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

[User]
ELI5: Why are humans innately sexual throughout their entire lives?

Now I'm 25, almost 26, and this is a topic that's always kind of confused me. Later in high school I learned that boys can get erections before puberty, even before birth; and that both boys and girls can climax before puberty. As far as I'm aware, we're the only animals that are like this, but why?

Edit: To add onto this, why are we also capable of sexual activity well past our sexual prime?

[Assistant]
As an anthropologist, Ive always thought the answer to this stems from one of our closest evolutionary relatives, the Bonobo.  Bonobos are also sexual throughout their entire lifespan, and juvenile sexual play happens quite a lot.  Like us, Bonobos have sex frequently, in a variety of positions, engage in homosexual behavior, and seem to enjoy themselves quite a lot.  However, *also like us, sex seems to serve a different purpose in Bonobo society than pure reproduction.*  In Bonobos, it functions to soothe aggressions between individuals.  Someones upset? Have sex with them.  Want someones banana? Dont just take it and beat them up, have a little sex with them.  Infant is fussing? Masturbate them a bit to calm them down.

Flip to humans.  We also engage in a diversity of sexual acts (unlike other primates), and sexuality also serves a different purpose in our society than just pure reproduction.  Its not mitigate aggression, but it probably evolved in its current state to form bonds between two individuals or a group of individuals (not saying thats how we always use it, but thats probably what it evolved for).

In short, in evolution, moving sex out of a purely reproductive context has had all sorts of downstream effects, including high levels of sexuality, even when reproduction is taken off the table.


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

[User] ELI5: why doesn't acid melt a glass container?

[Assistant]
Some acids do. Hydrofluoric acid, for example, will eat through glass and can be used for glass etching. Other acids can break down glass under certain conditions. A Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) would list the exactly how a chemical should be stored.

Most acids, however, do not react with glass. Most substances, in fact, do not react strongly with glass. This is because the molecules that make up glass are so tightly bound that they are unable to trade or combine electrons with other substances. Glass is essentially a "closed" system.


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

[User] [General] Why do people typically name starships based off of old Roman and Greek names? To an extent modern Humans barely even do that anymore wouldnt the history be mostly forgotten?

[Assistant]
Because lots of celestial objects are named after divine beings. Even today when we officially give bodies name other than something bland like VX-2134 we usually go for old gods names.

It's tradition and often very fitting given the nature of the cosmos and ships traveling within them.


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

[User]
Why would evolution 'eventually remove' T-Rex's Arms?

I read an article about the arms of a T-Rex. It claimed that, perhaps given another 10 million years, the T-Rex would have no arms. Explain to me how evolution would get rid of 'useless' or perhaps vestigial traits.

In my mind, evolution works against things that make an organism  less fit for it's environment - e.g. you're a moth in a very green forest with other green colored moths, but you happened to be red - that's going to be a problem for you.

Why would having something 'useless' lead to it's eventual disappearance, as, in the case of the of the T-Rex, having tiny arms (again, vestigial?) is not an obvious evolutionary disadvantage.

edit: Fixed a sentence I mistyped.

[Assistant]
Tyrannosaurs' arms were small, but they were quite muscular as can be seen from muscle and tendon attachment marks, so it's likely they had some function to justify the muscles' continued development rather than atrophy as would be expected in muscles that were not normally used - so the arms were most likely functional and not vestigial. We don't know what that function was, though I've heard the hypothesis that they were necessary for (male) tyrannosaurs to be able to mate.

To answer your more general question about evolution reducing vestigial features - each physical feature comes with an energy cost for the creature to develop and maintain it, so an unused part would give an advantage when reduced because the creature would need marginally less food. Some features also might carry a risk of infection or injury, such as eyes in the case of cave animals, causing them to be reduced or eliminated as well.


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

[User] ELI5: How do container ships secure their cargo such that the shipping containers at the top of those tall stacks do not fall off into the ocean?

[Assistant] ISO containers (aka conexes, shipping containers,) are modular, they have points where you can attach each container at each corner to the containers around the one you're mounting. When you do this, the set of containers act as a single block and not singular containers.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that when you wake up well rested, youre conscious of time having passed, but when you dont get enough sleep, it feels like you had just fallen asleep?

[Assistant]
When you sleep for a full 8 hours (or whatever a full cycle is for you, everyone is different) your body goes through three distinct stages of sleep. Stage one is mostly just dozing off, while stage 2 and 3 sleep is where your body gets its deepest rest, and repairs itself most effectively. Stage 3 specifically is known as REM sleep, or Rapid Eye Movement. This is the stage where you dream, and where you are physically and mentally disconnected from the rest of the world.

As you sleep for the whole night, you fall in and out of stage 2 and 3 more quickly, until your body starts producing adenosine to kickstart your brain and wake you up. You slowly go back into stage 1 sleep, and then youre awake.

When you get awoken in the middle of your deep sleep, your body has to go from a deeply committed biological cycle that takes hours to complete, to alert and functioning, immediately. Depending on which stage you were in, your body may have induced sleep paralysis to prevent your dreams from making you wander around in your sleep, which it now has to undo *right now*.

Its like trying to drive a car in very cold weather without warming it up. The cold car (sleeping person) has all of its oil still stuff and viscous, and driving the car like that is going to be harder, whereas the car that was preheated and properly allowed to warm up is much easier to operate.


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

[User] [Star Wars] How did Darth Vader know Luke was his son?

