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

[User]
New to Econ, is socialism rejected by mainstream economics?

Like the title says, I just started looking into to Econ for the first time and I was curious: as socialist economics are described as heterodox, does that mean that mainstream academic consensus is that socialist economics dont work? I understand the rejection of Central planning given its well documented failures, but it seems like market socialism is rejected as well, at least from what Ive gathered from posts on this sub and bad econ.

Does this mean that socialist economic theory is just considered to be wrong by orthodox economists, or am I misunderstanding something? As someone new to the subject, any and all help is appreciated.

[Assistant]
Terms like socialism, capitalism, etc. are generally not particularly well regarded because they are imprecise to the point of saying nothing at all. So in that regard, it's neither accepted nor rejected.

In practice there will always be situations where more or less state intervention leads to more desirable outcomes and different ownership structures have different benefits, broad statements make little sense here.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do countries have problems with low inflation (Japan, Canada now)? Can't they simply print more money to keep inflation in the desired range?

[Assistant]
Two reasons:

1. It is politically unpopular. Some politicians don't see low inflation or even deflation as a problem, and it's easy for them to score points against their opponents for "devaluing [constitutents'] money" even if that is the appropriate course of action.
2. When interest rates are very low, it can be difficult to produce inflation via money-printing. It can be a difficult balance, because when the economy recovers and interest rates rise, the central bank may have to choose between accepting higher-than-optimal inflation or undoing their work. Japan has had particular trouble with this, printing money and then stopping at the first sign of recovery.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why don't trickle down economics work?

It just seems to work so well in theory, and family members swear it's the only thing that will help our current economy. Why is trickle down, or Reaganomics widely considered to be a non-working, economic fallacy?

[Assistant]
When wealthier people get more money, they don't necessarily have much incentive to spend more since they already have their needs met, especially, if there isn't increased demand and they can easily use it to buy products overseas or expand there.  Cutting taxes and social safety-nets hasn't really worked historically.

If you subsidize less wealthy individuals, they are far more likely to spend, and spend locally.  If they've been making due with a bad appliance or lack some new piece of technology and get an influx of cash, they'll go out and buy something.  This increases demand, putting money into company pockets, and encouraging them to expand and hire more people since people will buy more products.


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

[User] ELI5:What exactly happens if you put diesel into a regular engine and vice versa?

[Assistant]
In ELI5 terms... this...

What we call "Gasoline", that we put in our cars at the Gas Station, is a highly flammable and potentially explosive substance.  Diesel fuel, while definitely flammable and potentially explosive, is not nearly as much so as gasoline.  Jet Fuel, or kerosene, is another substance, like diesel fuel, that can be hard to ignite.  In fact, some grades of jet fuel simply won't burn even if you drop a lit match into a barrel of the stuff.

So, if you put diesel fuel into a gasoline engine, the engine will just eventually quit running.  If you start with a dry tank, then fill it with diesel, the engine will probably never start.  The engine itself will probably not be damaged, but the fuel injectors and other components may need to be overhauled or replaced.

On the other hand, if you put gas into a diesel engine, stand by for fireworks.  The high volatility of gasoline will most likely blow your engine apart if you don't shut it off in time.


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

[User]
ELI5: What does the term "identity politics" mean?

This is super embarrassing -- but it comes up all the time and I don't totally get it....

[Assistant]
"identity politics" are political idea or efforts to encourage political activities based on someone's membership in a particular "identity" group. The most common examples in the U.S. are race, religion, and gender.

The term is most frequently used with a negative connotation -- the idea being that "identity politics" is a way of setting groups against each other and making it harder to talk about actual policy because every discussion becomes about whether you are betraying your "group." However, it can also be used in a neutral or positive sense, to describe political appeals based on problems uniquely faced or experienced by people in certain social contexts.


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

[User] [Injustice 2] How much would it take to incapacitate/kill Superman after he bonds with Braniac's ship in the Superman Ending?

[Assistant]
I doubt much. Brainiac wasn't a powerhouse in combat, he was extremely intelligent. If anything, Superman after the bond is pretty much him but now with the knowledge that Brainiac possessed, which is kinda scary. I'd assume someone who could outsmart Brainiac and outbeat Superman would have the upper hand.

Superman's weakness is still Kryptonite.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are such such small (<1C) changes in average temperature enough to trigger large scale climate change?

Many places experience daily variations of at least 10C, and seasonal variations of at least 20C, so a very small change in long term average does not seem like it would make much difference:

How do these small changes cause large scale effects? What are the mechanisms which link temperature to visible climate change effects?

[Assistant]
This of it this way:

Let's say temperature goes up, everywhere, by an average of 1C for a whole year. Water freezes at 0C. The average temp in Los Angeles, annually, might be 22C, which means after a 1C increase, it's now 23C annual average. Not that big a difference, not that important.

Now let's consider somewhere icy. Let's say... one of the more southern parts of the north pole. Let's say that there's 50 days a year where the average is EXACTLY 0C, 150 days that are below 0C, and 150 days at 1C or above. Under these temperatures, water is freezing (or staying frozen) 200 days a year, and melting 150 days a year. Now let's bump averages up 1C. Now in that region, water is freezing 150 days a year and melting 200 days a year. The balance of the region has change- more ice will melt, annually, than it freezes. And that's going to melt a LOT of water over the course of the next few decades.

These numbers aren't really very scientific, but just consider them for an example. When average temperature goes up, even slightly, it can have major cumulative affects.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What exactly do moisture vaporators have to say that you need a droid to translate?

Couldn't a simple screen with columns of numbers handle pretty much all of the relevant communications for a giant dehumidifier?

[Assistant]
Look at it this way, if you tell a Binary Loadlifter to "stack boxes over here" it will continue to stack boxes until the floor collapses under the weight of them all, even if it has to actively leave the area to find more boxes of things to stack. And then, even without a floor, it will continue to stack boxes in the designated area. With a protocol droid to translate commands into the appropriate Binary, "stack boxes over here" becomes "Stack the boxes currently located within this warehouse that are designated with X licensing code into this particular area. Do not stack the boxes located with Y or Z licensing codes. If you are out of boxes to stack, go into low power mode until..." etc... The purpose of the protocol droid translator is to give a command so perfectly specific that it gets exactly what is needed done without any issues along the way. So specific that a human couldn't possibly give it in a reasonable time.

The same idea applies to vaporators. While they don't need to move any boxes, they still need excruciatingly complex commands in order to achieve their goal properly.


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

[User] ELI5: How is it that humans can see a new object once and then be able to identify it in images with extreme precision, but the best computer vision algorithms need thousands upon thousands of examples to be able to pick specific objects out of images?

[Assistant]
If you ignore the metaphysical (spirit, soul, etc.) and assume that the brain is a biological machine, then there are basically two arguments:

1. The human brain is (in some ways, at least) much more powerful than the computers we can build and/or it runs much better image-recognition software than we can write.

2. When you learn to recognize a new object, you aren't really starting from scratch - you're building on your past experience of learning to recognize many different things and then actually recognizing them many times.


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

[User]
ELI5 - How come there aren't as many owls out there as there are crows, seagulls, robins, and other common birds.

I can recall one time in my life I seen an owl.

[Assistant] A couple of reasons.  First, an owl is a carnivore, and any particular ecosystem can support far fewer carnivores than other types of organism - there really are fewer owls than, say, omnivores like the seagull.  But also, most owls are nocturnal.  They're out at night, where you aren't.  Add those things together, and the fact that they mostly avoid populated areas, and you've got an owl sighting as a fairly rare event.


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

[User] What makes steam visible?

[Assistant] You're not actually seeing steam/water vapour/gaseous water - you're seeing tiny droplets of liquid water that have condensed and are hanging in the air, distorting the passage of light into your eyes. You're essentially seeing tiny warm clouds.


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

[User] Is solar power viable in the U.S.?

[Assistant] You roommate is making a blanket black and white statement.  They are almost never correct. :) The truth is usually in the gray area.  We don't have to only choose solar for the sole energy source of the USA.  We can implement it where it will work and where it doesn't have to be transmitted too incredibly far and do other energy sources in other places.


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

[User] Why is chocolate poisonous for dogs and not humans?

[Assistant] Short answer: humans have insanely overpowered livers and we can break down a ton of things that are poisonous to other animals. Other things we are unusual in our ability to handle in more than the most minuscule amounts are caffeine, alcohol, plants in the onion family, and NSAIDs.


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

[User] [Da vinci code] So now they found the descendant of Jesus, what changes?

[Assistant]
"Hey, you know the person 1/3rd of the planet consider a literal deity incarnated in human form? Here's his heir, carrying the bloodline of the Lord!"

The idea is to use the descendent of Jesus to leverage control over the world's Christians- after all, who are they to say they know better then the literal descendent of God Himself?

Whether that works is hard to predict, but holy wars have started over grammar disputes regarding the bible. Whatever happens, the world isn't getting out of this unscathed.


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

[User]
How close does the energy of a photon have to be to the energy jump of an electron for it to absorb the photon?

If an electron can only absorb all or none of a photon and can only jump up to specific energy levels, the energy of the photon would have to be equal to the energy level of the electron. But, I am assuming that there can be some error, otherwise it would rarely happen. What is this error and why is there one?

