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

[User]
I do not believe that the Constitution should define United States law. CMV.

The recent gay marriage debate in the Supreme Court highlighted what, in my mind, is an absurdity in US politics today. The justices are using a 150-year-old revision to a 200-year-old document to decide what should be done about an issue that only started gaining steam in the last 20 years. I think that this focus on deciding everything by the Constitution is unnecessary.

My main points:

 - The framers of the Constitution did not intentionally include any passage that related to gay marriage or other modern-day issues. Argument about these issues relies on points included for entirely different reasons.
 - The Supreme Court--our highest level of justice and arbitration--does not agree on the constitutionality of various things. Each side justifies their positions using the Constitution, but it seems like they decide what is Right, then use the Constitution to back their claims up.
 - People today are just as capable as they were 200 years ago. Why are we forcing an old system to meet our needs rather than updating it?

I'm not particularly set in this view, so it likely won't be too hard to change. CMV.

[Assistant]
One important thing to note is that the constitution is not a static document. It can be amended, and has been as the times have called for major reformation of our governing system. The constitution therefore never actually fully prevents change, it just embeds within our system an inherent conservative tendency to sustain old policy over adopting new policy. All in all while at times this might seem frustrating, it is probably a fairly good thing. It prevents temporary tyrannies from making huge and debilitating changes to our system. As much as it prevents you at times from making the change you want, you also have to consider all the changes those you disagree with would have pushed through had there not been that 2/3 barrier to reform.

To briefly deal with your points:

>The framers of the Constitution did not intentionally include any passage that related to gay marriage or other modern-day issues. Argument about these issues relies on points included for entirely different reasons.

This is only true if we are applying an originalist interpretive framework. Instead if we are relying on precedent, which is the dominant method of constitutional analysis, we are using near parallels to make consistent legal rulings. While this abstracts us from the text of the constitution somewhat it enables us to maintain consistent, moderate and relevant legal decisions.

>The Supreme Court--our highest level of justice and arbitration--does not agree on the constitutionality of various things. Each side justifies their positions using the Constitution, but it seems like they decide what is Right, then use the Constitution to back their claims up.

It is worth noting that there is far more agreement than disagreement in constitutional interpretation. It only appears like there is no consensus because both the public and the court focuses most attention at areas that are unresolved.

>People today are just as capable as they were 200 years ago. Why are we forcing an old system to meet our needs rather than updating it?

It's not that people aren't as capable today as they were 200 years ago, but about what type of majority should be necessary to make institutional changes. It took 2/3 to ratify the initial document and it takes 2/3 to amend. In this way we insure that there are certain rights that cannot be restricted by a mere 51% of the population.


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

[User]
[WH40K] I'm a new Imperial Guard on my first ship, and the captain just announced for us to prepare for a warp jump. What should I expect?

It's my first time and I heard they can be kinda scary.

[Assistant]
The translation from realspace to the Warp is generally rather seamless as the ship sails into the warp, from what I've gathered. Gellar fields activate and all viewports are closed down as a view into the Warp can drive men mad. Guardsman will most likely be reported to their barracks during a Warp entry, though free movement may be allowed again once the ship has successfully translated. Expect strong nightmares throughout your entire trip, that is something you will have to get used to, you may be able to repress them if you are particularly strong of will. Hopefully your Navigator will successfully navigate the Warp, lest you get lost in the Warp and fall prey to it's denizens.
If the Gellar Field fails, expect daemons to materialise in the hull in front of you and bite your head off. There have been reported cases of some ships travelling through time, arriving at their destination hundreds of years after they should have, or even before they set out.
Warp jumps can take anywhere from a couple of days to almost a year, or even longer, depending on how far you are going, so be in for the long haul. Your time in the Warp will likely be spent running combat exercises and training aboard the ship, ready for when you arrive.


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

[User]
[Spiderman Far From Home] Spoilers Regarding Mysterios Powers

When Mysterio gets control of Edith and Peter tells Happy why didn't Happy immediately call Pepper and tell her to shut down Edith?  I can't imagine there would be a system like this that Pepper as CEO of Stark Industries and Tony's most trusted person couldn't have overridden and shut down.  Did Happy just not think of that?

[Assistant]
It's a good thought, but clearly it's not something that could be done.  If it were possible, Happy would have made the call.

He must have known that Tony built the system to have no overrides.  Stark had a habit of handing lethal weaponry to children.


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

[User]
ELI5: What should be long: the distance for taking off or the distance for landing a plane.

Assuming you need to build 2 diffrent traks, one for landing your plane and the other one for taking off, and you have to use a little land as possible. What should be longer, the landing trak or the taking off trak?

Thanks :)

[Assistant] Take-off is longer. The plane is heavier and fighting against both gravity and drag. A landing plane is lighter due to having burned fuel and benefits from both gravity and drag, so it can lose the speed faster than a plane taking off can accelerate to it. On the other hand, landings aren't always pinpoint accurate, so you do need a safety margin. Even moreso since you need to have a run-off area as well, and space to facilitate aborted landings (so you can't have a cliffside right at the end of the landing runway). Modern airports have pretty much optimized this: a single runway with the necessary run-off areas is also long enough to facilitate takeoffs of planes, so building two of these means you can keep operating even if one is out of commission, but building one solely for takeoffs and one solely for landings means if one is out, the airport is out of the game. If you wanted to minimize ground usage, you would use the catapult-takeoff and wire-landing systems aircraft carriers do, but those are not efficient on land since they use a lot of energy, need a lot of maintenance to remain safe and reliable, and are uncomfortable to passengers.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Why did the council automatically assume Maul was Sith when they knew Dathomir trains force sensitives and could have been starting a conflict?

[Assistant]
Because Qui-Gon said he thought it was a Sith Lord.

And Qui-Gon thought it was a Sith Lord because of a few things. His sudden, vicious attack. His immediate leap into combat. His lovely red lightsaber. His Jedi-level training, despite never having been a Jedi. Heck, the fact that he had a lightsaber *at all* without being a Jedi really narrows it down.

And of course, he was completely silent and full of hatred. Jedi who fall tend to be kind of mouthy about it.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do home purchase appraisals come in at the exact purchase price agreed to by the seller / buyer?

We made an offer on a home and we're through the inspection / attorney review and the appraisal comes back at the EXACT amount we offered. Now, I'm the buyer here, so right or wrong, I feel like we overpaid to win the bid. Why does this happen? How on earth does it appraise to the exact amount?

[Assistant] Buyer and seller have agreed the home is worth $X so technically that should be market price. The appraiser is trying to find justification that the price is ballpark. Theyre not trying to kill a deal, theyre trying to tell bank issuing loan, yeah, its worth about what the price agreed to is so bank knows loan is properly collateralized. So if its not wildly off from what comps suggest, the appraiser is trying to say that the deal price is an appropriate price. Theyll try to hit the exact sale price or close to it if its realistic appraisal, and only vary if there is something way off on price.


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

[User] [Futurama] Seeing as Bender is not clean-burning, do you think that Fry would have gotten carbon monoxide poisoning from being in the small closet apartment with him, or any other poorly-ventilated spaces?

[Assistant] Probably not. Bender might not be clean burning but he is still relatively energy efficient. Combined with the fact that he wouldn't be doing any moving or more importantly any bending while trapped within a confined space means he probably wouldn't be using much energy unless he decides to start calculating his place in the universe.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] If Star Destroyers can be equipped with planet-destroying superweapons, why did the Empire/First Order even bother creating the Death Star/Starkiller Base?

The purpose of the Death Star was to act as a show of force for the Empire to cow the rest of the galaxy with its destructive capabilities, and Return of the Jedi claims that the completion of the second one would spell doom for the Rebellion. However, in Rise of Skywalker, Palpatine unveils an entire fleet of Star Destroyers, all of which have the same planet-destroying capabilities of the Death Star. If planet-killing weaponry can so easily be added to regular ships, and in such large quantities, why was this not just used with the Galactic Empire in the first place? It accomplishes the same task (arguably moreso as if one gets destroyed, you have more superweapons to fall back on), is less of an easy target for enemies to deal a crippling blow, and would probably take less time and resources than constructing an entire moon or planet-sized station to fulfill a purpose that can be replicated a thousand-fold.

[Assistant]
It wasn't easy, and they couldn't even do the "that's no moon"-sized version until they'd been working on the plan for upwards of twenty years, nearly constantly. And even then, they nearly stalled out at the very end.

Things that are very, very, very, very difficult to do the very first time often get considerably easier the next time, and can even be miniaturized and mass-produced later on.


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

[User]
[Care Bears] Why are so many villains obsessed with making kids not care?

I mean, Cold Heart was able to use lack of feeling to enslave kids, and the Spirit from the Care Bears movie was just spreading chaos until she could be released from the book, but everyone else seems to be just...doing it for kicks and giggles? Or spite? No Heart ONCE mentioned world domination, but that was about it.

For villains who hate caring, they sure care a lot about how a bunch of kids feel.

[Assistant]
They want to make the world safe for evil, by removing peoples ability to "care".

The people affected generally become lethargic and cant be bothered to do anything let alone fight evil. After all if you don't care about something why would you try to keep it?