[Assistant]
After realizing the rebels had a very strong force-user in their midst after Yavin, Vader probably spent a lot of time looking him up through various channels with the original intent of killing him before he became a real threat (or getting some research done before the Emperor gave the order). And then the rebels made a rather large mistake, they publicized their victory and their celebration for the whole galaxy to see. Luke Skywalker's name was famous among those who hated the Empire. Imperial holonet channels did their best to keep this news buried and quiet, so the Imperial public would be ignorant of the rather devastating loss, but people still found out.

But Vader just instantly *knew*. Someone named Skywalker, who had grown up on Tattooine with the Lars family and was unusually strong in the force even without training. It had to be his son. (The Force itself probably helped him connect all the dots)


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

[User]
[Death Note] If you're a human who is immune to heart attacks...

Should the death note be ineffective against you? I mean,I'm aware you can make the person die in other ways by detailing it,but if you're immune to the default kill,it seems like you should be immune to the note altogether..

[Assistant] How would you be immune to your heart failing? It's a muscle that relies on a great many things to go right. A slight blockage, inflammation, tear, or electrical disruption is all it takes to bring the whole system crashing down.


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

[User]
[Game of Thrones] Why are their so few Starks?

The Starks are an ancient house, possibly the oldest one in Westeros, yet they seem to have very few decedents. You would think that given that much time the last name stark would become very common in the North.  We know that the Kalstarks are an offshoot branch from long ago, but how come we never see any other cousins or 2nd cousins or 3rd cousins, or any other families with the stark name?

Why were the Starks so close to extinction?  Assuming that all of Ned's children die, who would be the heir? Would it be the Kalstarks?

[Assistant]
Some of it is their commitment to the Night's Watch - second and third sons are as likely to join the Watch than go off to start minor houses and keep a healthy extended family.

Then you also have a run of bad luck in recent years. Ned's father was an only child, his brother Brandon died to the Mad King (along with his father), and Benjen of course joined the Night's Watch soon after the war was over.

Going back another generation, Ned's grandfather, Edwyle Stark, was an only son (and Edwyle's sister married into House Royce). Edwyle did have a half-brother by his father's first marriage, but that Brandon Stark died in childhood.

So you have to go back to Ned's Great-Great Grandfather to actually get to extended family. Beron Stark had five sons; Donnor died without issue, William was Ned's Great-Grandfather, Artos had two sons, Errold didn't marry or have kids that we know of, and Rodrick had two daughters (one of whom was actually Ned's mother as well).

So sadly the seed has not being strong with the Stark's the last few generations. Should all of Ned's children die, Artos's branch of the family would likely have the strongest claim (Artos being Ned's Great-Great-Uncle). His two children are known to have issue, but we don't know where they ended up (or if any of them were sons).


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why does Hogwarts still use obsolete Potions textbooks?

Libatius Borage's *Advanced Potion-Making* dates at least to the 1940s. Severus Snape got his Hogwarts letter in 1971. By the time he got his copy of the textbook and annotated it as the Half-Blood Prince, it had been in use at Hogwarts for decades. If Snape was able to improve so thoroughly on the methods in the official school textbook, why has it seen no major revisions in generations?

[Assistant]
The wizarding community is almost completely stagnant. They're an aristocracy, very comfortable, very set in their ways, and very distrustful of innovation.

First, magical "technology" is good enough for almost any purpose, and there's no economic incentive to improve. The wizarding world is pretty close to post-scarcity. They have near-instantaneous, worldwide travel, worldwide communications ability, virtually perfect medical sciences, and on and on. There's no demand for a "better floo powder" or a "more accurate polyjuice potion".

The only areas we do see innovation are in the sports and entertainment category, like the Nimbus and Firebolt brooms. Wizards want to see their sports heroes fly higher and faster because it's more exciting, not because it meets a real need.

Second, the wars with Grindelwald and Voldemort left the wizarding world broken, scarred, and terrified of anyone looking to rock the boat. Sure, it would be nice to achieve actual immortality, but the two guys who got the closest nearly ended the world as we know it. There's a very strong "there are some things man was not meant to know" sentiment in the wizarding world because of this.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did drinking beer help out during the time of the bubonic plague pandemics?

I heard something about the plague not being transmitted through the beer for some reason.

[Assistant] Bubonic plague is carried by fleas and rats (which have the fleas), so clean water isn't so much the issue for that particular disease. However, diseases that *do* spread through contaminated water, like cholera, aren't transmitted through beer because brewing beer involves boiling everything. This kills bacteria in it. Additionally, the alcohol in it will also kill the infectious bacteria. Alcohol sterilizes things.


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

[User] What did Sartre mean by "man is a useless passion"?

[Assistant]
'Useless' in that according to Sartre there is no substantive telos for man (i.e. a transcendent direction)

This aligns with his famous central claim: existence precedes essence. In order that there would be a 'use' for man, he would have to have a *telos* which precedes his existence.

The only way for there to be being is if there is already existence. Man would have to impose it upon himself recursively (and with relation) -- i.e. the being sets himself as a lack so that there might be being.

Compare this with the Platonic ideal -- where all observed entities, and that goes for man as well, have a *telos* which copies its ideal (an essence which is beyond relation - beyond the observed object's existence).


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

[User]
Potentially a really stupid question, but when you make 2 mirrors face each other, why does it get continuously darker the further you look down?

Maybe my brain isn't functioning properly today, but I just can't seem to understand it.