[Assistant]
The answer is if you are going to transition between two bound states (energy levels) the energy of the photon and energy of the transition must match *exactly* for non-scattering interactions.

That being said its not "rare" because we are typically measuring ensembles of many many atoms.  These ensembles have statistical broadening effects, as well as uncertainty effects in the light field that make them more probable.  For example the precision something can measure a frequency of light is going to be inversely proportional to the time it can interact with that light field.  Meaning most systems can only interact for a set amount of time before the light field is turned off.  This innately gives the light field some uncertainty in frequency.

These uncertainty effects give both the atom/molecule and the light field a distribution of available frequencies.  Now the probability that the light will interact (be absorbed) but the object will be proportional to the overlapping area of the two frequency distribution functions.  There are more factors at play here but thats the basic point.

Additionally you can have scattering events where only part of the photos energy is absorbed due to induced fields.


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

[User] [Star Wars, BSG] An X-wing and a Viper engage in a dogfight. Who wins?

[Assistant]
(Assuming we're talking about the BSG reboot)

The main advantage that the Viper has is its maneuverability. X-Wings simply fly around like WW1 or WW2 style fighters, in long slooping arcs. The Viper pilots are much better trained to take tactical advantage of space's lack of orientation, and they freely spin their fighters around and fly backwards, or make maneuvers that can only be done in a zero-gravity vacuum.

Pilot-to-pilot, the Viper almost certainly has a tactical advantage. Unfortunately, the X-Wing has a number of other factors in its favor. Shields, for starters, could leave the Viper incapable of harming the X-Wing. Even if we assume that the shields are deactivated or won't stop machine gun rounds, you've still got hyperdrive, energy weapons, almost certainly more powerful missiles, and an R2 unit to repair damage on the X-Wing. The X-Wing pilot might have trouble getting a bead on the Viper, but there's a strong chance of it being a one-hit kill when he finally does.

All that said, if you put the two pilots in the same piece of hardware, I'd take the Viper pilot 9 times out of 10. They make *much* better use of their space based fighting environment as distinct from an aerial dogfight.


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

[User] [Alien] Ripley and gang come back from Hadley's hope with hard evidence of the infestation. Given the cost of the colony, WY decides to attack with a special task force of Marines, instead of a nuclear strike. How would you train and outfit this team to best fight the Xenomorphs?

[Assistant]
Normal training is fine.  A briefing on the acid blood and general xenomorph tactics is probably all the special attention that's required.
Really the only reason the original team couldn't handle it was the loss of the dropship, which prevented them from being properly equipped.  So, you know, a reminder that these are sneaky bastards and you should keep the door closed should do the trick.


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

[User] [Star Wars]Why did the empire continue to use Victory class Star Destroyers yet retire the Venator class?

[Assistant] Due to Tarkins Doctrine of Fear, ships wouldn't be commissioned as much for their effectiveness in battle, but for the ability to dishearten would be rebellions. The *victory* class is not only more heavily armed the the *venator*, it also looks like a miniature *Imperial* class star destroyer, perfect for putting fear into the minds of the populace, plus since the *venator* was the back bone of he jedi forces its seen as a symbol of he old republic while the *victory* and imperial classes serve as a symbol of Imperial power.


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

[User]
Could you have FTL but no time travel if your FTL could only take you to places that were in the future (or simultaneous) according to a fixed universal reference frame?

So there would be some sort of aether that, although irrelevant for any known physics, everything could be measured as moving "relative to". With the reference frame of this aether determining the "future" according to this FTL method.

To break it down, 1: Is this even coherent? 2: Is there somehow still a way to do time travel even with this restriction? Or for anyone feeling particularly generous, 3: What oddities might one observe using such an FTL method in a galaxy moving quite fast relative to this special frame?

[Assistant] There is no "fixed, universal reference frame"; it doesn't exist. But anyway, if your worldline only ever intersects events in the absolute future, you are by definition not moving FTL. Your worldline is timelike, which implies that your speed in any inertial frame is less than c. If your worldline is spacelike (impossible), then you can reach events outside of your absolute future, which means that you can move backwards in time.


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

[User]
ELI5: What chemical reaction do drugs have (in particular MDMA) that makes us more sociable and why cant people just be like that when theyre sober?

Does it remove that anxious social barrier or it something else? Really intrigued as to what goes on in the mind.

[Assistant]
There are stuff in your body and brain called neurotransmitters. These are molecules that some cells secrete and some cells take up, this is how they communicate. The most notable are probably endorphines (your bodys own painkillers), dopamine (reward molecule, it gets secreted when you do something that is beneficial to you and your survival like high calorie food, sex etc) and serotonin (love molecule, it makes you attached to stuff and makes you feel happy and euphoric)

MDMA, when you eat or snort it, goes into the bloodstream, then to the brain. In the brain, it makes cells secrete serotonin and dopamine, as well as norepinephrine (its like adrenaline, but while adrenaline is used mostly in the fight or flight reflex, norepinephrine is more broadly used by the body) this makes you energetic by activating the "oo stuff is happening better get ready" part of your nervous system.

These chemicals if present, make you feel how i described in the first paragraph, except you did nothing that would normally get the chemicals flowing, its just the mdma molecules on the cells constantly supplying the information that they have to make the happy chemicals, so they make lots and lots of it, making you feel the high.

Another thing is that your body usually picks these up to get the concentrations of the neurotransmitter down to the resting level. Mdma also blocks this, so the already higher than normal concentrations keep being higher than nornal, making you feel happy for longer.


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

[User]
How long does it take UV rays absorbed by your skin to be converted to vitamin D?

I have a vitamin d deficiency so I've been sunning myself every day for thirty minutes. Only for a couple days so far though.

How long does it usually take for the absorbed nutrients from the sun to convert to vitamin D in one's body?

[Assistant]
The conversion is is pretty well finished in an hour, and absorption is rapid. But your skin doesnt hold much of the precursor to vitamin D. So the best way to get more vitamin D from the sun is to lay in the sun with as much of your skin exposed as possible for about an hour. Note that sun from behind a window is nearly useless, as it blocks the necessary wavelengths.
Alternatively, look into a vitamin D supplement and/or increasing your calcium intake. One of those may offer a faster resolution to your problems, but it depends on what is actually going wrong.


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

[User] ELI5: If Amber, containing preserved insects, lasts for tens of millions of years, why aren't we up to our necks in the stuff?

[Assistant]
I don't think you appreciate how large the area of land is on the earth relative to the number of trees that produce amber (and the amount a tree could produce).

If every person on earth stood shoulder to shoulder they would fit in the space of a city like London, Mexico City or the area of San Francisco + Bay Area. That is the ENTIRE human population in the world today.


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

[User]
ELI5: Can anything capable of sleeping also have the ability to dream?

My dog sometimes moves his legs like he is running in his sleep and will make noises. So I assume that's dreaming, but does this mean any animal that sleeps can also dream? Or is there a certain intellectual aspect/capacity that must be present in order for the process to occur?

[Assistant]
Tough to answer because what does 'sleep' mean? Is a bear hibernating sleeping? The late-fall spider that pretty much shuts down on cold near-zero nights, what is its brain doing and is that 'sleep'? Then you get into weird cases like dolphins that would drown if they went fully asleep so they only sleep with one-half of their brain at a time so they will always be conscious.

We have evidence from both our own eyes and from scientific measurements using brainwave monitors that higher-order animals like dogs and primates dream. That's well-known. But as you go down the intelligence tree, at some point you reach instinct-driven animals that either don't have enough brainpower to need to quiet-time mental recharge/archiving processes like us mammals do when dreaming, or they just don't do it at all (the platypus is an example, although Perry might have nightmares about Doofenschmirtz from time to time). They just kind of shut down during their rest periods instead, with the cut-off point at least partly determined by intelligence levels.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it better to keep my iPhone apps "running" instead of turning them off (by swiping up) when done with them?

[Assistant]
Modern smartphones are able to effectively manage their own resources, and they do a fairly good job of it.  So, for example, it may take more battery power to "re load" an app than it does to simply maintain it in memory.

The phone makes the choices of what apps to shut down and what ones to keep running based on your past usage.  It's already optimized.

Now, if you know more than your phone does.  For example, you use an app frequently but know the last time was the last time and now you won't use it again for days.  Then sure, shut the app down.  But popping in and out of iMessage happens frequently and you'll be hurting your phone performance if you force the apps you use frequently to quit.

Both IOS and Android do a fairly good job of shutting down apps, or not, to conserve system resources.  It is highly unlikely that your manual method is doing a better job than the phone would do by itself and it's fairly likely you are actually hurting performance.


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

[User]
If our solar system had 2 suns like depicted in Star Wars on Tatooine, would life be possible or would this be too much radiation to sustain life as we know it?

Meaning humans wouldnt be as we are, or plants, animals, etc would be different? I know we havent found life elsewhere in the universe, yet, but it seems that situation would be difficult. And if its possible to sustain life with two suns, how?

[Assistant]
It's totally doable.

