, I mean you could equally (though admittedly not as severe) say there is a hatred of men because women are shamed for being strong, to not have androgenic hair, to not to be sexually aggressive etc etc. These things are masculine and thus negative for us... therefore masculinity is of lower value to women, therefore we must hate men right?

Of course I take both arguments as equally illegitimate, but the second one is never made while the first one seems to be widely accepted.

On feminist boards when making this point, I'm usually assumed to be male (that's a whole other problem) and/or just downvoted to oblivion. The few responses I do get are generally an emotive restatement of the same point as if it's already set in stone and is so plain and obvious it doesn't need to be examined. The worst is an angry a wildly off-topic rant-tangent (and yet I'm the downvoted one). I'd love to hear some actual reasoning and rationale behind this, that my view might actually *be* changed, because it's genuinely upsetting to be on the outside of this, but people just appear to accept the concept blindly and don't delve into its basis, perhaps due to the historic oppression of women or their own bias, I don't know.

[Assistant]
>people just appear to accept the concept blindly and don't delve into its basis, **perhaps due to the historic oppression of women**

You've nailed it.

What you have to remember is that, up until about 50 years ago, misogyny was not an abstract or subtle thing. Women were openly viewed as weak, emotional, generally inferior beings. Men were expected to avoid degrading themselves by acting like a woman. You say boys are told "man up" and "don't be a pussy"; both phrases came from this same time period, and explicitly meant that you shouldn't act like a woman.

In modern times, we have exactly the same attitudes, and in many cases exactly the same insults. But you're claiming that they're now separate from the misogyny they were created with? That seems hard to believe.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do "entry level positions" require 2 years of experience?

When did this become standard? The wages being offered dont even seem livable.

[Assistant] It means entry level for that company.  What most companies have realized is that they can ask for higher requirements for the same pay, and they'll get qualified people they can spend less time and money training.


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

[User]
Eli5: why are you not supposed to use warm water when thawing chicken?

Ive heard that warm water fosters bacterial growth or something but wouldnt that take much longer to get to a harmful level than it takes to thaw?

[Assistant] The problem is that warm water will thaw the outside of the chicken much faster than the inside of the chicken. So bacteria on the outside of the chicken will have a lot of time to "wake up" and start multiplying before you cook the chicken.


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

[User] [General Time Travel] I have a handheld time machine remote that can only travel up to five seconds in the past or the future. What useful things can be done with it?

[Assistant]
1. Make a killing on the stock market with high frequency trading. You can probably stop here.
2. Use it as a replicator. Warning: Consider a mechanism for your remote to detect how many copies of it currently exist to prevent an infinite loop and the end of the world.
3. [Depending on what frame of reference your remote uses: Earth? Sun? Galaxy?] Use it as a teleporter. Warning: Very specific, very tiny travel duration required! Vacuum is not fun if you are not expecting it.


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

[User]
My boss wants to back up the code by taking out of git, printing it and putting it on a file cabinet how crazy is this?

my boss came in today asking for something I think is crazy.

He is an old guy trying to run a technology company without using any modern tools. it took 3 months to force him to use slack instead fo moving post-it notes around the office, he is scared of anything with the word cloud or network on it.  now he is insisting that when I am finished with this piece of code to print it out, (all the files in the project) put it on a binder so he can store it properly?

should I be looking for a new job or am I overreacting?

[Assistant]
Well, that's batshit crazy. lol

If someone with the proper access level to the repository forces an update erasing the commit history and not one of the devs has a local copy, his disaster plan is to read the code from the binder and retype it?

He's better off making a few copies of the files in different drives if he's paranoid...


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

[User]
[Raimi Spiderman Movies] Does anyone in universe ever wonder why Spiderman villains target MJ so much?

In first movie Spiderman publicly saves MJ twice and in third movie MJ is the only hostage to lure out Spiderman. I think also Doc Ock publicly kidnaps MJ in the caf.

[Assistant]
Well Doc Ock specifically kidnaps MJ in Spider-Man 2 because he knows Peter takes Spider-Man's photos, and personally provokes Peter in the hopes that it'll lure out Spidey given that Otto is unaware of the whole secret identity thing.

With all of this in mind, the general public probably just assumes (if they don't write it off as a coincidence, anyway) that the villains know about Peter's connection to Spider-Man so they target MJ because Peter will go to the webhead for help, or that they use MJ as a hostage because she must have some kind of connection to Spider-Man herself seeing how he's saved her so many times.


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

[User]
[40K] What if the baby Emperor was abducted and raised by the Eldar?

Lets say they detected the deaths of the shamans and instead of a bunch of signatures like before there was now just one big one and they went to investigate? How would of his upbringing of been, what would of happened if he survived till the fall of the Eldar empire and how does this look now for humanity's future without their guardian angle?

[Assistant] He would've been basically the same. He had the shamanic memories, remember - that was the entire point. He could've remotely kept an eye on Earth through the Warp, especially before the rise of Slaanesh and subsequent turbulence. The real difference would be in human history, without the Emperor around to guide it, we might be a less martial people, less ready for the Galaxy's challenges.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is people so bothered with Google acquiring Nest? Why are they worried with Google having access to thermostat data, when it already has mobile/search engine data?

[Assistant] People are afraid that one company will get too much power, like the mega corporations in science fiction movies. People are afraid that they will come dependent on just one big company, until the point there is nothing left to choose.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are directors and actors usually more praised (bigger salary, more famous) than the writers of a TV show/film?

When it comes down to it, the success of a film or a TV show is put down to the directors and actors. They get paid more and are almost always more well known (I understand why actors are more famous, of course). But surely the all plot lines, surprises and what the movie/show is usually praised for is down to the writers?

EDIT: In cases where the director ISN'T one of the writers.

[Assistant] You can hire people to replace the writers and most of the time still come up with a decent product.  Replacing the actors is much more noticeable to viewers and really changes the feel of the show even if the writers remain the same.