[Assistant]
Oh, it's just because mirrors aren't perfectly reflective, so some percent of light gets absorbed during each reflection.

I actually never noticed this effect before. Next time, I'll keep an eye out.


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

[User]
ELI5: salt water injected before sedatives

So, I went to get all four of my wisdom teeth removed yesterday, and just before the nurse injected me with the sedatives, she said that she was pumping salt water through my arm first. Does anyone know why she did that?

[Assistant] Anytime an IV is started the first thing that gets pushed through it is normal saline - the salt water in question - to "test" the vein and IV. If for some reason the vein blows, or the IV site isn't patent (won't flow correctly) a little bit of salt water in your arm won't make a hill of beans in the long run, but a medication that's outside the vein at very least isn't getting circulated through your system and at worst can do some really serious tissue damage.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Why are large areas of the Galaxy still unexplored after thousands of years of interstellar travel?

[Assistant]
Hyperspace is extremely hazardous when traveling an unmapped route, as any object of sufficient mass in real space creates dangerous hyperspace currents near their gravity well.  Without knowing where every object larger than, say, a large asteroid is, pilots run the risk of having their ship crushed by the forces of these currents.  While stars might be easily detected, other interstellar phenomena--rogue planets, for example--can kill an unprepared pilot before he has the chance to react.  It is worth noting that these currents can be compensated for in order to leave hyperspace close to a massive object, but not without detecting the object and calculating its effects on hyperspace first.

As for why the Unknown Regions remains largely unmapped, there has not been a major incentive to explore the galaxy further in nearly 10000 years.  Back then, when the major safe lanes of travel were being initially mapped, millions of explorers in thousands of ships were constantly making jumps into unknown territory, exposing themselves to severe risk in a chance to gain glory.  But the civilized galaxy has largely stagnated since then.  In addition, explorers who find themselves trying to map the Unknown Regions have a reputation for disappearing with a frequency that far exceeds what the already high rate of hyperspace accidents can account for, suggesting a more sinister presence outside the influence of civilization.


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

[User]
Do scientists believe that all life as a single ancestor?

I'm not sure if I'm able to word this in a way that gets my point across, but even if all life comes from the same *general* configuration of proteins and what have you, is the prevailing theory that there was one "organism" that started it all and then split into everything else, or that across the globe multiple, similar organisms formed under similar conditions in primordial goo?

[Assistant]
The current best accepted theory is that all life on earth shares a single common origin. We are reasonably confident that all extant cellular life has a common ancestor dating to around 3.5 billion years ago, typically designated as the Last Universal Common Ancestor or LUCA. This would most likely have been a communal-living single celled organism not entirely dissimilar to a bacterium. The origin of life predates the existence of the LUCA by around 1 billion years and to begin with this is unlikely to have been celular in origin. Nevertheless given what we know of evolution and biochemistry we can be confident that the abiogenesis of life on earth was a singular event from which all life has since descended. If there were competing abiogenesis events 4.6 billion years ago then we can see no evidence of them today.

Edit : the biochemical origin of life likely predates the existence of the LUCA by between 0.2 and 0.8 billion years.


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

[User]
Are there signs that can tell doctors when a person is soon to wake up from a coma, or is it actually random like in most movies/tv?

Comas are an extremely common occurrence in movies and television. Usually, in the case of a happy ending, the coma patients "wake up" and are fully conscious, without warning, in a matter of seconds. Is this grounded in reality or just a cliche adopted for its dramatic effect?

[Assistant]
People in comas almost never wake up that quickly. The cause of the coma is an important consideration; someone who has spent 24 hours unconscious after a drug overdose, for example, may wake up reasonably quickly, a bit like wakening after a very deep sleep with confusion, irritability, and persisting drowsiness. A person who has spent weeks comatose after a severe head injury though will be more likely to have s slow, incremental recovery over months.

Predicting who will wake up is difficult - we are probably better  at predicting who won't. There are a combination of clinical signs and some investigations which are helpful, and we can use them to predict bad outcome with a high degree of accuracy.


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

[User] [Terminator] Why didnt the Terminator bring a weapon coated in flesh? Why didnt Kyle Reese do so either?

[Assistant]
According to Kyle Reese in the police interview, SkyNet sent the Term back "first". They had no idea the humans would then capture the time machine and send Kyle back.

A Terminator, which is able to fight and kill humans in the future even though they have advanced weapons, should have had an easy time going around and killing 3 people named Sarah Connor, even if the police (with their primitive weapons) figured out the plan.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do computer screens ripple like water when you press on them?

[Assistant]
LCD monitors / computer screens contain liquid crystals. These liquid crystals have properties of both a liquid (like water) and a solid (like a crystal).

The reason for using liquid crystals is that (in combination with polarizing filters), by manipulating the amount of applied voltage it allows you to control the amount of light that is allowed to pass through the screen to your eyes in a given region of the screen.

The backlight behind an LCD screen remains a relatively constant in brightness in most cases and it's the liquid crystals that determine whether to allow all the backlight through, only some of the backlight through, or none of the backlight through to dynamically control pixel brightness on the screen.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does paper become translucent when oil is rubbed on it?

[Assistant] The light scatters when it goes between air and not-air. Since paper is made of fibers, light hitting it goes between air and not-air a lot. When the paper is soaked in oil, the light only goes from air to not-air once, and so is scattered much less.