For instance, if the two suns are in a close orbit, they basically just feel like one big sun, and you can have a nice stable orbit without huge variations in temperature. If they're both about as bright as our Sun, you'd just need to be a bit further away so that the temperature is okay. Or, the stars could just be a bit dimmer than our Sun, and the planet could be closer (or vice versa). All you're doing is moving the habitable zone in and out, but if there's a planet there, you can have liquid water and Earth-like life.

Alternately, your planet could be in a close orbit around one sun, and that planet-sun system is orbited by (or orbits) a second sun. If the second sun is dim enough or far enough away, you'll be dominated by the nearby sun, and you again won't get extreme variations in temperature, and you could still have Earth-like life with liquid water.


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

[User]
ELI5: The Ship of Theseus Paradox

I thought I understood what it was about, "if you replace all the parts of a ship with new identical parts, is it the same ship?". But the more I think about it, the less I understand *why* this is a question. It can't be the same ship, it doesn't have the original parts. But everyone says it's one of the greatest philosophical questions. So maybe I'm misunderstanding it?

[Assistant]
If its a different ship. At what point is it no longer the same ship? 51% 55% 99.9999%

But what about if some of the replacement parts have been replaced?

Its a question that asks whether experiences and memories makes us or merely our component parts such as the structure of our brains.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do wasps build nests in hexagons if they do not store honey?

[Assistant]
The honeycomb shape is designed to store eggs. After the queen lays her eggs, they're moved to the honeycomb where they're sealed inside the hexagons until they hatch.

Hexagons happen to be the most efficient for this task. It needs to be a tesselation, meaning you can put several of them next to each other un a repeating pattern without any overlap. The easiest options are triangles, squares, rectangles and hexagons. Hexagons use the least amount of wall material per area, so they're the easiest to build.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] In The Last Jedi, why did the rebels even use those weird sand rider vehicles? They werent capable of disabling the Walkers right? So why even jump in them?

just to buy time?

in empire the rebels used those small snow craft with the Cables to trip walkers

but the sand vehicles from TLJ didnt seem to have any ability to disable a single walker

like it could be 20 rebel vehicles vs 1 Walker and the walker would win...

[Assistant]
When they were gearing up the sand skimmers, the plan was to hunker down, call in the cavalry (all the assorted allies of Leia and the Resistance who they were trying to contact), and then stall for time until backup arrives. The little craft weren't qualified to hurt a walker, *but the Walker commanders don't know that*. They need to consider the prospect that the small ships have upgraded guns, or missiles salvaged from the Resistance's Starfighter arsenal, or are converted to suicide bombs, and can't afford to just walk past them.

But then the cavalry tells Leia to go fuck herself. Now, it's no longer about stalling for a specific goal. It's just desperation, hoping they can buy another few seconds in death for a salvation that may not come.


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

[User]
If two cars are traveling at 100 mph towards each other would the impact be the same as one car hitting a wall at 200 mph?

So if two cars hit each other going 100 mph would the damage be the same as one car hitting a wall at 200 mph?

Edit: you guys are really awesome! I found the answer and you guys are helpful.

[Assistant]
You mean in total?  Because in one case you have one car (and a wall that would escape relatively unscathed) and the other case you have two cars.

Or do you mean to the passengers in the cars?  In this case the 200 mph case would be worse.  The total speed makes no difference.  What matters is the momentum change to a single passenger.  In both cases they go from top speed to zero.  In the first case the top speed is half the second case's top speed, so there would be a greater momentum change felt by the passenger in the second case.

If you had asked which was worse - two cars going 100 mph hitting head-on or two cars each hitting a wall at 100 mph - the answer would be, in a first-year physics way, they would be equivalent.  The momentum change felt by all passengers would be the same.


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

[User]
[DBS] How come Beerus didnt know who Majin Buu was?

When Beerus meets Buu for the first time, he seems to think that its just some fat pink guy who wont give him pudding.

Yet, buu is millions of years old, and almost killed all the kais, which would have killed Beerus. Even freiza and his dad knew about him, how come Beerus didnt knew about the extremly old being that almost killed him five million years ago? If nothing else, Whis should have know who he was, unlike gods of destructions, the angels are never said to be replaced, so he should have been there atleast.

[Assistant]
Because Beerus is a temperamental slacker who naps for decades or centuries at a time. He probably slept through the entire massacre of the Kais. And as long as Shin survives, so does he.

When he woke up and discovered what happened, and that Buu had been 'dealt with', he probably just chastised Shin for being careless, and stormed off to gorge on some mediocre food somewhere.

He's also shown himself go be easily distracted, and forgetful, so even if he HAD intended to destroy Buu should he be released, do you really think he'd remember that after millions of years?

Frankly, Champa is the only God of Destruction that seems even more incompetent than Beerus.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why did the empire choose the AT-AT design?

I was thinking about design and history of the Empires military technology. And while there is a clear lineage to the republic era equipment some of the choices puzzle me.

In particular the AT-AT and AT-ST vehicles.  Both use walking systems commonly found in terrestrial species for locomotion in order to carry their weapons systems and protect the crew.

Unfortunately this design choice has created incredible vulnerabilities.  As well the size, moving parts and energy expenditure seems out of control relative to the weapons systems they are carrying.

So why did these designs win out over say a hover tank or other smaller systems that would be far cheaper to produce, easier to transport, far less vulnerable to ropes rocks and slippery terrain.  Two significantly smaller tanks could provide the same effective fire power of the AT-AT.

[Assistant]
The Empire has a fundamentally different military doctrine than the Republic, especially compared to the Clone Wars era Republic military. While the Republic was in the business of efficiently waging war against comparable enemies, the Empire rules over a period of relative peace and as such it's military focuses on all-purpose equipment to enforce rule over inferior targets. The best example of this is the ISD II. It has fewer fighters than a Venator, lacks the missile launchers of the Victory and Malestrom, fewer troops than the Acclamator, is a 5th of the size of the Mandator, and has fewer ion canons and point defense weapons than the Imperial I. In other words, it's not as well adjusted to any of the more specific roles of these other ships and overall less optimized for warfare. But this is because they aren't ships designed for symmetrical war. Rather, they are all-purpose space superiority vessels, a Swiss army knife of a capital ship which excels nowhere but can be called on to do anything.

The *all terrain* vehicles of the Empire have a similar doctrine. They have obvious weaknesses, but that's okay because they're used for force projection and putting down terrorists, not waging war. Repulsor craft are great, unless you want to deploy somewhere with microgravity or with dense vegetation and so on. The height of the AT-AT and AT-ST also give the advantage of increase line of sight and simple intimidation.

Also, mechanical locomotion will actually be a much smaller energy drain compared to repulsors on a vehicle of the same weight, and the vehicle can stand if power is lost.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is "Ye" the only word we ever see with Y replacing the "thorn" character instead of th?

I understand the history behind how the thorn ( **** ) character was replaced with Y in printing presses, which is why you saw signs like "Ye Olde Pub" instead of "The Olde Pub". Yet almost every word that used to have thorn in it now uses "th". The only usage that remains seems to be the word "Ye".

For instance, there is no "Yat Olde Pub" instead of "That Olde Pub". "Yis Old House" instead of "This Old House", or "Tom Yumb" instead of "Tom Thumb".

Why is it only "Ye"?

[Assistant]
Part of the reason is confusion.  Ye (not to be confused with e) also exists/existed in English (currently depending on different dialects of English).  It also appears in older texts such as, "Ye of little faith," which in most English dialects would be translated as, "You all of little faith."

So people have confused Ye and Ye (e) as being the same word and think "Ye Olde Pub" is actually "You Old Pub" and think it's just some old fashioned use of Ye (again, not e).

I hope that was clear as mud.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do anti-malware programs determine what is malware and what isn't?

Title.

How does software like that determine malware from its harmless file counterparts? Is there any chance it could remove/quarantine a harmless file/program?

[Assistant]
One of the oldest methods is the signature based detection, this is basically a big list of "this file is bad", unfortunately malware creation kits allow people with no skill to pump out vast numbers of new malware so this method is not viable any more.

Another old method is the heuristic detection, rather than looking for an entire bad program, they look for bits of code used by malware writers, this is great because the automated toolkits that make new versions of the old malware generally just re-arrange older code to try and get past security tools. The problem is you need to rip apart the malware that gets through and update your heuristic signatures. But if the malware gets through how do you know to pick it apart?

One of the more common techniques is to apply a weighting to the program and watch it. If the program starts watching your keyboard, add a few points to the bad side of the scale. If it starts talking to the internet again add "bad" points but not a lot as it could be legitimate. If it accesses a site known to be used by malware, add a whole bunch of "bad" points and so on. Once the program racks up enough bad points kill it and tell the user.

The continuous monitoring of the program is necessary because malware will often be designed to modify itself or download extra bits whilst it is running to try and hide from older types of antivirus software.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] "Obi-Wan is a great mentor; as wise as Master Yoda, and as powerful as Master Windu.". Anakin Skywalker

Had the events of the Revenge of the Sith never taken place and Obi-Wan continued his knowledge and training under the Jedi Order before it fell, would he actually have become the most powerful Jedi to exist (second to Anakin of course)? With more time under his belt, could he have ever been a match for Palpatine alone like Yoda was?

