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

[User]
Why does quartz come in so many different shapes and colors?

I was recently in a museum of natural history, and as I was walking through the rocks and minerals section, I noticed that a bunch of seemingly completely different crystals were actually one and the same thing: quartz. I was puzzled by this, since it seems like theres only a finite number of ways to arrange one silicon atom and two oxygen atoms. Does quartz then have any unique properties that lend themselves to this incredible variability? I noticed that others minerals (e.g., pyrite) looked the same no matter what context they were in, which is what Id expect.

Thanks for any insight you can provide!

[Assistant]
The silica tetrahedron that quartz is based on leaves room for a lot of other elements. Both in the place of silicon, and within the framework of the crystalline structure. But not just elements, there's space for entire compounds.

The elements that create most of the colors in quartz are the transition metals: titanium, iron, manganese, copper, etc. Because each of these can exist in multiple oxidation states (Fe2+, Fe3+), they can create a very broad array of colors.

Rose quartz is caused by titanium. Amethyst is caused by iron. Citrine's yellow color comes from ferris hydroxides.


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

[User]
Why is the Chernobyl New Safe Confinement dome only good for 100 years?

Is it only needed for 100 years, or will something occur to it to make it inoperable? And what is it actually made out of?

[Assistant] 100 years is the reference lifespan for the structure. I.e. engineering decisions and safety margins were developed around the expectation that the probability of failure before 100 years should be below some determined amount. In all likelihood, it could exceed 100 years of useful life.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are people so much stronger when they are on drugs or experiencing a psychotic episode?

[Assistant]
Some of it is a pain thing. Pain is good, it tells your body when something is wrong, or too much. If the drugs are taking away pain you don't know when to stop. There are things you may technically be able to lift but it will likely injure you, your pain sensors say "no, this hurts and is too heavy to lift". This doesn't happen with drugs.

Very minor example (and don't do this it's bad for you): taking Advil before a run can help you run a bit longer because muscles hurt less.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do birth control pills prevent pregnancy?

How does it prevent pregnancy even if a couple does unprotected sex? (Im aware its not 100% effective but still)

[Assistant] The menstrual cycle is controlled by hormones which make sure that a single egg is released and all the processes take place in the right way. What the birth control pills does is that they replace these hormones so that you get the same hormones and a similar menstrual cycle but without an egg. Essentially you are fooling the body into thinking there is already an egg on the way.


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

[User]
[Discworld]What DID happen to Mr. Hong?

You know, the guy everyone keeps mentioning who set up some fish restaurant on the site of the old temple on Dagon street. I'm new in town so I wasn't around at the time.

[Assistant]
Mr Hong was the victim of extraordinary circumstance, a million-to-one odds sort of thing. Here are the facts.

* He built on the site of a temple to a Fish God on Dagon street.

* He named his store after the Lady.

* He opened on the Winter Solstice.

* It was the night of a full moon and a total lunar eclipse.

* They only found a kidney and half an earhole.

Mr Hong managed to provoke two gods on a night of transition and power, and the rest is history.

*The story of Mr Hong is largely left to imagination and acts as a cautionary tale in a world that is inherently magical, has active gods and has personifications for the seasons and other forces. The fact that he even got to the opening night is miraculous as he invoked the Lady's name, which she dislikes, and was also sacrilegious to a fish gods temple when gods are known to be trigger happy.*


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we lose so much of our balance when we close our eyes?

[Assistant] Your sense of balance is dependent on your ears mainly, but your brain likes to use your eyes to keep focus on your environment. Without that vision, we get really confused. This is why you get dizzy while reading in the car.


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

[User] eli5: Why do we need emulators to play old games? why cant we just make the games work without the emulator?

[Assistant]
The issue is that the games code wants to use some functions that the old Operating System provided, but a new one doesn't.

You could make it work by changing the code of the game completely, but especially for older games that's not necessarily easy (and often illegal) and simply booting up a virtual old OS running inside the new OS (the emulator) is just easier.


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

[User] ELI5: The 5-second rule. If I drop something on the floor how fast does it take for germs to latch on?

[Assistant] Germs will latch on as soon as it hits the floor. The 5-second rule is nothing more than a rationalization to convince yourself that its safe to eat, but it doesn't have any scientific support. Your digestive and immune systems will still be able to fend off the majority of the germs, thus why people don't always become ill after eating something that has touched the ground (regardless if it has been 5 seconds or not), but the germs are nevertheless there.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Has anyone ever successfully infiltrated the Sith, "turned" to the dark side, and then switch back to the light, all done intentionally?

Like, has anyone ever made the intention to join the dark side, get intel or learn more about it, experience it, and then afterwards just switch back to the light? Basically, they turned with the end goal that they would eventually turn back to the light (knowing full well the risks). Can a Jedi with an extreme amount of willpower pull it off? Like of like a deep undercover Jedi?

[Assistant]
Thi is literally the Luke Skywalker plot to Dark Empire (Dark Horse Comics),>!Luke gets captured by the Empire, becomes the Reborn Palpatine's apprentice, and masters the Dark Side. He then planned to betray the Emperor and return to the light.!<

It kind of worked? >!It took Leia to bring him back, but depending on how much you read into his plans, he intended that and arranged for it but it might have been an unexpected bonus.!<


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

[User]
Which animals, other than humans, use recreational substances, and why?

I'm thinking along the lines of felines using catnip, but that's really the only example I can think of. I was just interested because I know that many humans use alcohol or drugs for myriad reasons, be it because they're depressed or using it as a substitute for something else, or just because they want to get loose.

So do other animals do the same thing?

[Assistant] Elephants and baboons in the Okavanga delta in Namibia will consume large quantities of fermenting fruit and stagger around drunk from the alcohol in the fruit. David Attenborough's Life On Earth series has videos of drunk elephants staggering sideways, crashing into trees. The video talks about them eventually passing out drunk; but going back and consuming more as soon as they wake up.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is the AK-47 widely considered one of the best guns ever made?

[Assistant]
The AK-47 is ridiculously simple.  It has only 4 main, parts, their production tolerances are very high so it's inexpensive to make, and dirt/grime/residue won't cause it to jam.  For all of its stupid simplicity, it still fires accurate enough to hit something 300 meters out, fires fast enough to be deadly at close range, and fires a bullet large enough to do a lot of damage.

There are guns that can fire faster than the ak-47, that are more accurate than the ak-47, that have better sights, or are lighter, or whatever else, but hardly anything else is as:

1) Effective

 2) Inexpensive

3) Durable enough to withstand years of service in shitty environments with minimal spare parts and still work.


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

[User]
[Good Place] Last Season Spoiler question

After the gang leaves Earth again what do all the Earth relationships think happened to them?

Chidi's colleague, sure John would know when Tahani died. And that months passed.

Or-- They'd know that this group of 4 people suddenly disappeared.

Where does Tahani get her dresses? They're all so pretty.

Why haven't the three humans come to the conclusion the good place isn't perfect & therefore not the good place? Monsters on the magic pictionary & far more?

[Assistant]
They would know that the four people vanished and were never found. A tragedy, but it happens. There are plenty of mundane explanations.

Tahani presumably has Janet summon the dresses.

As for why they don't suspect: Brent is simply too arrogant to assume he'd ever not be in heaven, John sees flaws in everything and would be suspicious of a perfect place, Chidi's willing to overlook imperfections to avoid making a fuss and Simone thinks this is all a hallucination >!and does in fact eventually figure it out!<.


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

[User] ELI5: why do some people with depression lose their appetite and not eat much, while others eat more than usual?

[Assistant]
Depression causes you to feel sad or numb. Eating can give you a feeling of being "happy", but it's very short lived. We have a term for it - "comfort food". So people eat more, and generally unhealthy food.

Or, depression can make you uninterested in normal activities, like eating. It just takes too much effort to make a meal and consume it.

I've experienced both.


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

[User]
[Thought experiment]: A mad scientist invents a time machine, goes back in time to a plot of land, and builds an underground shop there, never to return. In the future, he buys that land, finds the underground shop, and uses it to build the time machine. Was the underground shop every built?

(self.AskScienceFiction)
Or did the underground shop become an entity outside of a timeline?

The scientist could not have built the shop without going back in time, but could not have gone back in time without finding the shop to build the time machine.

[Assistant] Sure, it was built in the past. It's not an object that only exists in a closed time loop -- it was built, it was found, it was used. The fact that it contributed to its own ontology doesn't especially matter.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Do ghost force people hang around together or they do exist in a more isolated way?

[Assistant]
They are together, but not in the way the question implies.  They are all one with the living Force, and are together in that sense, but it's not the same thing as a group of Jedi sitting around the council chamber discussing matters.  It's a non-corporeal sort of oneness.

That said, when these Jedi choose to manifest to the living as Force ghosts, they can appear either singly or together with others as they choose.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why we don't build up immunity to seasonal allergies over time.

Not sure if "immunity" is the correct word in this case, but how come they affect us our whole lives?

[Assistant]
Because allergies are an immune response.

Allergies are basically caused by your body overreacting to a perceived threat (like pollen or dust mites or whathaveyou). So you're being exposed to something that's actually quite harmless but your body presses the panic button anyway.

