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

[User]
What would be the implications of finding the hypothetical tachyon particle/ tachyon field?

I've read somewhere that if such a particle/field existed where the particle would travel faster than light, then causality would be broken. If this is the case, why does that matter and what would the implications on physics be if such a phenomenon was discovered? Thanks!

[Assistant]
Forget causality, tachyons in a quantum theory break everything.

If tachyons exist, then considering one tachyon there is at least one frame where its energy is negative (this comes from a bit of relativistic geometry). Now, consider the lowest energy state there is (the ground, or real vacuum) and then create such a negative-energy tachyon: this lowers the energy to below that of the ground, which means there actually isn't a lower bound to energy and no ground.

The energy not being bounded from below is uncomfortable in a classical theory but completely unworkable in quantum mechanics, since it means that the probability of any process is irreparably divergent. Basically any process includes uncontrollable contributions from the production of an arbitrarily large number of virtual tachyons and everything is infinite.

Lower-boundedness of energy is therefore usually taken as an axiom of quantum mechanics and this excludes tachyons as physical particles (and partly saves causality as a bonus).


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

[User]
[Star Trek] How is it possible to be skeptical... about anything?!

There are beings of incredible power and occurrences of tremendous improbability in the universe. There are gangster planets, and Roman empire planets. There are energy beings who *literally* pretend to be ghosts and imaginary friends. So, what I need to know is, how can anyone ever tell the difference between a mysterious energy being, and paranoid schizophrenia? Coming at it from another direction, if someone comes forward with a story about a malevolent imaginary friend who appears and disappears at will, how can anyone ever *dis-*believe such a story, and not treat every wild claim as another potential incursion from beings who don't obey the laws of physics as we know them?

[Assistant]
You just add up how many people are paranoid schiizophenics, and how many are actually being possessed by alien energy beings from another dimension.  While there do appear to be alien energy beings from other dimensions possessing people, they are really astoundingly rare.  It's a safe bet that the person going on about how "they" are spying on his brain is just crazy and not actually the victim of a vast trans-dimensional conspiracy bent on stopping him from ever eating cheese again.

Also, the treatment for people who are actually being influenced by energy beings is pretty similar to the treatment for people who are just crazy.  If they're hacking into your brain through the undetectable particle emissions it generates, we'll drug you to where you stop generating those particles or stop hallucinating.  Same drugs work for both sets of symptoms.


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

[User]
What determines a material's heat capacity? Why is water's so high?

This question came to me at 1:30AM in bed thinking about *why* we actually boil stuff in water: it has high heat capacity so it spreads the heat evenly and stays hot after we turn off the heat (or put out the fire)

But yeah water seems like an unassuming molecule if that makes sense, what makes it able to take in so much energy before changing temperature?

[Assistant]
Heat capacity is heat energy being stored in

(i) molecular or atomic movement

(ii) molecular vibrations, rotations etc

(iii) breaking bonds

As others have noted most liquids just have (i) and (ii) to contribute. Water and ammonia can store energy by revesibly breaking hydrogen bonds as well.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What caused the galaxy to turn so vehemently against the Emperor?

The Galactic Senate, as a representation of the people of the Republic, willing gave power to Palpatine, and even applauded as they did so.  Over the next 23 years, his rule brought order to the galaxy, all but eliminated petty squabbles between systems, and reduced outlaws like smugglers and bounty hunters to the fringes of society.  Yet, 23 years later, people are dancing in the streets and tearing down his statues when he is killed at the hands of a terrorist organization.  While there may have been opposition from rebel groups that disagreed with the politics of Palpatine's rule, what was it that the Emperor did that turned the average citizen against him so strongly that they would celebrate his death across the Empire?

[Assistant]
The empire had very Humanist policies that allowed "lesser" species to be enslaved (wookies and Mon Calamari being notable examples) They took funding away from projects like education and social services and redirected them to things like super star destroyers and death stars.

At the same time anyone who tried to speak out would be ruthlessly torn down with either lies and smears or outright violence. There was no discourse of discontent, just a stormtrooper's blaster.

Further still his regional govenors like grand moff tarkin were no gems. His entire leadership style was built on fear. Make the people fear what you will do if they disobey. The only way to make that work is to do horrible things.


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

[User] [MCU] What if the last Ultron sentry had surrendered to Vision?

[Assistant]
I think vision would still destroy it. From the moment vision began to lock Ultron out of the internet he began the process of murdering him because he was too dangerous to allow to exist.

Even if Vision wanted to lock up Ultron. How could that happen. All the Ultron bodies have some kinda network, Vision would have to monitor the body 24/7 to ensure Ultron would stay contained. And what kinda quality of life would Ultron have.

In general the MCU heroes are more pragmatic about killing enemies that have gone too far to be safely contained.


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

[User]
An interesting subject for a ONE day class for high schoolers to get them excited about economics?

Hi all,

I'm currently teaching English in Europe for the year, but because I studied economics in college, the social studies teacher here wants me to give an economics class. I'm looking for a subject that will be easy enough for them to grasp while being entertaining and engaging. Any ideas?

Thinking about a game where the students get to see some lessons in competition, or perhaps some easy game theory stuff. What do you think?

[Assistant]
Oftentimes game theory is the way to go in these instances.  A repeated game prisoners dilemma is a great way to get some interaction going:

Divide the class up into groups, and tell them the rules of the game. Make them play about ten interations allowing for in-group discussion, tell them to write down the sequence of tactics their group used, and either play against the same group ten times or cycle so that they play a different group every round (in which case every group's strategy against another group has to be publicly announced per round) . Then get someone from every group to write down their Total Points on the board and their chosen strategy sesuence. Discuss optimal strategies and let them guess and think about it. Introduce Nash equilibria etc.

You could also discuss auctions by running first price auction experiments:

Let people write down their name and birthday on a piece of paper and set their maximum valuation for the auction as (MM+DD)  ( months and days from their birthday). The money they stand to gain for any auction is then equal to their max valuation minus their bid, if they win. So let them write down a bid for an auction with 1 random classmate, and one for an auction with 2 random classmates.  Put the pieces of paper in a bowl and start making the pairs, followed by triplets. Determine who won the most money in the end.

You could then talk about the dangers of overbidding and underbidding. Let them suggest alternative rules to fix these problems. Then you could Bring in the concept of vickrey auctions/second price auctions or English auctions.


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

[User]
Why can't most humans remember everything they 'know'?

Why is it people can know something, yet not be able to recall that information at will?

For example in an exam not remembering a specific equation, fact or date or whatever, only for it to come to you in the last 5 minutes - the knowledge must have been there the whole time, you just couldn't access it.

Or learning words in another language, you'll "forget" them but instantly know the word again when you hear or revise it next time, but would not be able to give it when asked before that.

[Assistant] Memory generation and exactly how the brain works is still very much unknown. It is thought that the brain creates pathways for memories... The more pathways or references to an event or piece of information you make, the more likely you will be able to recall that information at a later date. That's why making rhymes up for complicated equations etc. Can help you recall them in exams. In regard to remembering later or when not under pressure or a piece of information/ memory seeming to appear from the blue... Perhaps the brain has come across a pathway previously made and triggered by by some kind of stimulus in the current environment.


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

[User]
ELI5: If people can surgically have half their brain removed, then how come, if shot through one half of the brain, we die instantly?

So there is a surgical operation that people can have called a hemispherectomy where in people who suffer from major seizures and other such symptoms can have half of their brain, one hemisphere, removed and can still function relatively normal. However, if I took a gun, aimed correctly and shot myself (or anyone for that matter) through exactly one hemisphere of the brain, I (they) would die instantly. Any thoughts as to why?

[Assistant]
For similar reasons why we can remove a whole's leg via surgery, but if you get it chopped off with a rusty machete, you'll bleed out in a matter of minutes. A surgical procedure is done with careful precision in order to avoid disrupting major blood vessels, which can otherwise cause massive bleeding is severed. The major trauma induced from gunshot wounds also cause major swelling along with the bleeding, which puts pressure on the brain and can disrupt normal neurological functions (ie - breathing) as well as a host of other things that can be medically described as 'very bad'.

Also, a gunshot wound through one hemisphere might not necessarily kill instantly. If it doesn't destroy the brainstem, the most inner part of the brain, you're body could still perform some basic functions that can keep you alive for a short time (until the bleeding and swelling causes your brain to shut down).


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

[User] [Portrait of Dorian Grey] what happens if, instead of a life of debauchery, grey starts chugging protein shakes to try and get swole?

[Assistant] The portrait was more a reflection of Dorian's *soul*. It *did* take on the physical damage he would have naturally accrued, but the real ugliness what the man inside. Unless he became a *better* person, instead of just a jacked person, the portrait would have continued to decay.


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

[User]
[Battlestar Galactica RDM] How widespread was FTL in the Twelve Colonies? When was it invented?

We see in Blood and Chrome that early Raptors (at least some of them) didn't have FTL. In the miniseries pilot we see that a lot of Colonial civilian ships don't have FTL. Even Laura Roslin's transport, which does have FTL, opted for a 3 hour sublight flight rather than use it. Galactica's FTL at that point hadn't been used in more than 20 years.