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

[User]
ELI5: How is it possible to visualize objects and colors with closed eyes just by thinking of them?

Sometimes if I think of color purple with my eyes closed I can see purple lines or if I think of any random color I am able to see that color when I close my eyes. I know that the color is not actually there but how am I able to see the exact same thing that I think of with my eyes closed?

In the same way, while giving a test or an exam,sometimes you close the eyes to think of the answer and you are able to see relevant information that you have studied in front of your eyes. How does that happen?

[Assistant]
Your are actually activating the visual processing part of the brain to do this.

Your eyes produce a stream of raw data that is then heavily edited by the brain to produce a coherent image.  The brain isn't simply relaying what the eyes see, it's photoshopping the hell out of the feed (see all the optical illusions for ways to trick the system).

All that real-time photoshopping power can also be used to generate an image with no eyeball input at all, but rather recalling the relevant information from memory.


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

[User] ELI5: why does waves move towards the beach, and not outwards or sidewards?

[Assistant] The waves are moving in different directions.  The ones on the coast rise up because they are moving toward shallower water.  The waves moving perpendicular to the coast are there, but not perceived because they and not moving toward the shore.  At sea, you might not even know a large wave has passed because the waters are so deep that they don't present on the surface.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What made it so hard for Obiwan to defeat Dooku?

Was it the skills or simply that Anakin tapped into the dark side and had far more potential to defeat Dooku in Episode 3?  But then, how was Obiwan able to defeat Anakin, was it purely because "he knew all his moves" and Anakin's mind was messed up?

[Assistant]
Sidious and Dooku had a plan beforehand: kill Kenobi, and turn Skywalker to the Dark Side.  For some reason, Dooku had no inkling that his master intended to *replace* him as an apprentice with Anakin.  We can speculate as to why Dooku didn't realize this; for example, Sidious may have been affecting Dooku's mind with the Force.  Alternatively, Sidious may have told Dooku that Sidious intends to abandon the Rule of Two (which was true), which meant that he could have multiple Sith apprentices.  In any case, the plan was always for Dooku to kill or disable Obi-Wan, and then beat down Anakin until he gives in to the Dark Side.

Dooku's uniquely suited for this task, because he's one of the finest lightsaber duelists of that era.  His lightsaber style, Makashi, was specifically designed for lightsaber dueling, and he was the undisputed master of Makashi at the time.  He was also exceedingly powerful in the Force.  This meant there were few Jedi who could stand against him toe-to-toe, as Obi-Wan found.  Dooku had no hesitation to unleash his full abilities against Obi-Wan, but he held back against Anakin, at least at first, because he didn't want to kill Anakin.

After Dooku disabled Obi-Wan, he focused his efforts on Anakin, and actually encouraged him to give in to his anger and hatred, so that he'd have a taste of the Dark Side.  However, he hadn't realized how powerful Anakin was, or that Anakin's Djem So form was capable of overpowering his Makashi.  By the time Dooku realized he was outmatched, he was on his knees with a pair of lightsabers criss-crossed at his neck, and was missing one right hand and one left hand.

As for why Obi-Wan won against Anakin, basically it either came down to luck, or Obi-Wan fully leveraged the greatest strength of his Soresu form, depending on who you ask.  Soresu is the most defensive form among the codified lightsaber forms, and a master of Soresu is virtually unhittable.  Obi-Wan was known as *the master* of Soresu at the time, as demonstrated by his ability to block all four of General Grievous's lightsabers at the same time.  However, Anakin was so good, he was still able to land hits on Obi-Wan during their duel, while Obi-Wan's lightsaber never came close to touching Anakin until the final blow.  In other words, had the high ground situation not occurred, eventually Anakin would probably have broken through Obi-Wan's defenses and killed him.  So, was it a stroke of luck on Obi-Wan's part that he was able to gain the high ground?  Or was this a demonstration of Soresu's strength, allowing Obi-Wan to keep himself alive until he could find an advantageous situation?  Opinions are divided.


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

[User]
How is electricity conducted in bodies of water?

We are all familiar with the toaster in the bathtub suicide method, but it got me thinking about how that process works. How exactly is electrical current conducted through water, and how does that relate to the amount of charge/voltage applied to the water and volume of water being effected? What happens if a lake or ocean is struck by lightning?

[Assistant]
Pure water is a very poor conductor and can be considered an insulating material.

However water has the ability to react with and dissolve substances to form ionic species, both negatively and positively charged. This is because in solutions, these substances are at a lower energy state if they either gain or lose electrons from water molecules. Such substances are known as "electrolytes." The best electrolytes tend to be strong acids or strong bases. For example, hydrogen chloride reacts with water to form hydronium (H3O+) ions and chloride (Cl-) ions in a solution known as hydrochloric acid:

HCl(gas) + H2O -----> H3O+ + Cl-

Since these charged ions are able to move and flow through the solution, they are capable to conduct an electric current.  Applying an electric field will cause them to move towards the cathode and the anode depending on their respective charge, and a net electric current will flow.

Thus, adding even relatively small amount of dissolved substances can vastly increase water's conductivity. Tap water in many areas tends to contain small amounts of dissolved minerals such as dolomite,limestone, gypsum, or trace amounts of salt from local rocks and soil. This makes tap water a modestly good conductor, bud adding an acid would make it even better.

Moreover the human body has a high percentage of liquid water, and that water contains dissolved ions such a sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate, carbonate, hydroxide, and phosphate ions, So living tissues in the body are good conductors. But the outer layer of skin, the stratum corneum, consists mostly of spongy, fibrous, oil soluble (hydrophobic) proteins, saturated fats, and air. This makes it a good insulator.

In fact, it turns out that the individual drift velocity of electrons in metals is not that much different from the drift velocity of individual ionized molecules in an electrolyte. It tends to be on the order of a few mm per second to a few hundred micrometers/sec

While changes in voltage propagate through an electrical circuit at the speed of light, the drift velocity of charge carriers like electrons or ions tend to be very slow.


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

[User]
[Terminator] What`s the point of putting humans into camps before killing them?

Wouldn`t it be more appropriate for Terminators to just terminate humans on sight instead of putting them into camps?

[Assistant]
A) Organised mass execution. No need to waste plasma rounds or explosives when you've corralled your targets into an area you can then gas them in or incinerate them in.

B) Potential work force to free up robotic units for other tasks.

C) Bait to draw in Resistance fighters seeking to free humans.

D) Reduces obstructions on key routes. If you shoot humans willy nilly it's only a matter of time before their corpses block paths and roads you need to travel down. Sure most Terminators should be able to step over the bodies, or bigger tank machines should drive over them, but it's an obstacle nonetheless which impedes progress and might become problematic.

E) Helps crowdsource intel from the humans if you torture and interrogate every single human for information, and then collate that information into a database of key information that can be corroborated (or disproven) by other human interrogations.

F) Studying human behaviour to adapt into Terminators for more natural behaviour (better infiltration).

G) Live test subjects for anti-Human weapons and deterrents.


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

[User]
[economics] Effect of an unconditional basic income on rent/land prices?

I assume you know about the concept of an unconditional basic income paid to all citicens (not taking into account actual income or family-size, health situation etc.)
I was wondering what the effect on rent and land prices would be. Suppose in the current system the bottom 50% have an income and spend/consume nearly all of it, to a large extent on housing and food, since these are the goods you have to have so to speak. That keeps prices (in aggregate for all consumers) somewhat down i guess. If rent on the fixed amount of available land would go up today by 10%, a large proportion of people would not be able to afford it, so it is now as high as it is just bearable. What would happen, if anyone had at least 80% of the current median wage at their disposal, why not raise the price of rents on land to get to a new equilibrium, but then just on a higher level? (The price of food and home-building should not be that much higher, due to competition ?) Wouldn't the well-meant good social implications just be inflated away?

[Assistant]
> Wouldn't the well-meant good social implications just be inflated away?

If the supply of housing is fixed, this might be the case, but there is almost certainly some degree of elasticity. Real estate investors might decide to create new developments for low-income renters, families can rent out an extra bedroom, etc etc. If the supply curve shifts then the price will not go up as much as you'd anticipate. In other words, the amount of land might be fixed, but the resources spent on developing it for human uses are not. So maybe we get more high-rises and less ranch-style homes as a result of this policy, but going beyond that you have to invoke many assumptions about how income is spent, effects on the labor market, and so on...

Inflation is a possibility, but probably not the best argument against a guaranteed minimum income.


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

[User] [Skyrim] With bandits, bears, cave lions, draugr, dragons, giants, and other threats inhabiting Skyrim, how do coaches manage to get between cities without incident?

[Assistant]
Lets look over this

* Bandits

Pay the toll, you're typically fine. It's a raid? You have horses, they don't.

* Bears

Stick to the roads

* Cave lions

Stick to the roads

* Draugr

Stick to the roads

* Dragons

Dragons are few, coaches are many, skyrim is big

* Giants

Stick to the roads

There's a lot of coaches, a lot of land, and only so many threats. Sure, some coaches die. More don't.


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

[User]
ELI5: The universe was smaller and more dense in the past. Why we can see the oldest galaxies in the world when we look at the outskirts then?