This happens largely because your immune system is *bored* and has nothing better to do, so it acts up like a kid who is bored and has noghing better to do. Studies on children suggest that kids who get sick a lot develop fewer allergies.

Now, exposure to small and regular dosages (amping up all the time) can erase an allergy, but this apprach wouldn't be effective against seasonal ones.


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

[User]
Why is the solstice the beginning of winter and not the middle?

If the solstice is the warmest/coldest time of the year, shouldn't it be in the middle of winter and summer, and likewise for the equinoxes and spring and fall? Instead winter started on the 21st.

[Assistant]
The earth, ocean and atmosphere do not heat instantly in response to increased solar radiation.  That is to say, there is a lag between the maximum rate of energy input and the maximum temperature achieved.

Imagine a pot of water on the stove and slowly turning the flame up to maximum, and just as slowly turning it back down.  It continues to heat after the maximum flame, since just a lttle less than maximum is still plenty to increase the temperature.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] When a ship separates, what are the regulations for loss of a part?

For example, if we have, say, a ship that separates its saucer empty as a distraction against the Borg, and the Stardrive with all the crew and people runs back home with no damage, would they ever rebuild the saucer? If they did, would they give the new saucer'd ship a new designation and name, or keep the old one on the Stardrive? Or is the regulation in that case just "Always decommission the half-ship, build a new one."?

To be clear, I am not asking if it IS the same ship, I'm familiar with Theseus' Paradox. I'm asking if they'd keep the name and designation.

[Assistant]
I think the stardrive, even without the large emblazonment of the name and registration, would determine if it gets a new name or not.

If the saucer limps back they'd either decommission the ship or, if there was a construction project it could be used on, they'd change it's name and registry.

But if the stardrive just dips out, you've got the engine and most of the weapons from the old ship (everything that would determine its general displacement in the fleet), you could either rebuild the ship and send it back on its mission, use the stardrive alone (if it's essential to keep as many ships in service as possible), or mothball it with the intention of pulling it out later for either use.


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

[User]
CMV: I don't think I should care whether or not a DJ is "actually doing anything" on stage.

I see a lot of people complaining about how they don't think DJ's actually do anything on stage and then there are people who come in and explain that they do (some at least).

I don't think I should care either way. I feel this way because when I'm going to a club, I'm not going for the same reason I go to see a band play. When I'm seeing a band, I'm going for them and to see them play their songs live. When I'm going to a club, I'm going to dance. Yes, the DJ is there to supply the music but I don't care how he does it because that's not what I'm there to see. If he wants to just hit play and let it go, then that's fine, I have no reason to care.

So go ahead, CMV!

[Assistant] The DJ is a live performer.  The DJ is typically on a stage, centre stage, and raised on a platform for all to see. You are supposed to see the DJ working. If the DJ doesn't do anything, then there's no reason for showcasing the DJ. Take them off the stage. Hell... don't hire them at all and just get a CD player on shuffle and you'll get the same thing.  So, if you are supposed to see them, and they are the showcase talent of the evening, then they are expected to entertain. Pressing play does not make a stage show, and the DJ is on the stage putting on a show. As much as you don't want to care or don't seem to care, there *are* people who came to see the DJ spin his live cuts, just like you would see a live band.


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

[User] [The Simpsons] Is Krusty only popular in Springfield?

[Assistant] Think of Krusty's celebrity as similar to that of Dolly Parton - internationally famous, recognisable the world over, but with a particular association with one specific region, in which she is particularly beloved.


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

[User]
Almost everyone knows having excess body fat is harmful to our health since it leads to obesity and a myriad of other conditions. But does having too little body fat (both subcutaneous and visceral) negatively impact our health as well?

(Title)

[Assistant]
Yes, it definately does. Too little fat can seriously obstruct the production of essential hormones. One type of hormone in particular, the sex sterod hormones. Lacking them can seriously mess up a womans cycle, but also cause a variety of problems in men.

Fat is also very important in the uptake of vitamins, especially vit A, D, E and K. Important for your bones, skin, immune system and the prevention of blood clots.

Eating too little fat also shifts the balance from HDL (High density lipids) to LDL (low density lipids) and too much LDL can cause blood clots too, so weirdly eating too little fat is also bad for your heart and arteries.

You also have more hunger, a higher chance of depression, and even maybe an increased risk of getting cancer. But in this world not a lot of people have to worry about eating too little fat. Sometimes professional sporters can have these problems, for example woman professional runners or other sporters sometimes have these problems which first manifest as having a elongated, or a totally weird menstrual cycle.

Edit: spelling, also visceral as you said it can cause a problem, since fat sometimes protects certain organs, such as the kidneys.


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

[User]
[Half Life/Black Mesa] Why did HECU bother killing valuable scientists and such to cover up the investigation, and why do the marines even obey illegal orders like that so easily?

It just doesnt come across as a realistic response. The Black Mesa facility is full of VALUABLE scientists. These people arent just easily replaced. Surely a more realistic response wouldve been to rescue everyone and get them to sign non-disclosure agreements? People have kept top government secrets. I mean, presumably these guys kept their work secret from the public before the resonance cascade. Youre much more likely to have someone leak something if you try to kill them or get them to commit atrocities and war crimes. Surely the marines now know what went on? How are they any different from the scientists? The scientists arent any more likely to leak info than the marine is.

It just seems like a huge waste of human resources, guys that have valuable knowledge and experience. I cant imagine theres a huge supply of top scientists ready to replace them instantly. Theres obviously tons of them in the facility.

Not only that, I imagine a large majority of the soldiers wouldnt want to kill fellow US citizens right?

It just seems like an unrealistic military response considering the factors at play. And yes the alien invasion isnt realistic but people are real and when they dont act in a realistic manner its weird.

[Assistant]
Black Mesa had been experimenting in inter-dimensional travel, including the construction of a functioning teleporter and contacting extra-dimensional, sapient life. Should they have gone rogue, they would have presented an existential threat not just to the United States, but to humanity as a whole. That's why the government was prepared to annihilate the facility and liquidate its personnel with a hair-trigger; it would be better to ensure any knowledge of how to access Xen be wiped out than allow potential rogue actors or turncoats for alien powers to walk.

Of course, this contingency would never be sprung so long as Black Mesa kept their teleportation under control, and never allowed a breach in containment that could signify an invasion.

As for HECU, its pretty clear from some of their speeches and actions that they have a disregard for human life, and were probably selected with this in mind. They aren't your regular-joe soldiers, they're a spec ops force being used to liquidate a government black-site potentially full of extra-dimensional monsters. They were likely created with the specific goal of carrying out 'illegal orders', given how many ethical and legal boundaries both the government and BM had already crossed long before this point.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Millions of battle droids were built and shipped across the Galaxy. It's been sixty years since the Clone Wars. Where are they now?

Are there any sentient Battle Droids trying to get by on forgotten planets like Jakku? Are urban planets like Naboo home to homeless veteran droids? Were droids destroyed en masse by the Republic or by Palpatine's Empire?

[Assistant]
All the battle droids were shut down at the end of the Clone Wars, barring a few renegade Separatist holdouts.

The vast majority of droids were scrapped, with the few remaining being hidden in caches or looted and used by pirates or even some Rebel cells.


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

[User]
Can a planet be entirely made up of water?

Meaning none of it is frozen, with no land masses and a completely liquid center. Would it remain stable? Or is something like this completely impossible?

[Assistant] There's nothing explicitly wrong with a planet made out of water, but it is impossible to be made entirely out of liquid water. If the planet is massive enough, it will develop a solid, pressurized core. And no matter what you do, save turning the entire waterworld into some kind of super-dense hyper-compressed magical water, there will always be gaseous water seeping off of the surface due to the vacuum. The result (if you tried) would probably resemble a very odd-looking gas giant.


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

[User]
[The Punisher/Daredevil] So how is Frank meant to remain incognito if he was the defendant in a highly publicised and televised trial?

In Daredevil season 2, Frank Castle is put on trial for the murder of various gangsters and mobsters across New York in *The People v. Frank Castle*. It was highly publicised because of the nature of the crimes which led him to being attached to the name of The Punisher. A case like that would easily hit national news, international news even with the kind of body count he racked up and the kind of people he killed. He's a bonafide one man army. That's front page news everywhere, without a doubt. He would even be the top post on the MCU's Reddit.

My question is, even with the help of Homeland Security in giving him a brand new identity and a clean record, how the hell is he meant to stay off the radar when practically everyone in America has seen his face on national television and on the internet? John Bernthal doesn't exactly have a face that blends in with the crowd. Perhaps he can get away with it for a little while with a big beard like he did in the time between the end of Daredevil season 2 and the beginning of The Punisher season 1 where he's working construction jobs and keeping his head down. But since then, he's been fairly out in the open with a very recognisable face that a lot of people may be able to remember off the top of their heads, especially those in law enforcement.

[Assistant]
Remember this is the MCU.  Alien invasions, killer robots, avenging ghosts, international cybernetic assassins, flying cities, gods, growth and shrinking technology, super soldiers, zombies, and magic all vie for news coverage.  Every other week there's a huge explosion or big shootout somewhere.

Faced with that kind of competition, a mundane mass murderer might be noteworthy for a couple of days at most.  New Yorkers might pay closer attention, but elsewhere he won't get much play.  They've got their own local issues to deal with.