So what's the status of FTL in Colonial society? It's common among military vessels but less widespread among older ones, and in civilian shipping it seems to be pretty random - some ships have it and some ships don't. Some of the ships that do have it include tylium refinery vessels, a prison ship, one habitat vessel (but not another), a smattering of other transport and passenger ships, and probably some others I didn't mention.

We also know from related materials that the Twelve Colonies were scattered throughout a double binary system. Near enough to form a society, especially when you're founded by a spacefaring people already,  but definitely scattered enough that FTL would be the most practical means of keeping the society connected.

So, there might not be a canon answer to this, but what do you think the deal is with FTL in the Twelve Colonies? When was it invented? What are its limitations? How widespread is it?

[Assistant]
FTL is expensive, complicated, and can take a serious toll on a ship. The military uses it because being able to instantly travel to the scene of a battle is of serious tactical relevance. Outside of that it tends to be up to the preference of whoever is making or ordering the ships. If you're just shipping cargo, it's probably not mission-critical to have it there instantly, therefore conventional travel, which the colonies could do quickly relative to current Earth, makes more sense unless you happen to be able to afford installing FTL. Couple that with the fact that FTL travel can cause excessive wear and tear on your ship, and it seems likely to end up costing a great deal for relatively little significance. For transport it quite possibly might be like first class vs coach. If you're first class you can get there today, coach is gonna take you a week.

Also to remember is that many of the more modern ships may have had better FTL technology, but the ability for Cylons to shut down the advanced computer systems prevented them from being used after the invasion. It's possible that the modern FTL drives were better than most of the ones we see traveling with the Galactica.


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

[User] [Half-Life] Why did the Science Team have Gordon suit up and push the crystal into the spectrometer himself? They have more than enough automated machines to do it for him.

[Assistant]
This is a lab not a factory, You only build a machine for something you do regularly enough to automate it.

Assume that they're not always putting stuff in the spectrometer of the same physical dimensions, last weeks scheduled test might have involved it in a different configuration. Next week the device might be broken apart when they realize something about it isn't conducive to the test they want and so on.


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

[User]
Can a child be born with cancer?

Is there anything stopping a baby getting cancer in the womb?

[Assistant] Yes, babies can be born with cancer as well as benign tumors. They are generally specific types of cancers that are derived from progenitor cells etc, since obviously they haven't had any environmental exposures that lead to things like melanoma or lung cancer.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we begin to pick up accents after only being somewhere new for a short period of time

For example, my friends are from the North and went to Florida for Spring Break -- after only a couple days a couple of my buddies unknowingly began using a southern dialect with a few of their words. I've done this too when I was in Sweden.

[Assistant] People naturally tend to do things to fit in with other people, even subconsciously. Accents make people stand out like sore thumbs, and you and your brain both know it. So, even after a short period of time, you just kind of start speaking like those in your environment.


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

[User]
ELI5: Carbon makes steel strong. But why does too much carbon makes the steel brittle?

Carbon is added to steel to increase its strength and hardness but why does too much carbon makes it brittle? Can some explain in terms of the iron crystal lattices ?

[Assistant]
Metals have crystals. The atoms in the metal form these grids with space in between. Regions inside metals all with the same pattern and orientation are called grains. A single metal can have many small grains or it can be few large grains

Defects in metals form inside these structure at grain boundaries. Where the crystal faces one way and then suddenly a different crystal faces another, cracks form easily.

Imagine a metal sword made of two grains. The boundary runs across the sword the short way, through the middle. If the sword gets hit, the crack only has to start there to make it all the way across the sword through the shortest path possible.

Compared to an iron atom, a carbon atom is very small. These atoms can get in between iron atoms and force new grain boundary patterns to form around them. So if there are a lot of carbon atoms, the grain boundaries are very small. Like the lines of a jig-saw puzzle, cracks have to jog around all kinds of grain boundaries to make it all the way through the metal. No single crack can follow one grain boundary all the way through.

If there are too many grains because they are super small, the metal becomes weak in a new way. It becomes soft and more malleable because of all these small slip interfaces.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we have tonsils?

[Assistant]
Tonsils are lymphatic tissue, meaning tissue that is responsible for capturing, sequestering, and destroying infectious agents. The places in your body that have the most lymphatic tissue are the places that are the easiest to infect through. Your mouth is what you use to eat and breathe, daily, and so your tonsils are located right there at the back of your throat, as prisons and death rows for anything that tries to infect you through your mouth and throat.

By the way, the tonsils that we think of as "tonsils" are actually not the only ones. Those are the palatine tonsils. There are also lingual tonsils (which sit on the back of the tongue and look like really big taste buds) and also pharyngeal tonsils (which are at the top of the throat, where the nasal cavity ends). Those guys typically don't get as swollen or infected as the palatine tonsils, and so they're almost never removed.


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

[User]
How do humans get accustomed to the temperatures of the places they live?

For example Eskimos can handle the cold very well and Aborigines do well in the heat.  Also as simple as someone from Minnesota will be wearing shorts when it's 30 degrees but someone from Miami will be shivering while bundled up in layers.

[Assistant] The body has a temperature regulation system controlled by the hypothalamus. When in colder weather, it signals the pituitary gland to produce more thyroid stimulating hormone to increase metabolism and create more heat. It doesn't happen as much today due to air conditioning and heat, but in older times people's hypothalami would reset each summer and winter due to the seasonal temperature changes as well.


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

[User] How are we able to measure the temperature of inaccessible objects such as the surface and core of the sun or the earth's core?

[Assistant]
For the surface of the Sun: Measure the radiation spectrum. It depends on the temperature in a quite simple way. For the core of Earth or Sun you need models of the interior of Earth/Sun, then you see what these models predict for things we can measure (like the surface conditions, the overall mass, how earthquakes propagate through the interior of Earth and so on) and get the temperature from that.

As a more direct way: Fusion reactions in the core of the Sun release neutrinos. The relative frequencies of different fusion reactions depend on the temperature (among other things) and different fusion reactions lead to different energy spectra for neutrinos. By measuring that precisely enough on Earth we can check that we understand the core of the Sun. The Earth's interior also releases neutrinos (from radioactive decay), but they don't depend on the temperature. Measuring these still tells us something about the heat released from radioactivity, which helps refining models mentioned before.


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

[User]
[Aladdin movie] How did Aladdin trick people into thinking he was Prince Ali?

Surely the royal families of the surrounding areas would have been common knowledge?

If riches are enough to assume royalty then the plot of the final act falls apart; Aladdin chooses to free the Genie with his final wish, rather than use it to retain a royal title- something that would have been a requirement to marry Jasmine. What does royalty *mean* in this universe then?

[Assistant]
Aladdin isn't a prince until he marries Jasmine. Technically his first wish (to become a prince) doesn't come true until that happens. When Genie turns him into Prince Ali, he does so in name only. This is why when Jasmine and the Sultan find out who he really is, he is unable to marry her. That is, until the Sultan changed the law that states he has to be a prince before marrying Jasmine.

As for how he tricked people, everyone is so wowed by his entrance that they don't even question it. He must have been an extremely wealthy prince from a very distant land because who else could make an entrance like that?


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

[User] [Star Wars] Could a light-side Jedi use the moves associated with the dark side if he wanted to, e.g. choking people like Darth Vader?

[Assistant]
Sure. Telekinesis by itself is not aligned - in fact very few abilities are exclusive to the Dark Side of the Force. If a jedi puts his mind to it, it would be possible even to replicate Force Lightning without tapping into the Dark Side, although most darksiders find it coming to them infinitely faster and easier.

You even can see in Return of the Jedi, when Luke breaks into Jabba's palace, he briefly non-lethally chokes gamorrean guards with the Force to make his way in.

It's when jedi starts actually directly killing people with the Force or making a habit out of torturing them, that's when you should start  to worry.


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

[User] Is there a biological/observable difference in the brain of a person with a 'photographic' memory? If so, how is it different from 'normal' brains?

[Assistant] Photographic memory doesn't exist. It's just a fictional storytelling device. Some people are pretty good at remembering certain kinds of things, but no one perfectly remembers an event and can just pull it out and recall it in that perfect detail.


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

[User]
[MCU] Wakandan Diplomacy

How did Wakanda maintain their secret at the international diplomatic level? We know they were involved with the UN. Did they not have regular diplomatic relations with other nations?

Where would/how could foreign diplomats live and work in Wakanda without noticing or suspecting anything?

Wouldn't there be a need for (e.g. U.K. or U.S.) embassies and consulates in Wakanda?

Is there a "decoy" city outside the holographic forcefield, and if so, are there Wakandans who live there 24/7 who just play-act all day, every day, that Wakanda is poor and not advanced? If so are they paid government employees?

[Assistant]
There is a decoy city, yes. . It seems their main strategy is looking like such a poor, reasource strapped nation that no-one has any real reason to have more then perfunctory relations with them. People will send the odd ambassador but they won't have any serious interaction.

