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

[User] Do galaxies die? How many years would that take? Could some of the most distant galaxies we've observed be long gone today?

[Assistant]
Well, it depends on how you define "death".  Galaxies collide and merge with each other, so lots of the galaxies we see that are billion of years old may not be there anymore, because they have merged with nearby galaxies, and thus today they would look totally different.  Their constituent stars would still be there, however, more or less, (minus any that have died since), since galactic collisions are usually pretty harmless to the stars within the galaxies, since the chances of stars colliding during such an event is extremely low due to the sheer amount of empty space in between stars in galaxies.

All things being equal galaxies will eventually "burn out" though, as all their stars run out of fuel and die, and slowly all the lights will eventually dim for every galaxy in the Universe.  But that process takes trillions of years because even after a star runs out of fuel, it turns into a white dwarf which still glows fairly brightly for a VERY long time.


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

[User]
If someone jumped off of a building, and were tackled at full speed right before they hit the ground, would either party survive?

I was arguing with my friends recently about this; I will attampt to explain.

Someone jumps off of a building and is travelling at a speed that if they hit the ground they would die no matter what.

If someone came from the side and tackled the falling person at the last second (maybe 2-5 feet above the ground), would either of them survive?

[Assistant]
It would be hard to tackle them in any meaningful way without exerting an upward force.  A person falling 100m will only take about 0.03 seconds to travel that last meter.  If no upward force occurs, that tackle will be little more than a nudge, which will be of no benefit to them, and little harm to our would be linebacker.

If upward force occurs, the person's deceleration will be spread out over a greater distance (1 m vs. a few mm) which would improve survivability.  That will come at the expense of the linebacker, who would be absorbing the blow.

The most likely outcome?  Even if the linebacker did everything he could to reduce the fall, the person will likely die if falling from a signficant height.  The linebacker faces a lesser, but still pretty serious risk.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why don't humans have a mating season?

Humans seem to be sexually ready to reproduce at all times. Why don't we have a "mating season" like most other animals?

[Assistant] Jared Diamond discusses this in The Third Chimpanzee. In brief, sex is a means by which a woman bonds with her mate. Since human babies take years to raise this bond is critical and therefore it's beneficial to any offspring if their parents get it on a lot. This makes year-round sex a good thing so male partners don't run off. Also the woman's body hides her own fertile time from her so she doesn't just try to have sex when she isn't fertile. The selective pressure of that adaptation should be pretty obvious. This implies lots of our ancestral women were using the rhythm method at some point, and evolution selected for those who were bad at it. Because babies.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do humans like to watch other humans dance?

[Assistant]
One theory is that dancing is a way to demonstrate bodily symmetry. Symmetry is one of the main criteria we use in determining beauty, as it can be a decent indicator of good genes and good nutrition, both desirable in a mate.

So it taps into primal mating urges far older than civilization.


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

[User]
[Courage the Cowardly Dog] How are the Bagge family able to afford to go to many different places all over the world?

I mean know they have a farm and all, but the problem is that they always seem to be struggling. I mean they are unable to grow any produce, Eustace is a cheapskate, there are not that many animals except for Courage & a bunch of chickens, and so on.

[Assistant]
They are most likely living off of retirement and social security, possibly some kind of farm subsidies. And if we're being real here, does Eustace really seem like the type to file his taxes and government assistance paperwork honestly?

I would attribute any world travel to either a sudden windfall, successful grift, or new line of credit. All spent irresponsibly, because Eustace.

Poor Muriel likely has no clue about their finances.


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

[User] ELI5: What determines whether liquid being poured out of a glass is going to pour out and down the side of the glass rather than straight out?

[Assistant]
It's all to do with the speed of the water as it passes over the lip. If the water is moving slowly then it will not overcome the force holding it to the glass (adhesion). However if it moves quickly, the water has more momentum and it can break free and pour away from the glass.

If the water cannot "break free" of the surface then it will simply roll over the lip of the glass and trickle down the outside.

The spout on a jug, you'll notice, curves downward slightly when the jug is held  at a pouring angle. Obviously the more vertical the water stream the faster it flows, so jugs pour nice clean streams if water.


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

[User]
[Doctor Strange 2 Spoilers] What happened to Wanda?

Is she dead or what?

[Assistant]
Vague uncertainty.  As the rocks fell her magic fired off.

That could have been her magic disapating on death or her using her magic to escape death.

Strange and Wong didnt seem to care enough to confirm either way as far as we know.  Probably out of a Hobsons Choice, in the end she had a heel face turn as she realized what was happening to her:

* If she died, let her body stay buried.  No reason to disturb her rest.
* If she lives, what she needs now is self reflection and healing.  Not the people she tried to kill and in turn tried to kill her tracking her down.  Best to give her that space.


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

[User]
ELI5: Out of the tons of radio signals that are constantly around us all the time, how does my cell phone know exactly which one(s) to "listen" to when I'm calling someone?

Basically, how is the phone able to filter out all of the other "noise" that must come from the hundreds, or even thousands, of other radio signals around us to give me EXACTLY what I want to hear, with zero interference?

[Assistant]
There are electronic devices that are called "filters" that block out certain radio frequencies.  It's like how an FM radio works; only the station you want is allowed through.

The cell phone companies basically buy the right to exclusively use certain frequencies.  (Different frequencies are like different colors.)  One company might be allowed to use one frequency, and another company uses another frequency.

Your cell phone is programmed by your cell phone company to only look at the frequencies they've purchased.

Now, you have to share that frequency with every other customer of that cell phone company.  One way they do this is called TDMA which basically means everyone who is on a call for a particular cell phone tower gets a small amount of time to send/receive, and they all take turns.  The amount of time is so small, and the turns change so quickly that you don't even notice.  It's like how a cartoon might have something like 60 frames per second, and they flip so fast that you can't tell that it's not a continuous image.

Another method is called CDMA, but that uses complex math and these things called orthogonal codes.


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

[User]
Is there a limit to how high a person can fly a kite?

As the string gets longer, the weight of the kite increases. But also there tends to be more wind higher up. A larger kite would lift more string, but at some point a single person wouldn't be able to hold a very large kite in high winds. So, is there a limit to how high a person can fly a kite?

[Assistant] This is really a question about the limits of materials science. In some ways it's similar to the problem posed by a theoretical space elevator. How thin and light can you get the string without it breaking? How high can you get the surface area of the kite while keeping the weight down?


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

[User] ELI5: For conjoined twins, how do the two brains control one body?

[Assistant]
Conjoined twins aren't a regular phenomena, so there isn't really a set of rules as to how it'll work out. It's pretty much a case-by-case thing.

I will point out, though, that it's not really "one body". It's two distinct bodies that are fused together. Each brain controls it's own body, even if those parts are fused to another body.


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

[User]
[Underworld] So William and Marcus were bitten by wolves and bats that made them the first vamp/werewolf ,but in their era were they never bitten by any other animal like a dog? a cat? horse ? rabbit?

 Their farther was never bitten by anything???? if they had would they be weredogs and were rabbits? and why didn't Marcus turn into a werebat creature instead of a vampire ?

[Assistant] Their bloodline is rather magical. Being bitten by animals may have been a metaphor rather than actual fact. But assuming it's fact it's likely the animals that bit them were also magical to some extent. Or at least aligned magically in some way. Bats beings of the night and wolves beings of the hunt. As for Marcus he did turn into a werebat rather than a vampire. It's just centuries of repression and evolution have created the lycans and vampires. Marcus rejected his bestial nature and retained his human appearance after some time. William embraced the beast and became it. But both were considerably more monstrous in appearance and ability than their later descendants.


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

[User]
Why does Tim Burton's Batman seem so cavalier about killing?

In Batman Returns, he kills at least two badies with the Batmobile flame jet and a bomb. He also backhands Catwoman off a roof.

Why is this Batman so unconcerned with taking life?

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

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

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

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


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

[User] ELI5: How does time dilate? Why does time slow down at higher speeds?

[Assistant]
You have a limited amount of "motion".  We are spending 99.9999% of our motion "moving thru time", the rest is spent on "moving thru space". Light spends 99.9999% of its motion "moving thru space" and the rest "moving thru time". The faster you travel thru space, the less you travel thru time. At light speed, you're not time traveling, at all. But that's relative.

Edit: Travel through time or travel through space, you can't do both at 100%. They add up to 100% though.

Edit: Just realized, this analogy does not work for *gravitational* time dilation. Don't ask me how to explain that.


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

[User] Eli5: why do space rockets have all the cables still connected during the first seconds of lift off?

[Assistant]
In the event of an engine failure or other type of abort at liftoff they still want the cables and hoses attached so that they can safely shut it down and pump out the fuel rendering it safe for people to enter the launch ramp. Thes aborts can happen right at liftoff so the cables needs to be attached during the liftoff and then disconnect right after this.