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

[User] ELI5: If we make skin and muscle cells when we heal cuts and heal/generate bones after breaking them, why wouldn't we be able to grow a finger if one is cut off?

[Assistant]
Our body heals like a blind handyman repairing a house.

If a ball crashes through a window, you call up the blind handyman and they feel around the impact. Glass shards. Window frame. Must be a broken window so that can be fixed completely by ordering a new window.

One day a car dries through the wall, taking out the entire window frame. After everything is cleaned up, you call up the blind handyman. However, they only feel the large hole in the wall and has no idea there used to be a window. The best and quickest thing they can do is seal up the hole to prevent things outside from getting in and things inside from getting out (scar).

Our body heals based on the surrounding tissues near the wound. If it can't figure out what was there or if the wound is too large, it becomes a scar.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the point of fashion shows featuring clothing no one would ever wear?

[Assistant] What you're thinking of is called Haute Couture. Think of it as an art show. The models are wearing the art. What it does for the actual fashion industry, which is called prt  porter (ready to wear), is provide inspiration.


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

[User] Nietzsche apparently claimed that Heraclitus was his favourite ancient Greek philosopher. What do their philosophies have in common?

[Assistant] The obvious ones are that they both find a place for strife and becoming in their philosophy, against any kind of unchanging or Platonic world that Heraclitus would have found in the Eleatics and Nietzsche in some of his Christian contemporaries (he might allege all of them).  There are also some very significant differences between the two, Heraclitus leaves a large role for *logos*, which Nietzsche would have strongly disputed.


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

[User]
What is the smallest sample of a substance that retains all of the substance's physical properties?

It can't be an atom or a molecule of the substance, can it? A single atom or molecule on its own can't form a crystal, melt or boil at any temperature, has no color or smell, has the wrong/a meaningless density or tensile strength, etc. -- so what *is* the smallest sample size? A collection of 4 or 5 atoms/molecules? A few hundred? Many more?

[Assistant]
It's a sliding scale. Strictly speaking, exact phase transitions that happen at a singular definite temperature (like boiling) only happen for *infinite* systems; the discontinuities involved can't happen for a system with finitely many degrees of freedom. 10^23 is close enough to infinity for practical purposes, but a lot of these concepts are technically approximations even for everyday objects.

For the crystal example I'd like to say "enough atoms to form one unit of crystal structure", but then there are glasses as a counterexample, which would behave exactly like crystals in that situation despite being very macroscopically different. Silica glass (i.e. normal glass) has short-range order but long-range disorder, like a crystal drawn by a small child. The ability to stay reasonably stable in the glass state, rather than spontaneously transitioning to a crystalline substance, comes from cooling the silica fast enough that it loses the energy needed to get over small-scale energy hurdles and optimally reorganize the crystal lattice on macroscopic scales. Any system of a few units worth of atoms would probably not be able to identifiably form a glass, since its phase space would be small enough that it could spontaneously optimize itself into a perfect crystal structure at any reasonable temperature. As you add more and more crystal units the glass state would be easier to maintain at higher temperatures, since the energy jump needed to reconfigure the system would grow drastically.

Color also depends on bulk properties: a very small sample of gold (but larger than atomic) appears deep red; the golden colour of bulk gold (and the color of all metals really) relies on the fact that the electrons are free to move throughout a large bulk. The spectrum will change gradually as you shrink the system, until you start running into atomic spectral lines.

On the other hand a sensitive enough nose could smell single molecules. Your nose is just a molecular shape detector; a molecule fits into a particular shape of receptor in your nose and a signal gets fired off to your brain telling you to react to the shape (and whatever other implied properties common molecules with that shape tend to have). A single molecule would not have a detectable scent to a human, but there's nothing preventing the basic mechanism from working.

Basically this is a hard question and pinning down limits lies  somewhere between being very difficult and not making any sense.


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

[User]
[LOKI] Possibly, maybe spoiler-y question about He Who Remains inside...?

Was He Who Remains actually one of the less-malevolent versions of himself or, as the winner of the multiversal war, actually the most violent and destructive?

As one of the more "pure of heart" Kangs who didn't see another world as a fresh one to conquer, he seems to have wiped out every universe but his. For a time, at least. He was even the one that weaponized Alioth so... he's the winning conqueror who wipes out the competition when they're in their cribs.

[Assistant] Kang's biggest weakness as Kang (as opposed to Immortus or Rama Tut) is he wants to fight big flashy wars to see who would win. He Who Remains doesn't want to fight his enemies. He doesn't get satisfaction from stabbing the life out of Thor or Apocalypse with his Sword of Conan like Kang does. He doesn't have a trophy room with a taxidermy of the Maestro. So he is evil, but not in a "The Most Dangerous Game" way.


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

[User]
Is it unfair to assume there is no human that could ever safely drive a Pod-racer?

I mean, that speed....

[Assistant]
They literally say that in the movie.

Anakin was the only human who could pilot a podracer. The only reason he could is because he had force endowned reflexes which weren't so much reflexes but seeing the future.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do PC manufacturers bog down a potentially great machine with a ludicrous amount of worthless, hard to delete software, effectively lowering the perceived quality of the machine? (Looking at you, HP)

[Assistant]
The spamware companies pay them to subsidize the cost of the machine, and the only people that will perceive the lack of quality, to any of the companies involved anyway, are nerds, who they aren't even considering marketing to.

Normal folk don't even know what half that garbage is anyway (and might even be drawn in by some of it [free virus protection weeeee!]), but a significantly lower price will get a buy from them.


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

[User] [DC] Does Superman have DNA?

[Assistant]
Yeah, DNA of alien species, including Kryptonians, has been mentioned several times in the comics.  Notably when attempts to clone Superman were made.

**EDIT:** Plus Supes and Lois currently have a son which was conceived naturally (albeit while Superman's powers were suppressed), so Kryptonians have to be genetically fairly similar to humans.


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

[User] [Star Wars] How do you land a TIE fighter?

[Assistant]
Very carefully. It's possible to land one, but not recommended except in emergencies.

They were actually designed to be difficult to land to make it more difficult for the pilots to defect, and to force them to be more reliant on protecting their carriers. The idea was that the pilots would fight harder to defend their capital ships if losing meant they would freeze in the void. Also, they're cheap mass-produced interceptors not meant for interplanetary flights like the versatile hyperdrive-capable X-Wings are.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Were the Jedi celibacy rules and the Sith rule of two both intended to prevent the breeding of super force users?

So clearly you can breed for force strength. That's what we learn from these movies, if your parents were strong you will be strong so you can breed for strength in the force. Presumably this is bad for some reason because the Jedi go around making force sensitive kids into celibate monks.

Also presumably the Sith would want to breed for this but they limit the ability to do so with the "Rule of 2" right? Now this kinda makes sense. Like nuclear weapons, both Russia and the US tried to limit nuclear proliferation to one degree or another because we don't want just anyone able to blow up the earth. So the Sith presumably (perhaps from a past experience?) also don't want anyone breeding force super users but needed a more sith-y way to handle the situation and to ensure following generations would avoid creating a super admin who could sudo force delete galaxy.

*Disclaimer: I am a casual Star Wars fan. I've seen all the movies, most of them more than once, and I play the video games and I love the UNIVERSE. Force powers, lightsabers, bounty hunters, all great stuff. But I'm not a "Novel reading, extended universe browsing, collectible owning" kind of fan. So if all this is covered in the EU or books or something let me know. But here is an interesting thought line I came to after reading too much wookiepedia.*

[Assistant]
The Jedi's policies prohibiting marriage had to do with preventing the kind of possessiveness that could lead a Jedi to the Dark Side, as seen in the tragic fall of Anakin Skywalker.

Accounts of the life of Darth Bane depict him instituting the Rule of Two in order to keep the Sith few enough to avoid notice while they slowly rebuilt their power in the aftermath of a war in which the Jedi trounced the Sith completely.


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

[User] ELI5: Why don't airlines have passengers board from the back of the plane to the front? Wouldn't it be faster that way?

[Assistant]
While this could lead to a small optimization in loading times, its not really too significant, because they can simply load planes earlier and account for most of it.

What the airlines really care about is what all business do: Money.  Airlines *know* not guess, *Know* that letting privileged and higher-value customers load first for a better experience is worth more money to them

So why in the hell would they want to make less money?


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

[User] Why do phones generally tend to not get viruses?

[Assistant]
Most phones operate under a sandbox model and additionally have a chain of trust to install programs (or indeed, run them).

If you were able to modify one of the programs running on, say, an iPhone; then that iPhone would no longer allow the modified binary to run, since it would no longer match the signature supplied by it's trusted source (the app store).

Virus' do exist, though usually it's malicious software pushed through the play/app stores.

The answer is really; due to the nature of being a newer system which is not completely general purpose developers were able to add provisions to the security model of mobile devices before launch.

Make it hard enough and people will target the easier platforms instead.


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

[User]
How come when you wet a piece of paper and then let it dry it gets all crinkled and makes a crinkly noise when folded?

So I was messing with some watercolors and the paper was getting all stiff and crinkled after Id finish wetting it, I know thats just what happens when you wet the paper but why does it happen, is it just setting the paper and setting it into place crinkled or Is something else happening with the water and paper? I have no clue if its physical or chemical why this happens.