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

[User]
ELI5 why Iran is our "sworn" enemy?

I saw a reddit posting about the new santorum ad and am a bit ignorant about our sworn enemy.

[Assistant]
Ok.

Gather around kids, heres a history lesson.

Once upon a time there was a country called Iran, it developed from the old persia.

Now iran mas a monarchy lead by a shah, in 1921 the old royal family was overtrown by the western friendly Reza khan which in 1925 changed his name to Reza Pahlavi and named himself shah,

Now it sounds like hes a bad guy but he actually reformed education and industry to raise the quality of life of the iranian people.

The next step comes in 1941, when russia and nazi germany go to war after the germans break their non aggression pact, the UK and Russia aswell as the US send troops to iran to protect the Trans iranian railway which allowed them to skip over nazi occupaid europe while sending the soviet union supplies, there was an agreement with the iranian goverment that the troops would be gone 6 months after germany surrenders, but the soviet union didnt respect the agreement and stayed till late 1946 sopporting the communist party of iran that tried to overtrow the goverement.

At the same time since the 1920s the Anglo iranian oil corporation (today part of BP) was managing and profiting off the iranian oil fields under the eye of the shah.

In 1949 there was an attempt on the life of the shah which   was atributed to soviet supported communists which lead to giving the shah more constitutional powers and banning of the communist party.

This has all built up an idea in the US administration that iran was under constant danger of communist influence.

The fun part of the story and the modern part starts in 1951 when the new primer minister Mohammad Mossadegh is named by the parliment, the guy starts several popular reforms which include the nationalization of the oil fields and kicking AIOC (BP) out of the country, So BP goes to the british goverment which sets up a plan to push the US in to intervention in iran under the excuse that Mosaddegh is a communist (which he was not, he hated the commies), the US goes in guns blazing, reinstates the Shah as sole autocratic ruler of iran,

The Shah of iran continued to use the money from oil revenues to modernise and westernise iran, something which angered the traditional islamic clergy, Also the autocratic rule and close ties to the US made some left wing parts of society uneasy, untill in the last 1970s there were revolts in the street motivatied by Islamic radicals and left wing radicals aswell as pro democracy movements (now you see why were worried about egypt?), and insted of talking to them he put the army on the street to shoot them, the general population mobilized against him and he had to escape the country.

The end

So basicly

1) Iran is shit scared of a repeat of the 1953 operation ajax which overtrew  the democratic goverement and put the shas back in control.

2) Iran blames the US and the UK for all its evils becuase if the constant interventions since the 1920s

3) The rest of reasons are more excuses and scaremongering then reasons, becuase the US is controled by the evil zionists, becuase every time the light goes out its a CIA/Mossad covered agent, etc etc etc...

TL;DR : we overtrew their goverment several times and soported an autocratic goverment becuase of fear of communism and then oil, and now they hate us.


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

[User] [MCU/616] The original Avengers tower is one of the tallest buildings in New York. What could that much space possibly be used for? How is it necessary?

[Assistant]
It wasn't all Stark Enterprises.

New Yorkers will pay a premium rent for a famous address on the letter head.  Stark Tower probably had a mall in the basement/first floor levels, a health club, a few multifloor duplex apartments and dozens of private companies happy to be associated with the most famous man in the world.


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

[User]
[Star Wars]There are 24,372 significantly inhabited systems in the Republic. The 1st Order blows up the Republic fleet by blowing up one system. How is the Republic able to hold so many systems with large populations many more less-populated ones with their entire fleet in one place?

Shouldn't the fleet be out you know, defending various systems and patrolling for pirates and stuff?    Why did the Republic have their entire fleet in one place?

[Assistant] Lol they don't hold anything no more. That fleet is a token basically. Rest of the constituents are basically on their own, because there's "Peace" in the galaxy. And there's absolutely no pirate gangs with looted Super Star Destoyers roaming about, no sir. It's perfectly safe galaxy now.


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

[User] [Marvel/DC] The secret identities of all superheroes are released to the public. What happens in the respective universes?

[Assistant] Marvel: Basically nothing. There's only a small handful of heroes that still have secret identities after Civil War. The new generation of teen heroes (Sam Alexander, Kamala Khan) would most likely drop out of whatever schools they were going to and they would reinstitute Avengers Academy but that's it.


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

[User]
[punisher] would Frank Castle have any problems killing child soldiers

If a group of children indoctrinated by fanatic religion goes on a suicide bombing or killing spree, would Punisher put them down like any other murderer? Would Frank conduct torture on one of them to find out who the leader is?

[Assistant]
If we're talking about MCU Punisher though I'd say he wouldn't be killing child soldiers. He seems to be a much more decent and reasonable human being than his comic counterparts. His family's deaths are what drove him to becoming the Punisher, and I'd say there's no way he could pull the trigger without being stopped by visions of his own children gunned down in the park.

He's still human enough to recognize that these kids didn't have much of a choice, and would likely seem them as innocents. Building on that, we've seen him use a variety of nonlethal techniques for cops and the like, and he is selfless enough to be willing to take a few more bullets than he would need to if it means that he can spare their lives.

He'll find a way around the kids for sure, but god help whoever adult handler he gets his hands on.


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

[User]
[DCU] How old is the Flash, mentally?

I want to know how much time has passed, at a rough, ballpark estimate, from his perspective? I don't know whether his speed works by allowing him to travel between space to go great distances or whether he actually runs the whole way. I think I recall a scene where the Flash gets asked what he sees when he runs across a country and he replies that he sees everything and everyone. I have heard that in one battle with zoom he runs across the entire Earth. Not around it, actually across ALL of it. When he runs across the universe in a fraction of a second, how many minutes, hours, years have passed for him? When he uses Cyborg's computer, a machine that can respond to inputs in a fraction of a second, how long must he spend getting those "instant" results? How old is he really?

I hope this question makes sense. Thanks.