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

[User]
Question concerning relativistic electromagnetism

My schoolyard chum and I have encountered a conondrum, and are curious if there is actually any answer. Let's say that in one relativistic frame of reference there are two stationary positive point charges. The two hypothetical charges should repell. Now let's say that in another frame of reference, both the charges are moving in the same direction, parallel to each other, with velocity V. Now, the charges should be repelling each other, like in the first case. But they should also create attractive magnetic fields (formed due to the motion of the particles), and converge together. In one frame of reference, it seems that the particles should diverge, but in the second, they would converge. This seems a bit contridactory. Does anyone know what would actually happen (and why)?

[Assistant] If you calculate, using Coulomb's and Ampere's laws, the speed at which the electrons must move in order for the magnetic attraction to balance the electric repulsion, you'll find that v^2 = 1/(epsilon x mu). That, of course, is the speed of light. So, there is no reference frame you can transform to in which the electrons attract.


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

[User]
Who is the best You tuber that explains statistics.

(Personal) I am a struggling student who has to take a statistics course as recommended for my major. I am pretty sure asking my professor for help is not going to help. Relying on outside help is my only option. I have been on YouTube trying to clear some confusion but I just keeping getting more questions. I need someone who can explain statistics for someone in my position. In your opinion, who is the best statistics YouTube that can help me? If not a Youtuber, then what tutoring service and what tutor?

[Assistant] Some of the youtubers i found really good at explaining concepts are Josh Starmer (StatQuest) and Krish Naik for Machine Learning. There are many many other great videos that helped me tremendously for different concepts but difficult to recall as a channel.


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

[User]
[The Matrix] What did Trinity mean by "Everything the Oracle said has come true. Everything except this."

And right after she finishes she leaves/unplugs. What was it that didn't come true? I'm thinking maybe the Oracle said the One was going to die?

EDIT: Thank you all for the responses. I was way over thinking it.

[Assistant]
She fell in love with Neo and not Cypher. Cypher was the first person Morpheus decided was The One while she was on board. Despite Trinity's efforts she could not love him as predicted by the Oracle. Trinity lost faith in Morpheus due to a mistake he made.

Before Neo joined the crew Cypher was widely believed to be The One. She tried but never fell in love Cypher. While observing Neo she developed feelings for him, but her faith in Morpheus was shaken so she refused to believe Neo was The One after Cypher didn't pan out. After some time she realized Neo was the one she loved  but didn't believe he was The One. After Neo was gunned down by Smith she confessed her love to Neo and told him of the Oracle prophecy which enabled Neo to resurrect and become The One. Trinity's faith was restored.

**TL;DR** Trinity was basically saying she didn't believe Neo was The One because she loved him.


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

[User] ELI5: Why Are There "Dead Spots" On Paper When Attempting To Write With Ballpoint Pen?

[Assistant]
Ball point pens work by rolling a ball on a surface.   This requires the surface have significant friction.   Ball point pens don't work on glass.

Paper at microscopic level isn't smooth.  It s matted weave of fibers.  Like a wool sweater. But if you iron a sweater flat, it won't be fluffy and soft and have friction.


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

[User]
[STAR WARS] Did Luke use Force Choke in Episode VI?

When Luke enters Jabba's palace, he uses the force on two Gamorrean guards. They back away and appear to be grasping at their throats before falling unconscious. I'm not too well versed in SW lore but I've always thought force choke was a dark side ability.

[Assistant]
Luke was wearing All Black at the start of the film, but if you see him at the end, when he's got his "jacket" or whatever it is open, you can see its white on the inside.

He played with the Dark Side, but when he confronted Palpatine and his father, he rejected the Dark Side completely, and never looked back.


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

[User]
ELI5:The Normandy Beach landing

I'm no expert on military logistics so this is probably a stupid question, but here goes:

I don't mean to undermine the brutality of war, but nowadays we mostly hear about combat involving artillery strikes, long-distance sniping and IEDs, yet those tactics were still alive and well during WWII. I have the utmost respect for anyone who has to deal with these hellish situations, and I don't want to offend anyone, but sending hundreds of troops to knowingly charge into enemy fire without cover seems almost medieval by comparison.

In other words: Why did the Allies invade Normandy so recklessly, and not use (ironically, I guess) "safer" methods?

[Assistant] They did it as safely as they could.  The problem was, the Nazi war machine could exploit the road network to move mechanized units quickly.  In order to succeed, they had to get a lot of troops on the beach quickly before the Nazis could call in major reinforcements (part of the plan was faking the Germans out by making it look like Patton was going to invade somewhere else entirely).  Given enough time, Germany could have called up a big pile of tanks and artillery from just about anywhere nearby in Europe to Normandy to make an invasion at that point impossible.  When the US began invading islands held by Japan, they could afford the luxury of standing off and initially bombarding the shore with battleships.  The US had air and naval superiority at that point, and there weren't any Autobahns between the islands.  A prolonged shore bombardment at Normandy would have given the Germans too much time to react.


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

[User]
Handling a bossy/micromanaging colleague (postdoc)

Hi!

I am looking for some advice on an interpersonal issue I am having.

I am a second-year postdoc assigned to work on a continuing project. A Ph.D. student and another postdoc have been working on this project. I was given a new but connected part to work on by our PI.

The issue I am having is with this other postdoc on this project. Specifically, this other postdoc sees himself at a higher rank than me (i.e., the project manager), despite us being both postdocs. This could be because this is a continuation of his Ph.D. work (6 years Ph.D. + 1-year postdoc) or because he has been at the same lab for seven years. I find this manager behavior problematic (specifics below). Before I continue, note that I am very receptive to **technical** feedback on my work, which is NOT the issue here.