A funny accident was with the Redstone-Mercury 1 launch where there was actually a fault with the length of the cables and the sequence they were disconnected from the rocket which falsely triggerd an abort when the rocket was only inches off the pad. The rocket did land again without damage. But since the cables were disconnected there was no way to control the rocket from a distance. It was therefore sitting on the launch pad full of fuel pressurized in its tanks and nobody could do anything about it. To make matters worse the capsule, sensing the engine shutdown and the short freefall ran through the rest of the launch and landing sequency including disconnecting from the rocket and deploying its parachute, and senisng a problem with the main parachute it deployed the spare parachute as well. So now there was a space rocket full of fuel on the launch pad and two dangling parachutes from its top that could catch the wind at any time, and the weather forecasts predicted winds.


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

[User]
How is the original amount of C14 in a fossil determined?

When it comes to carbon dating, I understand how the age of a fossil can be determined with the necessary information, being how much C14 is in the current fossil, how fast that C14 deteriorates, and the original amount of C14 in the animal. My question is how the original amount of C14 is determined? Looked everywhere I could and couldn't find an answer, so thank you for any replies.

[Assistant] It's not the absolute amount of C^14 that matters, but the ratio of C^14 to C^12 in the sample. The atmospheric ratio is held more or less constant by the creation of C^14 from Nitrogen, but once stored inside a body, it will decay to ~~C^(12)~~ N^(14). The longer it has been since the body breathed or ingested, the more C^14 will have turned into ~~C^(12)~~ N^(14).


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

[User] ELI5: Why does a weak am/fm radio signal result in a consistent static/fuzzy sound while a weak satellite radio signal results in intermittent high quality sound?

[Assistant]
The simple answer is that AM/FM is an analog signal, which you can "kind of" pick up. Think of analog as a scale of 100-0 with the quality increasing or decreasing as you move from the transmitter.

Satellite radio is a digital signal. Think 1 or 0. It's either there, or it's not. The same holds true for satellite TV, where in a severe storm your picture will be perfect right up until it cuts out into nothingness.


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

[User] ELI5: How are so many books voted no.1 best sellers?

[Assistant]
They aren't voted. Somebody simply compiles the data of all books are sold each week and then makes a list of the books that sold the most (best).

There is not much too it.

Given that there are 52 weeks in a year and that the New York Times breaks their list down into multiple categories and that books actually don't sell that much, it can take surprisingly few copies sold to become a "best seller". You just need to sell more copies than anyone else in that week in that category.

In terms of music. A Best Seller is not an album going gold or platinum (which would mean a certain absolute number of albums sold), but charting at the top of the billboard charts (simply more albums sold than anyone else in your category in that week).


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

[User] [Batman] Considering his biology/metabolism, how does the staff of Arkham Asylum feed Mr. Freeze?

[Assistant] This is part of why the Asylum constantly struggles to keep their inmates locked up.  Freeze is just one of many freaks in that place that demand weird and expensive accommodations.  Their budget for security is constantly being redirected to pay for new weird requirements.  Freeze needs everything frozen and powdered (so he doesn't break his teeth), Ivy demands an all meat diet, Penguin stages a hunger strike if he doesn't get fish, and don't get me started on Killer Krok's absurd food budget.


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

[User]
ELI5: What did Edward Snowden actually reveal abot the U.S Government?

I just keep hearing "they have all your data" and I don't know what that's supposed to mean.

Edit: thanks to everyone whos contributed, although I still remain confused and in disbelief over some of the things in the comments, I feel like I have a better grasp on everything and I hope some more people were able to learn from this post as well.

[Assistant]
In a nutshell he revealed data that showed that the US government, and multiple allied governments had the ability to do things like listen to everyone's phone calls, read their texts, their emails, follow their internet searches, track their locations (via GPS in phones) and also remotely activate people's cell phone cameras and microphones to listen and see what people are doing in real time.

In short, it was estimated that the data revealed that the US and it's allies had transparency into roughly 80% of all digital communications in the US.

It's less that this was "Bad" honestly, more that these agencies shouldn't have been doing A. to US Citizens, and B. on US soil and C. that the major data providers, the Verizons, AT&Ts, etc, were providing the "keys" to their networks for the government to provide this access.


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

[User]
Does Marx justify colonialism as necessary for modernity?

I understand that Marx has this idea of stages of development.

Namely this idea that there's feudalism/pre-capitalism-> capitalism-> Socialism.

Indeed he talks alot about the great service which he considers colonialism to have rendered in the Communist manifesto:

*" The bourgeoisie has subjected the country to the rule of the towns. It has created enormous cities, has greatly increased the urban population as compared with the rural, and has thus rescued a considerable part of the population from the idiocy of rural life. Just as it has made the country dependent on the towns, so it has made barbarian and semi-barbarian countries dependent on the civilised ones, nations of peasants on nations of bourgeois, the East on the West.  "*

This sort of talks present in some of Marxs other writings. Does he then see capitalism as being a way of modernizing the world and bringing about modernity? As such then is he not justifying the colonialism and bondage that early capitalism is built on?  Does Marx only believe in decolonisation because he first believes in colonisation? If a part of the world is untouched by colonisation with just indigenous people? Is Marx not hinting that he wants to see them suffer colonialism, because this will draw them into world markets which will deliver the productive forces for socialism?

Or have I completely misread the man?

Let me know what you think?

[Assistant]
I think talking of 'wants' will just confuse you understanding of Marx's project. Clearly Marx did want various things, but his wants are not what he's trying to get across in his works. In Capital you easily hear his trembling fury aa his dispassionately describes the horrifying conditions of workers in england, and its clear he sees the emergence of capitalism as something that has declined the condition of the working class.

Doea he say that this decline is justified because it will eventually lead to communism? No, because that's not the point of his project. He is rather trying to prove that capitalism is something that inevitably emerges out of Feudalism, and that communism is something that inevitably emerges out of capitalism. Colonialism too is part of capitalisms advance across the globe, is it good that this happens? What Marx thinks about it morally is not the point of his writings, its just an inevitability.


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

[User]
Are all liquids incompressible and all gasses compressable?

I've always heard about water specifically being incompressible, eg water hammer. Are all liquids incompressible or is there something specific about water? Are there any compressible liquids? Or is it that liquid is an state of matter that is incompressible and if it is compressible then it's a gas? I could imagine there is a point that you can't compress a gas any further, does that correspond with a phase change to liquid?

Edit: thank you all for the wonderful answers and input.  Nothing is ever cut and dry (no pun intended) :)

[Assistant]
Liquids are incompressible in that they are only slightly compressible.

If we set z=1 where a fluid density doubles for a doubling of absolute pressure at constant temperature, liquids have a z between about 0.001 and 0.05.

Gasses/vapors typically range from 0.4-1.6.

Z is compressibility.


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

[User]
[Matrix] How fast does Neo fly to save Morpheos and the Keymaker in the Matrix Reloaded?

Maybe there's two answers here, one is how fast would he have to travel to physically cover the distance, and the other is how fast he was going when he formed the car hurricane tsunami behind him?

[Assistant]
Well, when Neo calls Link he informs him that Morpheus and Trinity (and the Keymaker) are **"500 miles, due south."**
It takes Neo about **13 minutes** to get to them.

SO... math:

13 minutes / 60 = **0.2167 hours** (we need this for the mph calculation)

*We know that speed = distance / time...*

500 miles / 0.2167 hrs =  **2307mph**

The speed of sound is ~761mph. So Neo could theoretically be clocked going about **3.031 times the speed of sound**.

The One is fast yo'.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are Cinematic movies shot in only 24fps?

[Assistant] It's for historical reasons.  In the very early days, over 100 years ago now, a range of frame rates were tried before a standard emerged.  Film was expensive and not very light sensitive so they basically went with the lowest acceptable rate.  Even so, projectors display each frame twice, fudging a 48fps rate, to reduce the flicker effect.  This is very similar to the way TV uses interlacing to display 60 "fields" per second with only 30 full frames.


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

[User]
CMV: The costs of restricting or banning guns far outweigh it's benefits

The intent of the 2nd Amendment was to provide civilians power to challenge the government if it were to become tyrannical. Having a tyrannical government without citizens having guns would result in a far scarier and deadly outcome than the consequences we have today of civilians owning guns.

Without a doubt, gun violence, especially mass shootings, are tragic events that happen as a result of civilians owning guns. Tougher background checks and the process to obtain a gun should certainly be improved upon, but to put a ban on all guns but handguns, or to ban guns altogether is not the way to proceed. A government in full ownership and control of guns would prove to be much more devastating.

There are also cases where there are mass killings of people in countries that have bans on all guns. There are cases of mass stabbings in public places where about the same amount of people die before the attacker is caught. As such, banning guns will not put an end to mass killings, though it might make it more difficult for the attacker to commit the crime. But the fact remains that it is necessary for civilians to own guns so that they can keep the government in check and may have a fighting chance against them if they were to ever arise as tyrants.

[Assistant]
> The intent of the 2nd Amendment was to provide civilians power to challenge the government if it were to become tyrannical.

It's well on its way right now. The people with guns are largely standing *with* the government. Can you elaborate on how and by whom you imagine this playing out in reality?

>  Tougher background checks and the process to obtain a gun should certainly be improved upon

This is a restriction on guns, which you seem to be arguing against?

> A government in full ownership and control of guns would prove to be much more devastating.

Any precedent or place where we've seen this happen before?