[Assistant]
The Speedforce lets most of its users zone out with repetitive tasks. If Flash is running across the country along a highway, he doesn't fully register all of it, only if he's about to run into something. But if he does something that requires attention, he can speed up his brain to match.

On the other hand, people like Quicksilver (from Marvel) experience everything in slow motion and can't zone out to effectively be at the pace of everyone else.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do things that seem big and detailed suddenly turn out to be so small when you take a picture of it? (Ex. Moon, Mountain in the background, etc)

[Assistant]
It depends on the lens on your camera. It also is because of the design of your eye.

Take a picture of a moon with a long telephoto lens, and you will see it as being incredibly detailed and big. But if you use a wide-angle phone camera, it will seem small, because the camera is taking a picture of everything, and the moon is just a small part of everything.

Your eye manages to be both a wide-angle and telephoto camera in one. It has a detailed patch in the middle packed with lots of light sensing cells all individual connected to single nerves, that allow you to see what you are focussing on in fine detail. It also has a large retina filled more sparse cells, with a number of cells driving each single nerve, giving less detailed wide-angle vision.

Lastly, your brain is not just taking pictures like a camera. It is analysing the scene and pulling from it the information you want, by turns extracting the detail from different parts of the scene, and delivering to your consciousness the image it has built up by parts over several seconds.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] How can the Weasleys be poor? For that matter how can any witch/wizard be poor?

Even if you can't just create food or "money", with magic you could be a tycoon easily:

Import/Export using something similar to the vanishing cabinet, real estate (for a magic community), digital currency (not everyone can got to gringotts when they need to put something in savings), efficient factory designs (hell you don't even need the factory!).

Your house is crooked? Fix it! Need more room? Expand it! Need food? Charm your garden!

The argument that magic is supposed to be protected from muggles shouldn't come into play here because there are plenty of opportunities for A. wizard specific markets or B. hidden magic (i.e the magic used to surveil muggles (book 6) or the magic used to repel muggles (book 4). I'm not saying you need to give magic items to muggles, but instead build a business that uses magic to create profit.

Even if most of society is so isolated from muggles and it doesn't cross their minds, there are hundreds of muggle-born witches/wizards that go to hogwarts.

[Assistant]
The Weasley family is only poor by the standards of their social peers. Much like the old English landed gentry, anyone who actually *needed* to work would be considered poor by the metrics they apply, regardless of how much land they hold, how many children they send to an elite boarding school, or anything else they have going on.

In terms of actual resources, Mr. Weasley is held back a bit by his choice of job; it's a reasonably secure position, but there isn't a lot of money or room for advancement in monitoring Muggles. Contrast that with the twins, who set out into the business world as independents with novel products and manage to do very well for themselves in a relatively short time. Other wizards could set out in similar fashion and succeed or fail much like muggle entrepreneurs often do.


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

[User]
[Halo] Why did the Forerunners design the Halo array to be fired more than once?

Why would they ever want the Halo array to be fired again. The only reason they did it the first time was because they had indexed the galaxy so they could reseed it, but there wouldn't be an index safe aboard the ark to reseed it a second time if they are fired again. Was it just a fallback murder suicide incase the flood rises again, ensuring that if life can't win, then the flood can't either? Why only allow humans to turn it on then?

And now I think, can they be fired more than once? The monitor seems to think it can, but the only ring that actually fires in the series was made after the first firing. We see in Halo 2 and 3 that they press the big button to fire, but it never fires.

[Assistant]
There was always a chance that the Flood may someday return. There are situations where the Halo Array may be worth firing, even in the absence of a reseeding program.

The Array only destroys intelligent life. Once activated, there's always the chance that new intelligent beings could evolve. But if the Flood wins, then that's all there will ever be. The Flood will be the only life that exists in the galaxy, forever.


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

[User]
[Magic School Bus] Is there a strong educational benefit to risking the lives of ones students in order to give them practical examples of random bits of trivia?

I'm a state Inspector and having observed Miss. Frizzle and her class shrink down and enter a sink to discover where municipal water goes does seem interesting, however two children nearly drowned, one was traumatized, and no one learned any math today.

[Assistant]
When what you're learning is a matter of life or death, those are the lessons you *never* forget.

The kids are never in any real danger - the Friz is in full control.  She just lets them think they could actually be harmed in order to drive the lessons home.  She's some sort of 8-dimensional being and/or a wizard.

Parents were fully apprised of her teaching style and they signed waivers too.  It's their fault if they didn't fully read the full document or thought it was a joke.


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

[User]
ELI5: What does it mean when people say America is the wealthiest country in the history of the world

I dont totally understand this, and it seems like a somewhat subjective thing to say - the things we value as wealth have changed, and it feels like were judging history by our current perspectives. What is meant by this claim & is it true?

[Assistant]
Even though the things we value as wealth has changed, wealth was always wealth.

Whether it was the back when we used to solely rely on barter or even further back when I'd imagine being the best hunter in your tribe meant you were the wealthiest, forward to today when we exchange currency.

Yes it is true that the U.S. is the wealthiest country in the history of the world it simply owns nearly 1/3 of the total world's wealth. No single country before has had that share before.
Even when you include every country in Europe, they still don't match U.S.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that bugs can survive falls that would be (proportionally), deadly to larger animals?

[Assistant]
The answer is impact energy.  Let's ignore terminal velocity for a second.  If you drop a tiger and an ant from 10 meters in a vacuum, they will each impact the ground at the same speed.  The difference is in the *energy* they are carrying when they do.  The tiger is much more massive, so the kinetic energy it is carrying on impact is much higher than the ant.  This energy is absorbed as stress on the two bodies involved in the impact (the organism and the earth).  The earth is quite hard and is a constant in this scenario, so the tiger therefore has to absorb a much larger amount of energy than the ant. That absorption causes deformation and damage to its body, possibly killing it.  The ant on the other hand does not have to absorb much energy at all, and its rigid exoskeleton makes it much better at absorbing energy in the first place.  That is why it will survive intact while the tiger will probably be seriously injured or die.