[Assistant]
The water causes the fibers in the paper to expand. As the expand the individual fibers bend and twist against each other. When the paper dries the fibers shrink back down, but friction between fibers holds them somewhat in place. As a result of the expanding and shrinking the positions of individual fibers is changed so the paper ripples and warps to essentially even out the tension amongst all the fibers.

You can mechanically release some of the tension by smoothing out the now dry paper. You will probably be able to get rid of some of the wrinkles because you are basically pulling the fibers into different positions, but you wont get back to the smooth pre-wet condition because some of the fibers are now kinked, broken or otherwise damaged.


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

[User]
CMV: Everyone should use the same bathroom

A lot of other countries do it this way. Men, women, gay people, etc. would all share the same bathroom. I don't see a problem in using the same bathroom but some people are persistent in dividing this space. I believe once people get used to it then it would be second nature. Having one bathroom would also make it more convenient to use. Some places the men's and women's restrooms would be split far apart, such as at stadiums. I see the point in people wanting privacy in those that are attracted to that gender but are stalls not enough in that regard? What is a better reasoning in splitting up the toilets?

[Assistant] There's a fear of men and women being in the same bathroom because they don't want to enable sexual activity or legitimize attempts by perverts to view the other gender. Plus, some people, like me, might feel a bit uneasy.


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

[User]
How are very accurate shunts calibrated?

For example if I go buy a shunt calibrated to measure accurately to 100ppm(0.01%). The person selling it to me has to have one more accurate?

And if I want one accurate to 10ppm(0.001%), the seller needs one more accurate to verify 10 ppm, but how does he calibrate the one that is being used to calibrate?

Where does it stop and how?

[Assistant] In the US, it stops with NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). They maintain the US standard references. Other countries maintain similar standards. They are used to calibrate other labs which will, for a price, calibrate your test equipment. When you buy electronic test equipment, you can pay a little extra to get a certificate of traceability. It lists all the equipment, and their uncertainties, used to calibrate your test equipment going all the way back to NIST. The science of precision measurement is called metrology.


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

[User]
ELI5: After a tooth is removed how is it that the hole left gets completely filled over time?

I understand how the wound would heal but how does the body know to fill in the entire hole left by the tooth removal? That space didnt have any gums before, since a tooth was there but it all gets filled.

[Assistant] Dentist here - inflammation and normal trauma processes carry out cell growth, tissue differentiation, repair, etc. like they would for any wound. The body doesnt like voids and will fill them. They first heal to close the wound, then slowly over time remodel into a smoother shape (bone and soft tissue).


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

[User] [Elder Scrolls]Why was the selling of Skooma only prohibited in Morrowind while else no one cares if you carry Skooma?

[Assistant]
Skooma is an illegal narcotic everywhere in Tamriel. You aren't supposed to sell it ANYWHERE.

But since Morrowind, we've only really seen 2 places. The decedent, profit driven heartland of the Empire where money rules. And a basically lawless and corrupt gaggle of kingdoms who can barely manage their internal politics let alone law enforcement.

Let's face it... Morrowind was the only province with its shit together enough to enforce policing for Skooma.


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

[User] Why is the battery life of a smartphone shown the least amount of improvement year to year in comparison to other specs (processor, display, data speed)?

[Assistant] Smartphone batteries are getting better, smaller, and increasing in capacity.  The thing is that all those fancy huge displays and powerful processors require more power to run them.  So even though the battery capacity is increasing, the demand for power is also increasing, hence why you don't see huge leaps in battery life like you do in processor power.


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

[User]
transition from neuroscience to data science

Hello!

I am just entering neuroscience and my long term plan is this.
Although i am not from a technical background, i genuinely like working with messy data , data visualization and stats.
Is there anybody who's done the same.?

Can i get some advise on what electives to choose and how to keep my profile relevant for data science

Will i need a pHd?

[Assistant] I did this, Neuro is a great background for DS. Feel free to DM me if you have any questions! A transition to DS is something that diff people do very differently, DS being so _ridiculously_ diverse, and people having so vastly different backgrounds. But if you have any specific questions, I'll be happy to help! Best of luck!


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

[User]
[Tim Burton's Batman] Why is this Batman willing to kill?

So, as an up-and-coming criminal, I've recently moved to Gotham. I heard it was a good place to make some cash, but after a few weeks I start hearing about this "Batman". Now, I'd heard about this freak back when I was in Metropolis, but people said he didn't kill anyone. Well, you can imagine my surprise when the Bat drops this guy, Johnny Gobs, off of a roof! 5 stories, dead on impact!

Like I said, I thought Batman didn't kill anyone. Why the Hell is he throwing people off roofs? He even did it to The Joker! What the Hell!?

[Assistant]
His world was much more violent and cynical than any other universe that has a Batman.

His genesis was not from a random mugging by a desperate Joe Chill, but a cold, brutal murder by Jack Napier. Jack clearly took pleasure in shooting the Wayne adults and even took time to torment him with a chilling question, just to prolong his fear. (And he likes the way it sounds.)

A Bruce that is traumatized by Joe Chill sees crime as an awful thing, but also a faceless, complex problem that requires a complex solution. He recognizes sometimes people have real problems and need help, not punishment. At his core, he simply doesn't want anyone else to feel what he did that night.

When Jack Napier killed his parents and then tortured him, Bruce realized this was a personal struggle with a personified incarnation of crime. This Bruce saw Jack everywhere. Criminals were not just superstitious cowards, but monsters that needed to be punished. This Batman was much less of a detective and more of a brutal avenger, doing whatever it took to end crime right then and there. He had no patience for people that might provide a valid story behind their actions and zero tolerance for people that violently broke the law.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is a refrigerator referred to as just a fridge, why does the shortened version have a "d" in it, and what is the purpose of the "re" prefix of it?

[Assistant]
The word "refrigerate" was coined in the 15th century from the Latin which means "make cool again"; the sense of "again" was important, because originally it had the sense of taking away a sick person's fever -- returning them to their normal cool state. It was then simply extended to mean "make something cool" in a general sense, and the "re-" prefix lost all meaning. The word "refrigerator" to mean "a device that keeps something cool" is surprisingly old: it dates from the 17th century. There was also "refrigeratory" to mean "room for keeping things cool", very useful for beer brewers. In the 19th century, refrigeratories had been replaced by cabinets called refrigerators, and by the 20th century there were electrically powered refrigerators.

The word "refrigerator" was shortened to "fridge" by the 1920s, either in the same way that "telephone" was shortened to "phone", or influenced by a popular manufacturer of the devices, Frigidaire -- nobody's sure which it is.

The "d" is added by analogy with words like "bridge". How else would you spell it? If you spell it "frig", then it would have a hard "g"; if you spell it "frige", then it would have a long "i". You need the "e" to keep the "g" soft, but then to keep the "i" short you need to write at least two consonants. The rules of English orthography are such that you need to write "dg" for a soft "g" sound after a short vowel.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why does flicking a small insect not kill it? Is the force not as strong as squishing it?

Same thing with swatting them out of the sky.

Does it have to do with surface area? Do their bodies have structures to resist immediate strong impacts, but fail against sustained moderate forces?

[Assistant]
It's mostly to do with mass. The less mass an object has, the easier it is to accelerate (so more energy goes to actual movement, and less to the object deforming.)
Insects have very little mass, so they don't experience much resistance to acceleration (the flick.)

Alternatively, squishing against a hard surface results in most of the energy being used to actually deform the insect, as it doesn't have anywhere to accelerate to.


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

[User] ELI5: How do programmers code chess-playing computers to make mistakes?

[Assistant]
You don't specifically code it to make mistakes. You code it so it doesn't pick the best move.

Chess programs work by testing out a large number of moves into the future and assigning points generally based on how many pieces it is able to keep and how many pieces it is able to capture from the opponent.

On "Easy" mode, the computer just won't look as many moves into the future, or won't pick the best possible moves out of all the possibilities it found.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does it hurt more to accidentally bump something with my fingers when my hands are really cold?

[Assistant]
Colder temperatures cause your blood vessels to constrict. This is to help preserve core temperature.

Constricted blood flow = lower volume of blood in the extremities.

Because of this, the nerves are closer to the surface and therefore more sensitive.


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

[User]
[Avatar] Why did the Fire Nation even bother with the drill when Sozin's Comet was only a few months away?

I mean, that drill could not have been cheap. It probably cost them several million gold pieces to build. So why didn't they wait only a few more months for the Comet to come and then just blow the wall away themselves (like Iroh did in the finale) without the need of a giant, expensive drill.

[Assistant]
The Fire Nation shifted its strategy in the 100 years war after the Avatar was found. They moved from attrition and slow conquest to a series of bold and slightly desperate moves to win the war before the Avatar was able to intervene, in case they were not able to capture or kill him. Why did they invade the Northern Water Tribe right when the Avatar sought sanctuary there? They wanted to deny Aang the waterbending training he needed, and hopefully capture him. They could've waited until Sozins Comet to invade and conquer them, but it was better to attempt it then given the possibility of defeat if the Avatar was able to reach full strength. The same with Ba Sing Se.

Necessity aside, war is costly. Time is money and lives. Less war, less death, less cost. Same rationale behind Fire Lord 's plan to burn the Earth Kingdom after the war was pretty much won. Avoid a lengthy and costly occupation by simply killing everyone and starting over.