The question of who *lives* in that decoy city is, admittedly, a bit up in the air- even if only for keeping up apparences or sheer chance, some outsiders will stay there. Wakanda has good enough technology they might be able to make cheap human looking androids that it seems inhabitated on a passing glance, with diplomats acting as poverty stricken people being vistor's main interaction. Alternately, it might be a civil duty like Jury Duty- people sometimes have to go put on rags and sit in a decrepit city for a while. Presumably, they're compensated for their time.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can't we see lasers from things like laser pointers until they've hit a surface?

I was fooling around at work with a laser thermometer and this crossed my mind. If the lasers are invisible to the human eye then why can we see them once they've hit a surface, such as a table?

[Assistant]
You can only see light that enters your eyes. The light in a laser beam is traveling away from you and not entering your eyes so you can't see it. When it hits a surface, the light gets reflected and some of it does enter your eyes so you can see it.

If you fill a room with smoke or fog then you can see the beam because the smoke/fog is scattering the light. Powerful enough lasers are visible in plain air because the air itself is scattering light.

Of course, this only applies to lasers that generate visible light. There's nothing you can do to see the light from an infrared laser with the naked eye.


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

[User]
[Meta] What to do about personal views?

It seems that personal views get downvoted quite often here.  Posts with titles such as "I think I am a loser CMV" get downvoted and while the comments aren't usually productive they could be with more info from OP.

The main question here is should personal views, something like "I think I should break up with my girlfriend CMV" or "I believe I am not a jerk CMV" stay or go?

While personal opinions such as those are completely valid views that could be changed, it is difficult to do that in an anonymous, text-based conversation, especially because you don't know the whole story about the situation or person.

However, personal views are still views, and they could be changed.

So, let them stay or send them off to another subreddit based around personal views?

(By personal views I'm talking about views like the examples mentioned above.  Opinions about feminism or Eric Snowden are personal opinions, but not what we're talking about here.)

[Assistant] I believe that they should be shipped off somewhere else. They are too prone to special pleading, rely on OP to have any sort of discussion, and there's no way to accurately address the issue unless you know the OP.


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

[User] Why is the lather of a soap always white, no matter its original colour?

[Assistant]
I believe it's the same phenomenon that makes a pile of sugar look white even though the individual grains are transparent. Light just bounces around a lot at all the air/sugar or air/water interfaces so the substance takes on the same color as the incident light. There's probably just not enough pigment in the liquid of the bubbles themselves to really alter that.

I would wager that if you slice your soap very thinly, it won't appear to have much color anymore.


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

[User]
[Dune] Did the Great Houses have interplanetary ships within their solar systems?

Or were they fully dependent on the Spacing Guild for any sort of space launches?

Could the Spacing Guild, if it so desired, just carpet-bomb a planet from space with impunity?

Conversely, if they had their own spaceships: how did Muad-Dib's jihad even stand a chance at success? The Fremen dropships would have been intercepted and taken down with nukes, before they even approached the planet (given that Paul has chosen to throw all formal rules of conflict out of the window).

[Assistant]
I think it was just the space folding that was all theirs.  They had a monopoly on travel between systems.

The Emperor commanded most of the military assets, so he'd be in position to carpet bomb.

They can't carpet bomb the desert where the Fremen are because that's where the Worms make the spice.  And the Spacing guild can see the future but always choose the safe, boring path.  So they'll never do anything that would endanger the spice.

As far as the military goes, remember, Dune also is a world with NO computers.  Shooting spaceships down almost impossible with a manually sighted gun.  You have to wait for them to land.


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

[User]
How many calories, or how much of my food goes to being energy for bacteria reproduction rather than powering me physically?

With as much bacteria that is in our feces, and the pure amount that are in our bodies, how much energy does it take to keep up this microcosm within us?

[Assistant] I probably should point out that the relationship between our body and bacteria isn't always competitive as the question may imply. Not all the energy from the food can be absorbed by us, so the bacteria are often breaking down out waste product and sometimes releasing nutrients that we can then absorb. The rumen of ruminant animals is a more advanced example of this symbiotic relationship.


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

[User]
ELI5: What's cholesterol and why is it good or bad for it to be high or low?

Asking for Ron Swanson.

[Assistant] Cholesterol is used by the body to build cells and transport nutrients.  So some is good and needed.  The problem comes from too much of the "low density" or LDL type.  This stuff is big and fluffy and has a tendency to get stuck in arteries and blood vessels.  This makes your heart have to pump harder and wears it out faster.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do credit cards have expiration dates?

[Assistant]
When modern-style credit cards were first introduced in the 1960s, running a credit check on an individual was a lengthy and complicated business. Although major financial institutions each had their own basic computer systems, there was no interoperability and no way for them to automatically verify an individual's bank account details, lending history, and so on. This all had to be done pretty much by hand, involving much sending of real snail-mail letters.

So this meant that after agreeing that someone was credit-worthy enough to own a card, the card issuer couldn't do continuous rolling credit checks to ensure the cardholder was still good for it. Instead they generally made each cardholder reapply for the card after two or three years. This is why expiry dates were first introduced -- it provided a guarantee for both the cardholder and the merchants that the relationship would get re-checked every few years and so there could be some confidence about creditworthiness.

Obviously if you were starting from scratch these days that wouldn't be the case. But for these historical reasons cards keep expiry dates, it also provides a little extra security in that if a fraudster were to get hold of a card number, then without the matching expiry date that's still useless to them.


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

[User] How does Vitamin D absorbed from the sun vs. orally supplemented Vitamin D affect the human body?

[Assistant] The body's process to synthesize vitamin D from the sun is self regulating, consequently you can't synthesize excessive amounts. Supplements bypass this regulation and humans can get hypervitaminosis D -- too much vitamin D. It's rare, but certainly a difference between the two.


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

[User]
ELI5:What is causing this specific version of the Galaxy Note 7 to have so much trouble?

and why couldn't they fix it after recalling the device and issuing new phones?

[Assistant]
If we knew the answer to that question, the problem could be addressed. Given that Samsung has suspended manufacturing it seems likely that they don't know, or cannot fix it.

As for what is burning, the battery is a very high energy storage device. Getting energy out to power your phone needs to be a strictly controlled process. Burning happens when the process gets out of control.


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

[User] ELI5: GameStop. What is the most simplified explanation that will allow us to follow the news and documentary media without any basic knowledge of Wall Street or stocks? Thank you!!

[Assistant]
A has a car. B borrows it, promising to return it sometime in the future. B sells the car to C. Then B borrows the car from C and sells to D.

D has a car now. A and C have to receive that car from B. B has to buy 2 cars when only 1 exists.

Now, B thought that the car will go down in value, as newer models arise. This meant that B could make a profit on the rebuying part. Unfortunately, COVID struck and used car prices skyrocketed.

The clock is ticking and B has to return the 2 cars borrowed. So B starts an auction to make D sell or A or C give up. Once one of the 3 gives up (by getting paid or by getting the car), B still has to buy 1 car. The price for that car is already something incredible (it is just an old car in the end) but B MUST either buy it or give enough money to the one the car was borrowed from.

B might now get bankrupt. Whoever lent B some money will want reassurance. Whoever lent the one who lent B money will also want reassurance.

This happened in January 2021, to the tune of 1.4 GameStop being officially owned by somebody, as stated by the B's of that time. Unofficially, nobody knows, as 1.4 times is the maximum legally allowed.

The SEC acknowledged officially that the B's did not buy back so, in theory, they will have to sometime in the future.


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

[User] eli5, why is gasoline or electricity treated like the only two options to power a cars engine when hydrogen is reliable and clean?

[Assistant]
Hydrogen cars do exist, hydrogen just has a few issues:

* storing it as a liquid is difficult, you need very low temperatures and/or high pressures.

* there's no existing infrastructure for hydrogen, while there is plenty for gasoline and electricity.

* you would use more electricity to produce enough hydrogen for a car to drive 100 km than just charging an electric car to drive that distance.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why did I have to throw away the lid from my water bottle going into a stadium in Hamburg?

I could keep the water and bottle but for security reasons I had to throw away the lid and have no idea why.

[Assistant]
Removing the lid hampers the bottles ability to be used for other nefarious-type uses. It's hard to throw water bottles at the field/other team/your brother-in-law if most of the liquid and subsequent weight is removed while tossed.

Also, removing the cap puts shame on the bottle which might make it think twice before launching itself at unsuspecting stadium goers.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does it hurt to rub salt into a wound?

[Assistant] Your nerves literally send signals to one other through salt, specifically sodium and potassium.  Adding a bunch of salt to the wound overloads local neurons with tons of sodium and they fire off like crazy.  That message travels to your brain, and the large amounts of stimuli are perceived as lots of pain.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it so frowned upon to be friendly with Russia?

[Assistant] Putin invades his neighboring countries. He imprisons his political opponents. He has robbed his country enough to become one of the richest men in the world. He is dangerous, he has dissenters and opponents murdered pretty much with impunity. The people of Russia are fine but Putin is not someone we want to be friends with. Trump's borderline praise and support of him is, very odd.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why (according to my teacher) is the equator not perpendicular to Earths axis?