Terminal Velocity is a much more complicated factor, but it also has to do with mass.  The lower your mass, the less air resistance required to stop you from accelerating further (meaning you reach terminal velocity).  An ant reaches a terminal velocity of only a few mph, while a tiger's is hundreds of mph.  Velocity also plays into the kinetic energy equation (0.5*m*v^2) so this increase in terminal velocity only exacerbates their enormous energy differential caused by their differing masses.

TL;DR: The more massive you are the more impact energy your body will have to absorb. The more impact energy your body has to absorb, the more likely that there will be fatal damage to your body.

Edit: Numbers!  A tiger can have a mass of ~300 kg while an ant has a mass of 0.003 g.  This is a ratio of 100,000,000:1!!!  That mass difference alone means 100 million times as much energy. Account for the different terminal velocities that stem from this mass difference and you have an energy ratio of closer to 1 trillion!


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

[User]
Does skilled migration from poorer countries hurt poorer countries on net?

The arguments for are obvious - having less intelligent/educated people in the home country means lower productivity

The arguments against are just remittances sent by the migrants

So what does the evidence say? Is skilled migration net harmful to the native countries of the migrants? Does it depend on exactly how poor the country the native is from, or other factors?

[Assistant]
Youre describing a really well-studied phenomenon called brain drain (or human capital flight, to use the more academic term), and yes, its demonstrably harmful to the economies of developing countries for two main reasons.

The first is the most direct and obvious consequence: brain drain creates a shortage of skilled labor in vital professions (doctors, engineers, etc.), which are pretty vital for the operation and development of a healthy economy.

The second, more indirect consequence is that it reduces aggregate demand and surplus spending units. This is because the skilled laborers that have the opportunity to emigrate represent particularly well-salaried segments of the economy. When they leave, the economy loses a key segment of a) consumers and b) people with surplus income that they can invest back into the economy for future growth.


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

[User] [Star Wars] How much of Palpatines charm was The Force, and how much of it was pure charisma?

[Assistant] In Darth Plagueis, his rise to political power seemed to be mostly charisma, House of Cards style politicking, and financial backing from his master who was rich.  With all the Jedi on Coruscant it'd be too difficult for him to use the Force overtly and publicly without causing suspicion.  Use of the force certainly helped a lot, but it was more indirect.


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

[User] [Diablo 3][Marvel][DC] How do diablo's nephalem stack up against the comic book world?

[Assistant] They're low cosmic tier. Really mobility is their main problem, but they killed Death, they've killed the personification of evil, and they outrank every angel and demon in existence by such a large margin that they need to basically enter alternate reality training planes (the rifts) to feel any challenge at all. Otherwise they mow through the soldiers of Hell literally hundreds at a time, all day every day. Their powers aren't over the basic stuff of reality, but they're so incredibly powerful that it doesn't matter.


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

[User] How does a blockade work in space (e.g. Star Wars Episode I), couldn't you just enter from the other side of the planet?

[Assistant]
The entire planet must be surrounded of course. You can't blockade a planet with only a single ship. You need a fleet to do this, and the fleet will spread out to surround the entire planet. Strike craft, such as fighters or bombers are also very useful as these can further extend the range of the capital ships.

The fleet may deploy satellites to help with surveillance and to assist with detecting any blockade runners.

Planets are heavily dependent upon trade due to the ease of interstellar travel. Planets frequently specialize for specific intustries, allowing them to produce specialized goods with greater efficiency and then trade for the goods they do not produce. This works out in everyone's benefit. Everyone gets more goods this way.

The problem is that this also creates a huge vulnerability from a blockade.

If the planet in question has devoted itself mostly for heavy industry its biosphere is likely damaged from all of that heavy industry. This means the planet can't grow much food. A starving planet is going to surrender very quickly under blockade.

Even if the planet is a farming planet, its still going to suffer from a blockade. Yes, it can grow its own food, but what about farming equipment? It likely does not produce its own machinery for farming. What about transport vehicles? What about replacement power cells for vehicles and droids? What about consumer goods? The population has grown accustomed to a particular level of lifestyle, and suddenly cutting off all consumer goods means the population is going to be angry and also have a lot of spare time on their hands.

Agrarian planets are the most resistant to a blockade, but even they will eventually succumb as the population becomes increasingly unhappy at the blockade. Eventually planetary leaders will be overthrown either through election or revolution, and the new set of planetary leaders will surrender to the blocking fleet's demands.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why openGL is not preferred by game developers?

Based on my assumption that openGL works on many platforms while DirectX is Windows specific.

[Assistant]
A factor here is that Microsoft integrates DirectX development environments *deeply* into their software.  They also aggressively place their development environments into computer science programs across the United States (and perhaps elsewhere).  A huge proportion of students 'cut their teeth' on Microsoft products which are constructed to make DirectX look familiar, supported, and natural, and OpenGL as...well, not any of that.

MS also funds tool creation that is synergistic with DirectX; they invest heavily in the ecosystem.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does water cause electronic devices (I.e. cellphones) to malfunction even after said devices have completely dried?

I've heard putting them in rice works, though I've never had much luck.

[Assistant]
Unless it's distilled water, water is actually pretty dirty. It's full of little particles and sediment. Take a really close look at a glass of unfiltered drinking water and you might probably see some.

Anyway, when a device gets wet those particles settle on the microchips shorting out some of the connections (creating paths for electricity to go where it shouldn't).

That's why people say to soak a phone in distilled water then leave it on rice. The distilled water washes away the sediment and the dryness of the rice pulls the water out of the phone, like a tissue dipped into a cup of water.

I hope this is all accurate and simple enough, feel free to tell me if any of that is wrong or if there are better analogies. :)


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

[User] What would happen if California does vote to split into 3 states?