[Assistant]
Obi-wan was The Jedi's Jedi. He embodied everything good and noble about the Jedi order, everything that made them the legendary protectors of the Republic. He was kind, humble, self-effacing, decisive, a terror to fight against, and benevolent in victory. Had the order not fallen, he would have taken Yoda's place as grand master and mentor to the order IMO.

Normal people looked up to Jedi as symbols, and inspirations to aspire to.

Jedi Looked up to Obi-Wan.


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

[User]
[DC] So I think my boss Lex Luthor is a supervillian, what do?

So!

I'm a security guard at Lexcorp, and I was recently assigned to protect some new project we were working on. It's a decent paying job and everything is on the up and up- sure, there's rumours of supervilliany but it's never been proven that giant mech suit wasn't for legal purposes.

Anyway, I was patrolling the lab the other night and I noticed some files hadn't been put away. Curiosity got the better of me and I leafed through.

Turns out, rather then a more efficient SUV, what this project is actually doing is inventing a way to put out the sun, thus depriving Superman of his powers, killing the now-powerless Superman and then moving everyone who accepts Luthor as the heroic savior of earth into underground heated bunkers.
I may be a humble midwestern security gaurd, but this seems a tad supervilliany to me.

So. What do I do? I should contact the Justice League, but do they have a hotline or something? Email? Also I start to suspect that the high mortality rate among security may not be "workplace hazards" so, like, not being killed would be nice.

Any advice?

[Assistant] Let me get this straight, you think your boss, one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the world, is secretly a super villian who spends his days plotting to kill Superman, and you get on the internet and post about this on a open forum?


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does rain not hurt when it hits you, even though it falls from an average height of 2 kilometers (around 6500 feet)?

I was wondering why rain doesn't hurt when it falls on you from such a large height. I was thinking if I were to drop other objects of equal size from this same distance it would definitely hurt.

Thank you!

[Assistant]
every object falling through the air has a terminal velocity based upon air density, object density, and frictional forces.

A drop of water weighs so little, and falls through the air at relatively low speeds, that it hardly has any force behind it at all.


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

[User] If the liver can regenerate, how do people die from liver failure?

[Assistant]
Liver failure can happen in two ways. First, the acute damage can simply be too serious for liver cells to deal with before the person dies. Second is a more protracted process, where damages accumulate.

Suppose that the liver has taken damages from infection/drug/alcohol/etc. **Then, instead of liver cells regenerating, scar tissues can form in the liver and replace them.** Scar tissue is tougher than cushy liver tissue, so this leads to hardened liver with reduced function. (Cirrhosis) If this damage keeps piling up, the liver will eventually be overwhelmed and lead to chronic liver failure.


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

[User] ELI5: How do terrorist groups like ISIS convince young girls in western countries that life is better in Iraq/Syria?

[Assistant]
Generally, they have luck with any group because of outsider politics. Plenty of people feel marginalized and useless in Western society. Groups like ISIS preach a very well-defined set of social rules, in which these marginalized people imagine their life can matter.

While objectively, people seem to be giving up a wide array of rights, they perceive it as gaining a proper sense of community and purpose, things which generally matter more to people.


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

[User]
Why is snow white and ice clear?

Sometimes it 'snows' ice too. What's the difference between snow and ice?

[Assistant] Snow is made up of many tiny pieces of clear ice, with air in between the crystals. This causes light to bend in every direction like it has no idea what it is doing. It does this to all colors of light about equally, so the light that comes back to your eyes appears white. It is roughly the same reason why scratches in glass are easily visible when they are large, because they have lots of edges to bend light, which is even more apparent in snow flakes given their complex shapes. A solid block of ice doesn't have many places for light to bend like a pile of snow, and light really only bends in a block of ice when it goes into or exits the block. In this way you can think of snow as a giant pile of really tiny, beat up, blocks of ice.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it such a concern when Russia fights ISIS in the middle east but when the US do it(along with other things in the area), no one gives a damn.

[Assistant]
Plenty of people object to US involvement in the Middle East, including a lot of the people who live there.

Russia was especially unhappy about it, but we didn't hear much about that.

Also, when Russia does anything outside it's borders,  it stirs a very deeply programmed American phobia that goes back to the Cold War days.


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

[User]
CMV: A good voting system should NOT fulfill the Condorcet criterion.

My problem with voting systems that fulfill the Condorcet criterion is that it allows people to vote such that A > B, B > C, C > A. There is no instance in life where a sound mind would have such a preference. I think the only way to have a preference order like this would be to accept a contradiction and to have not fully thought out the situation. I do not think this should be an option when voting and so do not agree with voting systems that allow this such as ranked pair voting. Change my view.

[Assistant]
I think you're confused about how the Condorcet criterion works.  There's nothing about the Condorcet criterion that requires that people can express circular voting patterns.  Indeed, many of the standard proposals that satisfy the Condorcet criterion don't allow such votes.  For example, in the KemenyYoung method, votes give a simple ranking of candidates (with ties allowed, but not cycles).

Furthermore, even the systems which appear to allow such votes could simply be modified to prevent it: for example, you can just modify the ranked pair voting method to require voters to give an ordered list of candidates and (assuming that no one has cyclic preferences) it's still a Condorcet criterion.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Can Borg assimilate corpses?

There's not much to explicate about this question; if the Borg came upon the corpses of beings deemed worthy of assimilation, could they put them back into commission as drones by means of cybernetic augmentation/substitution? And, perhaps, what degree of decay could Borg implants compensate for?

[Assistant]
The Borg don't even revive beings that they've already deemed worthy of assimilation, and already invested resources into augmenting. They just grab a couple of pieces out and leave them.

I doubt they'd have any interest in corpses. They may analyze the technology left behind by a dead civilization, but they're apparently not interested in bringing them back.


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

[User]
Is there any serious research into antigravity?

I know NASA was interested in the 90s to replicate the russian experiments (superconducting rings or something similar) but I don't know if it lead to anything. Magnetic fields are one thing but is the cancellation of gravity being seriously explored?

[Assistant]
There are three ways to answer this question.

The first is simply to say no, none at all. With the advent of general relativity, we now know that antigravity would be exactly equivalent, both mathematically and physically, to doing backwards in time.

The second is to get slightly liberal with our definitions and talk about how whatever force propels the metric expansion of spacetime is, in a very sketchy sense, an antigravity of sorts. But it only looks that way if you're very careful about choosing your frame of reference, and it's not possible to interpret the physics in any way that a reasonable person would call "antigravity."

The third is to be a complete wiseass and point out that *flight* is equivalent to antigravity, and there's plenty of research being done in that regard.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why don't fitness centers harness energy that its patrons create when exercising?

We go to the gym and same story, usually packed during peak hours and everyone is on a weight machine or some form of cycle. Is the amount of energy expended not quantifiable or can it not be captured? Or would the short answer just be that its cost prohibitive?

[Assistant]
An excellent idea! The bad news is humans are too puny. From the Wikipedia page on human power *... adults of good average fitness average between 50 and 150 watts for an hour of vigorous exercise.*

So you on a treadmill could barely power a lightbulb or two. Sounds crazy, but there it is.

Some cardio machines have displays that are powered by the users, but that's a tiny amount of energy...


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

[User]
ELI5 How is it that if you put a piece of paper really close to loudspeakers, the speakers will push away the paper at high frequencies but suck it in at low ones?

Edit: a lot of people answering have gone off of the topic of the difference of the frequencies of the speakers' output and instead explained different sized speakers and other a bit out of context rattling. I appreciate all answers but if anyone really knows why different frequencies create different pulling and pushing, feel free to comment.

Edit 2: comments are suggesting Bernoulli's principle to the pulling of the paper.
How I understood it, is that the higher frequencies mainly move fastest but low frequencies move way more air. Because the low frequencies move a lot of air, the air needs somewhere to escape which is to the side of the paper and thus creating low pressure between paper and the speaker. The pressure on the other side of the paper is atmospheric and thus pushing in the paper towards the speaker because the low pressure is not creating an equal amount of force.

I'm still not sure about the high frequencies but I'm guessing that because it's mainly moving fast and not much air it has the momentum and force put into very few molecules which push on the paper harder than the little bit of low pressure between speaker and paper that is created with only high frequencies.

Correct me if I'm wrong in the comments and if you don't mind please DM me the copy paste of the message since there are many comments to go through.

[Assistant]
Imagine the paper is a kid in a swing and the speaker is an adult pushing them.

There's a very specific frequency of pushing that will result in the biggest swings.  It's pushing at the rearmost point of the swing arc.  Speakers pull air as well as pushing, so you'll have to imagine pulling the kid at the front of the arc, too.  The ideal rhythm of pushing and pulling is the resonant frequency, and it's dependent on the length of the swing's chains.

Imagine that you're pushing and pulling at the wrong frequency.  You're pushing while the kid's still moving backwards, or pulling while the kid's at the bottom of the arc.  You can see how the wrong timing could mean less movement, or even uneven swings to the front or back.

The paper has a resonant frequency, too.  Certain frequencies will produce lots of movement, some will produce minimal or uneven movement.