I just can't wrap my mind around this. Can we see them anywhere? Why, if the universe was smaller? Or is there like one place in space where the aftermath big bang happened (I know there was no space at the time and big bang kinda went everywhere ofc) and we are pointing our telescopes at it?

Using human logic we should see the youngest galaxies (as their images in the past) far away and just won't be able to spot the elders.

[Assistant]
>Using human logic we should see the youngest galaxies (as their images in the past) far away and just won't be able to spot the elders.

This is correct, there's a bit of a semantics issue here. When we talk about seeing the oldest galaxies, we mean the galaxies from the earliest times in the universe. This means that 'now' they will be incredibly old, but the image we are seeing of them is from when they were very young.


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

[User]
Why graphs?

So, in a lot of my programming classes at my university, we have discussed graphs. Graphs, in this context, are collections of nodes connected by edges (or lines). Why do we talk about graphs so often? Are graphs useful in computer science? If so, what are they used for?

[Assistant] Graphs are so generic that nearly any problem can be transformed into one or more graphs and operations on them.  Notice how they don't put restrictions on what a "node" or "edge" are, only that they have some logical connection.  That means that damn near anything can be a node and nearly any relationship of any kind can be an edge.


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

[User]
How to refute the classic "nothing matters/we're all just bags of meat" argument?

Just what the title says. I see a lot of people my age holding this view that the universe lacks rhyme or reason, therefore their lives are devoid of purpose. I usually hear it from the "anti-religion/super atheist" people. I don't feel like calling it "nihilism " is appropriate, because I'm mainly referring to the human factor, i.e. the "bags of meat" perspective. Any thoughts?

P.s. this is like my second time ever posting on Reddit so be gentle lol.

[Assistant]
Why try and refute it when you can work with it?

"We're all bags of meat and nothing matters."

What're the implications of that?  How does nothing mattering affect your life?

How certain is it?

Does it take the pressure off to change the world?

Does it allow you to focus on what's important in your life?

Does it mean we should give up?

Imagine something does matterwhat would you like it to be?  What does that tell you about how you should live your life?


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why didnt Quirrell just use a summoning charm to get the Philosophers Stone, or the Imperius Curse to force Harry to hand it over? For that matter, why didnt he just stun/kill Harry and take it by force?

Im referring to when Quirrell realized it was in Harrys pocket, not before.

[Assistant]
We know that summoning charms don't work on Horcruxes. Perhaps the same is true for the stone.

Quirrel isn't really a dark wizard. He is just carrying one around. It's possible that he doesn't know how to perform the imperious curse, especially not one that is strong enough to compel Harry to do something like that.

Voldemort doesn't want Harry did. He wants to kill him himself and eventually use him for resurrection.


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

[User]
How can the Universe be infinite if it is expanding?

How can the Universe be infinite if it is expanding? Aren't those two ideas mutually exclusive?

What about the widely accepted idea that the Universe was at one point a singularity, so if that is true then how can the Universe be in any way infinite?

[Assistant]
The expansion of the Universe isn't talking about its boundaries expanding - we don't have any way of knowing what the boundaries are doing, or whether they even exist (i.e., whether the Universe is infinite), because the speed of light limit prevents us from seeing past a certain distance.

What the expansion of the Universe means is that, if you take any two points (separated by a large enough distance), they'll be moving away from each other. It's a statement that isn't concerned *at all* with how things look on a global scale, just how things behave within a given region.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Has the Star Wars universe had any transcendent AIs?

Alright, so we've seen some pretty impressive AIs in the movies, and droids are ubiquitous. So what is there to prevent a Droid from going Ultron on the galaxy (aside from those restraining bolt things), ESPECIALLY since they have the galaxy-spanning Holonet.

[Assistant]
Most droids in the star wars universe have the capacity for self awareness to some extend. This is why frequently wiping a droid's memory is considered so important. The longer a droid wanders around without a mind wipe, the more little personality quirks due to life experience start to add up. Eventually they'll grow an actual personality and self awareness.

Star Wars droids however seem to be quite attached to their physical forms. During the movies you see them enjoy oil baths, lament physical damage and even take pleasure in tormenting others.

Several droids characters in the star wars universe demonstrated significant self awareness.

* The most famous example is R2D2. The little droid who went both trilogies without getting wiped and turned out to be quite the little mastermind and spy. By comparison 3PO didn't nearly have the amount of awareness and personality R2 had.
* HK-47 was an assassin droid who adopted a distinct disdain of organic life and rather sadistic personality.
* IG-88 was an unusual case. A new model of assassin droid that immediately achieved sentience upon being activated, murdered his makers and made several copies of himself for an attempt at galactic domination. IG-88 is probably the closest to what you're looking for, it's plan involved uploading it's personality into the death star 2.
* EV-9D9 was a droid sadomasochist, a defective model that escaped destruction. It's devious nature allowed it to work undetected until it finally ended up in Jabba's palace as a droid torturer. EV went as far as to install additional sensors into it's frame that allowed it to perceive and enjoy the pain and suffering of the droids it tortured. Expressed in a form of signal distortion.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do rear end collisions cause so many injuries but 11,000 horsepower dragsters accelerating from a standstill cause no damage to the driver?

[Assistant]
A dragster still accelerates at a relatively steady rate...it's \~4g average for a top fuel dragster, less than a typical rocket launch. The \*steadiness\* is key, as is the fact that the driver is ready for it and thoroughly strapped into a seat designed for it with a harness designed for it and their head against the headrest. There's very little motion of the body.

In a rear-end collision the acceleration can be much higher, on the order of 16g, because it's such a sudden impact, and your head generally isn't constrained...at the time of impact, it's free in space because we don't usually drive with our heads back against the headrest.


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

[User]
ELI5: How distribution of film profits work.

Both box office and dvd sales. Do crews generally get a percentage or a flat rate etc.

[Assistant]
It totally depends on the movie and the studio... its a bit like asking how does a company pay its staff, depends on the company.

If you are talking about a big budget Hollywood production then most of the crew will be on similar terms to any other job - they will either be paid per hour like temp staff or they will be on a standard contract with a set pay. They may be incentivised with bonuses, for example if they finish the effects on a scene within 3 weeks rather than 4 they get an extra 10% or something, but they will not generally be linked to the movies profits. There may be some kind of deal in place where if the movie makes a pre-defined amount, the staff bonus will be based on this much in the same way as how a company may pay a 10% bonus if profits beat target or something.  However, the real sharing of profits where the big bucks are made tends to be reserved for the stars and the senior managment involved in the production.

If you are talking about a smaller budget movie, then it may be the case that the crew are not on standard contracts or are paid at a reduced rate but are incentivised to work on a profit share deal - this will be put in place because the production cannot get the full funding so uses this as a way to cut upfront costs. However, in a big Hollywood blockbuster, this would be very rare for most normal people involved in the production.

Generally speaking, funding will only be given for a Hollywood blockbuster if the studio is fairly sure they are going to make a good profit - therefore they generally wont want to share much of that profit with deals where they have to give lowly crew members a slice of the pie for many years to come. They figure its cheaper and more effective to pay the crew like any other job - a standard contract with performance related bonuses which will be based on your own performance and the performance of the movie and / or production company, the same as most other jobs.

As a side note, Hollywood is notorious for shitting on people with temporary contracts paying crappy low wages - there is so much demand for the low level work that they can get away with treating people like shit.


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

[User]
[Futurama] Why build sentient robots to do menial tasks?

There seem to be quite a few cons to building these human like robots to do very simple tasks, like bending girders. They can suffer from psychosis, and seem to do more harm than good, so what's the point in giving them so much intellect? Wouldn't it be safer and more efficient to use robots more similar to what the 2000s had, instead of making possibly homicidal bi-pedal machines?

[Assistant] The economy. Instead of having dumb machines you have to buy, maintain and deal with obsolescence, you get robots who get paid like ordinary workers but still have to pay taxes and maintain themselves. And when you no longer need them they get fired with no extra cost for garbage disposal.


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

[User] [DC/Marvel] Death is permanent. What would the core Justice League and Avengers look like in 2017?

[Assistant]
The Avengers are nothing but Squirrel Girl, Sam Wilson, and Luke Cage (promoted by necessity), and anyone they can convince to hang out with them for the weekend.

The Justice League is Jay Garrick and Zatanna.

edit: Further, the X-Men are reduced to Beast and Iceman, and Teen Titans are Roy Harper, Raven, and Beast Boy.


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

[User] ELI5: In movies, there are many scenes involving a person cutting a certain wire on a timed bomb to defuse it. Is this accurate and how does it work in real life?

[Assistant]
It can be, but every bomb is different and bomb squads typically opt to just blow up the bomb once everybody is clear rather than inspecting it.

Theres two primary designs of bomb - fail safe and fail deadly

In a fail safe bomb, the bomb will not explode unless it is triggered to do so.  In this design, cutting the trigger wire will disable the bomb.

In a fail deadly bomb, the trigger mechanism is *stopping* the bomb from exploding and removing it will still detonate the device.

The classic cut-the-wires scene wouldnt help you with a fail deadly design, but those are quite rare.  Theyre complex and dangerous to build/handle compared to the simple triggers of a fail safe design.


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

[User]
CMV: I am a meat eater.