To preface this, Im currently in 8th grade and generally have a good grasp on new concepts, so when something doesnt click it really bothers me internally.

Anyway, we were learning about the scientific misconceptions associated with seasonal weather changes and the actual reasoning for seasons. We had to draw a whiteboard model; I drew the equator perpendicular to Earths axis. Teacher told me this was incorrect, and that the equator was flat relative to Earths orbital plane. This confused and contradicted everything I had learned about basic astronomy in years prior. Anyone care to explain what he may have meant or what Im failing to grasp here?

[Assistant]
The Earth's axis is tilted about 23.5 degrees with respect to its orbital plane. This tilt is largely responsible for seasons. The equator is precisely in the middle of the planet, perpendicular to the poles, and is thus also tilted 23.5 degrees.

The Earth's orbital plane, from our perspective on the ground, is called the ecliptic, and is represented by a circle in our sky that the sun travels through over the course of a year (the constellations this circle passes through are called the zodiac). The Earth's equator, when projected outward into space, also makes a circle in the sky. These circles are offset from each other by, you guessed it, 23.5 degrees, and they cross at two points, which are called equinoxes.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does software / firmware physically 'interact' with hardware.

I understand, at least at a superficial level, that integrated circuits contain many many transistors, which act as 'switches' for current flow. By applying a current to the transistor 'base' (or not applying a current), the current flow from collector to emitter can be used together with others for AND, OR, NOR etc, which in turn can be built up to be used for many complex processes.

What I don't understand is how the 'program' (software or firmware) can apply this switching signal in the first place. Somewhere there is a physical change- i.e. current is allowed to flow to the 'base' contact on the transistor. How does this happen without a physical switch? What mechanism is in place to allow current to start and stop without a physical interaction?

I would love to know in the context of a simple microcontroller, something like an arduino, rather than the complexities of PC.

[Assistant] The program is stored as a physical difference. From the moment the software is written to a computer (or read from a disk) it is already a physical voltage in the computer. All that's left is for it to move around via those transistors.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Why does time pass the same for everyone, even though we're all traveling faster than the speed of light?

[Assistant]
The trick is that you are not travelling faster than the speed of light. You are entering hyperspace, travelling some amount and then exiting. At no point do you move faster than the speed of light.

(Also, time doesn't pass the same for everyone, its just really similar enough to seem the same)


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

[User] [Star Wars] Do jedi that work for the Republic get paid, and time off, and all other job benefits?

[Assistant] You don't get 'time off' of being a knight or a member of a religion. But you do get plenty of time not assigned to a mission. Even during the Clone Wars, many Jedi spent a lot of time in the Jedi Temple.


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

[User]
CMV: If the police spends more time chasing REAL criminals instead of mentally ill drug addicts, the world would be a better place

There is a place near me where a large portion of the city's homeless hang out during the day because the shelters only open at night. The majority of them are mentally ill, which caused them to become homeless and exposed to drugs in the first place. I had personally met someone who hangs out there, because I met that person at a psych ward. Whenever I walk by there, I always see multiple police cars parked outside. The police would just sit at their car "keeping an eye on things". Maybe it's why half of violent crime cases in the state involving murder and rape go unresolved. Too many rape kits go untouched every year due to the lack of resources and are thrown in the trash. The police are so focused on targeting vulnerable, sick people and are less focused on the real problems in the world.

[Assistant]
A on the street police officer just doesnt do any of those other things. That is what a detective or a lab technician does.

You cant move on the street police officers to those fields because they are different fields.

Also one might argue that they are there also for the people protection. That police could help with assault between homeless people (or agaisnt them), with drug concerns, etc.

A lot of crime like sexual assault and assault happens in these communities. And they need to be protected just as much.

They arent necessarily getting targetted. They are vulnerable to being hurt in the first place, just... the perpetrator is likely also in the community.


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

[User]
What latitude gets the most cumulative hours of sunlight a year?

Ignoring weather patterns of course. Is it the poles, the equator, the tropics, somewhere in between, or is it equal?

[Assistant]
If we ignore the eccentricity of earth's orbit and atmospheric refraction (which refracts sunlight when the sun is a few degrees below horizon), then everywhere has 50% day and 50% night in total, because it is just symmetric, where ever you are, the length of your daytime on a certain day equals to the length of your night on the day half year later.

However if we consider the eccentricity, since earth's apoapsis is in July, the north pole has a tiny little more daylight than anywhere else in a year.


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

[User]
What do philosophers think about Asimovs 'The Last Question'?

'The Last Question' by Isaac Asimov was the story that got me into philosophy, so I just wanted to know what other people think of the story.

[Assistant]
Well, its based on a real theory called the omega point detailed by people like tielhard de chardin and Frank Tipler. Its certainly an interesting theory, and you can look it up, but the general consensus is that its not very plausible when taken literally.

In a more metaphorical vein, there's someone named quentin meillassoux who believes it in an ideological sense. He says that the archetype of god is necessarily related to morality even though its something that no tangible instantiation of exists in the present. And so our morality has to relate to moving towards the theoretical goal of creation of God. Obviously in practice this may not be possible. So staying in the realm of realism, this goal would be ordained towards other things. But he basically says that there's four views on god. Believing in god because god exists, not believing in god because god doesn't exist, disbelieving in god because god exists, or believing in god because god doesn't exist. The first two are straightforward. The third is a form of rejection of god as being meaningful while believing one exists, thinking its bad. He defines his view as the fourth. There's no problem of evil since god is not tangibly instantiated in the world. And if god existed certain ultimate benefit would be achieved. But since god isn't here, we must do the work ourselves, but at the same time use the archetype as both a model for morality, and as a model for hypothetical possible creation in a literal sense in the far future.


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

[User]
How is lightning hotter than the surface of the sun?

And why doesn't it cause more damage to the surrounding area if it's that hot?

[Assistant]
Of course the sun is hot, but the reason it is able to provide warmth from so far away is less because it has an extremely high temperature so much as that it is extremely large and puts out a tremendous amount of heat.

A candle, for example, burns at 1000 degrees C, but it doesn't hurt much to lick ones finger and put on the flame with a pinch. That's because it doesn't matter if something is *hot* if it can't transfer a lot of *heat*. In comparison, a cup of coffee at 100 degrees C can very badly burn your finger, even though it is far less hot. Similarly lightening produces a very high temperature gas, but ultimately doesn't produce a tremendous amount of heat. Well, it does provide enough heat to kill people and cause fires, but nowhere near the amount provided by the sun.

Temperature is a way of describing the average kinetic energy of a particle in a thing. As a result you can have just a few particles with a very high temperature, but a very low ability to provide *heat*, ie a very small amount of total energy available to c be transferred. The sun is very very large, and as a result is able to radiate out a tremendous amount of energy in the form of photons, just as the cup of coffee is able to transfer enough energy into your finger to give you a burn, while the hotter candle doesn't burn you when you snuff it out because there isn't a large total amount of energy for it to transfer into your finger. Generally hot things with a large amount of mass have a large amount of energy to transfer, while things with a small amount of mass (like the gas in a lightening strike) don't have as much energy to transfer, despite being very hot.


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

[User] ELI5: What happened at Dunkirk, and why are the French held in unfavorable light in regards to it?

[Assistant]
The BEF (British Expeditionary Force) was holding its own but the French forces to their south fell back.  This put the BEF in danger of being surrounded and cut off so they had to fall back.  They fell back to Dunkirk where over 300k British soldiers were rescued, minus their heavy equipment, by a flotilla of navy and civilian ships. The saving of so many troops enabled the UK to remain in the fight but the loss of so much heavy equipment meant that they were a bit more lightly armed than they wanted to be for a while.

Goering, commander of the Luftwaffe (Air Force), stated that his aircraft could destroy the British at Dunkirk, so Hitler ordered the Heer (army) to hold.  His Wehrmacht (military) commanders had been worried that the Heer was being overextended and was in danger of being cut off if the French or British launched a counter attack so Goering's boast provided a needed excuse to get the Heer to stop and regroup. The RAF (Royal Air Force) fought the Luftwaffe in the skies over Dunkirk and prevented them from destroying the BEF.  However, a lot of the fighting took place in cloud cover and so the soldiers on the ground thought they were being mercilessly attacked by the Luftwaffe and believed that the RAF did nothing to help them.


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

[User]
Why is Ayn Rand seen the way she is in philosophy?

Now Ill preface this with the fact that Im currently reading Philosophy: Who Needs It to try to understand her philosophy a bit better. I tried reading The Fountainhead but it didnt grip me and I never finished it. I have only been getting into philosophy for the past year or so, but its come to my understanding that Rand isnt taken very seriously, and most comments in this subreddit regarding her are downvoted. My question is, why? Why isnt she taken seriously as a philosopher?

Personally, I have many disagreements with her so far, primarily on her claims on consciousness/cognition and how she believes the senses work, but I havent gotten the impression that I should think of her as a lesser thinker in philosophy, as many others seem to think. I do, however, find that she seems to misrepresent other philosophies mentioned, and I dislike the way she vehemently demonizes those who oppose her.