Examples of this problematic manager behavior are:

* Tries to set my weekly deadlines and tasks for me.
   * Example: I was considering learning a simulation tool. He asked me to contact other people who used the tool and ask them, How long did it take them to learn it? The purpose of this question is to set a deadline for me.
* Always asking: How long is this going to take you? He sends emails and checks up on me constantly, always starting with have you had the chance to finish \[insert task\].
* Pushing for a plan: He wants me to write all my tasks for this project and how long each task will take.
   * I suspect he will present this plan to our industrial collaborators himself as: Here is what my team will do.
   * I do not like these plans as each task in my research takes varying lengths of time depending on complexity, which I cannot estimate. I do not see the point. I feel like this plan will be used later as "Gotcha! You are late doing this!".
* At some point, he changed pronouns from I to we in my slides to be presented to our industrial collaborators, where I talked about my progress. He did not contribute to that work and made it seem like that work was a group effort.
* Very pushy in deciding how things on MY part should be done.
* Creates a sense of panic and rush (This project is on a short deadline, but still, the behavior is too much).
* Generally, being a micromanager.

Again, we are both at the identical rank.

I want to be left alone and not deal with this behavior. He is not my manager, and I handle my tasks in a certain way, and this behavior affects my productivity. Having weekly meetings where I present my work and receive feedback is fine with me and is appreciated, but none of this other BS he is doing.

I have been trying to push back by arguing my points and explaining that I disagree with his approach, but he is relentless and getting on my nerves.

Final note: Our PI is absent and likely does not want to be involved. The PI never indicated that I should report to this other postdoc. So this behavior is unwarranted from what I can tell.

**Question**: How do I deal with this? I have been trying to remain calm, but it is getting challenging, affecting my productivity as I am constantly angry and frustrated with his behavior. I am afraid I will have to confront him and put him in his place, but I would like to leave that as a last resort and try to resolve this amicably.

[Assistant] If you don't set the boundaries, who will? You need to be polite, calm, but firm. Everything you have called out, push back. Say, "No, that's not how this is going to be. It's going to be like this instead."


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

[User] ELI5: I planted a seed in a 5 gallon bucket of soil. Now there's a plant with a huge root ball in the space where the soil was, but the soil didn't rise or overflow. Where did that much volume of soil go?

[Assistant] The soil has pockets where the plant grew. You're not supposed to pat down the soil because these little pockets act as easy areas for plants to grow so they dont meet resistance. The plant grew around these little pockets. It's like filling a glass vase with rocks and then sand. The sand doesnt cause the rocks to rise because it's just going around the cracks of the rocks.


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

[User] [The Thing] During the ending, why would anyone think the alien could be tricked into calmly drinking gasoline? It has all the knowledge and memories of the humans it assimilates. It would know to choke and spit it out convincingly.

[Assistant]
It may have only retained enough memories and personality to fool a cursory examination.  Or perhaps there is a lag using its own mind to run the higher brain functions of an entirely alien species.

It would rely on social cues from others to minimize the amount of sensory and memory data it needed to process from moment to moment.  MacReady's gesture didn't raise any alarms so the Thing wasn't expecting anything other than what it saw, so it acted accordingly.

We never really see any Thing-humans doing complex social interactions.


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

[User] Why doesn't your beard go bald?

[Assistant]
Because facial hair is axial hair.

It falls into the same category as armpit hair and genital hair.

Why your body had a different type of hair for these specific regions, no one knows.  But it does.


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

[User] ELI5 why salt improves the taste of almost everything.

[Assistant]
It's because us humans enjoy the taste of salt. It's one of the most important things a human needs, and because of that we like to taste it. When humans were a young species, salt wasn't easy to find. Most plants that we could eat didn't have it in the amount we need; animals did have it though.

When we ate animals, our tongues told our brains that we liked salty flavors, and we decided we needed more of that because we liked it so much. This made us look for more animals to eat, which gave us the salt we needed.

Without salt, we'd all die. It helps electricity get through our blood, which lets our muscles talk to our brains. Without this salt, our muscles would stop working. Our heart is a muscle, so if we stopped eating salt our heart would stop working and we wouldn't be alive anymore.

Because we need salt so much, our tongue changed over time to make us like salt. This is not such a good thing nowadays, since we have so much salt. When people ingest too much salt, we sometimes get high blood pressure.

Slightly less ELI5 answer:

Sodium is totally an important thing. We've evolved over millions of years to appreciate the taste of salt because it's a vital compound. Without salt, our nerves couldn't conduct properly, and many cell functions depend on sodium ions.

Long story short, organisms developed a taste for salt because it's so incredibly important for life. Without a predisposition towards salt, we would have ate the wrong food sources and died. Natural selection guided toward a predisposition to salt.


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

[User] ELI5:People in rural America claim that guns are necessary for their way of life. How do rural residents of countries with stricter gun laws get by?

[Assistant]
So, the only place where this really is the case is Europe. Europe has no predators or other large and dangerous animals; they've all been killed off over the millennia of humans living there.

By comparison, North America has wolves, bears, mountain lions, moose, bison, and elk, all of which can cause pretty extensive damage to personal property, can can easily harm or kill people. In addition, there are a large variety of pest animals (like coyotes) that aren't a direct threat, but can cause all sorts of damage if they can't be driven off with firearms.