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

[User] What is it about a curing process of meat, drying of fruit etc. that makes the food last longer and allow you to store it unrefrigerated?

[Assistant] Microbes and fungus rely on the moisture present in their food to survive. Lower that moisture, and you lower then number of rot causing microbes and fungus spores the food can support this extending the shelf life of the food.


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

[User] Why do cats go limp when their scruff is grabbed?

[Assistant] The scruff is primarily used in two situations.  1) when a mother cat moves her babies and 2) mating.  It's easy to see how injury to wigglers in the first case and lack of reproductive success in the second case may have influenced the strengthening of this response among the cat population.


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

[User]
[A:TLA/LoK] Most, if not all, bending forms are based in martial arts styles. Are benders actually good at martial arts?

Watching them, they seem to act like students in a dojo practicing forms,  rarely actually using their styles for hand to hand combat.  If for some reason a bender couldn't bend, would they be able to adapt their forms to actual hand to hand combat and be proficient, or do their particular skills not translate like that?

[Assistant] Let's take a person from our world that's really good at shooting a gun.  Now let's take the gun out of their hand and have them try to shoot.  What's gonna happen?  Fuck all.  Now, the comparison isn't perfect, but it's good.  Bending shares a lot with regular martial arts, and a skilled bender would definitely have a leg up in learning hand to hand combat, but they don't know it by default.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do all pictures of Jesus depict him as a white man, even though he was from Israel?

I've always wondered this. I know it might sound like something George Carlin would say to support his claim that religion is bullshit, but I legit want to know. If you're in some way offended by this question, and just want to blow off steam, please don't comment.

Thanks in advance =)

[Assistant] Because what cultures were/are the most supportive of Christianity? White ones. Much of the artwork done (such as in the dark ages/Renaissance ) was done by Europeans. In addition, later on many philosophies like eugenics became prevalent, and led many to assume he was white (as it was seen as the "master race")


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

[User]
Can a black hole be pried open with another black hole?

If two black holes were to move very close to each other, could their gravity pulling in opposite directions reduce the escape velocity near the event horizons enough to make it possible for matter that once crossed over to escape?

[Assistant]
Classically, no. That would require the area the event horizon to decrease, which is forbidden by the "second law of black hole thermodynamics", which has a better name: the area theorem. The area of an event horizon can never classically decrease.

If two black holes are in a bound orbit and the orbit is not disrupted, then they will emit gravitational radiation until they merge. If two black holes are in an initially unbound orbit and gravitationally scatter, they may emit enough gravitational radiation to enter a bound orbit.

Black holes just want to merge, basically.

The area theorem is violated by Hawking radiation, though; that is quantum mechanical. It's also on such a long timescale that it's astronomically unimportant.


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

[User] [General]What are examples of Heroes and protagonist who would be very, very dead if their villains or antagonist wer not complete morons?

[Assistant]
Pretty much any hero.

Villains tend to gave extreme flaws ranging from insane egos or just wanting to fuck around. If Joker wanted to kill Batman he probably could, as does Lex Luthor to Superman. If either of them didn't depend entirely on making it a show of power it wouldn't be that hard.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is falling through the map/level such a common glitch in video games?

[Assistant]
Games like first person shooters that have maps on them don't separate the world into solids, liquids and gasses like real physics does out here in non-cyberland.  Out here, when we press on a solid, it kind of presses back. Even if we break through the top of that solid and press on what's underneath it, such as if we sand off the top inch of a thick table, it's still solid underneath and so we won't go through.

Games don't do that. They don't have a solid object so much as a "layer" that you can't penetrate through, and they do their best to write the game's logic and test the map so that you can't possibly break through. But if you DID somehow manage to pass through that "layer" there's no solid stuff underneath like in a real table-top to stop you, so you keep falling because the game doesn't have logic for "if you're in a solid object". (In fact, a lot of earlier shooter games had really hilarious stuff happen if part of your body was on one side of this layer and the other part was on the other side. Characters would often go completely spastic when that happened.)

The more complex and numerous your world's shapes and characters are and the more ways they can possibly move, the harder it is to properly detect every single tiny little spot where you might break through that infinitely-thin layer and are suddenly in BizarroWorld. It's harder to keep all that math straight at corners, on steep slopes, or when dealing with physics events that cause your game character's body to move in unexpected ways, such as multiple simultaneous explosions or getting hit with something REALLY heavy like a jet airliner.

So once you're on the other side of that layer, the game calls its "falling code", and your character's downward velocity starts building up. The game would normally stop you when you contact the layer that's below you... except since you broke through already, there IS no layer below you, so in some games you'll fall forever.


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

[User] [Breaking bad] Do you think Walt Jr ended up getting the money from Elliot and Gretchen?

[Assistant] There's no reason given to believe Elliot and Gretchen wouldn't give the money to Walt's family as instructed. Even if they stop fearing the "assassins", they're still altruistic enough to *want* to help Walt's family. Especially once he's dead and they know they're helping only innocent people (... Well, to the extent you consider Skylar innocent, but that's an entirely seperate discussion).


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is japan so strict against muslims?

Do the japanese just wanna play it safe? How long has it been? Not a good subject to tell a 5yo, i know /:  .

[Assistant] Japan is extremely strict against all immigration. They have a relatively small country that does not really have enough space for its existing population and they are extremely prideful in their cultural heritage and do not want that to become too diluted by external influences.


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

[User]
[Ex Machina] spoilers. NSFW

I get why Ava killed her creator.  But why did she leave Caleb in the house?  Also is Caleb now stuck in the house forever?  Bonus question: Can those robots really be fucked?  Like do they have flashlights for a vagina?

[Assistant]
Caleb was no longer necessary as part of her plan to escape. His usefulness was at an end, so there was no logical reason to continue manipulating him.

Edit: Thanks to everyone who pointed it out, Caleb would also be a huge risk to her survival were he allowed to leave.


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

[User]
What would happen if everyone invested their disposable income?

What would happen if everyone *wisely invested their disposable income, rather than consuming unproductive stuff?

*Investing in companies not related to consumables

Obviously, major consumable industries would go out of business. Ignoring the short-term unemployment, what would the economy eventually look like?

[Assistant]
The level of GDP or income per capita in the US strictly increases in the long run as investment increases. So GDP per person would go up.

However, the savings rate (or investment) that maximizes consumption per person in the long run is equal to capital's share of income, which in the US is about 40% of total income (GDP).

For reference. The current rate of investment in the US is under 20% iirc, far from the 40% "golden rule".

If we invest up to that amount, our consumption per capita (standard of living) and GDP per capita would both increase. GDP per capita would increase by more than consumption per capita.

If we save/invest at a level greater than 40% of GDP, our consumption per person would be lower. Why would GDP per capita go up but not consumption per capita?

With such an excessive amount of investment going on, greater than the "golden rule rate of savings" of 40%, the size of the capital stock would become extreme.

Capital depreciates with time (things break, become out of date, and need to be replaced or repaired). With a capital stock of enormous size, an excessive portion of GDP go towards replacing the depreciating capital stock and cannot be used for consumption. GDP grows little for each unit of additional saving/investment, but the "cost" is the ability to use that unit for consumption instead. At the theoretical extreme, when 100% of income is invested, GDP per capita is highest but 0 consumption occurs obviously (because 100% of the income is being saved/invested).

This is all insights from the Solow Model.


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

[User]
My friends have always told me that LSD hangs around in your spine for years after you use it, which I always assumed was a fairy tale. However, I'm curious about the actual effects of LSD and why users experience flashbacks. Can anyone elaborate?

BTW, I am not a user, nor have I ever used LSD. Just really fascinated by the brain. Thanks!

**EDIT:** Thank you guys so much, especially itsbrownmagic, for weighing in on this! Awesome information guys and girls!

[Assistant]
Medically speaking, LSD is metabolized quickly (half life of 175 minutes). That being said, it can be concluded that even if LSD somehow crossed the blood-brain-barrier and entered your CSF (cerebrospinal fluid), it's metabolism is so rapid that it would not be there for any relevant period of time.

Leading theories on the phenomenon of "flashbacks" point to 2 possible major causes:

#1) The flashback is similar to PTSD (fear conditioning) where the user had a "bad trip" and certain cues later on in life can bring the person back to that trip. This would be facilitated by your memory circuits in the hippocampal region of the brain.

#2) Use of LSD inhibits and/or activates certain neurons, which when stimulated, can give the impression that one is "tripping" again. This isn't because the drug is still in your system, but is because the drug has modified receptors in the brain permanently. The region thought to be affected would be the lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus.


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

[User] ELI5: Can a person with Alzheimers disease get addicted to drugs or would just forget about it?

[Assistant]
The physical symptoms of withdrawal are not dependent upon memory. Common examples: a person with Alzheimer's who was opioid-dependent or on SSRIs will experience withdrawal (nausea, sweating, irritability, fever) if not continuing to take the medication.

Source: Pharmacist.


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

[User] [Mass Effect]How would the Citadel Council have reacted to a spacefaring culture that developed it's own equal or superior tech base completely independent of ME technology?