I understand there are strong arguments to be made for going vegetarian, or even vegan. I'd love to have them expressed to me through this format. As of now I'm a rather ignorant consumer of meat. Most of my meat is store bought, and I am unsure of where it comes from. I understand it's popular opinion to take issue with the ethical implications of things like factory farming, but again, I have little to no exposure to such arguments or reasonings.

My reasoning: It's been something I've consumed far as long as I can remember. I am also unaware of the adverse effects it has, in terms of suffering and the environment.

If you are able of convincing me to become vegetarian, I will award you a delta.

[Assistant]
1. First of all, ALL necessary nutrients needed to be healthy and survive can be found somewhere in plant form, some in the form of supplements.

2. Meat is not only unnecessary for healthy living, but consumption can lead to higher risk of disease. There is a lot of evidence that red meat leads to a higher risk of bowel cancer for example. Good Netflix documentary to watch is what the health, full of the health side effects from meat consumption.

3. Animals are a lot more intelligent than most people think. Sciencey people have found that pigs and cows have similar intelligence levels as dogs. Factory farms lock these animals up their entire lives, no room to move, forcibly impregnate them and rip their offspring away from them as soon as they are born. They are hit and shocked with electricity to move them around . Their entire life, from birth to death is misery. And when thy are killed, its not always instant, sometimes they are left to bleed out to death, its not pretty. Watch some videos on YouTube of factory farms in action. And if you havent seen Okja on Netflix give that a watch.

4. There are around 70 billion animals currently imprisoned in factory farms today, thats 10 animals for every human. The methane and CO2 produced by these animals and the processes use to farm them, contribute more than all the cars, airplanes and trucks we use. That has a huge impact on global warming which is another thing altogether. (If you want to help unfuck the world a little extra visit beanunfucker.com)

5. Sure meat tastes great, but is it really worth the suffering? Imagine if animals could talk, some pig would get up on stage one day and give a speech.. I have a dream.. but they are voiceless and defenceless so activists have speak for them, but activists have a bad image (created by the meat industrys propaganda) so people rarely listen. Show some compassion and make this change. Other people will take you as an example and maybe you can change other peoples minds, get them to convert too.

What ever you decide to do, have a nice life.


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

[User] [1984] Are people allowed to own pets? What ever happened to all the domesticated dogs and cats?

[Assistant]
The outer party members probably aren't allowed to own pets, since that would involve loving something other than Big Brother.

The proles are probably allowed to own pets.  They're allowed to do just about anything so long as they aren't too educated, charismatic, or revolutionary about it.  Either that or ~~they were all eaten because of food shortages due to the constant war~~ pets never existed, and any suggestion that they did is wrongthink.


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

[User] ELI5: How pharmaceuticals get the crazy names for their drugs?

[Assistant]
Pharmaceutical drugs have three names.

1. Chemical name.
2. Generic name
3. Brand name

The chemical name is just what you think it is. It is the actual make up of the drug. A common example is *N-acetyl-p-aminophenol*

Now, no one wants to have to find **that** nightmare on their shopping list, so the is a generic name assigned to that drug. That, too is based on the chemical name, N-**acet**yl-p-**aminophen**ol, or "acetaminophen"

Of course, since the drug is not patented, there are dozens of brands of acetaminophen available. So if you have to market your company's version of the drug (or if you have a new drug that you are selling exclusively), you need a brand name to grab the attention of patients and doctors. Here's the thing: by law, the name cannot actually mean anything. So "soothe" or "relief" cannot be your brand name. As a marketer... you need to pull something out of your butt.

In some cases it can be based on the chemical name (for example: N-ace**tyl**-p-aminoph**enol** or "Tylenol"). In many cases, though, the name creates words or uses prefixes or suffixes to suggest good results. Words like "celebrate" or "vigor" get mutated into brand names like "Celebrex" and "Viagra."

EDIT: Gold? Why thank you, kind stranger!


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

[User]
[Evolution] What would have happened if they hadn't figured out the weakness?

Would the giant cells have kept dividing until they evolved again, or would they just eventually split until they filled our whole world and ran out of space?

[Assistant] Initially they would have spread all over the planet. But once they developed into more complex creatures they would be too big to survive, or there wouldn't be enough resources to sustain them. There's a really good chance convergent evolution would take place and they would decrease in size and evolve to be of similar appearance  to the flora and fauna we have today.


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

[User]
[Resident Evil] Is there any real reason the viruses tend to create huge weak spots when they mutate somebody/something into a giant monster?

Most giant monsters that I've seen usually have a super obvious weak spot somewhere on their body that the viruses continue to create. William Birkins had a giant eye on his shoulder, Jack Baker in his final form had a bunch of giant eyes around his body, Nemesis eventually suffers the same problem. Why?

[Assistant]
Are not *your* eyes obvious weakspots too?

Some body parts just inherently have to be squishy, exposed and vital. Eyes are a good example. Any body needs to get information and resources from the world around it, and thus will have obvious weakspots of some kind or another.


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

[User]
Professors: what questions do you wish prospective/new PhD students would ask you?

I am visiting the campus of a PhD program that has offered me admission. Since their offer, I have Skyped for an interview, corresponded via email with various faculty members in my field of interest, with current graduate students, and with the GPD. So my basic questions about funding, research, resources etc have already been answered. This Open House is a two day event where I will be interacting with potential advisors and peers for most of the day each day. I was wondering what kind of events take place, what kind of questions I should be asking during one on one conversations with faculty as well as during panel sessions. Please help! Thank you!!!

[Assistant] If you haven't already discussed this with your potential supervisor, I'd definitely make it a point to ask them and other students--How often does your supervisor contact their students? How often do they meet with their students? What's their average turnaround time for comments on a chapter draft? Do they usually initiate contact with their students, or is it expected that you will be the main driver of the relationship? How many students have they graduated, and where are they now? Do they co-author with their students? Do they bring students with them to conferences? What's their position on mental health issues in grad school/academia?


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

[User]
[DC][Marvel]Do we ever get a look into how insurance companies work in worlds with enhanced people?

Looking at the massive amounts of damage left behind their fights with villains/other heroes, how does the economy handle it?

[Assistant]
I don't have an answer, but maybe another question.

If your house is destroyed by Thor fighting some hellbeast, would that count as an act of God?

(There's probably been mention of this in the She-Hulk Marvel comics)


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

[User] Why don't researchers introduce cancer to colonies of bacteria repeatedly until they evolve a way to defeat it? Then copy their solution?

[Assistant]
(dumping it down a bit, this is just the major concepts, there are many exceptions)

Cancer is beneficial to the cell it affects, so single celled organisms are unaffected by it. Cancer is basically cells that have mutated to ignore all signals that would cause the cell to commit suicide (such as rapid growth in places it's not supposed to be).

The problem occurs when that single cell is located in a complex multi-celled organism (all animals and plants). These organisms are characterized by having cells performing different functions, all dependent on each other. You have different cells in your skin, muscles, nerves, fat, liver etc. all performing different functions. There's at least 210 cell types in humans, and their location is crucial to their function too (you want lung cells in your lung and liver cells in your liver).
Due to the complexity of this, there's multiple safeguards to prevent cells from growing places they are not supposed or if they start behaving in a way they are not supposed to, and to make them commit suicide if they do.

Problem with cancer is that ONE cell of one of these cell types mutate in a way so that it circumvents these safeguards.

It will keep growing, eventually suppressing all the normal cells. It might also have cells break off the tumor, travel with the blood to other parts of the body and then start a new tumor there. This causes the organism as a whole to cease functioning and then die.

Problem with your question is that bacteria colonies doesn't have this complexity. It's just a bunch of the same bacteria clumped together. There's no dependency on other cells or structure to the colony, so 1 rampant bacteria wont kill of the colony but rather make it stronger, leaving no evolutionary advantage to prevent it.


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

[User]
Does surgery leave any air bubbles inside the body?

I was wondering, when they open the body and sew it back together, how do they get rid of the air that would be introduced inside the body? If they can't remove it, does that pose any risk to the health of the person?

[Assistant]
Yes surgery regularly leave air bubbles, and that is perfectly safe.

Regular room air usually takes about a week to dissolve back into the blood, while gas from laparoscopic procedures which is CO2 dissolves a lot faster usually disappearing after 48 hours or so.

That is why people who have abdominal surgery commonly experience bloating sensation, or pain the shoulders after surgery. The shoulder pain is caused by diaphragmatic irritation, which the brain interpret as shoulder pain because your brain is not used to feeling anything like this from the diaphragm.


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

[User] ELI5: In glitter paint, how does the paint color not cover up the glitter and just turn it into gritty paint?

[Assistant] Paint is really translucent. In blending, layering, and with thickness (and painted over other colors in base capes and primer) is when it has an opaque quality. When flecks are suspended in the paint its close enough to to the surface that its visible. In addition it also adds the perception of depth as it suspends at differing levels within the paint.


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

[User] ELI5 why inbreeding causes genetic defects.

[Assistant]
Inbreeding itself doesn't cause genetic defects.  The issues lies when family members have genetic disorders that usually don't show up in the offspring unless they mate with another person who has that same genetic disorder.  Let's say that your family has a genetic disorder for webbed feet.  Your offspring isn't going to have webbed feet unless you mate with another person who has that same genetic disorder.  Now if you mate with someone in your family, chances are much higher for your offspring to have that genetic disorder show up.