Anything that would bring the war to an end sooner would be extremely desirable, especially with the threat of the Avatar possibly costing them victory after 100 years of war.


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

[User] Can you develop Autoantibodies against your own Blood group antigens?

[Assistant]
Yes.  Most times, they are not clinically significant but rare fatal cases occur.

Google cold autoagglutinins.  There is lots of knowledge about this because they were originally detected in a hospital setting in the lab once an order for Type and Crossmatch was received.


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

[User]
Why do some people complain that their bones hurt when it rains?

Usually It's people with old injuries. I've had broken bones, but I feel fine when the weather changes.

[Assistant]
Because the barometric pressure in the air drops, and the water in your bones can't equalize fast enough, they swell, and cause general achy-ness.

Old injuries probably hurt more because when you break a bone, and it heals, it always heals a little more than it needs to to make it stronger in that area.  So, there is more bone density in those people's bones than in normal people's bones, which means more swelling, and more achy-ness.


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

[User]
Why aren't there more cheap apartments?

Why aren't there more cheap apartments?

It seems like with how many people struggle to make rent, there would be consumer demand for cheaper apartments.

What exactly is keeping the market from fulfilling this demand?

[Assistant] Local zoning laws that make it challenging to build high density apartment buildings. The regularions are entrenched because they favor the economic interests current homeowners who are the only people who can/do vote for their local political leaders.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does the sky turn green when there is a very high chance of Tornadoes?

Living in the Mid-West, Ive noticed the sky, clouds, and the air in general all pick up a green hue, and it gets greener as the likelihood of a tornado rises. Why?

[Assistant] The "greenage" or green color in storms does not mean a tornado is coming. The green color does signify the storm is severe though. The color is from the water droplets suspended in the storm, absorbing red sunlight and radiating green frequencies.


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

[User]
Why does my dog tilt her head when she's curious?

She's a beagle, it can't just be because it's cute.

[Assistant]
She's trying to hear you better.  It's her way of concentrating on your voice.  She cocks her head and points one of her ears so that it has a more direct line to the sound she is trying to pick up.  This allows her to hear differences in tone and determine the location of the source of a sound.

Also, you may have conditioned her some; it's a natural instinct and if you praise her and use a soothing voice and give her a treat when she tilts her head and is cute, she may unconsciously or consciously do it in the future to be rewarded.


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

[User] [Superpowers] Let's say I speak English and I mind read someone who speaks a different language (or perhaps a deaf person). How does that work?

[Assistant] If you just can read surface thoughts, then you only hear the sounds they imagine hearing. If you don't understand the language, you don't know what they're saying. But if you can go just a little deeper, you can read the underlying thoughts, and you don't require a language.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Tony Stark can't manufacture the super soldier serum? Or doesn't want to?

No records exist, all copies destroyed.  But this is Tony Stark we're talking about.  His dad invented the SSS and he is the greatest mind on the planet.

If he could engineer the SSS he could power up all of his friends, or at least make one copy for himself.  And we all know how much Tony loves Tony.

But he hasn't done it.  Which leads to one of two conclusions.  Conclusion 1 - He can't do it.  C1 is inconsistent, he's created a new element, a sentient AI, and developed bleeding edge technology.  Conclusion 2 - He doesn't want to.  C2 is also inconsistent because he is a selfish pragmatist.

So which is it?

[Assistant]
Howard Stark didn't invent the Super-Soldier Syrup, Dr. Abraham Erskine did. And Tony is more of an engineer than a biologist, so at the very least this stuff is out of his comfort zone.

And it varies by continuity, but the SSS is often unpredictable and doesn't simply turn you into a peak-human specimen. In the MCU it turned Johann Schmidt into the Red Skull. Who knows what it'd do to a middle-aged Tony Stark?

Lastly, the Iron Man tech is clearly more advanced. The SSS turns a 90-pound weakling into a one-man army, but something like the nanosuit can turn the same man into a walking, flying WMD.


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

[User]
Does my skin make vitamin d at a constant rate in the sun or does it level off after a while and how does it do that?

If your body supposedly gets the vitamin d it needs in around 15 minutes (I know it varies but that's the general guideline) what happens when I'm in the sun for hours? Does my skin know to slow down or does it keep cranking it out? What does my body do with the excess?

[Assistant]
Yup your are correct in that the body gets sufficient vitamin D after ~10 mins of exposure to natural sunlight. Exposure to UVA light will activate enzymatic pathways involving the liver, kidney, and parathyroid that will produce 25-(OH)D2, the active form of vitamin D. After it has cranked out enough 25-(OH)D2 the enzymes involved in the production are inactivated via negative feedback loops. Therefore
you can't actually get vitamin D toxicity from excess sun exposure.

That being said, taking exogenous vitamin D (in the form of vitamin D drops or pills) can lead to vitamin D toxicity because it is already in the 25-(OH)D2 form, and doesn't need to be processed by enzymes. Human vitamin D levels are usually on the low-side, so toxicity isn't a big issue.


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

[User]
ELI5: Can a mosquito become intoxicated by consuming blood from somebody who has been drinking alcohol? Is it totally impossible, or is there a BAC level where it becomes feasible or something such as that? Do they digest alcohol like humans?

I was sitting around a bonfire last night killing a case and a handle with some buddies; we all got bit to high heaven by a belligerent troupe of  mosquitoes, as I live near a marshy area. As I watched my hammered friend kill the Bacardi bottle, I thought to myself: could a mosquito also partake in his buzz by drinking his blood? Do mosquitoes digest alcohol in a similar way as humans, making it possible for them to become drunk?

[Assistant]
Sadly for hard-partying vampires everywhere, it would be really hard to get even a light buzz by drinking a drunk person's blood.

Someone so drunk that they are passed out and near death has about 0.5% blood alcohol. That's still only one-tenth the alcohol in a typical beer (~5%). So, a super-drunk person's blood is 10 times weaker than beer.

The average human body contains about 160 ounces (5.5 liters) of  blood, which is a little over 13 beer-bottles worth. So if you got someone so drunk that they passed out and were almost dead, and then drank all the blood in their entire body, it would still only be like drinking a little over one beer.

Insects can also get drunk. But they probably wouldn't get drunk from a drunk person's blood any more than you could.


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

[User]
CMV: Organ Donation Should Be Automatic

Short but sweet argument. In my state, Pennsylvania, you have to check a box when getting a drivers license to be an organ donor. Sans any medical conditions that render your organs unusable, what on earth is the point of burying or burning perfectly good human parts? Its absurd to let others die for some silly idea that you need to keep someone whole. This seems like some ancient practice that has infiltrated modern society. This should get roughly the same attention that abortion does but for some reason it does not.

Anyone against organ donation, change my view. Religion wont help.

Edit: Yall redditors have no common sense. Big picture, humans are not the only life forms in the universe. Youre conflating body autonomy, abortion, and using organs from a person who is dead?! It literally does not matter. How can we as a society move up the intelligence ladder when we still think like this? IT IS A BUNCH OF CELLS PERFORMING A JOB THAT WILL CEASE TO EXIST ONCE THE HUMAN IS DEAD. What are yall talking about you freaks.

A will from a downvoting redditor: Im dead, but wish for my organs to stay with me because its my body and I want them. That is absolutely absurd. What a waste of resources. I had no idea there were so many small minded, myopic people here.

[Assistant]
Change the form from opt-in to opt-out. This simple change would greatly increase donation. Offer a small tax credit for opt-in. These are better and easier than making it mandatory.

Edit: Please clarify your view. Are open to changing your mind about organ donation or the method used to sign up for it.


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

[User] ELI5:Why can't we just use a telescope to check the moon for an American flag?

[Assistant] You'd need a telescope at least ten times the size of any that humans have ever built.  We don't have the ability to make mirrors or lenses that big at the moment.  A flag is incredibly tiny, and the resolving power of our scopes doesn't come remotely close to the requirements.


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

[User] ELI5: How do game developers find out if their game is pirated? For example, the new game called Quantum Break's main character will have an eye patch if the game is pirated. How do the developers know? And if they're adding an eye patch, why not just render the game unplayable?

[Assistant] Cracked copies that circumvent whatever kind of DRM is being used requires changing the binary code. Depending on what is changed, sometimes the developers can pick up on it. Often, they do simply make it unplayable. But then the crackers will see that it doesn't work and immediately keep searching the code to find what's preventing it. By slightly altering the game (or in some cases making the game unwinnable), the crackers may not notice, allowing the developers an opportunity to play a joke on pirating players.


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

[User] ELI5: Why am I miserable when the temperatur rises 10, but I can take a hot shower for 10 minutes and it feels great the entire time?

[Assistant]
Water is better at taking heat away from your body than air is. **This is the same reason your feet feel colder on tile floors than on carpet, when the carpet and tile are the same temperature.** Linoleum is better at taking heat away than carpet. This ability is known as thermal conductivity. This is why 90F water feels (roughly) the same as 75F air.

Slightly more scientific: The ability for a material to transfer heat is quantified as thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity of water is about 23x that of air. On top of that, the water is flowing over you, rather than sitting in it stagnantly (i.e. a bath). This is known as convective heat transfer, as opposed to conductive heat transfer. Convective heat transfer is faster, because the water is constantly flowing over you, so your body's ability to cool down the water is negated. **This is where wind chill factors come from**. On a windy day, the heat transfer between you and air is more convective than conductive.