[Assistant]
Your tech would be *ridiculously* valuable to the galaxy at large. That kind of outside context science and engineering could seriously disrupt the balance of power.

So, the Asari would want to bring you in peacefully, probably shower you with technological aid in areas your deficient in, developmental, aid, preferential trade, etc.. They'd also try their darndest to make sure you only share your goodies with the Citadel Council races, and preferably only the Asari.

The Salarians would be similarly amenable, though it's entirely likely they would just try and steal whatever knowledge you have through use of the STG teams--and they would probably be pretty successful at it too.

The Turians would be stand-offish at best. Non-ME technology makes you a threat, and if there's one things Turians hate it's threats. They're... not big on curiosity. They'd try everything in their power to keep this theoretical power pushed into a corner and deprived of anything that could make them more powerful, while they devoted themselves to studying exactly how to crush it should it make the wrong move.

Humans? Well, humanity would probably put everything they have into becoming your very best friend, because tech like that would finally allow the Systems Alliance to not have to worry about cow-towing to the Council all the time. An Alliance with non-ME tech and a new best friend could probably become anew de facto power bloc (though they would probably remain nominally under Citadel control, they'd just politely ignore most of the directives coming down from the Council).


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

[User] [Culture] Okay, I'm bored with life now, how do I sublime?

[Assistant] You by yourself can't.  Subliming is a group/civilization event. You could go and find a group of people that is planing to sublime and go with them.  You could also find a Mind and see if it would take you with, but Minds don't sublime that often or always tell people they are going to, so good luck.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do employers (usually) not explicitly state what the hourly wage of a position will be preceding the interview process?

[Assistant]
because they advertise it too low then some people wouldn't bother applying.  and if they advertise it too high then some people wouldn't bother applying.

so they don't advertise it at all and so you come in and interview and they ask you what your pay history is and try to make the lowest offer they think you'll accept.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Who exactly is in charge of numbering all the universes?

Who decides that one Earth is 616, another is 8096, and another is 199999? Was there debate over who would get to be Earth-001?

[Assistant]
The numbers originate with the interdimensional Captain Britain Corps. Theyre basically a super-powered police force which operates across thousands of realities.

Interestingly, the system seems to apply even in realities with no reported sightings of Corps members.


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

[User]
[Marvel] How would Thanos feel about Apocalypse?

They would get along well, wouldnt they? Theyre like two peas in a pod. They both have the god complex.

[Assistant]
Familiarity breeds contempt. They would actually probably hate each other.

There can be only one god (e.g. supreme being) so anyone else thinking that they're it would be a natural enemy.

Second, their goals are somewhat in opposition. Thanos is a nihilist obsessed with death (figuratively and literally) while Apocalypse desires to remake the world in his image.

Thanos would probably see Apocalypse as a failure. Someone with so much power whose ambition is rather quaint: rulership of a single unimpressive world.

Apocalypse would see Thanos much like we all do: as an insane being bent on the annihilatio n of the universe.


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

[User]
[WH40K] We have all this ridiculous technology, why do most our battles take place at close or even melee range?

Gears of War is another such universe. All these ridiculous technologies and capabilities yet the main line of troops still have weapons with chainsaws and bayonets on them. I'd always imagined we be vaporizing our enemies from miles away in the far future, not engaging from less than 100 feet away.

[Assistant]
In the 40k universe, its all about praising the emperor and meeting your enemies head on. Glassing a planet is a last resort kind of thing, and the cities in 40k are packed so densely that it be simple impossible to engage in a long range battle most of the time. Combine that with the factor that pretty much every water drain and holo-vid shop is sanctified in the name of Teh Emprah and they just can justify destroying everything in sight.

In real-world tactics, close range is what you will often find yourself in as well when fighting in a city environment anyway so i guess its also more for practical reasons so that a more thorough clean up can be made over long range combat. Dont forget that long range assault is also used, planetary or ground wise, often to soften up a target before reaching it and going in close.


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

[User]
Are different cultures more prone to closer friendships?

I got into a discussion with a friend who stated that she thinks people in wester cultures like the US would not sacrifice as much for their friends and don't have as tight knit bonds.  There is a lot to unpack here, like how to operationalize "closer" or "friendship", but I was wondering if there has been any research or frameworks on the subject.

[Assistant]
There are cultural differences between the nature of friendship and the characteristics sought by friends from each other.

Gonzalez and colleagues (2004) compared Canadian and Cuban friendships. Cubans are more likely to focus on giving and receiving help, and character admiration. Canadians are more likely to focus on common interests and shared history.

They concluded that these different types of friendship reflect the dominant ideals of the societies in which they're based (individualistic/pluralistic).


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

[User] ELI5: what does the spleen do with old/unviable red blood cells after it has filtered them from the bloodstream?

[Assistant] Healthy red blood cells simply pass through the spleen by virtue of their shape and youthful flexibility making it possible to pass through a series of small passages. Damaged, malformed or otherwise misshapen and nonconforming red blood cells are caught in that network and broken down by white blood cells.


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

[User]
[Dragon Ball]Where does all that extra hair come from in SS3?

I live in a pretty large city which inexplicably has a large desert wasteland adjacent to it. I was traveling through it for work when a huge battle broke out between two flying creatures. At least one of them was a creature, one looked like a human. Any who, during the fight the guy's hair turned blonde. Afterward, it suddenly grew to waist length. Where did that hair come from? I mean wouldn't it get pulled or something?

[Assistant]
The flying guy you witnessed was an example of an alien species known as a Saiyan. Saiyans have the ability to convert ambient particles in the universe into pure energy while under extreme emotional stress, also known as going "Super" Saiyan. This sudden influx of power in their bodies turns their hair golden and cause rapid growth as a way of storing the excess power.

When the energy absorption ends the storage is drained and their hair returns to its natural colour and length.


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

[User] ELI5: Why aren't people attracted to family members?

[Assistant] I mean they can be, incest is a thing. But if you want an evolutionary explanation, incest can often lead to severe birth defects in children and as a result, it is evolutionarily beneficial to have a hardwired response to avoid that. And that is likely what happened (I say likely because all current evidence seems to be anecdotal).


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

[User] [GTAV] Why did Michael have vivid hallucinations of aliens but Franklin was still stone sober during the side mission where they interact with that 'activist'?

[Assistant]
Each main character is a lot of things. But they all also have different backgrounds if you remember correctly.

Franklin is on medical marijuana, and interacts with it regularly. Trevor, on the other hand, huffs gas and does Meth. Michael has a history of tobacco and alcohol, but those are fairly tame. The point is that Michael and Trevor have little experience with weed, and thus mostly got blind sided by the special strain Barry has. Trevor even says that he would rather suck d*ck than smoke marijuana, and he knows because he has done both. Michael mentions a preference against his son's weed habit not because of the unhealthy lifestyle (he is a hell of a lot worse, after all) but because he dislikes weed itself.

So, in short Franklin isn't special, he was just the only one of the three who actually has experience with odd, special, and otherwise atypical strains of weed. And experiments have shown that you can develop smoking weed similar to a skill, with limits of course.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is Spain so dry compared to Italy? (even Portugal)?

I just went to google maps and just at quick glance the central-east part of Spain is almost a dessert compared to same latitude parts of Italy. Also Portugal seems to be more green (maybe closer to Ocean).

I've been told that the Sahara winds dry up that region but idk if that's true or why the Sahara winds only dry up that region and not Italy. I've been googling without much luck.

[Assistant] Spain is one of the most mountainous countries in Europe, the dry areas occur after the prevailing winds, mostly from the west, pass over mountain ranges. The rain falls over the mountains and this exhausts the clouds. In the driest parts of Spain prevailing weather would have to come over the central chain or the Sierra Morena or the Betic chain.


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

[User]
ELI5: If cat saliva is antibacterial, why do they suffer from tooth decay and gum disease?

Is their saliva only antibacterial to certain strains of bacteria?

[Assistant]
Bacteria have adapted to live off sulfur in boiling water, a cat's mouth is easy to adapt to by comparison.  It's warm, wet, and frequently contains food - so yeah, something definitely lives there.  That said, there's not a lot of funding for feline dentistry research so it's not very well understood.

Cats don't have the same kind of tooth decay that humans get.  They don't get cavities.  Instead, they have

1) Gum disease.  Pretty much the same as human gum disease.  Tartar builds up on the tooth and creates a pathway for bacteria to get into the gums and eventually to the root of the tooth.

2) Tooth resorbtion.  Cats apparently re-absorb some of their juvenile teeth.  The cells responsible for this hang around, and later in life may attempt to re-absorb an adult tooth; causing loss of the tooth and a painful knob of exposed bone.  Generally this is resolved on its own as the gum grows to fill in the gap.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does dying or falling in a dream cause you to suddenly wake up, no matter how deep of a sleep you are in?

[Assistant] When your brain is telling you that you are in mortal danger (falling from a great height, about to be hit by a large object, etc.) your brain releases adrenaline, which is the all-purpose contingency plan for dealing with danger. That rush of adrenaline effectively prevents you from sleeping, and wakes you right up.


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

[User] ELI5: Why have no plane passenger parachutes been invented?