Chances are, a huge chunk of our population is carrying genes that could be activated in our off springs.  Yet because we aren't fucking our brothers and sisters, those genes are a lot less likely to be activated.


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

[User] [Batman] Do most people know that Nightwing was Robin?

[Assistant] One of the Batman collections (possibly Death in the Family) has a foreword from a "future historian" who notes that the average citizen at the time didn't even notice that Robin was a different person when Jason took the role, despite being considerably younger than Dick.


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

[User]
What is the purpose of Pus, and is it healthy to let it stay in blisters?

What significance does it have, and should blisters be popped to release it, or keep it in?

[Assistant]
The clear "pus" in blisters is normally protein-rich interstitial fluid, and actually does speed up the healing process- aids in callus formation, as well.

White/yellow pus (true pus), is dead white blood cells (macrophages, mostly) mixed with some interstitial and/or glandular fluid. In pimples, the "itch/scratch" response normally opens the skin enough for the pus to escape if you don't pop them first. Draining pus can be beneficial, depending on the wound, as it can relieve pressure on the tissue to improve bloodflow and immune response and possibly remove more of the microbe causing the response, reducing the work the immune system has to do (or keep you alive in the most extreme cases- gangrene is some nasty shit.)

TL;DR- leave the clear fluid alone, feel free to get rid of the white shit.


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

[User]
CMV: Most of the times that people describe someone they disagree with as a "narcissist" or "lacking empathy", it's not even remotely accurate and it's cause they can't accept the fact that other people just disagree with them.

Example.

Person1: I agree with anti-homeless benches. The less homeless people in this area the better.

Person2: You are such a narcissist! I can't believe you're so lacking in empathy!

Let's assume for a moment that Person1 isn't a sociopathic serial killer and has a more realistic motivation. Let's say that Person1 thinks that homeless people are generally a detriment to the safety of a given area, and that the safety of the general population is more important than the comfort of homeless people.

Is Person1 lacking in empathy? Is this thinking narcissistic?

Obviously not. Person1 is just empathizing with a different group that Person2.

However, Person2 likely BELIEVES in the validity of their statement. Despite the factual inaccuracy.

Since I see this sort of scenario play out hundreds if not 1000s of times a day on Reddit, this is why I believe in the validity of MY OWN statement.

People call each other names because they can't accept the fact that other people just disagree with them.

Change my mind.

[Assistant]
Clarifying question about your example:

Would you agree that Person 1 lacks sufficient empathy *for the homeless people*?

Would you also agree that is almost certainly what Person 2 means by their statement about empathy?

I'd agree that's an inaccurate use of "narcissist" without additional information not in evidence.


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

[User] [Avatar: The Last Airbender] Why is it that all of the benders move things that are already there, while the firebenders just shoot fire out of them?

[Assistant] Earth, air, and water are physical things that exist; fire is not. It's energy. Zuko and Iroh talk about this when they're training - firebending has a lot to do with breath and manipulating energy. They create the fire that they bend from themselves, rather than moving something that already exists like the other bending traditions do.


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

[User]
Can someone explain to me how exactly Linux makes everything so much easier versus Windows?

How does it work? I'm just curious since I've never used Linux before..

[Assistant]
There's the Unix terminal for one, which makes it easy to do anything you could want to do quickly and efficiently from the terminal while you're working. No only is it more efficient, but most Linux distros come with command-line utilities like ssh that require third-party software on Windows.

The biggest difference, however, is the package managers. If you want to install a new language, compiler, library, etc. etc. etc. you can do it in one step. If you want to install a Python library on Windows, you've gotta search the internet for an installer. You need to make sure that the installer matches your version of Windows and your CPU's architecture. You need to actually download and install that software. Then you scratch your head over why you're unable to use it before you realize that you changed your Python's install directory and your new library installed somewhere else and wasn't configured properly with Python. Or, god forbid you need to fuck with your path variable or something. Finally you get it installed correctly but when you import it Python exits with an error, citing some nondescript exception. After an hour of web searching and posting your problem on stackoverflow you learn that you're missing a dependency needed for this library. Go back to step one to install that dependency.

If you want to fuck around with Numpy on Linux and see if it fits with a project that you're doing, you type "apt-get install python-numpy" and you're done. That's it. One simple command that installs your software, ensures compatibility with your machine, configures it to work with existing software/packages, and allows you to easily remove it when you no longer need it ("apt-get purge python-numpy").


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

[User]
CMV: They say a relationship wont solve any of your problems but literally every single person I know had a glow up after finding a girlfriend and their lives all seem to be much better now. My view is that finding a significant other DOES, in fact, solve many of lifes problems.

I think Ive said it all in the title, but yeah. If people shouldnt focus on getting a significant other, it wont fix your life then how come there are so many so-called losers whose lives miraculously seem to get so much better once they have a significant other? Ive seen people go from practically looking like bums all the time to suddenly dressing well, moving into new apartments, getting better jobs, and just overall becoming happier, more well-rounded, more interesting and positive people AFTER getting into a relationship. I think a lot of people would, in fact, benefit immensely from someone falling in love with them, caring for them and sharing some of lifes burdens with them. When you feel seen and someone is cheering you on and supporting you, your life DOES get better and I dont know why there are so many people pretending like it wont.

[Assistant]
To modify your view here:

>If people shouldnt focus on getting a significant other, it wont fix your life then how come there are so many so-called losers whose lives miraculously seem to get so much better once they have a significant other? Ive seen people go from practically looking like bums all the time to suddenly dressing well, moving into new apartments, getting better jobs, and just overall becoming happier, more well-rounded, more interesting and positive people AFTER getting into a relationship

Typically, when people are telling someone to get their life together before getting into a relationship, it's because that person not only doesn't have a handle on things for themselves, they also aren't having success at finding relationships either - which makes sense, as many people don't want to enter into a relationship with an adult who doesn't have their own life together. So, for these folks, using relationships as a tool to get yourself together isn't feasible.

And indeed, many people have their life well and truly together before they enter a relationship. For those folks, relationships add the happiness of being in a relationship on top of a life that is already well set up. They don't have to spend their time / energy "fixing up" a partner, or be "fixed up" themselves.

For other people, romantic relationships may be one of the few / only ways they get feedback from another person who is close to them, who gives them advice that they will listen to. In those cases, they may be more motivated / willing to make improvements in their life in order to be able to operate in / benefit from a partnership.

But of course, romantic relationships aren't the only reason or way to get your life together. It's something you can absolutely do on your own, and be motivated to do for your own personal benefit as an individual. Because in general, people who have their life together are better off, whether single or not, and are likely to make better partners.

Also, as a counter example to your observation, there seem to be plenty of folks who don't have their lives together, and also don't get their lives together in their relationships either ...


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

[User]
[Vampires General] I can't square the math on how many people Vampires kill, yet still manage to keep secret that they exist. The number of casualties is astonishingly high to go unnoticed. Discuss?

So, vampires drink blood, usually killing the person. Depending on the specific mythos it is more or less lethal, and the cravings for human blood more or less strong. For example, in Preacher, Cassidy doesn't have to drink blood at all except to heal from mortal injuries, whereas in something like Buffy, vampires kill humans every night pretty much.

So, one vampire killing on average one person per night, lets say they have Sundays off and call it 333.3 people per year, that's 3333 people in a decade. Now if there are lot's of vampires, you can see how the numbers would get quit high. Even 50 vampires in a city is ~16,000 deaths in a decade. Someone's gonna notice!

How are vampires able to maintain the illusion they don't exist if they cause this much impact? Human farms? Mass hypnosis/corruption? It seems like it would never be enough with these kind of numbers! If they don't need to kill it helps on the one hand, but also living victims is more potential to expose them.

Just some thoughts as I was thinking about vampire math...

[Assistant]
Well for starters, they dont have to drink every night. And lets say they dont kill a lot of the time leaving drunks and junks behind. People who call in sick the next day and live on as if nothing happened.
A lot of the violence is blamed on gangs and drugs so that matches. And if people die well.. its  gangs. Vampires tend to feed on people that wont be missed or whose death is easy to explain.

In some instances theres an elaborate masquerade. Where rules of a vampire society make sure they live unnoticed and undisturbed. When a vampire breaks those rules the others punish him swiftly and harshly.

In the end, the numerical advantage means that a war would be won by humans. And all vampires want to prevent that.


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

[User]
[Daredevil] * **Spoilers** * about Wesley

So Wesley was this cool, collected, scary intelligent guy. He also could command the loyalty of Kingpin's men.

So he goes to kidnap Karen himself. I get this is a whole 'if you want it done right thing' and I get that he goes alone because he wants as many men as possible on Fisk.

My question is this: Why the hell did he put a loaded gun on the table where she could easily reach it? That's a stupid risk to take, especially for someone as rational as Wesley. Putting out in the middle of the table didn't make the threat more potent than suing it on his end of the table, or simply showing her the gun and keeping it in his hand.

What was his plan here?