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

[User]
[LOTR] What are Orc's and how are they different from Uruk Kai?

What is an Orc for that matter? Are they a race that had always existed?

[Assistant]
The orcs are a race somehow created by Melkor, or morgoth as he is also called, who was Saurons master.

Its not really known how the orcs were created, since Tolkien changed his mind on that several times. At first they were corrupted elves, and thats the version thats in the movies, but later he changed them to either being corrupted humans or something else, he never really made up his mind.

In the movies, urukhai are orcs breed with humans that Saruman created, they are just a hybrid between orcs and humans. He created them during the war of the ring.

In the books, urukhai are orcs that Sauron enchanced with dark magic, making them stronger and larger than regular orcs. Sauron created them 600 years before the war of the ring. Saruman still crossed humans and orcs, but it created halforcs, not urukhai.

So orcs are the original race, and urukhai are either enchanced orcs or human-orcs hybrid. While orcs are smaller than humans and scared of sunlight, urukhai were as tall as a man, and stronger, and was able to move unhindered in daylight.


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

[User] ELI5: How do Youtubers earn money? I mean, how is revenue generated by simply watching a video. I understand it has something to do with the advertisements, but that is my question, how do ads help Youtubers earn money.

[Assistant]
It's quite simple. Advertisers pay money to Google/Youtube for the rights to show an advertisement before (or during) a video. Google/Youtube takes a cut of the revenue, and the Youtuber earns the rest.

The amount advertisers are willing to pay in terms of cost per click or cost per view, is dependent on many factors, including but not limited to:

- The popularity of the Youtuber / video
- The target audience of the Youtuber / video
- How competitive (from an advertiser perspective) the video is (or its associated keywords are)

Certain videos are not eligible for monetization (so Youtubers typically won't earn ad revenue from them). This includes, for example, many videos depicting nudity or sex and videos containing extremely foul language or controversial / offensive topics.

If a video contains commercial music, sometimes the music publisher or record label will file a copyright claim over the video and instead of taking it down will request the Youtuber's revenue share instead. So, in these cases, the Youtuber is not penalized but also does not earn ad revenue from the video.

Youtubers also make lots of money (much more than standard ad revenue) by negotiating product placement deals directly with advertisers to personally use and/or promote a product (such as a mobile app, web service, gadget, etc.) within their video.


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

[User]
[Firefly] Why did the alliance fight to keep the outer planets from breaking away

What benefit did the alliance have from keeping them under control. The outer planets were poor and didn't offer much to the alliance?

[Assistant]
While the *people* of the outer worlds were poor, we're talking about several planets' worth of untapped natural and mineral resources. You don't just let that go.

Furthermore, it sets a precedent; what happens when another planet, maybe a wealthier and better-armed planet, decides to go it alone?

And for a less cynical perspective, not everyone in the outer worlds was interested in secession, and the Alliance had a responsibility to uphold the law on behalf of loyal citizens.


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

[User]
[40k] Is the Horus Heresy a secret?

So I know that part of the duties of the Inquisition is to suppress the existence of chaos from the citizens of the Imperium. Does this include the Galaxy spanning Civil War?

Or, is the Horus Heresy portrayed as being a civil war but not involving chaos?

[Assistant]
Horus as the image of the Arch-Heretic exists in the Imperial religious/history sources, and it's "known" that he was the Emperor's Warmaster.  It's part of the reason 'warmaster' is rarely used as a title by crusade commanders.  Instead, titles like "Lord Solar" are preferred.

He serves as an excellent warning story of what can happen when someone gets too big for their boots in the Imperium.  Likewise, the Emperor's Ascension Day is celebrated across the Imperium, though the specifics of what happened is likely obscured.

Horus' ties to the Warp, how close he came to winning, and the actual implications of the war are closely guarded secrets.


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

[User] ELI5: How do IQ calculations work and what do they really tell about a person?

[Assistant]
A legit IQ test is administered by a trained professional, and should be a one-on-one test (not a quiz online, not in a group, it should be you and someone with a stopwatch and some flip-books). It will give you an estimate how well you score, as compared to others your age, on of a handful of cognitive functions we currently think are pretty important to have. Verbal skills, nonverbal reasoning, processing speed, and working memory are the most common skills, fluid reasoning sometimes is in there too.

Those skills are combined into one "Full Scale IQ" score, which has an average of 100, that tells you, on average, how well you do on those skills as compared to others your age. But that 1 number might not mean much if you're really good at one thing but crap at another. And you also might be good (or bad) at other things that are important in life, like long term memory, social skills, academic stuff like reading and math, that the test doesn't measure. And so the IQ may or may not accurately represent how "smart" you appear.


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

[User] [Doctor Who] How do Time Lord marriages work? are they only married to the current regeneration and start fresh when they change? what happens if a Time Lord gender swaps in the regeneration cycle?

[Assistant]
Well The Master seems to hate the Doctor, and the Mistress seems to love him, so I'd assume different regenerations would choose to be divorce occasionally.

But the Doctor seems to love and continue to be married with River Song despite regenerations, so I'd assume they'd likely stay together.

Are we sure that Marriage is a concept on Galafrey though?


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

[User] Why did land mass start out as one big clump (Pangea) rather than spread out right from the start?

[Assistant] It didn't start out that way, Pangea was just the last supercontinent that formed. The continents on the Earth roughly follow something called the supercontinent cycle, gradually changing from continents, to a supercontinent, back, and forth, over and over again. There were many supercontinents before Pangea, and there will be conceivably more in the future.


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

[User] ELI5: If the penis has no muscles why can you sometimes stiffen it more at will or make it twitch?

[Assistant] Your pelvic floor muscles are located at the base of the penis and control things like sphincters. Because the penile tissues are all attached around this region, flexing those pelvic floor muscles will indirectly pull on your penis and it will appear to twitch.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does a screenshot (of a screenshot) lose quality? Isn't it a digital process?

[Assistant]
Digital process doesn't mean lossless.

Your screen might only display a reduced version of the original file, and a screenshot takes *exactly* what the screen is displaying without looking at the file at all.

So if the picture is 4k but your screen is just regular HD then it must be reduced to be able to display it. And the screenshot will only copy the reduced version

But if your screen can display all the data then a screenshot can be lossless (unless you then save it in JPEG wich always reduces quality to save disk space)


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

[User]
[Star Trek] can I use a replicator to create a seed that can grow a plant?

I'm watching Voyager on Netflix (S1E5) they are running low on replicator energy so are having to resort to real food from Nelix even though they are low on energy could they make seeds that would have the ability to be planted and harvested (yielding more seeds in the process) I know this won't solve their current problems but it would seem like a good idea so they can have some familiar food.

[Assistant]
1. you can't replicate living things.

2. the inaccuracies in replicated food are big enough to taste.

To me those two things strongly suggest your seeds will not germinate. It's sort of like if you down-res a page of text until the information is lost, then up-res it back to its previous size. It will look fine from a distance  the ratio of paper to ink will be correct  but it fundamentally just won't work.


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

[User] Is the center of mass of the universe the same place as where the big bang occured?

[Assistant]
It's not appropriate to say the big bang was at any "place". The big bang was merely the process of the universe starting to expand, and energy density dropping, because there was more space for a constant amount of energy to occupy.

The big bang happened everywhere, because it was a process occurring on the universe in its entirety.


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

[User]
During the Big Bang, did the universe expand faster than the speed of light?

I assume raw speculation... just curious.  Speed of light seems like *THE* reliable metric.  But seems awfully slow in the scope of our universe.

edit: thanks for the info, i suppose its a pretty big question.  so far, i'm still torn between concepts of "what is measurable in the context of our universe indicates speed of light is limit" and roughly "the universe itself is some pretty fast moving shit, speed of light need not apply"  --- Roughly speaking, it seems a bit conflicting.  I'm ok with that, as long as you smart ass physics ninjas are on the case. Thank you for your time.... er, what is time again?  ah forget it, i need some sleep. =)

edit 2: ok, cant sleep yet... still reading, thank you all for the time, I'm really feeling this.

edit 3: Got it!  The word "Universe" doesn't include the giant turtle shell that it sits on top of, and any attempt to explain the turtle shell simply results in more turtle shells.  Whew, for a second i was worried.  have a great weekend =)

edit 4: goddamn turtle shells.

[Assistant] Yes. Much much faster: during inflation (t=10^-36 to t=10^-32 seconds or so after the "start" of the universe) it expanded by 10^80 times (roughly, we haven't pinned down very precise constraints on inflation yet). After that, it slowed down considerably, but even now if you take two points relatively far apart they will still be expanding faster than light (since expansion is uniform in all directions, the "speed" of expansion in m/s depends on the distance between the two chosen points).


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

[User]
[WH40K] Are Hive World gangs typically loyal to the Emperor?

I mean disloyal street gangs would be suppressed, right?

[Assistant]
Hives are way, way too vast for the Ecclisiarchy or the Administratum to properly manage in that regard. They can barely keep mutants and heretics out of the upper city; even the Arbites won't venture into the lower or underhives without good reason, and only in force. Maybe once a year come tithe season they will muster up and clean things out, sending captured gangers to be conscripted into the Guard. But otherwise it's a strict no go, they are simply too outnumbered to do any good heresy or no.