Also, sorry if this topic has been exhausted. I couldnt find other posts regarding this exactly, though.

[Assistant] Rand is one of the most recent figures in a long, proud tradition of people who claim to have read widely and deeply and seen the triviality of all philosophy before her, although the truth was that she read very little. Most of her exposure to philosophical ideas came through secondary sources and conversations, so she was generally a couple steps removed from actually reading Aristotle or Kant. This means that her critiques are really dismissals disguised to sound smart, and the ideas she tries to replace the classics with don't have the same added layers of support that other thinkers do, and won't hold up to the same levels of scrutiny and analysis.


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

[User]
CMV: freedom from discrimination due to sexual preference ought to have a higher priority than freedom from discrimination due to religion

The right to sexual preference and freedom from discrimination because of it ought to have a higher priority than the protections religion currently enjoys.

Sexual preference is inborne, it is a natural aspect of who a person is. It cannot be changed, only supressed. It is natural, not even unique among human beings. It causes no harm, and has never caused harm, to anyone at any time. It is entirely personal, and has no need to recruit or punish those that aren't gay.

Religion is entirely learned, and could not survive if self preservation wasn't its primary goal. It is transient in that people can and do switch affiliation with little difficulty. It is unnaturral, humanity is the only species that worships anything, and entirely unsupported by rational evidence. The harm religion has caused, is causing, and will cause is incalcuable, and arguably more damaging than anything else ever created by man.

That the decision to allow same sex marriage even had to be made is an indictment of religion. That the phrase gay marriage even exists is an example of harm caused by and in the name of religion. Religious people are by and large just people, good and bad in whatever measure good and people are in. Religion is an evil institution, and should be opposed.

For the record, I am a straight, married, middle aged man living in Ohio with two kids and a dog.  This view really has no effect on me personally at all, except for the embarrassment it causes me that there is a debate.  I was borne into a ctholic family, went through a decade of searching for a religion that was right for me, and emerged an agnostic atheist.

Religion is enshrined in the first ammendment of the constitution, and I feel it should not be.  Please change my view.

Edit:  I am not advocating for the elimination of religious protections or the elimination of rekigious freedom.  This view is regarding the justification for religious protection being weaker than the justification for protections based on sexual preference.

Edit:  OK everyone, it's been 7 hours and I have to stop now.  Thanks for the discussion, many of you have given me food for thought.  I can't keep up with my inbox, though, and I have to stop trying, at least for now.

[Assistant] There should be no priority. It makes no sense to prioritize this. Both of these must be true at all times, people shouldn't be discriminated based on their religion, or based on their sexual preference.


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

[User]
CMV: A huge investment in Public Policy education would go very far to remedy the USA's problem producing reasonable candidates and viable solutions to today's problems.

From the experience of the last twenty years, I think a reasonable case can be made that ability to drive a narrative and name recognition is the primary driver, if not the only driver, of politicians' success. I think enlarging districts and the click-based (rather than subscription-based) nature of news on the internet has made this aspect many times worse, and has warped the US' ability to propose qualified candidates. Rather than reforming the news, likely a violation of the first amendment and I believe a futile fight against the natural progression of technology, and the current court's belief that election reform can only be carried out by a Constitutional majority, I think we should focus more upon producing qualified candidates in the first place.

Furthermore, scientists' solutions to present problems are meaningless if a government does not have the capability and foresight to adopt new ideas that seem feasible. A scientist who wishes to improve the world, say for example a scientist who develops a food additive that reduces cows' production of methane, is directly reliant on a politician who has the free time and resources to drive narrative for them.

I think the federal government should allocate financial resources to the development and sponsorship of schools of public policy in every state, a sort of decentralized system of the sort that turned China into the preeminent power in the world until Opium and guns led to its' downfall.

I think, if properly decentralized, a system of schools of public policy that say, give massive election financing to top ten graduates (using matching funds or multipliers, maybe) would do a great deal to improve political discourse and robustness. Money is becoming a greater and greater driver of political success (as Trump and Hillary aptly illustrate - one has the trump brand, the other the Clinton brand), and if it is not feasible to take money out of politics because Roberts thinks money can't be excised from speech, why not sponsor qualified candidates, rather than letting candidates rise upon their own meager financial resources.

Hope to hear your thoughts.

[Assistant]
The problem is not that there are no quality candidates.  The problem is that those candidates don't win.  It's not like Trump was the most qualified person that the GOP had running this year, and many would obviously argue that Hillary wasn't the most qualified candidate that the Democrats had to choose from, yet here we are.

The point of a representative democracy isn't to have a government full of trained elites who've spent their lives preparing for public policy.  It's to have a system of representatives who the people feel best represent their ideals and will speak for them.  And that's subjective.

What you feel is "qualified" on paper, others may disagree.  Where you see a ridiculous election, there are MILLIONS of people who firmly believe that either Clinton or Trump is absolutely 100% qualified for this job.  Why are you right and they're wrong?


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

[User]
[Star wars] How was Palpatine so sure Vader wouldn't turn against him..??

Palpatine tells Anakin the tragedy of Darth Plagueis and how he got screwed over by his own apprentice and then he offers to teach Anakin the things in the dark side. How was he so sure the same  thing wouldn't happen to him.

When Vader fights Luke he asks him to join his side so he could overthrow the Emperor and rule the galaxy... Meaning Vader already had the idea of killing the Emperor and taking his place. If Luke joined Vader or  never existed... In time Vader would have turned against the Emperor. So what was Palpatine's contingency plan in case something like that happened..

[Assistant]
He did expect it. That is how the Sith work. The apprentice must eventually overthrow the master - if they are strong enough. Only through that can the strength and continuity of the Sith be ensured.

Sideous would rule until either Vader could overthrow him, or he found another to replace Vader would be stronger and so could.


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

[User] Are there cells in humans (or other mammals) that are "immune" to cancer?

[Assistant]
Technically there is no cell that's completely immune to cancer. Any cell that can undergo mitosis has the ability to turn cancerous. But technically speaking sperm cells could be classed as immune to cancer (as they cannot undergo mitosis, but they aren't whole cells, so no organism could live on them exclusively).

Cancer can occur when mutations appear that make the cells unable to regulate mitosis and the fail-safes for it have been destroyed.
So given enough time, any cell capable of mitosis with infinite life would turn cancerous, as slowly mutations start to add up in its genome. Most cells die before that happens though.


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

[User] [General] If WH40k is a "grimdark" setting, what would "noblebright," "nobledark" and "grimbright" settings be?

[Assistant]
Obviously the term "grimdark" just comes from "In the grim darkness of the future there is only war" and so any interpretation is just an interpretation.

For me the grimness refers to the utter hopelessness of the scenario. You are looking at a galaxy so fucked that even the idea of it getting better doesn't really exist. The darkness just refers to the painful situation they are in.

So in this context noblebright would be a hopeful galaxy that isn't screwed up. Nobledark would be a hopeful galaxy that is in a mess (i.e. there is Chaos but we have a solution that actually works). Grimbright would be some kind of dystopia where on the surface things look good but there's a hopeless rot behind the whole thing which guarantees it will become grimdark.


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

[User]
CMV: Tipping in restaurants should not be calculated by percentage

I'll start by saying that tipping has gotten out of hand and I think employers should just pay their staff a livable wage. But since that is unlikely to happen, I think the way we calculate tips doesn't logically make sense.

For example - I go to a restaurant and order the most expensive meal and the table next to me gets the cheapest. If we both stay there for the same amount of time and the waiter/waitress doesn't have to do anything extra, then it doesn't make sense that my tip should be significantly higher. It would be different if the tip went to the chef, but if the wait staff treats the two tables the same, why should I pay more?

Edit: the same argument could be made for bartenders. If I go to the bar and order a pint of craft beer that has a higher ABV and costs 10x more than a pint of a cheap imported beer, why should I tip the bartender more? They are both on tap, it requires no extra effort.

I believe tips should be calculated based on the time spent in the restaurant and the service received by the waiter/waitress.

[Assistant]
There are endless permutations for how a tip should be calculated and mitigating factors -

- how many were in the party?
- did you have any special requests?
- where there anybody with an allergy?
- were there any children under 10? Under 5?
- did you take a long time to order?
- did you ask lots of questions?
- did you ask for extra water, bread, napkins?
- did the staff have to anything extra/different for you?
- were you a good patron, kind, polite, and easy to handle, or were you awkward and hard to please?
- did you have loads of dishes, glassware etc that were difficult to handle?
- did you leave your table a mess or were you neat and tidy?
- did you order extra things like drinks from the bar, additions, etc, or did you just take what on the menu, no swaps?

Each of these questions results in differences for how much you should tip but that's mostly too complicated for your average diner who doesn't want to pull out a calculator after dinner.

Doing it based on how much you spent is faster, more cost effective for *everybody's* time (you, your guests, the staff), and represents a reasonable compromise of tipping everybody appropriately based on their behavior (how the staff acted towards you) and basing it on individual circumstances that were within your control (what you ordered). Is it *exactly right to the penny?* No. But tipping shouldn't require a degree in accounting to figure out and most people want an easy shorthand to make it quick, discrete, and mostly fair for everybody involved.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do the planets in our solar system stay distant from eachother if the reason they're in the solar system is by the suns gravitational pull?