In addition, Europe is pretty heavily urbanized, such that the police really aren't that far away, ever. Take, for example, Cherry and Sheridan counties in rural Nebraska, which are out in the middle of nowhere, have essentially only ranchers living in them, and (combined) are **roughly the same size as Slovenia**. So yeah, we have local police forces (and we're not talking LAPD all-black military-grade equipment police forces, but Jim-bob and his beat-up second-hand pickup police forces) who are responsible for territories the same size as entire nations. Out there, you need to be able to protect yourself, because the police may take *hours* to get to you, and that's in *good* conditions. This same part of the country averages *feet* of snow in the winter, and it only get's worse as you go further north.

Finally; even Europe allows rifles with relatively few legal hangups, and rifles are what rural gun owners really want to have access to, which shouldn't be a problem given how few people are actually killed with rifles in any given year.


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

[User]
[Fallout] Why is Shady Sands so small?

According to the wiki, Shady Sands in 2241 has a population in the tens of thousands, yet when I look at it it looks big enough to house 100 people, if even that. Where are the sprawling houses and bustling streets?

[Assistant] Most live out in the surrounding areas and come in for a few days to trade and get news. The city center might be small but it is probably more like early Rome where their are multiple settlements nearby each other.


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

[User]
What do we really get out of water?

I was just thinking about it, and realized I don't know what exactly we get from water. That is, I can see cells taking the bits of H2O and putting it somewhere wherever water needs to be, but I have no detailed concept of what our body does with it. Can someone explain please?

[Assistant] Well a lot of different ways.  Water is used to cool us down (sweat).  It's used in certain reactions that take place in the body (cellular fluid), it's used to dissolve and transport things through the body (blood).  It's used to dissolve things that need to be removed from the body (urine).  A whole lot more too!


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

[User] What is actually going on when people claim they are "double-jointed"?

[Assistant]
Simply put, when somebody claims to be double-jointed they are referring to having unusually flexible joints.

Double-jointedness can also refer to Joint Hypermobility Syndrome which generally results from abnormally shaped ends of one or more bones at a joint, or a Type 1 collagen or other connective tissue defect.


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

[User]
I Don't Believe That Iran's Nuclear Program Threatens Israel: CMV

Specifically I don't believe the comments of Netanyahu on the recent deal with Iran.   I don't believe Israel has a need to 'defend' itself against Iranian nuclear ambitions, nor do they espouse the 'wiping off the map' or physcial destruction of Israel.   Whether they oppose the coalition in power is a different question.. I don't think they are threatening Israel, and I think Netanyahu is fearmongering.

'But the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet it was a "historic mistake" and that his country reserved the right to defend itself.

"Today the world became a much more dangerous place because the most dangerous regime in the world made a significant step in obtaining the most dangerous weapons in the world," he said.

At a later news conference, Mr Netanyahu said Israel would not be bound by the agreement.

"We cannot and will not allow a regime that calls for the destruction of Israel to obtain the means to achieve this goal.

"Israel has many friends and allies, but when they're mistaken, its my duty to speak out."'

[Assistant]
Iran has a well documented history of giving/selling weapons to terrorist groups, and it is very possible that a bomb (especially a dirty bomb) could end up in the hands of Hezbollah or Hamas, who wouldn't have that many reservations about using it.

Even if they aren't planning to make weapons, their nuclear program is likely to force other nations in the region, such as Saudi Arabia, to also develop a nuclear program.  Even if it isn't an arms race per say, a nuclear tech race in the middle east increasingly raises the chances that *someone* will create a bomb, which will also increase the chances of one being used.

After all, we have historical precedent of this with India and Pakistan.  No reason to think that similar events won't happen here.


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

[User]
ELI5: How are cosmetics and skincare products tested for safety if they don't use animal testing?

Do they just use humans which are taking a risk? Even if theoretically something is safe and effective, you need to actually test it to verify.

[Assistant] Almost all chemicals used in cosmetics have been extensively tested over the last 60 years or so. However, even when a company explicitly states they do not use animal testing on products, that does not necessarily mean they do not use chemicals that the provider at some point in the past (or present) did not test on animals at some point. And yes, most cosmetics are tested on human volunteers; most actively state that they have tested under dermatological support, or have in-vitro results on human cells.


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

[User] [Zelda BOTW] Men arent allowed in Gerudo Town in order to get the Gerudo women to travel the world and find husbands. How does Gerudo Town populate itself?

[Assistant] Gerudo women leave town to find mates. Kinda like a one night stand. They dont really need men to travel the world with. In fact its implied in OoT that they sometimes rape their male hyrulian slaves.


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

[User] ELI5: How do boomerangs come back?

[Assistant] A boomerang is shaped like a small wing. The side that is spinning forwards goes "faster" in comparison to the air it moves through than the side that is spinning backwards. The faster side generates more lift due to the faster airspeed and tries to rotate the boomerang around the axis that runs along the direction you threw it, or turn over. Because it's spinning, it also fights turning over by turning around to conserve angular momentum (this is related to the same phenomenon that helps keep you upright while your bicycle is moving even though it's hard to balance on a stationary bicycle). You could feel the same forces at work by spinning a fairly large fidget spinner in your hand, sitting in an office chair, and trying to turn it over.


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

[User] [Avengers] How did "cognitive re-calibration" break the spell over Hawkeye and Selvig?