> There are cases of mass stabbings in public places where about the same amount of people die before the attacker is caught.

Yeah? Like what?

> As such, banning guns will not put an end to mass killings,

It will sure put an end to mass *shootings*


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

[User]
[CatDog] How did CatDog happen?

I've been wondering about this for some time now, but how did that happened and why is Dog ditzy and Cat is maniacally smart?

[Assistant]
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a dog and a rainicorn had a litter of pups. Due to the father's constantly feuding with magic, wizards and extradimensional beings, his sperm was altered and had interesting effects with the magic of a rainicorn womb, leading to them mistakenly believing they had 5 pups-- when in actually, they had six, with one teleporting to another dimension at birth. Unfortunately, the only half of that pup that can teleport back is too dumb to figure out how-- if he even knew he could in the first place.

It was Jake Jr's twin, if you were curious.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why doesn't the intensity of the urge to urinate directly corralate with the amount of urine?

There have been times when I felt my bladder was about to explode and only a squirt came out.

[Assistant]
Think of a bag which is being filled with water. The amount of water in it directly determines the amount of pressure on the walls of the bag. This is what you expect from your bladder as well, right?

Well, you are far more complex than just a bag. For example, psychological stress is also directly correlated to the "urge to pee" regardless of how much pee their actually is in your bladder.

This means: Besides the amount of pee in your bladder, there are many factors influencing your urge to pee, nearly all of them are of a psychological nature.


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

[User] ELI5: What are the most likely effects of this super powerful El Nino season?

[Assistant]
I remember in the 90's being in California and having a powerful El Nio taking us from a 10 year drought to "normal" in a month (it was referred to as March Miracle).

There's a lot that could happen or could not happen.While we know it will generate more precipitation, where that lands is going to vary.  Also in states like California that are so parched, a large amount of rain will cause a lot of mudslides (less vegetation on the ground to hold things together).

As to if it will make a dent in the drought, that's also unknown.  This is where the "where" matters.  For example, rain falling in Southern California isn't as important as rain/snow in northern california as far as Los Angeles and the agricultural central valley is concerned (they get a lot of their water from Northern California).

Lake Mead in Nevada is 60 feet below normal, but rain in Las Vegas isn't really important compared to rain and snow in western Colorado (i.e. upriver) as far as Lake Mead is concerned.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does tax evasion by large multinationals work?

I hear a lot about large multinationals (Apple, Google, but also Panasonic etc) setting up their 'headquarters' in a country that has relatively low tax rates. How precisely does this work though and how come they don't have to pay tax in other countries if they've also 'set up shop' there?

[Assistant]
Take a coffee company who buys coffee in country A then it is placed into a small bags in country B and then sold in country C. Now any profits the company makes can be taxed in country A, B or C, now for most companies this would normally be country C, however if the company sets up sub divisions of its company in country A B and C and if country B has a very low tax rate it may do some sneaky accounting. Division A buys coffee and sells it on to division B without making a profit, division B then sells the newly packaged coffee to division C at a huge profit, division C sells the coffee to the public without making a profit.

The company then pays minimal tax in country B and no tax in countries A and C and has successfully evaded tax.


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

[User]
CMV: It should be illegal to ask job / school / housing applicants for race

Race is a protected class. It is illegal to discriminate on hiring, school, and housing based on race. So I don't understand why the race question is legally allowed on these types of applications. They certainly don't ask for religion. Having a race question on the application officially unblinds the process. Receivers of the applications might be be able to figure out the race anyway based on the name, but at a minimum, it increases the cost of doing of doing so. We should not make it easier for institutions to be racist.

Posting from the USA.

EDIT - my OP is about making it illegal to put on all applications, not specifically about job applications.

EDIT - adding my personal experience. I was recently asked to put down my race for a mortgage application. Since it was covid and done over the phone, the banker (apologetically) read the disclaimer that if I choose not to answer, a selection would be picked for me based on other information on my application, or physical apperance. This was at Citibank. I was shocked.

[Assistant]
The hiring manager doesn't get to see race gender or ethnicity info.

It's used by HR to see who the applicants are so they know if they're hiring process eliminate non white candidates or if they're only getting white candidates.


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

[User] [Fantasy]In many fictional Works being a member of the clergy gives someone certain Supernatural powers, protection or abilities. The Queen of England is the head of the Church of England. Does she gain any such abilities? If she blesses a cup of water can she melt a vampire with it?

[Assistant]
Followers of Yahweh don't gain any specific special abilities, however they do get access to pretty much all of His power (provided they have enough faith). This means that any devout believer has a potentially limitless power level (Jesus tells us that someone with enough faith can easily perform the miracles he does, and could even "move a mountain"), but this comes with the caveat that any action must be completely dedicated to God's plan, and motivated out of complete love of (and trust in) God.

This is shown when Satan encourages Jesus to throw himself from the top of the temple, and he doesn't, because he shouldn't. The limits of His power are whether one ought to, not can.


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

[User]
ELI5: Where do my antibodies get stored when Im not using them?

Like if Im vaccinated for a bunch of diseases and Ive built up antibodies for the diseases Ive had... where do those antibodies go when theyre not active? Or is it more like a software update in that its more my body knows how to create those antibodies when needed not that theyre physically kept in some subdermal bat cave waiting to fight crime when called upon?

[Assistant]
Some are stored in the spleen (that's why after the spleen is removed because of accidents or so, vaccinations might have to be repeated), but yeah, your body also learns how to produce them.

Making an antibody that fits is a trial-and-error thing, they body will produce some and test if they work.
So if you are vaccinated your body had the chance to try them out with the harmless version and knows what will fit when the real thing comes- time is saved, reaction is faster.


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

[User]
ELI5: How are outdoor extension cords safe?

I just plugged in my Christmas lights. It's been raining today, so I made sure to thoroughly dry off the prongs first. But it got me wondering, what is it that makes an outdoor extension cord (and outdoor Christmas lights) safe to use in the rain and snow? Or is it actually not as safe as people tend to assume?

[Assistant]
The cord itself is generally fine; it is well insulated with a thick, tough layer of rubber that prevents any problem.  As long as the cord is in good shape (no cracks or tears) and isn't abused (excessive flexing, tight bends, strong pressure, etc.) it is moisture-proof.

The problems come at the ends of the cords.  If those connections aren't well sealed against the weather, moisture can get in and cause a short circuit.   This will typically cause a breaker to trip before anything really bad can happen.


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

[User]
Eli5: why cant we fill deserts with human waste to make it dirt?

Ok this might sound a bit silly but, if cow manure is soil, and deserts can't support much plantlife because they don't have the proper soil, wouldn't relocating all human waste to deserts make them into normal dirt that can grow stuff? I figure at least moss or mushrooms or whatever grows in that stuff would form making it better suited for life and less deserty, right?

[Assistant]
Cow manure is not the same thing as soil. Soil is dirt and cow manure is feces. People spread manure ON soil because as it breaks down it releases nutrients into the soil.

Deserts are made up of sand, not soil. Soil has an entire biome of bacteria, insects, and other microscopic creatures that are a part of it other than just the dirt itself.

Soil also has a fairly high moisture content compared to sand. Soil also has the roots of plants to help hold it in place.

Sand in a desert has no such structure of roots holding it in one place so it tends to blow around.

So if you put a ton of shit in the desert, it would just be shit in the desert. It wouldnt transform into soil and would instead probably just dry out and stay there for a very long time since the micro biome that breaks down shit doesnt exist in the desert.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Does Thanos wear socks?

I mean those boots look like they would chafe like crazy and get super hot and sweaty super quick, does he wear socks or does he just go in raw like a heathen or something?

[Assistant] Titan morphology is similar to human but their biology and physiology are very different.  IE chafing isn't a concern for thanos and his boots have interior padding and fabric that aids in comfort as well as providing additional protection.


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

[User]
[ALIEN] Question about its circulatory system

If the alien/xenomorph has acid for blood, how is it able to circulate oxygen in its body?
I know the movies never explained or explored the biology of the xenomorphs in-depth, but I'd like to have some sort of theory concerning its blood.

[Assistant] Xenomorphs don't need to breath and can survive in a vacuum.  They do need to eat though.   Because they don't need to take in air much of the function of a circulatory system is unnecessary.   The literature does explore the xenomorphs biology a bit, but doesn't give any solid answers other then they are very different from any other life form known by man.   It is also worth noting that xenomorphs are silicon based.


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

[User]
[Captain America: Winter Soldier] What was the political fallout from Project: Insight?

Along with the whole Mandarin trouble, which got the VP arrested, how badly did the US Administration take it in the shorts from its political enemies (and allies, for that matter)?

First off, anyone who thinks that the UN is going to take over the US would have a field day with this, since SHIELD was overseen by the World Security Council.

Second, anyone who thinks the defense budget is too pork-laden is going to wonder just how much American money went into the building of three heli-carriers which are now so much scrap metal.

Third, the complete leaking of SHIELD's database makes Edward Snowden look like a minor inconvenience.

Finally, two branches of US government were infiltrated by Hydra; do we believe that it only went as far as Secretary Pierce, or Senator Stern from Pennsylvania, or will we get several senate and hosue committees asking "Are you now or have you ever been a member of Hydra?"  ("Nope, just a communist sleeper agent."  "Oh, well, that's fine then, on your way.")