[Assistant]
Well according to Article 4 of the U.S. constitution:

*New states may be admitted by the Congress into this union; but no new states shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress.*

*The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular state.*

The vote wont matter necessarily. The legislature of California and the U.S. Congress both have to approve the creation of new states.


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

[User] ELI5: how do LED grow lights replicate the sun when growing plants . how does photosynthesis and respiration happen?

[Assistant]
Photosynthesis is just a chemical reaction (or more accurately, a super complicated chain of chemical reactions) that get activated when certain chemicals absorb certain frequencies of light.

We can manufacture LEDs that send out those frequencies of light, so they trigger the reactions, allowing plants to photosynthesize.


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

[User] ELI5 Why some people can understand a foreign language but they can't speak it?

[Assistant]
Because comprehension is a much easier task than production.  Comprehension just means being able to correctly recognize words and expressions and associate them to their meanings.  Producing language requires you to have a much more in depth knowledge of the vocabulary, structure, tense, etc. what words mean what and how they are used.

An analogy for this would be, imagine you're at a science conference, you go to a presentation in a field you're not familiar with, lets say astrophysics.  You'd probably be able to go there and understand what the speaker is saying, or at least get the general idea, but you couldn't produce or explain that presentation yourself, nor could you contribute anything insightful to a conversation about the material, the research and its significance with other astrophysiscs after its over.


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

[User]
ELI5:How did the Zapper for old NES systems know where you were aiming on the screen when playing Duck Hunt on those old TVs?

Seems like tech ahead of it's time to me.

[Assistant]
Its actually a pretty cool thing of engineering.

The zapper itself contained a light sensor at the tip. When you pressed the trigger the next frame of the TV would become all black. The frame after that would be mostly black except for a white box in the hit box of the target. If the gun detected light during this moment, it sent a signal to the NES which meant it was a hit. If you didnt aim at the right place on the screen, then the light sensor wouldnt have detected light well enough. Using a lens you can get its pointing accuracy to be a little better as well.


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

[User]
[Pokemon] Are there any laws that limit the collection of rare Pokemon from the wild?

Similar to laws protecting endangered species?

[Assistant]
There are a few rules here and there, but the prevailing attitude throughout the Pokmon universe is if you can do it, we won't stop you, but you try at your own risk.

Some people won't let you enter locations rare Pokmon are known to live unless you have proved your ability to master a certain number of gyms, learned the appropriate HMs, own the right Pokmon, and all these obstacles prevent too many people from obtaining the rare Pokmon.

But because the rare Pokmon in the wild are strong, because they're hard to find, and because trainers are more likely to get killed by those Pokmon than the Pokmon getting over-trapped, there tends to be little need for protective laws.


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

[User]
How much of a difference does wearing white/black on a hot day make?

I've heard that you should wear white on a hot day because it reflects off more radiation.  How much of a difference does it really make on how hot you feel?

[Assistant] This also depends on the design of the clothing.  Loose fitting clothing such as Arab dress can have a dark overcoat over a loose open bottom shirt.  This can set up air circulation through a chimney effect.


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

[User] [Age of Sigmar] How does the Horned Rat qualify as a Chaos God? What makes him different enough from Nurgle or Tzeentch to keep him from just becoming one of their aspects?

[Assistant] Pretty much it's just because he's worshiped fervently by the Skaven (and there are a LOT of skaven) and they murdered SO many dudes in his name. Like... Every country that wasn't Kislev or the Empire. Plus the chaos gods had a chair to fill after Tyrion and Teclis imprisoned Slaanesh.


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

[User] Eli5 why does cling film sometimes stick perfectly to some plates/bowls but other times it does not?

[Assistant]
If you Google this, you get all kinds of answers.  The obvious one is how clean the dish is.  The cleaner the better.

But the real answer is how smooth the dish is.  If the dish has a very smooth and polished look, cling wrap clings better.  A matt finish is bumpy at the microscopic level, making less contact with the cling wrap.

And you might say "sure, but why would that matter?"  The answer to that is that much of the cling in cling wrap is an electrostatic cling, and only works well with very close touch.   A bumpy texture holds the plastic above most of the surface, only touching the tops of the bumps.

There is a small but real chance you are using cling wrap on a metal dish, and one that is very smooth.  What gives?  This often does not work because the metal discharges the electrostatic charge.  No static, no cling.  Glass works well because electricity does not travel easily through it, preventing electrostatic discharge.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] If there are things like potions that make people unable to lie and have to tell the truth, why are there things like courts and trials or even people like Sirius Black wrongfully jailed?

I feel like with things like that and time turners, you invent plot holes that wouldnt otherwise exist. When Sirius was in Azkaban and had claimed prior that he was innocent and Wormtail was still alive, why wouldnt he say let me take some Veritaserum. If I am unable to tell you the same story, take me to Azkaban.

[Assistant] There are ways around veritaserum, for example removing your memories and storing them in a pensieve for after you testify.  Dark wizards also got in the habit of using imperius on each other to commit crimes, that way both the person who actually did the murder and the person who did the imperius can truthfully say "I did not murder him".


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

[User] ELI5: Why does the inverse square law show up so often?

[Assistant] The inverse square law describes how a set amount of something (a field, or a total emission of radiation) is diluted over area as it expands in three dimensions. Since we live in a universe with three spatial dimensions this can be expected to show up rather frequently.


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

[User] [Star trek] why have we never seen anyone else wearing a VISOR?

[Assistant] Humans are very anti-transhumanism, most likely a prejudice begun in the Eugenics Wars. Pretty much the only tech people put within their bodies are the technology needed to maintain normal human function, other than that they prefer the natural approach.


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

[User]
I am just finishing "Consiousness Explained" by Daniel Dennett. What are the books that represent the current state of concsiousness theory and approach the issue from both a philosophical and scientific perspective? If there are works specific to the mind/body issue, that would be appreciated.

In reading the Dennett work I imagine there must be advances with respect to fMRI and related technologies and clear advances in AI and computing power.  I'd like to find a work, or perhaps  several works, that tackle this issue from a more current perspective.  Thanks in advance.