[Assistant]
Loki's mind-control establishes a self-sustaining connection between minds--once established through touch, the dominating mind and the dominated mind continually transfer thoughts and information to sustain the connection.

You'll notice that Hawkeye and Selvig aren't controlled like puppets--they still act like themselves, and possess all their skills. Only their higher brain functions are overridden, because even as an Asgardian, Loki doesn't have the mental "bandwidth" to assume all their brain functions (breathing, heart rate, movement, etc.)

Even this limited level of control (issuing basic commands) requires a massive stream of input to maintain on an unwilling target. Unconsciousness or overwhelming sensory input (like a solid kick in the head) interrupts that stream, and the connection is permanently lost. Loki's mind can't "find" Hawkeye or Selvig to restore the connection without another physical encounter.


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

[User]
Was there a cultural reason for why Postmodernism developed primarily in France?

and among French intellectuals

as opposed to German and Anglo/Anglo-American philosophers?

[Assistant]
In the context of philosophy, usually what people mean by "postmodernism" is what is more strictly called "poststructuralism", which is a response to structuralism and phenomenology, which had been the dominant intellectual currents in French culture. So the reason that poststructuralism largely happened in France is the more or less plain one that structuralism largely happened in France.

But analogous developments were going on in Anglo-American intellectual culture as well. They just don't get called "poststructuralism", because they're not responses to structuralism. Rather, they get called "post-positivism" or "anti-foundationalism" or "neo-pragmatism", or other such terms which situate them in the Anglo-American context. In the literal sense of being *after modernism*, or *using modernist strategies to critique modernist principles*, these Anglo-American developments are as much "post-modern" as post-structuralism is.


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

[User] Why do mobile suits have heads?

[Assistant]
Because with the Minovsky particle, there has to be a trade off.  Delicate electronics and electromagnetic-based sensors need heavy shielding to work properly in a Minovsky-particle environment, but many sensors can't work behind heavy armor found in the other parts of the MS.  So they had to settle for a secondary housing, with less shielding than the rest of the chassis to allow sensor signals, but still protected enough to allow the electronics of the sensor suite to work.  Because the MSs are designed to work in gravity as well as space, this sensor cluster had to be placed high enough to yield the widest possible results.

Hence, the heads.  Of course, the heads could just be plain domes or globes, but making them look fearsome and humanoid also adds somewhat to psychological factors of combat.


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

[User] Why do cats love boxes/enclosed spaces?

[Assistant]
It's natural for animals to seek security, and for cats that means somewhere they can hide/sleep that doesn't leave them vulnerable to possible threats. A cardboard box offers the same kind of protection a cave or natural shelter might in nature.

Also the kinds of animals cats hunt often hide in burrows and enclosed spaces, so they might consider those boxes potential larders. On a related note, some cats hunt by finding somewhere out of sight to hide and pouncing on prey that comes too near their hidey-hole.


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

[User] [DC] I know Wonder Woman is strong, but how deadly is the average Amazon?

[Assistant]
It really varies too much to say. But generally speaking probably at least peak human. Maybe physically weaker than Cap, but as fast and agile and maybe more durable.

Wonder Woman herself has divine blessings so she's far far stronger but it still varies (as divine powers often do).


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

[User]
[Superman] Has it ever been explained how Superman hovers?

His flight I have heard explained but not his hover ability.

[Assistant]
Same thing essentially and the canon explanation is currently non-existent.

Could be passed off as the same explanation the 90s gave with the bio electric field, but despite that being a great explanation and the best one we've gotten, is currently not considered canon.


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

[User]
CMV: There is no winning for the poor in capitalism

With the people on top of a capitalist ladder trying to remain on top, there will be little possibility for those that are not as educated financially to succeed in capitalistic game. Mainly because those that are poor will have to worry about surviving in their local environments, scrummaging for resources to be able to avoid being robbed while trying to supply food for their children. In that pursuit for the right to live, a capitalist, at the very least one that is focused lessed on surviving and more on changing the world, would continue to gain more resources to do what he/she cares to do on a moment's whim.

There is also the aspect that the poor do not control their wages and have a cap on how much they can sell any products for, due to the supply/demand of their environment. Though the internet has made it easier to expand markets, the internet is also a place for capitalists to continue to siphon more money faster than the lesser financially educated, still leaving those who grew up poor - specifically from lineages who did not survive well in the capitalistic society - unable to make enough to survive (stretching here).

Change my mind please.
======

Edit: it looks like my view is unchangeable here because winning to me is not needing to play the game anymore. It looks like an economic system isnt about moving out of a system, but having an equal opportunity within it. Thank you all for your comments. Moving on to a new topic.

[Assistant]
The evidence is pretty overwhelming that the standard of living for the poorest in the US has significantly improved in the last 30-40 years. Much of that improvement built on top of a largely capitalistic economy.

Isnt this more than enough evidence that there are some benefits of capitalism to those on the bottom of the income ladder?


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

[User] [Minority Report] The murder rate is described as reaching "epidemic levels." About how high is this?

[Assistant] High enough to make a good political soundbite that can be used to justify implementing a system of such amazingly fascistic unconstitutionality that it would make Hitler's head spin, but not so high that actually dealing with root causes would be worth anyone's political capital.


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

[User]
[ATLA] Why are fire benders the only ones who can spontaneously generate their element?