That said, most imperial citizens follow the Imperial faith. It's simply how they are raised. They may not go to church every day but they practice, at least on a superficial level. And while your average hive rat will have a pretty healthy disdain for local authority the Emperor's authority trancends mortal matters. It would be like someone saying they hated God because they also hated the President.


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

[User]
[Batman] What would Gotham be like if Bruce Wayne dealt with his parent's death in an emotionally healthy way?

How would things be different for Gotham and the DC universe in general?

[Assistant]
Probably not much different than the time Martha and Thomas Wayne were alive. Gotham is, well Gotham, because of Batman and his rouges gallery. Without Batman considering the following:

* Joker would not exist. Before becoming the Joker, he was a small time crook known as the Red Hood. One night fell into a chemical vat while trying to escape Batman. He survived but his hair became green, skin white, and lips bright red. This snapped his sanity and he became the Joker. No Batman means no accident and therefor no Joker.

* Harley Quinn: No Joker means no Harley Quinn, end of story.

* Penguin: He rose to power as the death of the Wayne's inadvertently triggered a power vacuum that was filled by organized crime. Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot rode the wave of crime and eventally became the Don of Dons in Gotham. No Batman means he'd probably become a much smaller mobster but that's about it.

* Harvey Dent: May or may not have become Two-Face. He became Two-Face because batman caught the mobster that threw Acid in Dent's face. It possible the mobster would've never been caught, and Two-Face never comes to being. It's also possible that someone else catches the mobster, and similar events unfold. However, Bruce can turn his full attention and wealth into helping Dent, so he wouldn't be any distractions.

* Catwoman: Her cat theme was inspired by Batman. Selina is probably still a cat burglar but chances are she's nothing more than the occasional nuisance for GCPD.

As for the other big villains like Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, and Mister Freeze, their fates aren't tied together with Bruce's so they'll exist whether or not batman does. On the other hand, Bruce won't let his beloved city descend into chaos from these metahumans. Chances are he'll throw resources into outright destroying them. If they can't or aren't destroyed, they'll be captured by metahuman heroes, likely sponsored by Bruce, if not driven out of the city entirely.

Non-metahumans like Scarecrow, Riddler, and Mat Hatter, will be locked away in Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Prison. Batman knows the two is in effective but he can't give them resources as Bruce Wayne because it creates an obvious connection between the identities. But no Batman means no risk of identity exposure, so Arkham becomes significantly more secure through the help of the Wayne Trust fund. Escape still occur but vastly fewer and far between.


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

[User] ELI5: If Pac-Man's maximum level is 255 because it's the highest decimal number you can store in 8-Bit binary, how come it can count the score up to millions in decimal even though it's still 8-Bit?

[Assistant] They only reserved 8 bits for the level, resulting in 255 being the maximum level. The maximum score for pacman is 3,333,360 points, but that limitation is determined by limited ways you can earn points to begin with. You need at least 21 bits to express 3,333,360, so it is likely that they reserved at least 24 bits (since bits usually come in multiples of 8) to store the score information.


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

[User] Why can you feel the heat from ir radiation but not from radiation of higher or lower frequencies?

[Assistant]
You can, if it's intense enough. A red laser pointer will not feel warm but a much more powerful laser of the same colour will.

Infrared is associated with heat because things that are warm or hot-but-not-super-hot emit most strongly in the infrared.


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

[User] Eli5: How does Bluetooth work?

[Assistant]
Each Bluetooth device has a little radio in it. The Bluetooth radios can talk to each other if they are on the same channel. It's kinda like setting the TV to the right channel so you can watch a particular show.
TVs stay in the same channel until someone changes the channel. But Bluetooth radios don't stay on one channel. In fact, they jump around about 80 different channels all the time! All that jumping around follows a pattern, and there are many different patterns.
The only way two Bluetooth radios can talk to each other is if they both jump between channels at the same time following the same pattern. But if the first Bluetooth radio doesn't know the pattern or timing of the second Bluetooth radio, how do they find each other in the first place?
When you want to Bluetooth products to talk to each other, you first have to 'pair' the Bluetooth radios. When the radio is put in pairing mode, it goes to a specific pattern that all Bluetooth radios know. That way, the two radios can find each other. Once they find each other, and after they ask each other some questions to make sure they're talking to the right radio, one radio tells the other radio what pattern it is going to use, and provides the timing. Then they both jump to the pattern and talk to each other as they jump from channel to channel. Usually, each radio stores the codes so they can find each other again next time (a process called bonding).
Once they are paired and connected, the two radios can exchange all sorts of data. That data could be music streaming from your phone to your headphones, letters and words from your keyboard to your computer, or movement data your smartwatch to your phone.


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

[User] ELI5:How does the vacuum in a thermos prevent heat dissipation/loss, but the same does not work for the sun in space?

[Assistant] The same DOES work for the sun in space. Heat only gets to us from the sun by radiation, not by convection or conduction as there is nothing to mediate the latter two. In a thermos, as well as the vacuum there is a mirrored surface, which prevents radiation as well. There is no mirror in space.


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

[User] [superman] Aside from the Anti-Superman stuff, is Lexcorp a legitimate business?

[Assistant]
Lexcorp is a large corporation with many areas of business, including construction, pharmaceuticals, military supply, and many other fields.  The majority of it operates mostly within the law like any other corporation, but there are some parts that operate in shady or downright illegal areas, such as weapons sales to unfriendly nations or terrorist groups or illegal research into genetic engineering.

So the answer to your question is definitely yes and definitely no.


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

[User] The Voyager 2 was successfully contacted from 12 billion miles away. This is cool, partly because its 50 years old. But by special relativity, wouldnt it actually be far older?

[Assistant]
At the relative speeds and gravities between us and Voyager, it's not going to experience a meaningful time difference.

Generally speaking, time dilation is only meaningful when we're talking about significant fractions of the speed of light, or gravity near a black hole (or when an insane amount of precision is needed, like with GPS satellites).


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

[User]
[Stranger Things] Why do the attacks stop?

Major spoilers for the whole show:

In the season finale, Eleven destroys a demogorgan. Afterwards, it appears everyone's lives go back to normal, which attacks from the upside down ending. However, I don't understand how this stops the attacks.

We know from Nancy's brief time in the upside-down that there are more than one demigorgon. Therefore killing one shouldn't stop the attacks

We know that eleven's psychic attack didn't close the portals either, as the Sheriff, Joyce, and Will had to get back to our world after that. Therefore any of the other demigorgans should still be able to breach into our world.

So what happens that allows people to go back to living their lives for the most part? Why aren't all the other demigorgans entering our world and still feeding.

Edit: Second question, why did the demigorgan choose to glue Will to the nest instead of just eating him?

[Assistant]
First Question:  Since El is the first thing the Demogorgons lock onto in the Right Side Up, it's very possible that her death/disappearance into the Upside Down is enough that the Demogorgons can no longer find their way back to our world.  They couldn't find their way here before El inadvertently contacted them, so it's possible they can't get here without her.

On that note:  The main portal doesn't seem to have anything to do with the Demogorgons' travel plans.  They don't seem to need to use it, anyway - they can come and go as they please.  Only humans need to use portals, whether the main one or those left behind by the Demogorgons burrowing into our world.

On the second question:  They didn't eat Barb, either.  Maybe living humans are uniquely necessary/good for Demogorgon reproduction (if the mouth slugs that we see in both Barb's and Will's bodies are a larval stage, perhaps).  Barb died (whether by Demogorgon violence or just toxic atmosphere, we don't really know), but she wasn't eaten.


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

[User] [Wolverine] Shouldn't Wolverine had a hole in his metal skull where the Adamantium bullet hit him? What happened to the bullet, is it still in there and shouldn't this have been visible on the x-rays we saw?

[Assistant]
No. The general even explains this. The bullet doesn't ever penetrate the skull. The entire point was to create a concussion wave to (temporarily) reduce his brain to pudding in the hope that when the brain healed its memories would be imperfect, memory not necessarily a function of structure and his brain obviously being plastic enough to form new memories.

It was a gamble to at least give the general a chance to get away.

The bullet probably ricocheted off and away after delivering a pinpoint shock to the skull. (I can't remember what it showed happening.)


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

[User]
[Marvel] Would Matt Murdock save someone while undisguised if it meant revealing his abilities?

Say Matt is just walking down the street, and someone right next to him falls into the path of an oncoming car. Would he save him if it meant revealing publicly that while his eyes dont work, hes not functionally blind?

[Assistant]
Matt is a strict "nobody dies" hero. He would absolutely save the person. Then he would make up some bullshit excuse.

A fun example is when everyone found out he was Daredevil, so he lied and said that Daredevil was actually his secret twin brother who wasn't blind.


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

[User]
How far can the banality of evil thesis be extended?

If Im getting the basic thesis right, its that evil isnt necessarily men like Hitler, but rather otherwise ordinary men who, through institutions and bureaucracy, casually carry out evil deeds. Without the banality of evil, men like Hitler wouldve been relegated to mere crackpots whod never amount to much power, and thus whose damage remains relatively negligible. Or, at worst, they may achieve an individual act of evil, but never amount to systematizing it into something like the Holocaust.