[Assistant]
In terms of the scientific perspectives, there are two leading, competing theories right now: Global Neuronal Workspace (you can read Dehaenes Consciousness and the Brain from 2014) and Integrated Information Theory (you can read Tononis Phi from 2012). These books are more recent, written by the original proponents of those theories, and address some of the large amount of research thats been done in the last 20 years.

Another interesting thing to look into (albeit written less for a lay audience) would be select chapters in Engel, Friston, and Kragics The Pragmatic Turn, which considers how thinking about the brain as a controller of actions might influence theories of cognition and consciousness.


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

[User]
Is it possible that there are systems in space with rocky bodies at the center?

My understanding of how solar systems form is that a supernova scatters various elements across an area which then coalesce into what most people think of as a solar system, with a sun and planets. So why is it that the hydrogen and helium tend to end up at the center of a system, and couldn't there be a system with a rocky "sun" that holds most of the mass? Or do suns have the same concentration of other elements as the rest of the system hidden behind all the fusion products?

[Assistant]
Hydrogen and helium are the most abundant elements in the universe which is why they make up so much of a stars mass, heavier elements have to be made by fusion in stars and are less abundant.

As far as a rocky star goes thats not possible, if you put that much matter together the energy from gravity would be enough for fusion to take place at the core and then youd end up with a star. If the rocky star is too small for fusion then it is just a really big rogue planet.


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

[User]
Is an O(sqrt(n)) solution really that bad?

So I am researching elliptic curve cryptography and I keep getting terribly confused about what I'm reading.  Let me give some very basic background:

BACKGROUND:  Many traditional cryptosystems are built so that to "break" the system, one has to be able to solve a problem called the "Discrete Logarithm Problem"  Conversely, to break an ECC system, one has to be able to solve the "Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem."  One of the reasons ECC is useful, according to every book I read, is because there are subexponential algorithms which solve the regular Discrete Logarithm Problem, but the best current algorithm to solve the ECDLP runs in O(sqrt(n)) - this is supposedly indicating the ECC system is harder to break.

 Every single book I read seems to say this but this is really confusing me.  What's so bad about an O(sqrt(n)) time solution?  I guess I'm confused because back in my original programming class, a lot of the search algorithms and just regular algorithms we learned would be O(n^2).  I remember how an O(n) linear solution always seemed like a great solution.  Isn't O(sqrt(n)) even better?  Also, how is O(sqrt(n)) NOT a subexponential solution?

Example quote from book: Elliptic Curves in Cryptography by Blake, p.80: (talking about algorithms to "break" ECC systems): "The last two attacks listed are quite general  but have complexities on the order of sqrt(n).  They become infeasible when the curve order is sufficiently large."

another quote:
"The main reason why (ECC) is "more trusted".... is because (the discrete logarithm problem)... can be solved in subexponential time with index calculus algorithms. Until recently... the time required to solve (an ECC system) was believed to be exponential in the size of the parameters."

[Assistant] The search algorithms are parameterized in terms of input length.  The n is very likely a number and not the size of a number.  The input length is then log(n).  So if an algorithm takes O(sqrt(n)) time it will take O(2^{k/2}) if k is the bit length of n.


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

[User]
What would be different if the speed of light were some lower number?

Or, to put it another way, if the speed of light suddenly slowed down, would we be able to measure this?  And if so, how?

[Assistant]
The "speed of light" isn't a physical constant. It's a consequence of the fact that we use different units for distance and duration. We have to have a conversion factor to go between them, and the number *c,* the "speed of light," is that conversion factor.

You can change the definition of either your unit of distance or your unit of duration, of course; that would give the conversion factor a different numerical value. But you wouldn't be changing anything about the *universe.* You'd be changing your numbers. If you then set up an experiment to measure the "speed of light," you'd get a different numerical answer but not because the "speed of light" changed. Because your units of measurement did.

I know it's hard to think of the "speed of light" as anything other than, well, a *speed.* But it isn't one. It just appeared to be hundreds of years ago, when the first experiments into the nature of light were being done. Once it became clear that light didn't propagate instantaneously, it seemed obvious that it must move at some speed. But that's only because we were still thinking, in those days, of our universe as being fundamentally the same as what we observe around us in day-to-day life. In fact it isn't, and the fact that we still call the conversion factor *c* the "speed of light" is a remnant leftover from those days.


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

[User]
is it possible to boil a pot of water simply by the act of stirring?

my understanding is that heat is the random movement of atoms and that the faster the movement the hotter they are. so my question is, it possible to boil a pot of water simply by the act of stirring? and if so how much stirring would it take to boil a liter of water?

[Assistant] Yes. You have to add the heat faster than it can dissipate (by evaporation or radiation), so you'll need to stir it very quickly. A stirring machine can accomplish this for you. Science joking aside, top-tier blenders can boil water.


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

[User]
Philosophy for anxiety?

Are there any philosophical texts that can help me deal with social anxiety?

[Assistant]
There is a lot of philosophy about the concept of anxiety from Kierkegaard onward. Some of the big texts are Kierkegaards *Concept of Anxiety*, Heidegger's *Being and Time*, Sartre's *Being and Nothingness*, Lacan's seminars book X (*Anxiety*).

A common thread running through these thinkers is that anxiety has no object. In fear, you know what scares you: a perilous height, a disease, etc. In anxiety, you feel the disquiet of fear, but you cannot find an object for it. Some suggest the whole world becomes an object of anxiety (Heidegger says something like this). Others suggest you run around trying to pin your anxiety on various objects to justify feeling so disturbed. Sara Ahmed has made this sort of argument in relation to terroristm anxiety, in which vaguely brown people keep getting suspected of being terrorists (translating anxiety into fear).

When it comes to "social anxiety," these philosophers would probably have a problem with terminology. Adding "social" limits anxiety, giving it a quasi-object and adulterating the pure "objectlessness" of anxiety.