[Assistant]
* Passenger airplanes are not designed such that 200 untrained passengers can jump out of them quickly and safely in an emergency.

* Parachutes are heavy. Carrying a parachute for every passenger of every flight would cost hundreds of billions of dollars in wasted fuel, while not really making anyone safer.


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

[User] Why does it seem as though it's more common to get sick when the seasons or weather change?

[Assistant] Many reasons... An important one is that when the weather/temp/humidity changes it can dry out the mucus membranes of your nose and eyes as well as the rest of your skin. Dry skin equals micro-cracks in those tisues which can allow microbial invasion.


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

[User] [Harry Potter 7] When they started processing half-bloods,considering them as no witches/wizards, what was their sentence? What did they do to them?

[Assistant] There was a whole range of possibilities.  The simplest and most "merciful" route would likely be the snapping of their wand followed by a Memory Charm before releasing them into the care of the Muggles (such as it was).  Remember, the Muggles' *dominion* was Voldemort's overall goal, not necessarily their *genocide*.


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

[User]
[Guardians of the Galaxy] Yondu is OP! How can he be defeated?!

So I just realized Yondu is overpowered he basically can attack and kill his opponents nigh instantaneous razor.

[Assistant]
Blow up his ship. Any half decent sniper. Anyone not made to tissue paper?

Half the things in Marvel are pretty much bullet proof. The Razor would probably just stick awkwardly in Ronan's pec rather than going clean through.


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

[User] Could a human survive on a planet with a thinner atmosphere and a higher oxygen concentration?

[Assistant]
That's exactly how astronaut EVA suits work. 100% oxygen at 0.3 bar.

So, the answer is yes. The term "partial pressure" is often heard in this topic: as long as at least 0.2 bar of pressure are produced by oxygen alone, then you can add as much (or as little) as you want of a diluent gas on top of it. Of course this diluent gas has to be inert enough to avoid interfering with respiration, e.g. helium or nitrogen.

High oxygen concentrations are avoided in all other context because of fire safety. A diluent gas makes flames propagate more slowly. NASA learned this the hard way with the Apollo 1 fire.

So, if you're speculating about a sci-fi planet with e.g. 80% oxygen and 0.4 bar, yes, that's entirely survivable, as long as all other conditions are still suitable for humans (temperature, radiation, toxic gases, etc).


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

[User] ELI5 - If fire extinguishers are supposed to be directed at the base of the fire, why do large fires often have firefighters on extended ladders shooting water from above?

[Assistant]
Fire extinguishers and water used by firefighters are not the same.

Most fire extinguishers are ABC dry chem extinguishers. They have a chemical powder that disrupts the chemical reaction of burning. So disrupting the reaction needs to occur as close to the source of the fire as possible.

Firefighters use water. The water in liquid form hits whatever is burning absorbing its heat energy and converting to steam. Raining down water and getting coverage, even on things that arent burning, cools the material, creates steam, and absorbs energy. There is also the consideration that large streams of water have the force to penetrate burning material.


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

[User] ELI5: How do spam telemarketers make money since almost everyone just hangs up?

[Assistant] With VOIP and cheap offshore labor, it costs virtually nothing to make those calls - partly *because* no one answers, or hangs up immediately. If you make 10,000 calls - that's every number in an exchange - and get three or four bites, you've made money.


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

[User]
[Stephen King's IT] Why does IT need Henry Bowers to kill the loser's club?

I'm assuming that it is explained better in the book, but why exactly does IT need Henry Bowers (this psychopathic 40-50 year old man) to help kill the loser's club. We've seen IT kill people before, mostly children, so it's not as if IT is incapable of killing people.

My assumption is that, since IT's power comes partially from your belief in IT, and partially from your own mental weakness, IT isn't quite capable of killing an adult loser's club. The adult loser's club is mentally unstable and weak enough that IT can scare and appear before them, but they are mentally strong enough to not completely give themselves over to fear like they were as children, and therefore IT can't kill them just yet. Therefore, IT uses Henry Bowers, a completely mentally unstable individual, as a physical conduit to kill the loser's club.

Am I right in my assumption, or is there some other reason that is better explained in the book as to why IT needs Bowers?

[Assistant]
The Losers can defeat IT by, in part, not being afraid.

An unstable adult human is not weakened by a Loser, or any other person, not being afraid of him.

Which are you more likely to have more genuine fear of? IT doesn't need for the Loser to be afraid of IT, IT feeds on the fear no matter where it comes from. If IT can add an additional element to instill genuine fear in the Losers, all the better. IT doesn't need Bowers to kill the Losers, just to create the credible threat.

If Bowers does kill any of the Losers, it's just a bonus.


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

[User]
CMV: The world would be a better place if we could see everyone's age online.

It is my belief that the simple presence of children in online conversation has a deleterious effect on our civilization. In a very real way we have created a "Lord of the Flies" situation where ignorant children have an undue say in how our nations are run, due to the fact that they age-anonymously participate in the majority of conversations happening online.

We are quite literally trying to have a debate about how we should run our world at the kid's table, but whenever anyone speaks no one knows if it's a kid or an adult.

The negative outcomes from this, I believe, are manifest: any type of important discourse quickly deteriorates because each side of a debate will end up engaging with the other side's kids without anyone realizing that's happened. This bleeds through from the internet into popular society because there is little distinction between the two now. We simply cannot have a serious discussion anywhere because there are kids everywhere.

This is not to cast aspersions on any individual under the age of 18 for taking an interest in their world. In fact, I contend that by making everyone's age visible online it would be better for those children who use the biology of their developing brains to notice things those of us who have stopped growing our brains may miss.

Put simply, the value in knowing if it's a 10 year old commenting versus a 50 year old is greater than what is lost by removing age anonymity.

P.S. I realize this is the most boomer thing I have ever said, thanks.

[Assistant]
It seems like this would be great for child predators. It helps you figure out who to target and groom online. Or for cyberbullying. It sure would help adults bully children for example.

The internet isnt actually the place for serious policy debate (thats what real life, or heck, the Federal Register is for), but bypassing that, if you are really concerned about online discourse, why not just age gate areas of the internet? Require access by something like an unique identifier number (for example a drivers license number).


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

[User] eli5: Why can we upscale video to 4k and even beyond (Nvidia Shield) but cant upscale audio from low bitrate files?

[Assistant]
You definitely can. The issue is the same as with upscaled video - you're generally not actually accurately representing the missing data, just making a somewhat good approximation of what the computer thinks should be there.

Few people really have 4K TVs large enough and watch their TVs from a visual distance where it is extremely obvious whether you're looking at 4k or not. Therefore, crappy "4k" video still looks decent.

Doing an okay job of approximating the tone of an instrument or voice based off of a low quality sample is going to be easier to notice.


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

[User]
CMV: Political Parties are harmful public cults.

Every political cycle I wonder to myself, why are no independent candidates voted in? Why are we so invested in cults of political allegiance, that we miss the potential value of independent representatives?

If we're looking for more political diversity and stability in the long run I think political parties should be regulated in the same way governments *should* regulate corporate monopolies.

If political parties were banned outright, I believe that we'd have more political innovation, more governmental efficiency, and voters would need to research more before voting because their choice doesn't come pre-labelled. I believe that representatives would be more effective at representing their citizens because the party is no longer the primary shareholder in their beliefs.

Everyone being independent would make our government more stable because it avoids the extremes of political swings and overshoots.
What am I missing?

[Assistant]
What you're missing is game theory. People play games in the way that allows them to win.

For example, say you're playing Monopoly. You could decide "I won't buy any properties this game." But then you'll lose. So it's a bad strategy. So people don't play that way.

The United States is set up so that whoever wins the most votes, wins everything. There is no prize for second place. So if Candidate A gets 40% of the vote, and Candidate B gets 35% of the vote, and Candidate C gets 25% of the vote, then Candidate A gets everything and Candidates B and C get absolutely nothing.

Which means that the supporters of Candidate B and Candidate C have one thing in common: they don't want Candidate A to win, and they lose if they just vote for their preferred candidate. So if they're rational, they'll narrow it down to one candidate and throw their 60% behind that candidate, and then they'll win.

America has flirted with third parties and independents for hundreds of years, but it always comes back to two candidates, because of simple game theory. People tend to play the game the right way to win.

If you want to change the way people play, you have to change the game. It's as simple as that. You need to change the way democracy is structured.


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

[User]
CMV: Self defense and basic firearm safety should be taught as a part of public education in the US

I realize at face value this view might seem extreme, but I feel I have practical reasons and rational thought behind them so I am interested in hearing different perspectives.

I believe that in the effort public education makes to turn people into contributing, autonomous functioning members of society, one massive oversight that people tend to not want to talk about is violence.

We clearly live in a world that sadly, is still sometimes violent, and we must be able to respond in a way that enables us to preserve ourselves.

To be clear, my view is that this would do more good than bad, and as such should be part of the standard regimen of public education.

I believe that in the basic physical education requirements for someone to graduate, part of this should be basic self defense via a martial art (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, Boxing, Krav Maga etc. whatever is available). This would give people the opportunity to adopt a skill that could one day save their life.