Shouldn't they just all pull each other in and form a clusterfuck of a planet or something along the lines?

[Assistant]
They're not free to fall inwards because they are in orbit.

Imagine you throw a ball. It lands some way away. Ignoring atmosphere dragging at it, the harder you throw it, the further it goes, yes?

Now imagine throwing it so hard that it goes half way round the world before landing? With me so far? Now imagine throwing it so it comes all the way round and hits you on the back of the head. Because there's no atmosphere to pull at it, it's travelling at the same speed as when you threw it - so provided you duck, there's no difference between the first trip round the world and the next and the next and the next. Provided no one stands up, it'll carry on going round the world, falling yes, but falling at the same speed as the ground is curving away.

The planets are doing that - they're falling round the sun, but going sideways as well, so much sideways that they end up back where they started from a year later (in the case of the Earth) a couple of years for Mars and so on.


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

[User]
Are all atoms of the same element, isotope, and charge completely identical?

Lets say I have a neutral hydrogen atom with no neutrons. Is there any way, even theoretically, to tell it apart from any other neutral hydrogen atom with no neutrons?

[Assistant]
There are not any other particles present (neglecting virtual particles and whatnot), so since the constituency of the atom in terms of protons neutrons and electrons is the same, in a more permanent sense they are identical.

However,  you could still distinguish between the 2 on the basis of other properties such as total spin, exact spin configuration of the constituent particles, and possibly quantum entanglement status with something else.

So yes you can distinguish the two.


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

[User]
[Umbrella Academy] How does The Commission determine whats the correct timeline and who to assassinate?

For example, The Commission determined that Vanya destroying the world at the end of Season 1 was correct timeline. What led them to believe that was the way to go? Why say the world needed to be destroyed by her in 2019? Whats the process for determining the timeline to preserve?

[Assistant]
Politics.  The person in charge decides what's best.  It's not necessarily agreeable, but as demonstrated... The Handler has her agenda when and how things should play out.  If it's for some greater "good" or her self interest, or just to make Five suffer.

Also, in season 2 we see ... >!Carmichael has a different agenda than The Handler.  It's apparent some want JFK to NOT be assassinated, which otherwise brings about an earlier apocalypse than 2019 and some who DO, which restores history's correct turn of events.  Additionally someone else's decision might actually see the end of the world NOT occur in 2019.  It depends on who is in charge and what their motivation is.!<


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

[User]
CMV: The concept of infinite consciousness within heaven is just as terrifying as hell

Imagine if heaven were to have any level of consciousness that is representative of our time here on earth, but for INFINITY. Sounds absolutely maddening. And thats given the fact that I truly believe that our human minds will never be able to wrap our minds around something being truly infinite. There obviously is no true way to interpret heaven in of itself, so for this context Im just assuming we have a similar mode of consciousness transferred to our next life forever, with no way out. Scary stuff if you ask me. Who knows, after so much time one might just prefer a hell over something like this...

[Assistant]
Do you have any religion or philosophical system in mind when you use the word heaven?

Buddhists, for instance, would see heaven as an existence free from all desire. One would never be bored. Whereas a Muslim heaven would be filled with pleasures of the flesh.

A Christian heaven would lie somewhere between these two ideals. Many theologians have dealt with the question of boredom in heaven. From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

> one need not think of heaven (or the coming age, as the Gospel writers sometimes refer to it) as a static ethereal realm in which there is nothing to do. One might instead suppose that God will never stop creating additional persons to love and additional realms for us to experience and that we will always have important roles to play, as Paul hinted in Ephesians 2:7, in this ongoing process of creation and revelation.


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

[User] Does the placenta have the DNA of the mother or the baby? What about the umbilical cord?

[Assistant]
The placenta is fetal tissue! Very, very early on in development the blastocyst implants in the endometrium of the womb. The outer layers of cells in of the blastocyst become the trophoblast that becomes the placenta, embedding deeper and interfacing with the blood supply of the mother. The foetus essentially builds it's own disposable organ to get what it needs from the mother and aid it its regulation as it develops. It's kinda freakin' cool.

Likewise, the umbilical cord is fetal tissue and isn't sourced from the mother. It's basically just arteries and a vein to connect the foetus to the placenta and, by extension, the mother.


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

[User]
CMV: Insoluble fiber should always be included on nutrition labels, rather than having everything fall under "dietary fiber"

In a handful of products you may find insoluble fiber, but most of the time you won't. Overconsumption of soluble fibers can lead to constipation, and a lot of people don't realize that fiber isn't just fiber. Specific things like metamucil or Fiber One might mention insoluble fiber, but otherwise we're left guessing. Most vegetables/fruits are high in insoluble fiber so with a balanced diet, you're unlikely to have issues (carrots for instance, but you still won't find the exact amount on nutrition for a bag of them). But people suffering from various types of G.I disorders may not be able to consume most vegetables, IBS, gastritis, GERD, just a few examples, but probably more the first two.

But for many with IBS, whether IBS-C, D, or alternating, or people on medications that can cause constipation, it's essential to know which types of fiber they're consuming. Metamucil is touted for it's aid in eliminating constipation but it's actually got 5g of soluble fiber and 6g of insoluble fiber. Sometimes the insoluble fiber isn't even mentioned depending on the exact type like the edible thins which, like almost every other product, only include "dietary fiber." Why include soluble/insoluble on only a handful of products when you could include it on all?

[Assistant]
>Why include soluble/insoluble on only a handful of products when you could include it on all?

$$$

It costs money to control and monitor additional ingredients. And people who are that sensitive to insoluble fiber probably aren't common enough or haven't been so vocal yet that companies would see it as an opportunity to make money.


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

[User] Would dominoes collapse faster on a planet with stronger gravity than Earths?

[Assistant]
A collapsing domino is like an inverted physical pendulum toppling. The timescale of the fall is on the order of the period of the pendulum, which goes like 1/sqrt(g).

So yes, the time it takes to fall is shorter if g is larger.


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

[User]
ELI5: what are reasons for depression and how does it work?

I know it has something to do with serotonin, but that's pretty much all I know.

[Assistant] Its basically a lack of the happy chemicals in the brain. Sometimes theres reason for it like trauma and sometimes it just happens with seemingly no reason. Medication can help by making the body release more of the chemicals but therapy helps too. The act of talking about problems and getting it off your chest can help relief anxiety. Exercise helps because it releases the feel good hormones (like getting a runners high).


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

[User]
Why are nuclear reactors shown with steam coming out the big cooling towers?

So, as far as I understand, nuclear reactors work by heating water through uranium reactions, which creates steam that powers turbines to generate electricity. If there is steam left that could still be moving turbines, why is it released into the air instead of used?

EDIT: Oh man, meant to write "with steam coming out **of** the big cooling towers".

[Assistant]
The clouds  you see coming out of the cooling towers are caused by warm, moist air from the towers cooling and the water vapor in it cooling and condensing. You see this above nuclear, and coal, and gas stations because in all cases there is heat remaining in the steam coming out of the turbines (call that working steam) that cannot be turned into electrical energy. But, that steam must be cooled and condensed back into water before it recirculates back to the boiler. The waste heat extracted to do that is dumped into cooling water, and then into the atmosphere.

One arrangement is that inside the power plant are condensers which cool the working steam using cold water (from a river, say). That water leaves the condenser hot, and is pumped to the cooling towers where it is sprayed into the air inside the tower, or maybe poured over some sort of loose packing with air flowing through. The hottest component of the cooling water evaporates, leaving cooler water and transferring the waste heat to the atmosphere. The hot noise air rises by convection inside the tower and then hits the colder air outside.


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

[User]
The age of the universe is 14 billion years. Its radius is assumed to be at least 45 billion light-years. How is this possible, considering the max relative speed in the speed of light?

I know it is related to the expansion of the universe. Is it possible to get a deeper understanding about what this means or do you just have to accept this as a fact, like: "The universe expands, and since expanding is not the same as two objects having a relative speed to each other the speed of light is not the upper limit here."

Or is there more?

[Assistant]
There is more! It's not too hard to get an intuitive understanding of this, with a bit of thought.

It's easiest to mentally split up the history of the Universe into chunks, each say a million years long. So in the first million years, we'll imagine (as an approximation) that a ray of light that's been travelling freely since the Big Bang has travelled a million light years.

But because the Universe has expanded since then, those million light years are now a lot bigger than a million light years. If you'd like, we can make this even more concrete. Let's say that the light started at Galaxy A and ended that million-year journey at Galaxy B. So back then Galaxies A and B were a million light years apart. But the expansion of the Universe means that all these galaxies are moving away from each other, so today Galaxies A and B are separated by rather more than a million light years.

Now let's add up all these million-year chunks. The distance light travelled in the first million years is huge today. The distance it travelled in the second million years is not quite as huge, but is still pretty big, and so on. In every single chunk up to the present day, light travelled a distance which is today *at least* a million light years. So if we add these chunks up over 14 billion years, we *have* to end up with something bigger than 14 billion light years. If you work through the math carefully, you'll find the answer is about 46 billion light years.