[Assistant]
Agents of SHIELD TV series Spoilers!

SHIELD was shut down, with all still operating agents either retiring(and getting jobs elsewhere) or being labeled criminals and chased by various agencies like CIA and the military.

The larger public(including most governments) didn't differentiate between Hydra and SHIELD, to them this was just SHIELD going rogue as an organisation. So Hydra survived and established themselves as a legit corporation and soaked up a lot of the people leaving SHIELD.


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

[User] Why is AC used instead of DC in power transmission?

[Assistant]
The short, short version is that it is easier (cheaper) to change voltage under AC than DC.
You want to use very high voltage when delivering power over a long distance, but you want to use (relatively) low voltage in a home or business (for safety).


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

[User]
If your goal was to be a well-rounded programmer, and were granted perfect fluency in 5 languages, but only those 5. Which would you pick?

You are not able to read any different languages from these 5, but can read derivative languages as much as you would be able to anyway (i.e. PHP -> Hack, and vice versa) akin to real life

*You cannot, however, write in the languages that you can read*

[Assistant]
You can read derivative languages? Cool.

 * C
 * Perl
 * Classical LISP
 * ML
 * Smalltalk

And that covers basically every language as a derivative, as long as nobody shows up with COBOL or Forth code.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are gas prices typically the only thing we sell to the $0.009? When and why did this start? If it's only supposed to be effective marketing then why do other products not use it?

[Assistant]
It started because of taxes. Back when gas only cost about 0.15/gallon the federal government decided they wanted a piece of that to build and maintain roads, so they enacted a 3/10 of a cent tax. Gas companies weren't about to eat that so they passed the cost along to customers. Since gas was only 15 cents, rounding up a whole penny would be too much and would drive customers to your competitor.

Eventually they noticed that people didn't round up. If you price something at 49.9 cents, people treat it like it's 49 cents, not 50. That's why damn near everything is priced like that. 2.99, 14,990, etc. So they get to pocket almost an entire cent per gallon that people don't even feel like they're paying.


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

[User]
[Breaking Bad] Why did Gustavo Fring associate directly with street drug dealers?

>!There were two drug dealers that were killed by Walter White running them over, Gustavo Fring referred to them as "my employees".

With all the precautions he took, this seems odd.

[Assistant] You still need street level distributors when dealing drugs, no matter how professional your operation. Gustavo kept himself separated from those low-level dealers anyway, so if any of them went to prison or got taken out in other ways none of them could turn on him.


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

[User] ELI5: What is it that makes human beings orders of magnitude smarter than other animals, and why are we the only species with such intelligence?

[Assistant] "...on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same reasons."


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

[User] ELI5:Why do identical twins have different fingerprints?

[Assistant]
Debunking a popular misunderstanding of DNA:

Your DNA does not contain enough information to describe every single cell and how they should be layed out.  What it contains are patterns.  So for instance, your skin is created by a pattern which says "turn the outer layer of stem cells into skin cells and have them grow until they are so-and-so thick".  The cells themselves grow in semi-random ways as long as they obey the pattern.  The whorls and rings in your finger pads are an example of this.  The pattern of the finger pad is dictated by which cells divided when, and where they happened to be.  With the exact same DNA, you will end up with a different skin pattern every time.  This is true for identical twins, but it is also true for clones (assuming you had the technology to create them).  Even if you grew two clones in identical tanks, the small bits of random chance in the arrangement of cells during development would give them different fingerprints.


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

[User]
ELI5 why was leprosy such a big issue hundreds of years ago?

I remember  watching a documentary about a Greek town where they would send people with Leprosy. Why was leprosy such a big deal if 95% of people are immune to it?

[Assistant] Before the cure for leprosy was discovered it was common throughout most of the world. North America was largely spared but the US did have it's own leper colony in Louisiana. If you contracted leprosy you were sent there to die. Ancient sources tended to call every skin disease leprosy, even what we now call leprosy today is actually three different diseases with different origins.


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

[User]
ELI5: Will a kickball that is pitched faster go further when it is kicked?

Why or why not? My friend tried to say it was related to Newton's "Equal and opposite reaction" thing, but I think the action here would be the kicker's foot, nothing to do with the ball. I believe that a faster pitch will be harder to kick because more force is required to turn it around.

[Assistant]
Keep the elasticity of the ball in mind. The harder you throw a tennis ball against the ground, the higher it bounces, the same principal applies here. The kinetic energy of the ball is converted into elastic potential energy as the ball deforms against your foot, then is converted back into kinetic energy as the ball goes flying. More energy in yields more energy out.

The equal yet opposite reaction basically means that as your foot exerts a force on the ball, the ball exerts a force on your foot, which slows it down a small bit, but not a whole lot considering a human leg has much more mass than a kickball.


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

[User] [Rick & Morty] Does the dimension where all proper nouns begin with shmloo only affect English speaking countries or does it also affect countries where the native tongues have difficulty pronouncing shmloo?

[Assistant]
Depends on which of the infinite number of universes where proper nouns begin with shmloo you're talking about.

There's the one where only *English* proper nouns start with shmloo, or there's the one where it's only *French* proper nouns, or Chinese proper nouns, or there's the one where it's all proper nouns, regardless of language.

There are also dozens of universes where proper nouns *end* in shmloo.

The thing about infinite universe is that you get infinite possibilities. So if your question is "is there a universe where _______ is possible," the answer is basically always yes.

Within the scope of the show, it's difficult to know which *shmloo* universe we're talking about here because we only see English speaking scenes. If anybody's seen Rick and Morty dubbed in other languages then I'd be curious to know how they handled that particular scene, though.


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

[User] [Ultimate Marvel Universe] Was anyone a true hero, other than spiderman, in the Ultimate Marvel Universe?

[Assistant]
Thor wasn't so bad. He was played like some kind of slightly creepy cult leader but he wasn't an outright asshole.

Captain Mahr-Vehl seemed nice, but he didn't show up that much. The Vision (who was really more of a Silver Surfer type character) was alright... and didn't show up that much.


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

[User] ELI5: why do certain countries, such as the United States, seem to always be at war with someone? How have some countries managed to stay relatively peaceful? (Ex. Switzerland)

[Assistant]
The US has a large economy and far reaching economic interests. This puts it in conflict with almost anything ~~nasty~~ contentious on the planet, as somehow it impacts their interests.

Switzerland has a relatively narrow set of economic interests (banking) that encourage neutrality in conflicts. They also benefit by being close to powerful countries with a vested interest in protecting them from attack. This allows them to be protected by proxy.


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

[User]
Is there a -- and if so, what is the -- "feedback" mechanism from the bladder to the kidneys? (Is there a message like, "Stop already!!"?)

Like normal humans, I wake up in the morning, put on my glasses, and take a humongous morning pee.  It has not been an emergency to get to the bathroom; I am not in pain; etc.

Thing is, I can void nearly the same volume an hour later.

It's almost like, say, at 3ayem the bladder told the kidneys to take a break for a few hours, then later called them back to work to "finish the job" -- which results in the large volume of the second trip.

Is there a special nerve for handling this situation?  Some special fast-acting enzyme that makes it back to the kidneys via the bloodstream?  What?

[Assistant]
No. The kidneys keep making urine regardless of what state the bladder is in. This is necessary because our bodies make waste continuously, so we need to make urine continuously. If there is a distal obstruction impairing urine flow (large prostate, big stones, neurologic injury, etc), the urinary tract dilates and can ultimately rupture. At a cellular level the kidneys do eventually become unable to filter as much urine due to back-pressure, but that's not something the body was actually trying to do, and is Very Bad. This can lead to temporary or permanent kidney failure. Relevant search terms here include obstructive acute kidney injury, hydroureter, hydronephrosis, calyceal rupture, and pelvic urinoma.

The reason you pee a lot in the morning is probably more due to your brain suppressing the urge to urinate overnight, possibly with a contribution from gravity. Standing up can certainly change the distending pressure on the nerves innervating the bladder and generate an urge to urinate.


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

[User] ELI5: What physically happens in your brain when you forget something?

[Assistant] If you can't recall something, then for some reason you can't connect the neurones that hold parts of that memory together, usually because other pathways are opening up and blocking it. But really we don't have a clear understanding of how memory works.


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

[User]
[Marvel] How come Tony doesn't break his bones inside Iron Man suit?

Doesn't it move in inhuman speed and absorb inhuman amount of damage?

[Assistant]
On Earth-616, Stark has heavily modified his body to withstand G-force and heal most of his injuries quickly, almost on par with the SSS.

On Earth-199999, common consensus is that the suit has a repulsor field that acts as an inertial dampener.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is marijuana "impossible" to overdose on?

Edit: totally forgot I posted this last night.  For the first time in probably 6 months I was not on reddit during work hours... fml

Thanks for the answers and upvotes everyone!