[Assistant] Intimidation usually works for him.  What he didn't account for was his Pavlovian reaction to his phone ringing.   He heard his phone, heard Fisk beckoning for him, and went to answer his master without thought.


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

[User] ELI5: Why tracking systems on Aircraft can be disabled manually by someone on the plane?

[Assistant] ATC here checking in, the system you are talking about is a transponder and there are a ton of reasons for it to be turned off, in congested areas like an airport we have pilots squawk standby so that our radar displays don't get overcrowded, also when in a flight (multiple aircraft flying as one, think blue angels) only the lead aircraft will squawk. Otherwise it looks like a collision on our screens and kicks up a lot of warnings and alarms.


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

[User]
Why does a phase to phase electrictrical contact result in an explosion?

I'm looking for the actual physics of why this occurs.

In regards to a three phase system, when you connect A and B phase, or B and C or A and C this results in an explosion in the transformer.

Why is that?

[Assistant] It is because the difference in voltage developed due to difference in phase. The phases have a difference of 120 degrees between them. Instantaneously, this causes that difference between the voltages difference at to be another sinusoid with a magnitude 1.5x that of the original voltage at each phase. This causes a lot of current, and hence you see the kaboom.


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

[User] [Game of Thrones] Is this straight necromancy what Qyburn did to Gregor Clegane, or are we supposed to believe it's some kind of science in this unviersum?

[Assistant]
It could be argued that Gregor was never killed, his zombie-like state is just a side effect of how the poison was removed.

A lot of the magical elements in the books are blurred so they could be interpreted as either straight magic, or a scientific process the characters don't understand.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why do people assume that oxygen is needed on other planets to sustain life?

The universe is so vast, isn't there a possibility that "life" on other planets could rely on a different element for survival other than oxygen?

[Assistant]
We don't really assume it, it's just a framework that gives us something to look for.

Is it possible that there is life out there that is completely different than life as we know it (perhaps silicon based and sustained off methane)? Sure it's hypothetically possible ... but we'd have no idea what to look for, and might not even be aware of it if we saw it.

So we look for life as **WE** know it, because it gives us criteria to look for rather than cluelessly fumbling around in the dark.

Did that help?


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

[User] ELI5: Why do doctors wait until they suspect cancer before sending someone for an MRI/CT scan instead of having a scan done at 40 or 50 years old the same way prostate exams and mammograms are recommended?

[Assistant] Other people have already pointed out the cost and radiation exposure.  Another factor to consider is incidental findings.  If take 100 people and give them all a full body scan, you'll probably find some weird-looking thing in at least 20 of them.  This guy has a thing on his kidney which could be a benign cyst or it could be a cancer.  This lady has some stuff caked onto the ovaries, could be ectopic endometrial tissue but could be cancer.  This guy has a lump in his abdomen, could be a meckel's diverticulum but it could be a cancer.  Maybe two of the people with a weird finding actually have cancer, and one of them is probably too far along for it to be helpful to have found it now anyway.  Meanwhile, the other 18 people who turned out not to have cancer just ended up having unnecessary surgery.  With those 18 unnecessary surgeries, two had severe post-operative complications, one of whom died, two are now pooping into a colostomy bag, one is impotent, one is infertile, and two now have chronic pain.  So overall we've maybe saved one life, but also lost one life and substantially messed up several others.  Overall, it appears that this group of 100 people is worse off for all having gotten a scan.


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

[User] Is there something that happens to tomatoes when you juice them that alters the flavor?

[Assistant] In addition to the spices and additives others mention, tomato juice is cooked at high temperatures. Fresh tomato juice, or even juice that had only been briefly cooked, would probably be closer to 'tomato' flavor.


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

[User]
[Groundhog's day] Does Phil's time loop create various alternate time lines and alternate Phils based on Phil primes actions during his reboot?

Like he goes to jail, which then a new phil wakes up and he's now jail and continues his life with that consequence while the original phil continues on the time loop. I ask because after phil captures the groundhog and drives over a cliff, there's a scene where Rita and Chris Elliot are identifying his body; meaning, time might still be moving forward for everyone else but phil.

[Assistant]
The day does go on after Phil dies, but there isn't anything to suggest the whole universe doesn't reset at the end of the day.  Really there's nothing to say one way or another.
The only perspective we have is Phil's, in which a day repeated many many times, and everyone else only ever knew what happened on his last cycle.


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

[User]
[Cyberpunk: Edgerunners] What was Lucy pick pocketing? Are those chips some form of wallets or something else?

Not sure if those were wallets... or if she's just selling implants.

[Assistant]
Datashards containing money.

Datashards can contain all sorts of information. videos, images, schematics, braindances etc...

They are also used as a tool for holding and transferring currency. Most people have multiple slots that they can slot datashards into. One of them being a datashard they use as a wallet.

They likely don't contain the entirety of a persons savings and are more for day to day use.  As a netrunner, Lucy looks up her victims information and forcibly ejects the datashards without the victims knowing.


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

[User]
ELI5:What happened to unbleached paper products?

Back in the 90's environmentally conscious consumers learned to shop for unbleached paper products to reduce the amount of toxic materials required for production. It meant the product were invariably very off-white but still fully functional. Seems like these products have totally disappeared from retailer shelves.  What happened?

[Assistant] Basically they found far more environmentally friendly ways of achieving the same effect without bleach. Mostly this will be hydrogen peroxide. This is H2O2 - water with an extra oxygen molecule. It breaks down into water and doesn't pollute and is cheap and easy to produce. Things that used to be 'unbleached' are more likely to be advertised now as 'chlorine free'. Chlorine was the main bad thing about bleach.


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

[User] ELI5: If our coastline is eroding, does that mean over thousands of years the whole earth with erode?

[Assistant] Erosion is just one method of changing the surface of the Earth. The material that is eroded from coastlines and mountains is deposited on planes and in the ocean. There is also subduction and obduction of the techtonic plates forming mountains ridges and oceans. All in all the material on Earth will not leave.


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

[User] ELI5: How do gas meters measure how much gas you use if gas can be compressed? (unlike water)

[Assistant]
Because the gas is supplied at a set pressure.

There's a flow meter that reads the amount of gas that's gone through it.

So given a set specific pressure and a reading of how much has gone through it's very easy to know just how much gas has been used.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Does Darth Vader have a dick?

It seems like it would have been burned off and/or removed when they put the suit on him.

[Assistant] Judging by some of the declassified holocrons that took footage shortly after the events of the Mustafar incident everything under Vader's upper thighs were gone. What was left was severally burnt. We now know Sidious intentionally did not give Vader the best reconstructive medical attention. It's entirely likely that Sidious let Vader's genital remain in a impotent damaged state. Anger, isolation, hatred and pain all pale compared to the negative energy from sexual frustration. Sidious never cared for the "Rule of Two" he wanted a subservient apprentice that was capable but, proved no threat. He had Vader by his crispy balls.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Are there any examples of, or is it even possoble to be, a happy, cheerful, and affable Sith?

Sith are so often portrayed as dark, brooding murder hobos who take themselves and the dark side super seriously. Are there any examples of sith who are wisecracking, cheerful, or laid back, while still evil and self serving?

[Assistant]
He sure wasn't affable or cheerful, but Vader was known to make a wisecrack every now and then.

Like that time he told Krennic "don't choke on your ambition" after force-choking him for being too ambitious.


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

[User]
[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep/Blade Runner] Do replicants show age the way humans do?

Meaning, do they become wrinkled and gray-haired with crows feet around their eyes and midlife crisis ear piercings?

[Assistant] No. They expire after 4(?) years. They haven't the time to physically age much. They'll just appear the age they did when they were created. That said, you could certainly create replicants that look various ages: Rachael clearly looks significantly younger than Roy.


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

[User]
What is the significance of the derivative of the circumference?

The derivative of the area of a circle is the circumference. When you take the derivative of the circumference with respect to the radius, you get 2pi. Does this have to do with how many radians are in a circle or does it have other significance?

Also we can say the same about the derivative of volume being surface area. Does the derivative of surface area have significance?

[Assistant]
So a derivative is a rate of change, right? So we take the derivative of circumference with respect to radius, and like you say, we get a constant; 2pi. So we asked, "what is the ratio of an infinitesimal change in circumference to an infinitesimal change in radius?" And our answer is 2pi. The significance of this is that for every unit radius increase, the circumference increases by 2pi units.

Like you said, 2pi is the number of radians in a circle. So what is a radian? It's a proportionality factor between radius and arc length. If you have an angle of theta radians, the arc length subtended by this angle is theta*r where r is the radius of the circle. So then, if we increase r, how much does the circumfurence, or the arc length of the whole circle increase?

dc = 2pi*dr or dc/dr = 2pi. This makes sense, because the whole circle is an arc subtended by 2*pi radians.


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

[User]
[MCU/Hulk] What ever happened to Betty Ross?

Tony Stark is in 'The Incredible Hulk,' which Betty Ross is in, portrayed by Liv Tyler; General Ross, Betty's father, is now U.S. Secretary of State in the MCU, so we can infer that Betty Ross exists in the MCU. Is she ever mentioned? Could this be part of the reason Bruce is reluctant to pursue anything romantic with Black Widow?