When I went to high school, it was required that everyone learned how to swim, I see defending oneself as arguably more important since you *can* control when you are near water, but you *can't* control when violence comes to you.

Here in the US, there are more guns than people and more than twice the number of guns than there are cars. There are well funded public schools that have a drivers ed program, yet there are quantitatively less cars than guns.

Most people in their lifetime come into an interaction with a firearm. This seems to be an inescapable reality. I believe the best way to avoid the misuse of firearms is to increase everyone's familiarity with them, at a basic level.

The same fundamentals taught in a drivers ed program regarding turn signals, putting the car in park, use the brake, etc.

This would parallel to basic firearms fundamentals such as loading, unloading and clearing a firearm. As well as the universal rules of firearm safety. It is worth noting everything I just mentioned can be done and taught with *no live ammo whatsoever*

Anyways, yeah this is my view and interested to hear the other side.

Edit: I'm not going to be responding to anyone being disrespectful or comments that completely ignore the purpose of CMV and this post. So keep it civil or dont bother commenting

Edit 2: I find it hilarious people will comment not even having read the entire post but yet wanting to "change my mind". Thanks to those who have taken the time, tried to see things from another perspective and provided their own perspective in a respectful manner.

[Assistant]
Okay, for the purposes of the argument, I'll accept that proper gun safety is important -- but why should it fall under the jurisdiction of public education?

Here are some other important life skills: how to change a tire, how to file income tax, how to be in a healthy romantic relationship, how to cook basic meals, how to know the difference between formal and business-casual attire, and how to properly brush your teeth.

Should *all* of these things be taught in public education? After all, they're equally important, and probably arise more frequently for the average person than firearm safety. But if we taught all that, when would students learn math or English?

At a certain point, you have to accept that some things are simply outside the scope of public schools. Sure, they're important, but they should be taught by family, community, and life experience.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is blue light from screens harmful and strenuous on our eyes, while blue objects in the environment, are not?

[Assistant]
The issue is that screens shine blue-rich light straight into our eyes, When we are outside, the light is mainly sunshine, which is green-rich.

The other problem is this blue light acts like sunshine to our brains, telling them that it is still daytime, and that we should remain alert and awake. If you are using your device late at night, this is going to mess up your sleep. Blue light in the daytime is fine, because it's good to be awake in the daytime. And blue items in your room are only lit by what lights you have - generally more yellow-rich warm white lighting fixtures - and are a whole lot dimmer.


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

[User]
[the Matrix] With residual self image, is the avatar in the matrix confined to being human?

I was just curious as there are people who refuse to admit that they are human in RL.

so why would the residual self image, especially since I found out you can be transgender, be limited to just human form?

[Assistant]
Switch was a different gender in the Matrix (or at least androgynous).

There are no known instances of someone being non-human. That sort of thing appears to be restricted to programs with specialized combat attributes (like the werewolves and ghosts). It's likely that there are safeguards in place to stop humans from enhancing themselves beyond certain limits. The best known workaround is bringing lots of guns into the Matrix, since the restrictions on objects permit heavy weaponry.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does witness protection work with education/certificates?

For example, if a guy has a specific degree like a Ph.D. in underwater cat breeding or served in the military then goes into witness protection, how do they maintain their degrees / service benefits / other awards?

[Assistant]
You will be issued a equal or greater certification from an institution that fits the narrative created for you. If you grew up in the UK, but the new your grew up in Utah. Your new degree would likely before from BYU or the like. Anyone who checks at the college would be able to pull your records and verify you degree. If we can't find a college that is as good, we give you a better GPA. If they were an expert in their academic field and would like to continue working, we have in the past created a pseudonym they may publish under. Keep in mind most in witness protection are taken care of financially.

(I used to do this for foreign nationals we relocated to the states after providing intel or being compromised before doing so.)


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

[User]
[Lovecraft/Pokemon] What's the deal with Missingno?

I caught an odd... thing... the other day.

Brought it up in the 'Dex, it just... blinked an odd red light a couple times, and hummed until it fried and sparked.

Meanwhile, the thing is, I've been getting boons... Strange boons.

99 items, always in multiples of ninety nine have been washing up on the oceans.

Been hearing strange whispers from the sea, of forbidden ancient caverns and creatures, of a language that life above has forgotten.

How does I learn it?

[Assistant]
Don't. Take your boons, then release the Missingno and walk away. Some people who have had too many encounters with Missingno have reported permanent hallucinations. And there's rumors that it can get much worse.

As for what the cause is, it's generally believed to be a mistake made by Arceus. Something is wrong with reality, and whatever rules Arceus gave the universe are acting in a way they never intended.


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

[User] [General] Where characters with a minigun replacing a limb store their bullets?

[Assistant] Depends on the character, you'll need to be more specific. In some cases, especially the more magical end of technology, the "bullets" are actually mana energy (or some equivalent) drawn from the user themselves. In other universes, they have compact ammunition drums. In other universes, it literally doesn't matter because they play so loose with physics and logic that any answer would do.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do smokers crave a cigarette more directly after a meal?

The title says it all.

It seems to be the case for every smoker I know.

[Assistant]
The best part of smoking for me was always the routine of it. You wake up on a cool, crisp fall morning, light that smoke and have a moment of reflection with a smoke. You're at a party and someone gives you the look, and you know you're going to have a cool conversation, almost a party in a party, outside on the driveway or whatever with the other smokers. That cup of coffee or whiskey after work, light a smoke.

Same with after a meal. Especially if you had a nice meal, then you get to do this other thing you really enjoy, and it's relaxing and cathartic.

Part of why it's so hard to stop is because you basically begin rewarding yourself for doing regular old stuff. It becomes routine.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do fruits like apples or bananas get "bruised" when bumped or dropped?

[Assistant]
Its usually an example of the skin of the fruit being lightly damaged, which allows the organic chemical compounds in the fruit to react to outer factors.

The bruising is an act of these compounds oxidizing, which takes on a brownish color.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do Xbox One/PS4 games need to be installed to the hard drive, but every console before this generation you could just put in a game and play.

[Assistant] Game sizes (and therefore texture sizes) have increased.  Larger files take longer to load.  Especially if you're playing an open world game where parts of the map are constantly loading in.  The disc drive could never keep up.


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

[User]
[MCU] Does Loki have more power of his own than Thor?

When Odin banishes Thor to Earth, he takes away all of his power, and Thor is left as little more than a big buff dude. Loki, on the other hand, becomes an open enemy of Asgard, yet retains his illusion abilities. Does Loki have a greater reserve of power and ability (which couldn't be taken away by Odin) than Thor does?

[Assistant]
Odin cursed Thor with human attributes. A normal Asgardian wouldn't have been knocked out like Thor nor would their skin be pierced by needles. So Thor had more than *his* power taken - he was actually modified by Odin's magic to be human (or close enough).

Presumably, Odin could do the same to Loki. In fact, it seems like he already did do this to Loki as a baby when he disguised him as an Asgardian.

So why didn't Odin curse Loki? Because once he was captured, Odin had no reason to think he needed to. Loki was going to be executed or spend eternity in a cell. Who cares if he can still do some illusions?


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

[User]
How did Copernicus arrive at the conclusion that not the Earth but the Sun was the center of our solar system?

Considering he made this discovery over 500 years ago, even before telescopes had been invented, how did he know that? What were the reasons for him to start to doubt the then almighty image of geocentrism propagated by the Church and most of his fellow scientists of that time? To me it sounds like a terrific discovery for a man living in medieval times!

[Assistant] Copernicus used his and others' observations of the motions of the planets to develop a mathematical framework that described the positions of the planets accurately while being consistent with a heliocentric universe. Unfortunately, because he still held to the concept of heavenly spheres, he couldn't get rid of epicycles. His model predicted the movement of the planets accurately enough to be useful for making predictions.  However, since it kept the mathematical tricks used for geocentricity and wasn't better matched with observations, it wasn't obvious that it was correct, or closer to correct, than the geocentric model.


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

[User] [Marvel] Does Quicksilver move fast or slow time?

[Assistant] His mutant power of super speed gives him a lot of secondary powers like super durability so he doesn't rip himself apart while running through rain, one of his secondary powers is seeing everything in slow motion constantly. Which is usually why he is so impatient and agitated in the comics.


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

[User]
[Seven] What happens to Detective Mills after the ending?

So, Mills has killed John Doe, executing him on the spot.

What is the media response like? Does he wind up going to trial for executing an unarmed man? Would he be likely to face any time incarcerated? Would it be possible for him to plead a case of temporary insanity, or perhaps a crime of passion, given the fact he had just found his wife's head in a box?

[Assistant]
Legally, it would be voluntary manslaughter: murder committed under provocations such that a reasonable person might utterly lose control. A man handing you your wife's severed head certainly counts.

Publicly? John Doe was a monster. Like, horrifically so. Few people will fault Mills. "Hero Cop kills Sadistic Serial Killer after he showed him his wife's mutilated corpse" gets everyone on Mill's side. And politically, cops have protected their own after far worse acts then this

He likely faces some punishment, maybe a short sentence. But not much. The man strapped some poor bastard to a bed for a year. No-one's chomping at the bit to avenge John Doe.