Eichmann was a bureaucrat with the expressed job title of sending people to be transported and subsequently murdered en masse. The expressed end was nothing short of genocide.

But can this thesis be expanded to much more benign evils, though evil nonetheless? For example, how culpable is a bank bureaucrat for collecting debts on the poor? The expressed purpose of his job is to maximize return for the bank. So its not as obviously evil as full on genocide. I dont mean to equate the two. But there are consequences to his job that nonetheless produce evil results, like destitution and poverty. And these consequences are well-known and understood. How culpable might a university administrator be for the evils of student loans? What responsibility do we have towards these systematized evils, and is participating in perpetuating them, even as a bureaucrat following orders, to be doing evil?

[Assistant]
*But can this thesis be expanded to much more benign evils, though evil nonetheless? For example, how culpable is a bank bureaucrat for collecting debts on the poor? The expressed purpose of his job is to maximize return for the bank.*

Examples like this are the exact thing people mean when they talk about the "banality of evil": a lot of evil regularly occurs as a result of people simply doing what they are "supposed to", and goes unremarked upon because "that's just how the world is". Your example is not an extension of the concept, but a prototypical example of it.


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

[User] ELI5: How are game consoles and other computer devices able to turn themselves off and on again after an update?

[Assistant]
Well, technically the device is never really powered off. The CPU and the power supply are linked by some input/output lines and so there's some limited control the CPU (via the motherboard) has over the power supply like "go into low power mode" or "go to standby".... which just keeps the CPU running at slow speed and contents of memory in the RAM and so on.

But in the case of a reboot for say a Windows update.

- computer operating system downloads the update.
- inserts commands into its startup scripts to run the new code instead of the old
- sets a flag at the end of the startup scripts that if it gets to this point it must have worked ok. Otherwise roll back the changes after another reboot.
- tells self to reboot
- CPU pretends like its shutting down, powering off and on again
- follows its startup scripts
- it worked, removes that flag/check

Literally there are commands like "reboot" or "shutdown -R 'now'" to shutdown or reboot the operating system. These in turn end with commands for the CPU to literally turn itself off and on again.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Are Cerberuses (Cerberi?) immune to the avada kedrava or something?

I mean, Quirrel put Fluffy to sleep when he could've just killed it.

[Assistant]
If he had gotten away with it, fluffy would have woken up and everything would look alright at first glance, possibly delaying investigation.

A dead door guard usually warrants a closer look-see to make sure whatever was being guarded is still around.

Another thought.  The killing curse needs you to really want your target dead. Maybe he just couldn't pull it off in that case.


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

[User]
ELI5: What are toll roads or "turnpikes" used for?

Where does the money collected by toll roads go and what is it used for exactly, entering a new country is understanderble but they have toll roads on highways where there is no border so what is the purpose of these stops which take unnecessary fees??

[Assistant]
In a lot of cases the state or city has decided that they need a new highway from A to B to alleviate congestion on some existing roadway. But building massive highways is expensive. So they go to a highway building consortium and say "we want a highway from A to B and we want YOU to build it (and pay for building it). In return we'll let you charge $x per vehicle for the first 10 years the highway is in operation then we'll take it over or buy it off you".

Then the highway corp goes, builds it and makes money off it. Then some toll roads become free (once its been "paid" for), or sometimes the state or whatever takes it over and continues to charge for it. In that case the money is used to maintain the toll road itself, or to help maintain other roadways under the same department of transport or roads or whatever.

The 407 toll highway here in Toronto was to have become free once it paid for itself, but one of the provincial governments chose a quick cash grab, sold it to a private corporation who continues to milk $0.50/km out of people - it turns out that people are willing to pay $20 a trip to avoid sitting in the 401 parking lot for 3 hrs.


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

[User]
When did "sleeping" evolve? What are the most primitive organisms that we know of that sleep?

Was reading an askreddit thread about "weird and common things" and sleeping is brought up. It still seems so strange to me that organisms evolved the need for sleep. For one thing it makes us completely vulnerable to predators. Do we have any idea when this habit first appeared in the evolutionary timeline?

[Assistant] Tangent question, is sleep what evolved or the state of being awake? As in, did multicellular organisms first evolve to walk around, eat, reproduce, then sleep and recover.. or did they evolve to stay in a neutral state then get up, eat, and reproduce?


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

[User] Eli5: Why are blue light signs so grating to the eyes in comparison to red light signs? When I'm on the road red signs feel more easy on the eyes for some reason?

[Assistant] Its a complicated topic, but one of the reasons is because blue light has more energy than other colors. While purple has even more energy than blue, a lot of purple is invisible because of UV. Older blue lights werent as bright because they were incandescent lights with a blue filter, rather than true blue light.


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

[User]
[Mass Effect/RL] What would be the effect of a genophage geared towards humans affecting modern day Earth?

One in one thousand children survives birth.

[Assistant]
Cloning tech would be immediately refined, manufactured, and implemented into all major countries. Because of the fact that we now grow babies literally from Test Tubes, most genetic defects can and will be screened out.

Furthermore, there would likely be a large increase in casual sex as well as a huge increase in pregnancy pills. The way the genophage works is that while the mother becomes pregnant, the baby dies in utero. Due to this, most women would not want to go through with the pains of pregnancy just to get disappointed when the baby is born dead.

Control of the population would become implemented and abortions and adoption would become unnecessary.

The cloning tech would have some very big ramifications on the military, since you can literally engineer the perfect soldiers before they are even born.

All in all, humanity would survive but there would be large decrease of the population for about twenty years before cloning tech is ready, and then a controlled population until space flight is achieved.


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

[User]
Do "larger" people have an advantage combating a viral or bacterial infection?

All else being equal, aside from height/weight (but the same BMI) would you expect someone shorter than average or taller than average to get over say, a viral infection, at a different pace than an average person?

Say you have:

A 5'4", 127lb male ("smaller")

A 5'10", 153lb male ("average")

A 6'4", 180lb male ("larger")

All the same BMI, with identical immune systems, diets, environmental factors, and have proportional bodies, would the larger specimen be able to fight the virus 40% quicker than the smaller one? Or feel side effects proportionately *less* than the smaller one? Etc?

Or does the virus scale itself to the size of the human, and they can expect identical experiences the duration of infection?

I apologize if this is a stupid question but I wonder if there's some how an almost mechanical advantage to a larger person in fighting disease.

Thank you in advance for your consideration and/or any directions you can point me to for my own edification.

[Assistant]
Not a stupid question but the short answer is no. Larger people do not have an inherent advantage fighting infection.

The immune system runs off of a series of checkpoints, viral particles (which do not change size depending on host) have to picked up by certain cell types and presented to others in the right place at the right time with the right signals etc to mount an immune response. This is not affected by size and will occur at a similar rate, all else being equal, in a small vs large person.

This breaks down when looking at extremes, where a persons extremely large/small weight starts to affect their ability to resist/recover from an infection. Also in young children infants, where a small size can mean a much lower energy reserve to fight the infection.

This is still a more generalist answer, there will be differences depending on the type of infection. A larger person will have larger airways which will reduce the severity of some respiratory infection symptoms, for example.


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

[User]
Solutions to the equation a^a = b^b?

After seeing the thread about the possible solutions to a^b = b^a, I was wondering what will happen if we were to look for the solutions to a^a = b^b where a =/= b.

One possible solution is when a = 1/2 and b = 1/4. Intuitively, the possible solutions for a and b should be in the interval (0,1) since if a > b > 1, then a^a > b^b.

By considering the function y = x^x, it can be shown that it achieves a global minimum at 1/e and that the graph concaves up for every x in its domain. So, in the interval (0, 1), there ought to be infinite solutions as horizontal straight lines can be drawn to cut the graph of y twice in this interval. (Please do correct me if this reasoning is wrong.)

So, the thing is, is it possible to obtain all possible pairs of (a, b) that are solutions to a^a = b^b ?

[Assistant]
You can do the same trick. Firstly, taking logs turns this into aloga=blogb, which is simpler to work with. Set b=a^(r) and plug it in to get aloga=ra^(r)loga, or a^(1-r)=r, which means a=r^(1/[1-r]), which gives b=r^(r/[1-r]). Any 0<a<1 can be written uniquely in this way and any r>0 gives such an a. And similarly for b. So this gives all solutions.

If you want rational solutions, we'll need 1/(1-r)=N, an integer, which means r=1-1/N. In this case, a=(1-1/N)^(N) and b=(1-1/N)^(N-1). These are the solutions when a and b are both rational. Eg: a=1/4, b=1/2.


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

[User]
Why do hallucinations so often tell you to kill yourself? (In people with mental issues)

Right now there's at IAmA of the girl with Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. She mentioned that the hallucinations would try and get her to kill herself.

From other AMAs and TV/Movies I've seen that it's quite common for your hallucinations to try and get you to kill yourself.

Is there any reason for this? Is this actually something common, or is it rare?

[Assistant] There is probably an element of selection bias; a hallucination telling someone to hurt themselves or others has a better chance of manifesting  itself in a very dramatic way that's impossible for other people to ignore (suicide, shooting spree, etc) whereas a hallucination compelling you to eat cupcakes is going to have much more local (and harder to notice) effects.