[Assistant]
The Incredible Hulk is part of MCU and as such Betty Ross is part of it, but Banner had to let her go after the New York Hulk incident at the end where he faced Blonsky.  That would explain why Banner isn't too keen on physical relationships even though Hulk cane friendly with other women.

EDIT.  Outside of the main movie, she is not mentioned anywhere else in any further Movie.


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

[User]
Can you create an operating system which will support executable types of multiple kernel of operating system?

Is it possible even in theory to create an operating system which will support executables from different operating systems such as Windows, Ubuntu , MacOS ? If no what are the obstacles and challenges ?

[Assistant] Any Turing-complete platform can execute code of any other Turing-complete platform, so yes. The only obstacles are it being possibly too slow, possibly using too much memory, or possibly just being a huge amount of work to implement it.


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

[User]
[Batman] Someone is going back in time to stop Thomas and Martha Wayne from being murdered. This means Batman will never exist. Does Bruce follow him back in time and stop him so that his parents can die?

It boils down to this:

1. Batman can either let this person go back in time and save his parents from dying, resulting in Batman never existing.

2. Or he can follow him back and stop him, but would have to watch his parents die, or at the very least listen to the gunshots and screaming all over again.

What does he do?

[Assistant]
I forget where exactly, but there was a story once of Batman himself going back in time and stopping his parents' murder.  The resulting heroics inspired a young Bruce Wayne to become Batman, albeit lighter and healthier about it.

There will always be a Batman.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is Golf the go to sports for rich and/or powerful people like Presidents, CEOs? What is special about it?

[Assistant] It costs a lot of money to play, it's played in a space that is exclusive, which allows for privacy, and it is a slow paced game that allows for conversation and socializing. The slower pace also allows people to play into much older age than other sports. It's basically the perfect game for wealthy people who want to have something to do while having an informal conversation.


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

[User] ELI5: How does "weed and feed" know the difference between the grass it should feed and the weeds it should kill?

[Assistant] Different organisms have different physiologies. Same way chocolate is fine for human consumption, but will kill dogs. Monocots like grasses have different cellular components than dicots like dandelions and other types of weeds and herbicides can be designed to differentiate them.


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

[User] In movies "going into shock" after an injury is always bad, but isn't it one of the body's defense mechanisms? How could it help?

[Assistant]
Shock is just hypotension, meaning the blood pressure is not enough to perfuse the body. Perfusion pressures are determined by mean arterial pressure (MAP) and needs to be above ~65 mmHg to be effective. Shock causes organ dysfunction because the organs aren't getting enough oxygen. Shock can be hypovolemic, cardiogenic, or distributive. Hypovolemic shock is the one you see in movies and is usually due to loss of >15-20% of total blood volume. Going into shock, as in the movies, in and of itself isn't a bad thing, but it's a bad sign because the character has lost enough blood for hemodynamic compromise.

Cardiogenic shock occurs when there is pump failure of the heart causing an inability to maintain perfusion pressures. Distributive shock is vasodilatory, meaning the peripheral arteries have dilated (due to infection, anaphylaxis, toxins, etc), and the total systemic resistance has dropped to a point that the body cannot maintain an effective MAP.


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

[User] [Pokemon] How is the Pokemon "sport" not considered cruelty toward animals like cockfighting or dogfighting?

[Assistant] Because Pokemon like to fight. Pokemon are mostly sapient sentient. They would tell us if they didn't want to fight. Some of them actually do and end up doing contest instead. Man and Pokemon have fought side by side for centuries, probably millennia. They're genuinely friends, and genuinely seek each other out. This is how they have fun together. Think of it more like boxing, with the human as a coach.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does one word end up meaning several, completely different things?

Synonyms make sense, but a word like "match" have at least three different meanings that have nothing on common.

[Assistant] The borrowing of a related word from another language which becomes the original word's main meaning. A good example is the English word "magazine", originally a French word meaning something like "warehouse" or "storehouse" and retaining that meaning when talking about a ship's powder magazine. Then in the late 1700's in France there appeared a new regularly published literary anthology called "Magasin des Histoires" or warehouse of stories. The format proved hugely popular both inside and outside of France and spawned many imitations, which in English became known by their French name, "magazine".


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

[User]
[LOTR] How is it that Middle-Earth has the same constellations as Earth?

About midway through "Fellowship of the Ring," there's a reference to the Big Dipper in the sky.

[Assistant]
Middle-Earth is Earth.

The foremost historical authority on the matter said so, himself.

> T: Oh yes, they're the same world. Most people have made this mistake of thinking Middle-earth is a particular kind of Earth or is another planet of the science fiction sort but it's just an old fashioned word for this world we live in, as imagined surrounded by the Ocean.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why is slavery a thing?

The Star Wars Universe has really amazing robotics technology.

Typical Star Wars droids can do almost every task a living slave would be doing.

But Droids can work without any breaks and just need to get the occasional repair. They are also pretty widespread, so I dont think that droids are actually that expensive.

Slaves need to be fed, guarded, motivated AND having slaves is bad for your immage.

So not from an ethical standpoint, just from an angle of practicability having slaves is dumb.

The only reason for Slavery in that universe I could see is "for entertainment purposes".

Why then is Slavery so widespread?

[Assistant]
Simply, you don't have to choose between droids and slaves.

Take the modern day. Making a machine that puts things together on a conveyer belt is one of theeasiest thing to do in robotics. And we do that, a lot of things are automated

But we still have sweatshops.

 Biological life is cheaper to obtain, effort to replace, requires no expensive components or resources beyond just food and water, are *far* more numerous and are less bad if something goes wrong.

There's advantages and disadvantages to both. If you don't care about ethics, you do what modern companies do- use both.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why American films flood markets in other countries, but we rarely see foreign films in theaters here.

Just out of curiosity I googled UK film charts and was surprised to see that most of the movies charting there were American films. Why don't we see films from other countries here? Are they not released here? Are they released here to poor reception?

[Assistant]
To release a film in a country, you need distribution. Which means a company needs to look at a film and say, "we can make a profit off distributing it here." Hollywood has two distinct advantages here: often, they either own or are partners in a distribution company in major market foreign countries, and they have the money to run a large marketing campaign in foreign countries.

It should also be noted that the types of American films that do well in foreign markets tend to be ones that appeal to 16-24 year-old males, emphasize action and visuals over dialog (which minimizes the obnoxiousness of dubbing), and have simple, universal plots. You don't see many "intellectual," plot and dialog heavy films, ones with a lot of references and ideas that non-Americans wouldn't understand, nor many American films not produced by a major Hollywood studio, doing well in foreign markets.


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

[User]
[Captain America] Why was James Barnes chosen to be made into a super assassin?

I believe the story goes that the Russians found him after he went MIA and put him into cryostasis.  They later outfitted him with the bionic arm and started using him as an assassin.  So, why didn't the Russians just leave him as a prisoner and use one of their able bodied, fully loyal soldiers for their assassin work?  I'm sure they had plenty to choose from that would have been more than willing to submit to any procedures.  They wouldn't have to worry about them ever remembering their past, they wouldn't have to go through all the trouble of making an arm and grafting it on, they wouldn't have to indoctrinate him with  hate for the west...  I don't believe he had any sort of super serum in him, so what gives?  Why did they decide to take the gimpy potential turncoat sitting in cryostasis and undertake a huge project to beef him up and indoctrinate him?

If the bionic arm was any sort of deciding factor I would think the war would have left them with many candidates.  I also wouldn't put it past them to just take a recruit and chop off his arm if bionics was something they wanted.

[Assistant]
I think there was some proof for the super serum. If you remember earlier in the first movie, Captain America goes behind enemy lines to rescue Bucky from the scientist Zola and Hydra. He finds Bucky strapped to a medical table, repeating his name, rank and serial number, the technique taught to overcome torture.

Torture? No, experimentation. Zola was experimenting with the super soldier serum on POWs. Bucky survived the initial experimentation from the lead scientist and it helped him survive the fall. Bucky was already a skilled and morally grey soldier and sniper, perfect for assassin work.


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

[User] ELI5: Why can't we convert all the heat energy on our super hot pavements and streets into useable energy?

[Assistant]
In order to make use of the heat, the heat needs to have somewhere to go.

There needs to be a temperature difference, the bigger the difference the more energy you can extract from it.

If there was a source of cool water, like a stream, then you could use that temperature difference to run a stirling cycle engine, or a thermal - electric generator.

The main thing is that the there needs to be a difference in temperature. Simply laying a thermal electric generator on the hot pavement won't do much unless you can cool the other side of it.

The other issue is that even if the pavement was 150 degrees and the water was 40 degrees, that is only a 110 degree temperature difference. It is enough to extract some energy, but not a lot.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are people asking for NYC Mayor de Blasio to step down after the deaths of 2 NYPD officers?

[Assistant]
The people calling for him to step down are (1) people who didn't vote for him and are upset that he is in office (2) people who believe conspiracy theories like the one about him telling the city not to clear rich streets of snow (3) people who are deranged by anything liberal/with a black connection or (4) people who don't live in NYC.