And then, of course, the majority of philosophy is not about helping people in a direct or prescriptive way. On the other hand, most people who study philosophy seriously find it enriches their lives in sometimes unexpected ways.


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

[User]
[ATLA] what was the plan of the rebellion during the 100 year war? Did they plan on just surviving or eventually storming the fire lords castle?

Also, why didn't the earth and water nation team up opposed to each having their own part in the rebellion?

[Assistant]
It wasn't really a rebellion, it was an actual war between multiple sovereign governments with their own standing armies (except for the Water Tribes which had a warrior class rather than a military; and the Air Nomads who had no warriors or military to speak of).

As for alliances, in fact they did ally with each other, Sokka was the only "adult" (older than 10 years old) male left in his village because the men had left to assist the Earth Kingdom in the war. As for the plan? It was presumably to survive and resist occupation until the Fire Nation ran out of resources and could be made to retreat. Unfortunately the Industrial advantage of the Fire Nation gave them such an edge that they could keep returning despite likely multiple retreats (a good analogy for the Hundred Year War is likely a combination of the colonization of the Americas and Imperial Japan's conquests in Asia and the Pacific).


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

[User]
[Terminator] How was the T1000 able to time travel in T2?

If time travel only works on alive flesh, how can the all-metal T1000 travel back in time in T2? The same question applies to the terminatrix in T3.

[Assistant] More specifically, time travel doesn't work on metal. The T800 (Arnie) describes the T1000 as "emimetic poly-alloy" or something like that, and then uses "liquid metal" as shorthand for it. So it's not that time travel only works with flesh, just that it doesn't work with "typical" metal. The T1000 is, to put it mildly, not typical.


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

[User]
I believe that a man should be able to force a woman to abort a baby if he can prove that the embryo is the result of she raping him, or she lying about being on BC. CMV

You may have heard a couple of stories about a man being raped by a woman and then having to pay child support for the kid. Or a kid who was raped by a woman (I think he was 13 or 15 at the time) and then having to do the same. Or some stories about women lying to their partners that they are on birth control so that they can get pregnant.

I believe that in this circumstances, men should have the ability, in those places where abortion is legal, to force the woman to abort.

My rationale is this: the child will be born a child of rape. That on itself is terrible. Then it would be born to a broken home, since one of its parents raped the other. On top of that, the man is now obligated to aid his rapist (not just a criminal, but his abuser) to raise their child, while sharing the rights. Since the man never wanted the child and did all he could to prevent its birth (he was raped, he had no choice), I don't think he should be obligated to raise it.

Now, since just forfeiting the obligation to raise it would still leave the child to its own fate, in the best interest of all, the best alternative is to prevent it from existing. Thus, the one just way I find is to have the embryo aborted. If the woman refuses, too bad. I consider her losing that right over her body the same way a prisoner loses its right to freedom by being jailed.

[Assistant]
So many practical problems with this idea.

Would there be a system of appeal? Gestation is only nine months long, these legal proceedings would have to be over and done with within 6 months.

What would the standard of proof be? Beyond a reasonable doubt? Clear & convincing evidence? How would one prove that someone lied about taking birth control? Would this be a civil case or a criminal case? Would the parent have a constitutional right to an appointed attorney? What would be the consequence to the father of bringing frivilous lawsuits?

At what trimester would the abortion be permissible? At what stage should the child's rights as an individual trump those of it's parents?


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

[User] [MCU] where does the extra mass from Iron Mans nanotech suit constructs come from?

[Assistant]
Most of it comes from other portions of the suit; we see nanites shift from one of his legs to his arm when he forms the sword, for example.

The only real problem is coming up with how he creates solid materials, like when he sprays closed the hole they blew in Ebony Maw's ship.


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

[User]
CMV: YouTube was right in age-restricting Prager U's videos because a significant portion of their audience were children that didn't know better.

TL:DR: >!PragerU was targeting a young audience that didn't understand what they were watching, and YouTube was right in age restricting PragerU's videos.!<

PragerU, a far right-wing media outlet popular on YouTube had it's videos age-restricted by YouTube so that only users >15 years old could watch them.

PragerU claimed that YouTube was censoring them and responded by suing YouTube on the grounds that they were behaving like a publisher while enjoying the protections of a platform.

(The following story should is and should be treated as an anecdote. Because the demographic data of PragerU's viewer base is not public information, this is all I have to go on.)

When I was younger (~9) I came across a video titled "[The] War on Boys". Being a boy myself, I had clicked on the video because of the title and the cartoonish graphics in the thumbnail. Being just over five minutes long, it was perfect for my young, short, attention span.

I have since forgotten the content of the video, but because videos from the same channel as the one you're currently watching are more likely to get suggested, I clicked on a few more blue-background cartoons.

I remember seeing Ben Shapiro, and through the next 3 years I would think of him as some sort of Genius who was always right, because of his childish argument strategies and constant insulting.

I have since disengrained the bullshit that PragerU puts out from my head, but I believe that they were targeting a younger audience with their cartoon drawings, short videos, and simple arguments.

[Assistant]
YouTube age restricts based on:
- Vulgar language
- Violence and disturbing imagery
- Nudity and sexually suggestive content
- Portrayal of harmful or dangerous activities

Are you asking for YouTube to amend its ToS?

And where do you draw the line between content that is easy to understand and content meant to indoctrinate children?


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

[User] [Pokemon] Are their other uses for pokemon technology? Why haven't people programmed the pokeball to stash other objects rather than Pokemon? Could somebody cure cancer through a Pokecenter?

[Assistant]
>Why haven't people programmed the pokeball to stash other objects rather than Pokemon?

They can. Pokeballs hold many of the items found  around the Pokemon world,  and a Pokemon carrying an item can be stored in a pokeball.

>Could somebody cure cancer through a Pokecenter?