[Assistant]
Bluntly put, the median lethal dose (LD50) of THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) is so high and the methods of intake so dilute that you would have to do absolutely impossible feats to have it occur.  While there are a couple of different and conflicting sources, one estimate placed it at 40,000 times as much as the dose needed to get high.  This is contrasted with alcohol, where five to ten times the amounted needed to get you drunk can kill you.  To extrapolate, With pot brownies you'd die of sugar poisoning long before the THC got you.  With smoking, you'd have to smoke something like 1,500 pounds of weed in a period of 15 minutes.

To actually manage a THC overdose you'd have to spend a lot of effort to first purify a sizable quantity of THC and then ingest it rapidly.  This would never happen accidentally.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How did only two Jedi survive (Obi Wan/Yoda) when only two other people in the galaxy knew how to sense/find Jedi (Vader/Palpatine)?

I find it very far-fetched that all 10,000+ Jedi were killed after the clone wars ended. Lets assume that after order 66 was completed 1,000-2,000 were killed by the clones. That leaves 8,000-9,000 Jedi left who had ample time to go hide. From what I understand, in the canon, Vader and Palpatine hunt down and kill all the rest of the Jedi by either the vast amounts of intel that come with running a galactic empire or by sensing their force power. I have trouble believing that 8,998 Jedi were hunted down and killed just based on those two things. Its not like the Jedi are stupid, they should know how to hide across AN ENTIRE GALAXY OF PLACES TO HIDE. There are literally an uncountable amount of planets to hide on. Some may say well Vader and Palpatine sensed their force and thats how they were found, but if Sidious could hide his force for 80 freaking years in the heart of the city where ALL THE JEDIS LIVED why didnt all the other Jedi do this? We know that Obi Wan and Yoda do, so why did nobody else? I just find it hard to believe that they are the only two who were able to hide their forcenesss. STAR WARS REBELS SPOILER: also if Asoka is out of hiding or whatever how come Vader hasnt sensed her before this. Youd think he would sense his own padawan quicker than anything or anyone else, especially if he has been travelling the galaxy hunting Jedi based on their force. Anyone got an answer?

[Assistant]
You forget that Darth Vader, as one of the highest-ranking officers of the Galactic Empire, had access to nearly all the military reconnaissance resources in the known galaxy, as well as the funds to hire out mercenaries and bounty hunters as he saw fit. Arguably even worse, Palpatine very publicly made them enemies of the state, turning even civilians into eyes and ears against the Jedi, deterring them from venturing too close to civilization lest they be identified and reported. Even with their ability to conceal themselves, the Jedi Purge was a long campaign of attrition for them against a never-ending well of military force; most of the Jedi were haggard and worn-down after being on the run for close to nineteen years, making them much easier for Vader and his strike teams to track and eliminate. Now in power, the Empire had plenty of time to be thorough, after all.

As for your specific examples:

 - Darth Sidious is a particularly unfair point of comparison. The man was exceptionally powerful in the Force and specialized in manipulation and deception; he was quite probably the most skilled Force-user in the entire galaxy at concealing himself by a wide margin.
 - Yoda explicitly chose Dagobah to hide himself due to the energies radiating from the Dark Side Cave there being well-suited to mask his presence.
 - Obi-Wan Kenobi was closely familiar with Darth Vader, and as such was especially qualified to avoid his detection, especially considering the level of fine control he gained over his force abilities through years of meditation in the Tatooine desert.
 - The ability to sense the presence of another individual Force-sensitive being requires some relative degree of proximity; there's no reason why Vader should have been particularly aware of Ashoka's presence before being within shuttle distance of the same planet as her. Space is notably huge, after all.

*EDIT: Typos.*


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

[User]
2 years since I received my B.S. in Physics. Applied twice for Physics PhD Programs. Rejected twice. Currently working as a High School Physics Teacher. I want to go back to grad school, but I don't know how anymore. My current plan is to build up Summer Research Experience. Looking for advice. TIA.

 Hi everyone,

I am in my mid-20s from the US. I am 2 years out of undergrad with a B.S. And here's my story. Got a full merit scholarship to a public university in a major city. Finished with a GPA of 3.4 and a B.S. in Physics. During undergrad I participated in a research lab doing work on photonics with TMDs and creating hybrid bi-layers using a stacking method. The next two semesters after I graduated I participated in a Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program at a National Laboratory working in Nuclear Data Science for the first and Theoretical Quantum Mechanics for the second.

During these past two years I applied to many PhD programs. The first round of applications I was arrogant. I thought I could apply to a bunch of super duper advanced schools (IVYs and such) and definitely get into at least one. I learned it doesn't work that way. Second round I applied to schools at or lower in ranking than my undergrad. Thought a lower ranked school would be more willing to take a chance on me. Wrong again.

Before I received my last decision for the second round of applications I made a deal with myself: "If I get rejected again, I'll take a break and try something else". I got rejected again and tried something else. I am currently a physics teacher at a private high school in New England. And after a few months of working with uninterested and lazy students, I am so bored and disheartened. I didn't think every student would love math and physics, but the administration just pushes these kids through and I am pressured to walk the line.

I need to try. I need to go back to grad school and see how far I can go. My current plan is to work here for a few more years and save as much money as I can; my family and myself aren't wealthy enough for me to just not have an income while I apply to grad schools. I also plan to accumulate as many accolades, research reexperiences, and letters of rec as I can before I apply again. That is what brings me here. As a teacher I have summers COMPLETELY OFF. I am currently searching for Summer Post-Baccalaureate Internships and Research Programs preferably in Experimental Particle Physics (I prefer theoretical, but I know it's harder to get into) OR PhD Bridge Programs with a stipend during the regular Fall and Spring semesters.

Thankfully other than money, I have no obligations or restrictions on where I can work, live, or travel to. I am open to living and working anywhere as long as it gets me closer to my goals.

Thank you to anyone who takes the time to respond and good luck to everyone else on their grad school journeys!

**TL;DR - I want to go to grad school for a PhD in Physics. 2 years since my undergrad. A few random research experiences. Currently a high school physics teacher. ISO Summer Physics Research Programs.**

[Assistant]
Two thoughst:

You might want to pay someone to look at your application materials, but it sounds like something is very wrong with them.  Sure, Ivy league schools are competitive, but if you are applying to grad schools of lower ranking and not getting any offers, then something must be wrong with your applications.

If you want to improve your chances of getting into a top ranked school and can afford it, you might consider an MS program as a stepping stone.


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

[User]
Does crime cause poverty or does poverty cause crime?

I'm in disagreement with a friend of mine who's quite insistent that poverty doesn't cause crime, that it's the other way around. Is there much truth to this?

[Assistant] Neither. According to Quinney, in The Social Reality of Crime (1970), he argues that social inequality rooted in class conflict creates both poverty and crime. He also writes about this more thoroughly in Class, State, and, Crime (can't remember year, sorry). Poverty (the have nots) is a state of deprivation that is perpetuated or recreated by social, economic, political, and legal institutions dominated by the haves. Those in power shape the law in ways that (to use a common phrase) protect and serve their interests. Definitions of crime, and the criminal justice system, serve as a key mechanism of social control which recreates social inequality.


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

[User]
[Dungeons & Dragons/Silence of the Lambs] What would Hannibal Lecter's alignment be?

I've seen him used as an example for all three evil alignments in different places. Where would he be most likely to fit if he were a D&D character? I would lean towards saying he's Chaotic Evil, but wants people to think he's Lawful Evil.

[Assistant]
Neutral Evil.

The Evil aspect should be obvious enough, what with the lies, deception, manipulation, and murder. The Neutral aspect comes from not having regard for law, or any sort of code or ethics that he lives by. Sure, he manages to stay under the radar, but that has more to do with him deliberately manipulating those around him than by living an upstanding life. He's not a raving maniac, so he can't be considered chaotic, either. Just pure, unrepentant, Neutral Evil.


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

[User]
Why would it not be within the interests of the wealthiest individuals/companies to attempt to eradicate poverty?

Apologies in advance if this isnt a particularly well thought out question - I have had no real education in economics so there may be an obvious answer to this.

It is quite often a moral criticism of billionaires/multinational corporations that they dont do enough to try to eradicate poverty - this is often seen to be evidence of them lacking on a moral basis. However, as far as my limited knowledge can make out, it seems to be almost as much of an example of them lacking on the level of enlightened self interest and rationality - I would have thought that it would be more profitable in the long term for them if poverty didnt exist.

My logic for this is fairly simple and can probably be summed up by this statement: someone who can barely make ends meet and put food on the table isnt going to buy a car (or house or any other type of product or service that isnt part of the bare minimum). So long as someone is living in circumstances where they have little money, they are excluding themselves from the potential customer base of almost every company (and even out of those who do supply the bare minimum items, most of them have large numbers of more luxury items that would be excluded such as almost all of the food in a supermarket that isnt as cheap as possible). If poverty were to be eradicated, it would ensure that for the majority of companies almost the entirety of the population is a potential customer, rather than the smaller subset it is currently.

I understand there would be trade offs for this - it is my under that a less well off population creates more favourable labour market conditions for employers, as a desperate individual is more likely to agree to poorer (and thus cheaper) conditions. However, in the vast majority of cases it seems to me that the customer base of any given company will always be larger than its workforce, and by maximising it it also reduces reliance of repeat customers and other such things. Furthermore, while you might end up spending more on wages in a poverty free world, you would also have employees more likely to be wealthy enough to be able to buy your own products, meaning some of that money would end up reinvested into the company by itself.