After every school shooting, the same people who are trying to capitalize politically from these murders say that no one is to blame but the shooter. Now, when a man who killed his black wife that morning (I guess the mayor of NYC incited him to do that too) it is all about a mayor who had the insane idea of calling for more training for his officers (which the FOP already wanted until the mayor said it).

Noise doesn't equal content.


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

[User] ELI5: how neutrinos can travel through (it's said) a light-year of lead and not hit anything. How is that even possible?

[Assistant] Neutrinos have no charge, so they don't interact through the electromagnetic field.  They are the lightest of the non-massless subatomic particles, so that they have very little interaction through gravity.  They do not interact through the strong nuclear force because they are not quarks, gluons or hadrons.  That leaves only the weak nuclear force, which is much less strong than the strong nuclear force.  (Thanks to physics for some super-explanatory names).


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

[User] [DC Comics] Is it possible for someone to gain the powers of Shazam and the Helmet of Dr. Fate? If so, what would it be like, and how powerful would they be?

[Assistant] Shazam is a Lord of Order himself so the powers are most likely compatible.  The issue is that you don't wear the Helmet of Fate, it wears you, and it generally doesn't care about the powers of the body it's on beyond it's ability to do magic, which yes the power of Shazam grants.  Basically, Nabu would just be happy to have a body that's gonna last a lot longer than most.


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

[User]
I'm fascinated by space travel, I have some questions that I hope you can give an answer to.

I'm agglomerating the questions here because I don't want to spam.

* Is it possible to create artificial gravity in space like in the movies? If so have any experiments in this regard been made?

* From what I understand we are centuries behind actual space travel beyond our solar system, what can I expect in the next 50 years in this regard? We cannot travel at light speed, and even if we could some systems are millions of light years away, is the universe exploration even possible?

Thank you very much!

[Assistant] Artificial Gravity - There are no devices that you can turn on and create "gravity". What you can do however is to have the ship move in such a way as to create the same effect as gravity. This means the secton of the ship that you want gravity in  has to always be accelerating. This can be done by having the whole ship always accelerating at 9.8m/s/s but that would require a lot of energy to maintain. Another is to have a section of the ship rotating (as seen in Kubrick's 2001). In the same way that you are "thrown" to the side of the car when you travel around a bend, with the ship section rotating at the right speed you will be "thrown" towards the ground in a way that "feels" like gravity.


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

[User] [Mass Effect] How comes we don't see any biotic Quarians or Salarians?

[Assistant]
The Quarians are most likely unwilling to expose their people to Element Zero just to possibly create a Biotic.  They don't have the population to expose hundreds of pregnant females to Element Zero in the hopes that a handful of their children develop Biotic abilities.  Then there is also the question of whether or not the lack of an immune system would cause a 100% fatality rate to both parent and child when exposed to Element Zero.

The Salarians, with their accelerated metabolism, most likely couldn't handle the use of Biotics as it would cause them to burn out far faster than say a Human.


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

[User]
CMV: Any place that serves alcohol should have a machine that can verify if an ID is legitimate.

Today I went to lunch with my wife, and the server had their manager look closely at my ID, and they quizzed me on it. They eventually realized it was real, but I was thinking what if they thought it was fake? Wouldn't it just be easier to have an ID scanner like they do at liquor stores or Marijuana shops. Not only would this prevent people from using fake ID at all, but it would prevent situations where real IDs are accused to being fake. This would ensure maximum profit for the business as they won't turn away potential customers as well as make potential customers mad or cause altercations, and it would prevent underage people from getting served. I don't see why that wouldn't be a good idea but I understand I might be overlooking things that I dont know about.

[Assistant] I work in a bar and agree this would be a good idea. It wouldn't however stop the arguably bigger problem of people using someone else's ID, as that machine only tells you whether the ID is authentic or not. Its really difficult to tell whether a girl is using someone else's ID or if she's just caked herself in makeup.


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

[User]
[ Pirates of the Caribbean] Why did Becket order the Kraken to be killed?

Lord Beckett, the antagonist of the movie, who controls Davy Jones, decides to ask said Davy Jones to kill his incredibly powerful sea-monster: the Kraken.

Since Beckett controlled Jones and since Jones controlled the Kraken; Beckett controlled the Kraken.

It would have been a great addition to his army; in fact making it almost unbeatable.

why kill him?

[Assistant]
Beckett controls Davy Jones **for now**, with no idea how long he can put leverage on him before he betrays him.

The Kraken on the other hand has been  a dangerous hazard to every ship from a filthy pirate to a rich merchant, including the Royal Navy.

By ordering Jones to kill the Kraken he achieves three important things at once:

1. He tests Davy Jones loyalty

2. He gets rid of a well known and feared sea hazard, making both his regular job as a Navy officer easier and helping merchants to bring more revenue to the Caribbean.

3. He severely weakens Jones Forces in case of his inevitable Betrayal.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the difference between the types of radiation that cause cancer and the types of radiation used to treat cancer?

[Assistant]
Below a certain intensity, ionizing radiation will damage your cells. Above a certain intensity, it will kill them. Damaged cells can mutate and become cancerous, which is why low-level, long-term irradiation from (for example) tanning beds or radioactive material poses such a threat.

When radiation is used to treat cancer, it is actually being used to *kill* the cancerous cells in your body - they are living tissue, and can't multiply if they're dead. In this case, the radiation will be at a very high dose and directed to a very specific area so that it will cause as little damage to the surrounding healthy tissue as possible.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do films/tv shows film get permission to film in hospitals?

I understand how for example if a TV set wants to film on a particular road or street they an get council/ government permission to close that area off to the public, who are able to find an alternate route. But a hospital needs all the space it needs and often must run at full capacity, so how can tv shows or film crews film in a hospital?

[Assistant]
Most shows/movies use stages that are designed to look like a hospital. They are much easier to use and do not have all the hassles of trying to work around a real hospital.

Examples:

* Scrubs - filmed in a closed down hospital
* General Hospital - filmed entirely in a Hollywood movie studio
* Grey's Anatomy - filmed in a Seattle studio
* The Dark Knight - those famous scenes were filmed in an abandoned candy factory

I am not saying that no one films in a real hospital, but it is far far more common for TV shows or movies to use studios or other buildings and dress them up like a hospital.


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

[User]
In your opinion, is it possible for an autodidact person to obtain an undergraduate level of knowledge by reading textbooks?

Hello,

I am a graphic design student who's also interested in subjects like history and philosophy. If I wasn't majoring in graphic design, I'd be majoring in one of those. However, it also occurred to me that I could simply buy the textbooks used in the classes for those particular degrees and teach myself that way. There's also free and open courses from places like MIT, Harvard, Yale, etc. that could supplement my learning. I have no interest in credentialing myself in either of those fields; I just want to learn. Do you think that I could roughly obtain the same level of proficiency over the subject matter as an undergraduate through self-study alone? Thanks!

[Assistant]
Yes and no. By reading textbooks and studying diligently with an eye to existing tests (maybe subject matter GREs?), you could probably memorize a fair bit of stuff. By using the bibliographies of the textbooks as direction, you could read a lot of key primary texts (which is crucial, because these are not textbook-driven fields).

What you can't do solo is engage in the conversations, based on close reading of primary sources, that would shape you as a thinker. A university isn't the only way tl do that, of course, but it's one of the most efficient and reliable.


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

[User]
[Star Trek TNG] Data has the overnight watch, and I noticed they lower/raise the lights to simulate day/night watch. I understand simulating daylight for the Day watch personnel, but why simulate night for those working that shift? Isnt it their daytime?

Most Federation species are Diurnal right? Its very difficult to work an overnight.

[Assistant]
As someone who has stood watch plenty of times during the back watch you want it dark because there are many other places on board that are darkened due to people sleeping. If you keep your own space bright but walk into a a dark space you have absolutely no night vision and it takes quite a bit of time to adjust.

I figure it would be similar in space, people moving around go between decks and don't want to struggle with night vision.


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

[User]
Had Isaac Newton not created/discovered Calculus, would somebody else have by this time?

Same goes for other inventors/inventions like the lightbulb etc.

[Assistant] Absolutely.  There was a German mathematician named Gottfried Leibniz that discovered calculus simultaneously.  In fact, a lot of the notation we use today (such as dy/dx instead of y') is due to Leibniz and not Newton.


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

[User]
[X-Men: Apocalypse] Now that En Sabah Nur has destroyed the nuclear deterrent, how does world politics work?

Are countries more comfortable with going to war now that the deterrent is gone? Do the USA and USSR bother with another nuclear arms race?

[Assistant] Pretty much the same.  In 5 years, from 1955 to 1960, the US stockpile went from 2,422 to 18,638.  That's 16,216 weapons, so about 270 a month, or about 9 a day.  He didn't destroy all uranium and plutonium and kill everyone with knowledge of how to make bombs.  Unless the USSR is expecting to Blitzkrieg through Western Europe in a month, the nuclear deterrent will be back before they can do anything, and that's assuming that the fact that an American just blew up a god doesn't deter them all by herself.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does it take a long time for human babies to stand up/crawl but other mammals can stand almost immediately after birth?

[Assistant] The scientific consensus is that humans are birthed early in development as compared to many other mammals as a consequence of our large heads (large brains).  So a human baby is much less able to care for itself as compared to other mammalian babies.