Unlikely. Pokemon center tech cures physical damage like bruises, burns, poison etc., but there are plenty of things it can't cure. Viruses like Pokerus are unaffected by Pokemon centers, so it's not a cure all.


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

[User]
If all the matter in the universe was creates at the same time, how does carbon dating work?

I think the title is clear enough, but I'll elaborate. How can we carbon date something, if all matter was created during the Big Bang? Were the necessary components there, and carbon just wasn't created all at the same time? To me, without a lot of knowledge on the subject, it's like handing someone a brick made 10 years ago, and carbon dating also shows it was created 10 years ago, but the stuff the brick is made out of was created a lot longer before that. How does this work?

[Assistant] Carbon dating doesn't date the age of the matter.  Carbon dating works because when something is alive it takes in carbon.  A certain % of that carbon is carbon 14.  When the thing dies it stops taking in carbon, unless it like catches on fire or something.  What then happens is that the carbon 14 that is now left starts to decay. By comparing how much carbon something has, and what % of that is carbon 14, you can work out how long ago that thing died.  It only goes back about 60k years or so before there's not enough carbon 14 left to get a good estimate of age.


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

[User] [Star wars] what keeps Anakin alive and breathing during the operation where he gets put in the sut? It lasted around 12 hours if i remember correctly and the respirator comes on for the very last.

[Assistant] Vader can breathe without the suit. It's insanely painful for him under normal circumstances, and to even be remotely comfortable he needs to be in an area with a higher air pressure. But he can do it.


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

[User] ELI5: How can hurricane hunters fly into Irma and not get torn apart or thrown into the ocean in the 175+ mph winds?

[Assistant]
It's a rough flight, definitely.  But surprisingly enough, it's not as turbulent as you would think.  The winds are fairly constant in speed and direction and there's not a lot of updrafts and downdrafts to toss you around like if you were flying into a summer thunderstorm.

Sure, there's been a few times where the hunters from both NOAA and the AF Reserve planes have been tossed around good, but that's only been a few instances vs the hundreds of eye penetrations they've done.


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

[User]
I shouldn't accept a PhD if I'm not passionate about the project, right?

I have an offer for a PhD in a mediocre university (less prestigious than the one I graduated in). It's tied to a project that I find maybe interesting, but I know I'm not gonna be passionate about it. On the other side, in my country you can't really expect to win a PhD with your own project, because it's more about who you know and who wants you to get in.

Am I ungrateful to turn down the offer and in case, how can I do it without offending the professor I got it from (who would be able to help me in future applications)?

[Assistant] You're really just going to have to do a costs/benefit analysis here. What are your ultimate professional goals? Is it likely that you will get accepted into another Ph.D. if you decline this one? Are you OK with the possibility of never earning this degree? Is it likely that this person would even be willing to support you in future applications? How important is prestige to you, especially given that it's perceptual? Even though you aren't "passionate about it" right now, is there a chance that you could grow to enjoy, tolerate, or learn from this project and/or mentor? If you believe that academia is "about who you know and who wants you to get in," won't you be burning a bridge by declining this offer? Etc. Nobody here can give you an easy answer; this is something you're going to have to decide through introspection.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do our voices get higher in pitch when we are overcome with emotion?

Not in volume, but in pitch. This occurs across a range of emotions - whiny crying voice, squeaky elated voice, frightened screamy voice, etc.

[Assistant] It's because you tense up, which makes your vocal cords get tense also, which makes them vibrate faster, which makes your pitch go up. (Think about what happens to a guitar string when you wind it tighter. It's the same principle.)


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

[User]
[Marvel/MCU] Has there ever been a push for democracy in Wakanda?

It seems a little crazy that such an advanced nation is still ruled by a monarchy. Has there ever been an internal push to elect a leader?

[Assistant]
I think for revolution you need a downtrodden populace to support those calling for change.

Most people are happy and have everything they'd need due to the high tech nature of the place and abundance of natural resources; so even if a few people are upset they won't have a shot at being the ruler they would never get popular support.


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

[User]
I've long wanted to really understand how the global economy ticks, what books do I need to read to begin to understand this?

I realize this is a tall order but I've always felt like a fraud being so deeply into politics and social justice without really understanding how the economy works from a small town to the global stage; the back room deals, the politics, the diplomats, the bankers etc.  You advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Assistant] There are lots of books out there. The Economy by CORE is a pretty complete introduction (its a large book) to economics in general. An issue with your request is that micro does not directly translate to macroeconomics and macro doesnt translate directly to international economics so youll have to find different books with different theories and try to find their use for your purposes.


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

[User]
CMV: Access to Safe Abortion Services is a Human Right

My view is that absolute and unrestricted access to safe abortion services is a human right. This view includes access to comprehensive reproductive health services and access to preventative birth control methods. Any restrictions, limitations, stigmatization, or criminalization of these services is morally wrong and a violation of human rights. States have a positive obligation to provide these services as well as other comprehensive reproductive health services, access to preventative birth control methods, and evidence-based sexual and reproductive health information. Anything less than this is a violation of a person's human rights.

This is my view because comprehensive reproductive health services, including abortion, are necessary to guarantee the right to life, health, privacy, and non-discrimination for women, girls, and other people with wombs. That these rights are violated when abortion is restricted is evident from the elevated rates of bodily harm, health complications, disability, and death experienced by women, girls, and other people with wombs. Forcing women, girls, and other people with wombs to give birth against their will is on its face a violation of bodily autonomy. Limitations on access, such as having to travel significant distances to receive care, are a massive waste of time and resources, having sharp and discriminatory economic repercussions for women, girls, and other people with wombs. I cannot fathom a justifiable reason for any restrictions or limitations to be imposed upon access to safe abortion services and I would like to better understand those points of view.

Change my view. :)

[Assistant]
Why do your human rights begin after childbirth, and not a second before? Is passing through a vagina (or being cut out of the womb) an initiation ritual of some sort?

If they begin before there is a contradiction of human rights (and arguably the right to live takes precedence).