Like I said previously, I understand that this is an incredibly simplistic argument based on limited knowledge, so I am sure I have almost certainly missed out on some of the fundamentals of economics. Furthermore, I am sure that said wealthy individuals and corporations have both a level of self interest that cannot be underestimated and large numbers of highly intelligent people being paid to further it, so if such a simple approach was within their interests they would already be performing it. With that in mind then (ideally without diving off the deep end too far into advanced economics!) what is the flaw in my logic?

[Assistant]
I do agree with your logic that the economy is a positive sum game and richer customers are better overall. I'll add to that that reducing poverty can also increase people's productivity and thus mean we can all consume more. This is the same logic as to why it's better for a country to have richer trading partners than poor ones.

But I'd like to raise a question: why would the wealthiest individuals or companies be particularly good at eradicating poverty?  If someone is living in poverty there are multiple potential reasons why. Perhaps they have mental health problems, or perhaps they have a disabled child requiring full time care or perhaps they can't find a house to rent due to zoning laws or perhaps they're living in a war zone or perhaps they're an ex-prisoner who is legally restricted from working most jobs. There's nothing about those situations that necessarily imply that a tech billionaire or Walmart is good at or even capable of fixing them all.

One important concept in economics is "comparative institutional analysis". Different institutions (markets, governments, non-profits, etc) are good at different things. There's no simple one-size fits all answer. Not even for poverty. Governments are plausibly more competent at paying poor people money than at fixing difficult mental health problems, and some things, like changing bad laws, can only be done by governments.


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

[User]
[Lord of the Rings] Why did Gollom not die of old age after he lost the ring?

(For the sake of this argument, I am speaking more in terms of the movies as I know in the books much more time passes) But when Bilbo gives up the ring, he ages drastically in just a few months, but Gollom, who had already lived for a a few hundred years lost the ring for 60 years and seemd more of less the same.

[Assistant]
The long-term exposure Gollum had to the ring seems to have deeply warped him in a biological sense; he doesn't respond the same as a Hobbit does to losing the Ring because *he isn't a Hobbit anymore*, but a species of one.

Alternately, his connection to the Ring may be deeper than Bilbo's, meaning that even with the Ring out of his grasp he is still bound to it and under it's influence.


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

[User] If one capsid of HIV works its way into my bloodstream, what are my chances of getting the virus?

[Assistant]
probably pretty rare. first things first, if HIV just gets into your blood stream, it could still be intercepted by Ab and get phagocytosed, where it would hopefully be degraded and not infect the macrophage. however, if it does attach to its receptor on T cells (CD4), it could enter the cell, and being a retrovirus, create a DNA copy to integrate into your T cell's genome leading to massive production of virus after activation, because HIV's genome is specifically made to make it be an asshole. The LTR's essentially create a new promoter site in YOUR DNA, and you just start pumping HIV's shit out for it.

TLDR: maybe, but probably not.


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

[User]
How do animals live at the bottom of the ocean, with the intense pressure?

I understand that there is immense pressure at the bottom of the ocean. This is why when we send submarines and such down, we need to counter this with either solid constriction or counter pressure. If a person were suddenly exposed to the pressure, they would be crushed, right?

So how do creatures live down there, ones such as anglerfish, and the tube worms near volcanic vents. I know they are not crushed, as they live down there, but how are they not?

[Assistant]
Because they consist of incompressible materials, making the pressure pretty much irrelevant (wrt. "crushing", at least). Subs contain gases, so they can be compressed if the hull fails.

If you fill a balloon with air and take it to the bottom of the Challenger deep, it'll be crushed (that is, become very small). If you had filled that balloon with water instead, it will have the same size, since water is ~incompressible.


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

[User] ELI5:Why was it such a big deal to be gay in the military?

[Assistant]
Many just didn't want gay soldiers around, and felt they would erode the largely macho culture the military encourages.

Others had more legitimate concerns.

Soldiers often live in intimately close quarters and engage in activities that involve close physical contact.  Some were uncomfortable with the idea that they person they were showering with might be sexually attracted to them, or use it as an opportunity to take physical liberties.


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

[User] [The Time Machine] Was there a proper name for the actual Time Travel vessel or was it just called The Time Machine?

[Assistant]
[Assuming the book, rather than any of the various movies]

No.  It was just called "the time machine" or similar descriptive terms, just as the time traveler himself was only known (to any who did not know him personally) as "the time traveler."


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

[User]
ELI5: How does muscle relaxers not stop muscles needed to live. IE: your heart

Happened a long time ago, but I remember being prescribed some muscle relaxers for a pinched nerve in my back. The things they gave me hit me so hard, I could literally feel my heart slowing down. I thought to myself "Well, this is how I die I guess". I woke up about 18 hours later, still alive but with that drugged feeling. How do muscle relaxers not relax yourself into a slow death?

[Assistant]
Imagine any drug you take is like a key and that key can only fit into certain keyholes (receptors) on certain doors (target organ/tissue/nerve etc).  There are different types of muscle relaxers (keys) that open certain doors and causes a reaction to occur behind that door (this is the drug action).  This is how the drug works.

Now, there are three types of muscles (smooth - ex intestine, cardiac - heart, and skeletal).  A muscle relaxer like Zanaflex fits in one type of keyhole on a certain door (brain) and behind that door a reaction occurs to only cause the skeletal muscle to relax.   In Anesthesia (my profession) We give a paralytic (key) during surgery that will only fit a certain keyhole on skeletal muscle that the heart and intestines do not have (they have different keyholes).  This is how we paralyze the body and not the heart/intestines.


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

[User]
CMV: Linda Fairstein and her team should be prosecuted as criminals for their actions in the Central Park 5 case

Here is a list of the laws that they broke:

interrogated minors without parents present

coerced false confessions from the minors

deprived them of food, water and relieving themselves for multiple hours

lied to the minors by telling them that if they confessed they would be allowed to go home

did not tell the minors or their parents their rights to lawyers

despite finding DNA evidence that it was someone else, they didnt investigate to find the real rapist (not sure if this one is illegal)

This is everything that Ive found but there may be more.

Linda Fairstein has resigned from her job due to public pressures but despite her many criminal actions, she has not been legally punished in any way.

The laws that she and her team broke are there to prevent a case like the Central Park 5 from happening in the first place. She should be prosecuted as a criminal because she and her team committed crimes with extreme consequences.

For anyone who disagrees, please try to change my view.

[Assistant]
Pretty sure you cant charge someone for these types of minor offenses 30 years later.

Maybe if there was some sort of felony, or violent crime... but its debatable if these are even criminal violations.


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

[User] ELI5 why Colors Fade in sunlight?  What actually happens to the color?  Does it dissipate into the air somehow?

[Assistant] The photons of ultra violet light from the sun interact with some chemicals that are used to create dyes and pigments (i.e. colors) in a way that causes the chemicals to change and stop having the color.  The energy of the photon causes certain bonds between atoms in the dye molecule to break.


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

[User]
If there was a way to have a person born blind have an "eye" transplant to see, would their brains be able to process images?

If, in some odd years there was a tried and true way of  either connecting tissues properly or taking an organ donors eyes and attacting everything properly and performing that surgery on someone who has already matured ( like say a 25 year old) person who was born blind, would their brains be able to process the images they see or would that be too much for them and drive them insane or severely depressed? or would their brains be able to adapt?

I know that there would be a probable blur period for them. Taking that into account, how would that go over?

[Assistant]
>would their brains be able to process the images they see or would that be too much for them and drive them insane or severely depressed?

I can't speak for the exact scenario you mentioned, but Oliver Sacks wrote about a similar scenario in his book, An Anthropologist on Mars (Chapter 4, *To See and Not See*). The subject was a 50 year old gentleman who developed severe cataracts at six years old, and was effectively blind for most of his life. He received cataracts surgery at 50, and his vision was more-or-less restored (it wasn't 20-20, but it was apparently decent).

In doing so, however, he started experiencing problems. When he first opened his eyes after surgery, the world was a mess of colors to him. He couldn't recognize any shapes, he didn't know what objects he was looking at. He started making connections ("that tan bluer from where the voice is coming must be a face"), but it was a learning process, and he had difficult taking objects as a whole. He'd see parts, and the parts would run together. He had difficulty understanding perspective; he had difficult recognizing objects seen at new angles; he had difficulty putting letters together to form words; he had difficulty corresponding colors to their names. He could eventually do these things pretty passably, but it was never natural, never comfortable.

He fell into a depression and other illness; his work as a masseur became foreign to him after seeing his clients for the first time; he still only really "understood" an object if he closed his eyes and felt it with his hands. Sight had virtually no meaning to him, especially in visually cluttered spaces.

Eventually, he lost his eyesight again for reasons not fully known (though it was theorized that seeing light for the first time in half a century caused excessive damage to his eyes), and he was much happier with his blindness. It was all he had known for most of his life.

It's an interesting read.


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

[User] What does Slavoj iek mean when he says "The only way to be an atheist is through Christianity."?