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

[User]
How are expiration dates assigned to medicine?

Most times the components in medicine (either pills or syrups) are chemicals. What do you take into account to set an expiration date?

[Assistant] Often drugs will naturally degrade over time, as the chemicals are relatively stable, but not completely so (or exposure to air, water, or temperature changes will degrade them). Expiration dates are typically set after a period of time when it is believed the dose will vary significantly from what is on the label under standard conditions.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are there so many different cryptocurrencies?

[Assistant]
For one thing, starting a new one that is just the same as an existing one with a different name takes almost no effort since they're all (I think, certainly most) open source.

Then there are different motivations:

* The get-rich-quick scheme: if you ran ran bitcoin mining on your home PC for a few weeks back when it just started, you'd be a millionaire today. So why not start a new one where you can be the very first miner, and hope it will somehow become popular?
* Shits and giggles: Dogecoin.
* It's a genuinely interesting and also very hyped concept, so many programmers want to experiment with it.
* Some are serious attempts to add features or fix problems that Bitcoin can't address because it has to stay compatible with the existing Blockchain. Ethereum is probably the one with the most feature innovation.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some movies release almost a year after shown at some film festivals?

[Assistant] Movies shown at festivals are often independent films looking for distribution, so it takes time to negotiate deals, put together marketing plans, etc. and get the films distributed for release... then there are also certain times of year where different types of films might do better, so it may be delayed to hit the next appropriate release window.


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

[User] ELI5:Why do Americans call their government a Democracy when it is by definition a Republic?

[Assistant] It is a Democratic Republic, the representatives (republic) are selected by the people (democracy). In Rome having money and power already, made you a senator (representative) and not selection by the people. So they were just a republic. Hence SPQR (the senate and people of rome) was the official name for the roman republic.


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

[User] ELI5 why hurting yourself increases your pain tolerance?

[Assistant]
For pretty much the same reason that taking a drug regularly increases your tolerance, or when a noise becomes regular in your life your brain begins to ignore it (like living near an airport)

When you are hurt, your nerves send a pain signal to your brain. The more this happens, the less your brain pays attention to the signal, because it filters the pain as "not life threatening".


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

[User]
[The Martian] Couldn't he have started a new farm with new poop he produced?

I get that all the bacteria from the original poop was killed so it could not be used anymore. Surely he could have built up a new farm with the new poop he produced. Seems like a waste of a valuable resource.

[Assistant] All his potatoes were freeze dried.  In the book it mentions he found bacteria still alive in the soil after the explosive decompression, he just had no potatoes.  Haven't seen the movie so idk if they do something slightly different or what.


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

[User] [DC] So Poison Ivy is an eco terrorist who just wants to make the world a paradise for all plants. Does this mean that she cares about animals that some plants have evolved to depend on for things like seed dispersal? At least in the sense of "I hate these non-plant things but the plants need them"

[Assistant]
The Green's ultimate goal is to kill all non-plant life and overgrow the entire world. Will this kill the Green too? Oh yes, absolutely, but elemental forces don't tend to think that reasonably.

If Ivy is still thinking like a human, maybe. If she's more fully aligned with the Green, no, they're not plants so they fuck off.

She varies where she is on that spectrum a lot, both between continuities and in one timeline. So it varies. But yes when she's more human, no when she's more elemental.


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

[User]
[Star Fox] How did Andross assemble such a massive interplanetary fleet in exile without alerting the Cornerians beforehand?

His forces control something like 6 whole planets, and his special weapons program has a project *inside the Lylat star*. How did Cornerian Intelligence drop the ball so hard?

[Assistant]
Most of Andross Forces were either mass produced robots or genetically modified monsters with a few non-modified generals and what-nots.

Space is also BIG and he hid most of his work in places no one would consider looking.


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

[User]
Which bars have to be included in The Fictional Bar Crawl? [General]

I was rewatching LOTR, and have had this Green Dragon, fancy ales by the flagon song in my head for days.  It was  also my birthday this weekend and got me thinking about a bar hop or bar crawl in fictional places.

I only put places I'd actually like to drink at so even though I love watching the gang's antics at Paddys Pub  ... I prefer watching them through the safety of my television screen (same for Mos Eisley).  And no classics like Cheers, How I Met your mother, or others because I never watched them.

That being said,  here's my list... if you have others you'd like to go to lmk.

Gotta start off with some beers  in cartoon world with

* **The Drunken Clam (Family Guy)**

* **Mo' s Tavern (Simpsons)**

* **Ink and Paint Club (Who framed Rodger Rabbit)**

Then we're going to Middle Earth for.... more beer

* **The Green Dragon (Lord of the Rings)**

After our stop in the Shire, we'll be heading to Diagon Alley in London for some magic beer  (no butter in mine please)

* **The Leaky Cauldron (Harry Potter)**

Take the express to Hogsmeade

* **3 Broomsticks Inn  (Harry Potter)**

Then off to Las Angeles to turn up at our final two clubs

* **Coco Bongo  (The Mask)**

* **Roxbury Club (A night at the Roxbury)**

[Assistant]
* The Mended Drum in Ankh-Morpork
* Quark's Bar, Grill, Gaming House and Holosuite Arcade
* The Maldovarium, somewhere in the Whoniverse - and probably the White Rabbit, if you find yourself in the London of the DW novels and short stories.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it cheaper to fly to Panama City, Panama than it is to Miami, Florida from Chicago?

I love traveling, and I am looking up flights for a trip right now using skyscanner.com. I found a flight for $550 to Panama City and a flight for $650 to Miami, Florida from O'Hare. How is this possible? The trip is longer to Panama, so I assumed that flight would be cheaper. Do any of you know if this has something to do with demand, fuel, or something else altogether?

[Assistant]
It's all about demand. The price has nothing to do with day-to-day cost. As long as the airline can cover their cost they will charge as much as they can for each seat.

There are way more people who want to Miami than to Panama City, so the airline can charge more.

Both flights will be profitable overall, otherwise they'd stop doing the flight, but you can't assess profitability off of any one ticket price.


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

[User] ELI5:what's the difference between a car that runs on diesel and another that runs on gasoline?

[Assistant]
Diesel fuel engines use compression to create heat and pressure, which causes the fuel to "autoignite."

Gas engines use a spark.

Octane is a combustible liquid that gasoline is compared to. Octane is resistant to igniting under pressure, and the higher resistance to igniting under pressure gasoline has, the higher the "octane rating." Gas is bought at the pump with three different choices of octane rating.

"100 octane gas" is gasoline that has the same resistance to igniting under pressure as pure octane.

Cetane, on the other hand, is what diesel is compared to. Cetane ignites very easily under pressure. Diesel only comes from a pump in one cetane rating, (I believe) it's 27.

Diesel fuel can preignite in a gas engine, causing it to "knock." (Pressure moving against the direction of the engine, breaking shit) while in a diesel engine, gasoline will not burn at all.

Further, gasoline engines use (nowadays) fuel injection to spray for into the intake manifold, where the air and fuel mix before entering the engine, vs. a diesel engine which injects fuel at the height of compression. That's because, if diesel engines had a fuel system like gasoline engines do, the diesel fuel would ignite before the height of compression, and the engine would (at best) backfire and turn off, or at worst, knock hard and tear itself apart.

Gasoline, on the other hand, will not ignite without a spark due to its high octane rating.

Diesel fuel does have an octane rating, just as gas has a cetane rating, but they are both respectively very low.


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

[User]
[westworld] How exactly does the game get harder the further out you travel?

If the hosts can't hurt the guests how does the difficulty of any scenario vary?

[Assistant]
I think you can get hurt, captured or stuck (i.e. Not able to convince a host to take you further, unable to work out an alternate route), just not killed or maimed. There's a fair deal that isn't fully explained in the show.

Edit: also the depth seems to vary. Some people treat it as a touristy view the wild west affair, others as a fully immersive experience where they'll go far out and join a group for a while. Cost is also a factor, it's 40K USD PP PD.


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

[User]
CMV: Myanmar citizens should fight back with firearms.

Since the February 1st military coup, the people of Myanmar have fought back through peaceful protests and dialogue, but it's clear that the junta don't care for fickle rhetoric. The numbers keep piling and day after day, innocent advocates of an incomplete yet still growing democracy are murdered, raped, degraded and stripped of their most basic rights. With the UN off the table, it's clear that the people of Myanmar are left to fend for themselves, and the longer it takes for them to realize that civil language does not effect these animals, the harder the nation will fall down the line.

Over the years, it's become apparent peaceful protests only work if those in power are willing to listen.  At this point, the protests in Myanmar are no longer "peaceful'. The government with arms, so it's only right the citizens take up arms too. Look at the US. When the British came at them with flaring nostrils, Americans responded with equal power and look where they're at now. It's definitely a separate issue and I'm sure some of you retards will probably say stuff like "Oh, but using guns to forcefully fight back isn't democratic at all blah blah". For this very few, Id just like to refer back to the US, the country is literally gun nation lol.

Anyways, CMV.