[Assistant] He means basically that Christianity has already killed God for you, as it were, since God dies to Christ and Christ dies to God. The idea that "there is no God" is already part and parcel of Christianity itself. It is only in the concrete syllogism of our self-consciousness that the \[holy\] spirit lives on in the community that is mankind.


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

[User] [MCU/Doctor Who] Is it worse to be a civilian in the MCU or Doctor Who version of Earth?

[Assistant]
I tihnk the best way to settle this is to compare disasters and their severity.

**The MCU**
Most of the events in the MCU are limited in scope.  The Battle of New York, the events surrounding the defeat of Ultron, the fall of the Helicarriers, the partial destruction of Greenwich during the Alignment...these all happen in specific cities and are relatively rare occurrences.  Even Hulk rampages are confined and infrequent (although devastating).

That more or less sets the pattern for the MCU.  The things that happen tend to be geographically dispersed, which means their impact is also spread out and, consequently, the MCU Earth is a relatively safe place.

**Doctor Who**
...well, safe relative to the Earth that The Doctor protects.  Working from 2005 onwards, we find that London is the most dangerous place to live on the planet.  Cardiff is also similarly dangerous, although the amount of danger to Cardiff actually tails off after Torchwood is shut down.  That said, the danger to the rest of the world *rises* at that point.  There are a number of global events, including a succesful invasion by the Daleks and the theft of Earth, that caused mass civilian casualties.

Even though some of the global events in Doctor Who - like when the Master took over and enslaved the population with the help of the Toclafane - were literally undone and technically never happened, when things kick off in this universe, they tend to do so on a massive scale.

On balance, it's a dodgier proposition to live on the Doctor Who Earth.  The MCU Earth looks like it might be about to rival those stakes, though.


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

[User] Are there any examples of organisms that completely contradict the theory of natural selection?

[Assistant]
Evolution by natural selection (including artificial selection, humans are also part of the natural world) requires 4 things:

* Offspring are similar to their parent(s)
* Imperfect copying system (in terms of reproduction)
* Variation amongst individuals of a species
* Limited resources

Find a species that species that isn't of this nature and you'll get yourself an organism that doesn't evolve by natural selection.


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

[User] ELI5 How WhatsApp can allow reporting of messages and still be considered as e2e encrypted? Can the app itself automatically "report" all the messages if requested by the police without user action?

[Assistant]
It's pretty simple....when you view a message on your device it is decrypted on that device. When you report a message, your device creates a new encrypted message between you and Facebook that contains the contents of that message (and the 4 previous from what I've heard) and (likely) the user you received it from.

So from there, because you made a new message the original is still e2e encrypted, *and* the new message (the report) is also e2e encrypted.

It's no different than showing your screen to a friend. They were not the intended recipient but now they saw an e2e encrypted message without breaking the entire e2e encryption process.

EDIT: As for the 'automatically report', theoretically yes, it could, and your primary protection against that is hoping you trust FB enough to not build that in. Though if they did do that and word got out, people would likely move away from the app which would be bad for FB.


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

[User] If you are heading west on the equator, what speed would you need to maintain to continually outrun the sunset?

[Assistant] In order to keep the sun in the same position in the sky by flying due west you need a speed of 1035 mph times cosine(latitude). That means it takes the full 1035 mph at equator and only half, around 500 mph, at 60 deg north or south (cos(60) = 0.5). Since 500 mph is around the top speed at altitude for most civilian airliners, such jet would be able to keep up if it flew at around latitude 60 deg or more north.


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

[User]
Experts say 70% of a population needs immunity to reach the herd threshold. Where I live, in Texas, polls say 1/3 of people refuse to get the vaccination. Can we reach herd immunity?

Considering that children are not currently being vaccinated, and studies are showing that immunity is stronger and lasts longer through the vaccine as opposed to infection, how likely is it that we'll actually reach the point people are calling "back to normal"?

[Assistant]
Natural immunity will work to fill in the gaps. We don't know how long it lasts, but seems to be a while.

Also, keep in mind that the biggest issue with COVID-19 is how quickly it overwhelms medical facilities. Even if the virus is not wiped out, if the most vulnerable and a good chunk of the population are protected, it will become just another deadly virus we live with like the flu.


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

[User] ELI5: The three species in video game StarCraft II are "trivially" balanced. When developing and maintaining the game, what are the methods used by Blizzard Entertainment to make sure that the species are "trivially" balanced?

[Assistant]
Play testing, play testing, play testing.

Then they play test some more.

Even then they don't get it exactly right.  There is a constant cycle of players developing unbalancing strategies, and Blizzard adjusting the play balance to compensate.


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

[User] Eli5 If bug killer can kill insects, how is it safe to spray all over your house and not be harmful to humans?

[Assistant] In general, modern pesticides are designed to target specific things that the insect has and mammals (like humans) dont. Since we are pretty distant from insects genetically, there are numerous proteins in insects that either do not exist in, or are substantially different from ones, in humans.


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

[User]
ELI5: when people use a supercomputer to supercompute things, what exactly are they doing? Do they use special software or is just a faster version of common software?

Also, I don't know if people use it IRL. Only seen it in movies and books and the like.

[Assistant]
They are mostly fast because of multiple processes at the same time. The do not work well on linear problems and scale best on tasks that can be done in parallel. They have special schedulers that assign calculations to cores and collate the results.

Its more like a hundred or thousand PCs all working together on one problem.


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

[User] [Star Trek] So... the holodeck DOES get used for lots and lots of sexual depravity, right?

[Assistant] What people do during their holodeck time is up to them and as long as it doesn't interfere with their work or life outside of the holodeck then they're left alone but there's a reason for holodeck waste removal...


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

[User]
ELI5: How can illegal websites (i.e. piracy and illegal streaming) have advertisements on their sites of well-known companies and brands?

How can companies be allowed legally to do this and why doesn't this immediately expose these websites to the federal government?

[Assistant]
If a site isn't based in the US they have no obligation to comply with US law.

Most sites just sign up to an advertising service and then that service places ads on the site. Well-known companies & brands often have no ability to choose where there ads appear.


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

[User] How large does an object in space need to be in order to gravitationally bind an average human to its surface?

[Assistant]
"Bind an average human" seems to be the crux of your question.

Lets instead ask "Whats the biggest object a human can escape the gravitational pull of?"

For this we need 2 items: the escape velocity of an object, and the average speed a human can reach.

A small amount of googling tells me that the average jumping height for males is about .504 meters, while a good height is .6. Lets use .5 for a simple answer.
Using basic kinematics, we find that humans can generally give themselves a velocity of sqrt(g) or about 3.13 m/s.
However, this is only vertically. Humans are generally able to sprint at a speed of around 7 m/s. So it will be much easier for our astronaut to simply start sprinting then it would to be jumping.

The escape velocity of a body is given by v=sqrt(2*G*M/r). So big objects are hard to get away from, but large objects are easy to get away from. So density comes into play. This won't be as easy as giving a simple number.

Instead, lets find some likely candidates. Ceres is the largest asteroid in our solar system. Ceres has a mean radius of 473,000m and a mass of 9.4*10^20 kg.
This gives Ceres an escape velocity of 515 m/s. No, chance of getting off that.

67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko is the comet that was recently landed on by Rosetta's Lander Philae, which famously bounced but stayed on the surface. Because of its odd shape, we can get about 4100 meters away from its center. It has a mass of 9.98*10^12 kg. So it has an escape velocity of around .5 m/s at its tip! We can definitely escape this!

So we're looking somewhere between our solar system's biggest asteroid and an oddly shaped comet.


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

[User] ELI5: How do directions work in space?

[Assistant]
They're either relative to the orbit that the ship is on(prograde, retrograde, normal, anti-normal, radial in, radial out) or relative to a fixed set of reference points(Earth, moon, or sun) which you can then use up/down or north/south, east/west to refer to directions.

Once you have your reference set you can define things with angles just like we do here on Earth with incilination(up/down) and ascension(left/right rotation)


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

[User]
Traditional black holes happen where something is so dense that it has such a strong gravitational pull that not even light can escape from it. Could there be, theoretically, black holes caused by one of the other four fundamental forces?

Black holes caused by the electromagnetic force or the strong nuclear force, for example. Or maybe the weak nuclear force.

I am imagining the same concept as a gravitational black hole (nothing can escape from its grip past a certain distance from it), but caused by one of the other three forces, just to clarify.

[Assistant]
Such an object would affect only things that interact with that force, so only charged objects for the electromagnetic force, or objects with colour charge for the strong force, etc. Even though they might never be able to escape, light still could.

Quark pairs are sort of analogous to this: if you try to pull them apart, it requires so much energy that you just end up creating another pair of quarks.


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

[User] As a philosophy student, is there any use to me learning Set Theory especially if my focus in grad school will be around Kant and Hegel?

[Assistant]
Learning set theory won't directly help you understand Kant and Hegel.

Learning set theory might be useful for general intellectual development, and you might find set theory itself inherently interesting. But the concerns of set theorists are far afield of Kant's and Hegel's concerns.


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

[User]
[Marvel][X-Men] How did Wolverine's claws get sharpened?

Wolverine's bone claws seem to have a naturally sharp edge to them but once his skeleton has the adamantium bonded to it they seem to gain a significantly sharper edge. Was this done after he got the adamantium? Did it bond that way around the bone? Thanks for your time.

[Assistant] It could be that the natural tendency of adamantium is to form a monomolecular edge, much like how some crystals and rocks will naturally form cubes, or cylinders due to their molecular makeup. When the adamantium mixed with the bone claws, the leading edge forces the cooling metal to crystalize into an edge a single atoms thickness. The cohesion of the adamantium is strong enough to the edge never dulls, remaining sharp forever.


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

[User] How is it that dogs and wolves are still the same species? How much more do dogs need to change before they become a different species?

[Assistant] Dogs and wolves *are* separate species, *Canis lupus* and *Canis familiaris*. There are many species of animals that can still interbreed but are still classified as separate species due to physical, behavioral, or temporal barriers that make it extremely unlikely for the animals to hybridize. Dogs and wolves are more physically distinct than some, so it seems more surprising.


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

[User] If you flip a coin an infinite amount of times, will you also at some point have an infinite streak of heads?

[Assistant]
For any fixed n, you will (almost surely, aka with probability 1) have a string of n heads in a row sometime; if you divide up your throws in sets of n, you have probability 2^(-n) of getting all of them heads in that set - so prob. of never getting n successive heads in k*n throws is at most (1-2^(-n))^k, and as the amount of throws (and k) increases, this approaches 0.

However, "at some point have an infinite streak of heads" means that after N throws, all the remaining coin tosses result in heads; but that happens with probability 0.


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

[User] ELI5 If the chord progression number system is i - II - iii - iv - V - VI - VII and your first chord is C minor, how do you determine what chord II and so forth will be? Also, how do you determine which order to play them?

[Assistant]
>ELI5 If the chord progression number system is i - II - iii - iv - V - VI - VII and your first chord is C minor, how do you determine what chord II and so forth will be?

The numbers indicate the scale degree. i is the first note of the scale, ii is the second, etc. Which means you have to know the notes of the scale. Maybe you understand that now from other responses.

>Also, how do you determine which order to play them?

You play them in the order the song requires. Or if you're writing a song yourself, you order them how you want to get a particular sound. There are many possible chord progressions.


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

[User]
[The Boys] question on the compound V (spoilers Season 1)

Hi, I just finished season 1 of The Boys and it was awesome.
I just want to make sure I understand the compound V thing:
The V compound is a secret compound used by Vought to create superheroes. They make NDA contracts with the parents so nobody knows about it, even the supers themselves.

In season 1, Homelander wants to create super terrorists. He steals some V and gives it to A-Train who will deliver it to terrorists including those who have Kimiko. By the way, A-Train will keep some of it for himself and his girlfriend and he will become addicted.

In all of that, I try to understand:

What do Homelander, Popclaw, A-Train or even Maeve know about the V compound? Is Homelander the only superhero who knows what V is really for?
I think that this secret must be very hard to keep so I don't see how other superheroes could not know about it. Besides, I don't see how Homelander and A-Train can get V discreetly without Stilwell knowing about it.

[Assistant]
It's pretty clear their is a small black market trade in compound V.
Either someone who knew the production process set up an underground kitchen; some is stolen from Vought and resold, or, Vought itself is deliberately running a black market for reasons of it's own.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do banks close at five when most people are just getting off of work? Wouldn't it be in their better interest to stay open later?

[Assistant]
You're assuming banks actually care about consumers.  They don't.

Banks make most of their money out of businesses - the charges involved in business banking, merchant accounts, etc. are far more profitable than the tiny fees paid by most consumers.

Banks are open when their profitable customers are open - during business hours.


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

[User]
Professors: Do you like when a student comes to your office hours just to chat about your subject of interest?

I am very interested in writing and have a professor who I love chatting with about the subject. Anything really. He likes to write books and occasionally I like to get his perspective on certain subjects. I am just afraid that I am visiting him too much (I have visited him maybe 3 times over the course of the semester) and I don't want him to feel like I am wasting his time or being obsessive.

[Assistant]
It's official office hours? For students? And there aren't students waiting to do real business? And you ask specific, relevant questions and/or raise specific, relevant points? And you don't overstay your welcome and your professor is engaged in the conversation?

Yes? Carry on. You sound like a delight.


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

[User]
[The Matrix] What happens in the matrix when the people inside it think they're having children?

I seem to recall that Morpheus (or someone) mentioned that he'd seen babies being grown.

So what happens in the matrix when two avatars simulate meeting, having sex, the woman getting pregnant, visiting the doctors, getting ultrasound/scans etc, and childbirth itself.

Further to that, how do things like miscarriages, stillbirths and abortions work? Was there a real foetus being 'grown' somewhere that for whatever reason didn't grow enough to be 'born'?

[Assistant]
sub.log 234928349 server uuty8 - INTERACTION:}} Pod 8847ty.. sex (PIV+UNPROTECTED+CONS...) Pod 4487na.. run [impregnation algorithm+STD algorithm].

sub.log 234928352 server uuty8 - MATERIAL TRANSFER:}} Pod 8847ty.. SEND spermatozoa TO Pod 4487na.. run [impregnation protocol].

sub.log 234928372 server uuty8 - AUTORUN:}} Pod 4487na.. run [SIMULATION;PREGNANCY]>synchronize incubator 3904ty.

sub.log 234928378 server uuty9 - MATERIAL TRANSFER:}} Incubator 3904ty.. -> receive zygote-8847ty|4487na.

sub.log 234928379 server uuty9 - SYSTEM:}} Incubator 3904ty.. -> run [SIMULATION;GESTATION] synchronize with Pod 4487na.

--------------

sub.log 234928458 server uuty9 - ERROR:}} Incubator 3904ty.. -> REASON: hormonal imbalance.. DUMP human generation..

sub.log 234928458 server uuty9 - SYSTEM:}} Incubator 3904ty.. CANCEL [SIMULATION;GESTATION] SEND CANCEL pregnancy in Pod 4487na.

sub.log 234928472 server uuty8 - AUTORUN:}} Pod 4487na.. run [SIMULATION;MISCARRIAGE]>CANCEL synchronize incubator 3904ty.


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

[User] Why do fans sound like white noise?

[Assistant]
The spectral signature of a fan is actually very rarely white noise (i.e. flat across all frequencies). It's usually got a skeleton of pink noise (which means there's more low frequency energy and then it rolls off as frequency goes up) and then some sort of peak or tonal aspect of it that corresponds to the blade pass frequency. That's usually somewhere between 100 and 300 Hz.

The reason it sounds like white noise to us has somewhat to do with our sensitivity to sounds. Even though there is less energy output at higher frequencies, our ear is more sensitive to them. Depending on the spectral signature of the fan, this frequency-dependent sensitivity to hearing can effectively "cancel out" with the energy rolloff of the fan's sound emission spectrum, making it sound like white noise to our ear.


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

[User]
Does an MD/PhD with a neurosurgery specialization correspond to the longest possible average higher education training time?

I am not interested in going that route. My respect to the people who have the wherewithal to do so. I just got curious and was scoping through CVs of MD PhD neurosurgeons, and it generally seemed like the training tended to last between 16 - 18 years after undergrad, 8 years for the MD/PhD, 7 years for the neurosurgery residency, then another 1 - 3 years of fellowship. This has to be the longest average single academic training "program" right? Someone coming out of undergrad at 22 going this route will be near or into their 40s before they are done with formal training \*if\* they are fortunate enough to avoid major delays. I've also seen CVs of people who did a non-integrated PhD following an MD or vice versa to make things even longer. For sure, this seems like a road that is closed off for anyone who has even a moderately older start in their postgraduate schooling due to the sheer time threshold.

[Assistant]
Many neurosurgeons also do 1-2 years of sub-specialty fellowship training after residency. Also its not that uncommon to take 9 years to complete the MD/PhD curriculum (the graduate school phase is typically 4 years but many need 5).

Sincerely, an eighth year MD/PhD student currently interviewing for neurosurgery residency hoping to have his first real job at age 38-40 depending on fellowship plans.


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

[User]
I would kill 1 person to save 2. CMV

Assume that the only consequence of killing this one person will be that the other 2 are able to live. Essentially, destroying this one person's life is the means to save the other 2 people. Also, you are the only person who is able to perform this act. All of these three people are not expected to die any time soon and are not suicidal. You can assume they are men of means or not, I personally don't think it matters and that 1 powerful life is never more important than two squalid lives. If you want to debate about that though, go ahead.

I would kill 1 to save 2 because, although I feel it is my duty not to murder people, I feel compelled to kill in this case because it saves more people

edit: assume you don't know much about the three people, and are therefore not responsible for any indirect consequences such as causing more deaths or failing to save more people if you choose to kill the 1 man.

[Assistant]
At a very basic level, consider that this means that the one person will kill you to save themselves.  And be quite justified in doing so as *they* are killing *in self defense*.

To even begin to be logically consistent and morally correct you would have to also be willing to sacrifice yourself to save two people.  If you aren't then you are just playing god.