[Assistant]
Even if the people of Myanmar had easy access to firearms, which they do not, they would struggle against the superior firepower of the Junta. Insurgencies have survived in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, but this is only because the opposition was concerned about civilian causalities. The military junta has shown time and again that they are not concerned about civilian causalities.

They have killed civilians for participating in peaceful protests, how much harsher would they be if all citizens had a means to attack the Junta. Even if the people witness successes, the massive number of civilians killed would take a hit on the morale of the people, and ultimately, the revolution would collapse.

All this is considering the Chinese decide not to intervene considering its close support of the military regime.


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

[User] [Avatar:The Last Airbender] How many elements on the Periodic Table can the Avatar bend?

[Assistant] This is a case where you might be asking the wrong question. The four elements are, as far as we can tell, a spiritual property, not a chemical one. Earthbenders seem to be able to bend basically any type of mineral, short of highly-refined metals-- we never see a rock that can't be Earthbended. Waterbenders seem to be able to bend only one specific compount. It's unclear what gases airbenders can bend, except that it's fair to say that it's not only oxygen in its pure form. And firebenders manipulate a chemical reaction, not matter.


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

[User]
Is there any science-fiction universe that uses FTL weapons?

It seems like most science fiction has some form of warp drive, to simplify traveling the vast distances between places, but few, if any, ever use that technology as a weapon. Is there anything that uses FTL technology as a super weapon?

[Assistant]
According to an old TNG technical manual, photon torpedoes are FTL. That is, they have a small FTL engine with an antimatter warhead.

By contrast, phasers (according to the same manual) are merely lightspeed weapons.

Of course, please ignore all the times you've seen phasers fired at warp speed, or torpedoes clearly going slower than light. That was due to interference by wizards.


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

[User]
[Tron] If you're stuck in the Grid, time has slowed down for you in the real world. Why don't you continue to age?

I ask this because Kevin Flynn was trapped in the Grid for 20ish years and he aged only 20 years or so. I did the math and, to him, he would be hundreds (if not thousands) of years older. Why is he still alive and in decent health?

Apparently a User can still bleed (shown in Tron: Legacy that proves his son is a User in the Games). So a User is still human to me.

[Assistant]
The conversion of a human entity into a digital format creates a sort of temporal paradox. The form of a program allows the human mind to think and process their environment as quickly as the processor cycles for that system will allow, which is much faster than a pure human brain can manage, biologically. However, the human form still ages only the amount corresponding to the actual time that has passed. The form of the human does not degrade any quicker on the Grid than it would in the outside world.

**tl;dr** - Being on the Grid allows a human mind to live millisecond-by-millisecond without rapidly aging them because the same amount of time is passing.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are diesel engines so much shakier than conventional petrol engines?

E: Post solved, thanks for all your informative replies!

[Assistant] Depends on the vehicle you mean. But one significant difference is that they run at lower RPM which makes each of the engine strokes more noticable. If you mean engines of big vehicles like trucks or tractors, then it's also that they have huge engines compared to that of a car.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What choice did Anakin get wrong?

At each step of his life, Anakin made decisions that would affect the galaxy.

How did he "fail"?

At what point did he make the *wrong* decision?

[Assistant]
There's no one given point when he absolutely made the wrong decision that would cement his fall, except *maybe* leading the assault on the Jedi Temple and choosing to slaughter the children personally.

Arguably the first *real* wrong decision he made was killing all the Sand People after the death of his mother. That was the first true stepping stone in his decision-making that lead to his fall.


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

[User] [Man of Steel]Why was natural birth on krypton such a big thing.

[Assistant] Up until that point Kryptonians were all grown in test tubes and were genetically programmed for a specific task, Kal-El was the first in a long time to not be programmed and to have let nature determine who he was.


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

[User]
ELI5: How exactly does a power strip work?

How can you plug in multiple different things into the strip without it overloading on power or something . . . ?

[Assistant] The outlets in a power strip are wired up in parallel.   As you plug more items in the load does increase.  Most power strips have a circuit breaker on them that will trip if you exceed the load, if not your outlet should have a circuit breaker as well.  It is entirely possible to overload a power strip, it is just most consumers don't have that many high draw items in one area and professionals such as contractors already know better.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Has the Empire ever moved the Death Star close enough to a small planet to effect the tides and kill millions of life forms?

Has the Empire ever used moving the Death Star Close enough to a planet to mess up the tides as an intimidation factor?  Assuming the mass of the Death Star is large and all the constants as we would know them.

[Assistant]
The Death Star II, which was significantly larger than the Death Star I, is roughly 5% the size of Earth's moon. Not nearly enough to cause any significant tidal shifts even if it were practically brushing against the atmosphere.

EDIT: some numbers:

The Moon's volume is ~ 2.7510^9 square kilometers. The Death Star II's is ~2.1410^6, or 1/1000th the volume. Assuming roughly equal densities it would need to get to roughly 238 miles from Earth to cause tidal forces similar to the Moon's. That's not *nearly* enough to cause global catastrophe.


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

[User] ELI5: While drunk, why does it seem easier to see with only one eye? Why do you close one eye when drunk?

[Assistant] Because when your brain is operating normally it takes the two pictures your eyes give you and combine them into a 3D picture, when drunk it just sees two overlapping pictures. Close one eye and one picture disappears.


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

[User] ELI5: If deleted files on your computer are still there (how the authorities catch people with illegal content), is possible to eventually download and then delete enough data to keep your hard drive full, even after deleting everything?

[Assistant]
Yes-ish.

What happens is the data isn't destroyed, the space is marked as "available" and can be written over again. Think of a hard drive like a bunch of boxes. You put files in those boxes. When you delete a file, you're actually marking the box as "this stuff can be replaced" but you haven't actually removed it from the box yet, and you won't unless you have something new to put there. It's possible to have things in all the boxes but still have available space. Simple recovery software can "look" in those boxes.

There is software that can intentionally "0-out" a drive to re-write either the whole drive, or the available space on the drive. There are Department of Defense certifications for secure erasure that not only 0's it out but then writes random data, and repeats a certain number of times. (Secure erasure should include writing random data, because even if writing all 0s traditional hard drives are magnetic and very careful analysis can reconstruct which bits were changed - although this level of recovery can cost thousands of dollar to *attempt*.)

Addendum: Keep reading below if you're interested, apparently modern hard drives don't strictly need multiple passes.


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

[User]
In 1980, the US GDP per capita was $28,133. Today, the GDP is almost double that. Why doesn't it feel like the average American is twice as rich as we were 40 years ago?

These are real figures.

[Assistant]
GDP per capita doesn't measure the income of the "average" American, it is a measure of average income. The US income distribution has become significantly more right skewed (i.e. a larger share of income goes to the richer half than before) and both median wages and the wages of the poor have not kept up with increases in GDP per capita.

However, there's also the possibility that how rich one feels is more about how they compare themselves to their neighbours rather than to themselves across decades. Also, comparisons of living standards over long periods of time are difficult: how many 1980s computers would you trade for an iPhone? Is that even a sensible question?


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

[User] ELI5: What's the differences between Regular and Premium gas and how does it affect different vehicles?

[Assistant]
Octane rating, which is the fuel's resistance to ignition. So "regular" gas will ignite at a lower temperature.

Compression of air and fuel is an important part of the internal combustion engine's cycle. Compressing air quickly makes a lot of heat as all those molecules get smashed into each other. In some cars, like modern or high-performance ones, this heat is enough to ignite gas with a low octane rating. This is very bad for the engine. Conversely, putting premium in a car with lower compression will just eat your money and actually cause a loss in efficiency, as the fuel doesn't get hot enough to burn fully.


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

[User]
Anxiety about a career in research

I am close to starting a research-focused M.Sc./PhD-program in neuroscience that I have spent the last three years of my life working toward. Now that courses will start in a few weeks, I am starting to get anxious and slightly overwhelmed with the prospect of a career in research. I was hoping to get some third party perspectives on the things I am worrying about.

Seeing that academia is a competitive environment, how bad would it be not to get the greatest postdoc position right after your PhD? How much time is there before you have to give up on your dreams of being a researcher because you did not manage to publish enough papers? By when should you have published something?

How restricted am I to my PhD topic after I graduate? Obviously I will have better chances when staying in the exact niche I have already worked in, but is it viable to change directions after spending a significant amount of time on one specific subject?

And in case anyone is from a neuroscience (especially cognitive neuroscience) related field: Is there even anything I can do with that degree apart from research or am I going to have to either be successful in my research or be jobless?

I realize that the answers to these probably vary by field (and potentially country), but I am happy with any perspective I can get.

Thanks in advance!

[Assistant]
You just started your program. There is **nothing** you can do in your first few weeks (really your first year or two) that will affect your long term prospects. You are so far away from the job market that worrying about it now is counterproductive. Focus on getting settled into your new home and getting comfortable in your department.

Your other questions will vary by field. Find an experience faculty member who has placed students in academia and ask them all your questions. Better still, ask them what you need to do to be competitive on the academic job market. They should be able to give you practical answers based on their experience training students and interviewing for faculty positions.