In the Avatar universe, fire benders are able to spontaneously generate their element.  They can actually conjure fire from nowhere.  Other benders however, are limited to manipulating existing sources of their element.  We see this reinforced several times.  Katara always carries a waterskin with her so she has water to bend at all times.  Earth benders are imprisoned at sea away from sources of earth to bend.  So why is fire different?

[Assistant] Firebenders are different because they're not necessarily bending what's around them, but what's within them. Their fire is a manifestation of their chi, driven by either their passion or their anger. In many ways firebending is closer to energy bending than it is to Earth or Water bending.


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

[User]
[AtLA] Can Aang energybend bending into a non-bender?

We know Aang can energy bend and take away someones bending, can he give it to someone as well or only to someone who had them before?

[Assistant]
Bending is the expression of the spiritual side of a person, through bodily movements and proper mindset, to influence the elements around them.

When people like Ty Lee use pressure points, they are disrupting the energy pathways of the body, preventing the expression of spiritual energy or preventing the movements which that person uses to express their spiritual energy in bending form.

Energybending is the severance of that part of the spirit from the body. Energybending can also be used to restore or heal that connection if it was severed or damage, through manipulation, bodily harm, or spiritual damage.

As a result, the answer is no. Bending is something that a person is born with, a connection between element, body and spirit. It is an innate connection, not one that can be created, even through energybending.

Imagine bending as a special bridge between body and soul. Energy bending can manipulate the spiritual half of that bridge, but not the physical half. The physical half is something the person is born with, and energybending can't change the body in that way.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do ice cubes in a drink not want to move no matter how much you rotate the cup?

[Assistant]
Friction and inertia.

Ice floating in water has very little friction with glass.  In fact,  the water functions as a lubricant between the two. The ice has mass. Mass resist motion.  By spinning the glass you are trying to move the ice by moving the water. Water doesn't have enough friction on its own to move the ice easily. Given enough time in one direction the ice will begin to spin.

If you oscillate you cancel out all movement.


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

[User]
When some physical effect has a strength that is inversely proportional to the distance, why is it not infinite at the center?

I'm asking about all of the inverse x^y laws, really. For example, the brightness of a light source obeys the inverse square law. If halving the distance doubles the brightness, going to the source would make the brightness infinite.

I *suspect* that the reason this absurdity exists is that when you get close enough, you can no longer treat the source as a point; getting close to the center of a mass, the effects of the layers above you cancel out.

I guess what I'm asking is, 1) am I on the right track with the above, and 2) do all sources have physical extent, or is there anything that produces a field or effect that is really a point? (Is there something here to do with quantum uncertainty in position?)

[Assistant]
You are really on track. Point 1) is correct. The power-law behaviour stops when you reach the typical size of the source, and going deeper in the source it's replaced by a smooth behaviour with no singularity. Precisely for the reason you claim.

Point 2) is a good insight. Yes, there are truly or at least very pointlike sources in the Universe, these are the fundamental particles of the standard model. The divergence is not exactly fixed by quantum mechanics and its "fuzziness" (though *some* problems of the classical theory of particles are fixed by it) but rather by a procedure called renormalization. It's rather complex, but the fundamental starting point is "are we asking the right questions to this physical theory?". And upon reflecting on this question you reach the conclusion that most likely no, we aren't, and once we craft our questions more carefully (which is vaguely what renormalization is) you only get sensible answers, no infinities.


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

[User] [Power Rangers] Do the Government created rangers (Lightspeed Rescue, RPM, Beast Morphers) have any legal military rank and power?

[Assistant]
More than likely, yes.

Lightspeed Rescue are a military organization so they probably have a certain rank to order around the rank-and-file in order to organize any rescue efforts. But they were recruited from *civilians* for their specific skills. In order;

* Carter Greyson, the Red Ranger, was a firefighter in the Mariner Bay Fire Department
* Chad Lee, the Blue Ranger, is a local Life Guard and marine animal trainer in the Mariner Bay Aquarium and Amusement Park
* Joel Rawlings, the Green Ranger, was a stunt pilot
* Kelsey Winslow, the Yellow Ranger, was an extreme sports athlete
* Dana Mitchell, the Pink Ranger, was a nurse and practiced medical arts (she also got something of a pass since her father was the commander of Lightspeed Rescue).

Out of those, three have direct skills in crisis and emergencies while the other two were recruited for their skills in the general Ranger skillset of vehicular expertise and combat. They'd probably have been given "Honorary" military titles to make their jobs easier or had the authority of the head of Lightspeed Rescue who was a military captain.

But with RPM, it's slightly different. RPM are police officers first and foremost and are focused with arresting suspects and bringing them in for trial. Probably not military unless those two groups have been merged together.


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

[User]
[Spec Ops: The Line] (MASSIVE SPOILERS) Would the US really lose a war against the Middle East? Can't Europe and allies back them up?

The CIA guy wanted to kill all of Dubai with thirst to prevent a war with the Middle East. That apparently the US 'has no hope to win in'... How would the US lose? Would this be a war set in the US, or in the Middle East?

Also why all of Middle East? Wouldn't it be UAE vs US since Dubai is in UAE?

Wouldn't allies step in once Middle Eastern forces step on US soil?

[Assistant]
A war with the UAE could have triggered a trade war with OPEC. At the time (its no longer true) OPEC had a lot of ability to fuck with the US by simply shutting off the flow of oil, then it becomes a race against the clock, the US would have to win before reserves (the US stockpiles oil for this very reason) it needs to fight the war run dry. Based on the last major empire to get hit this way (Japan). the US would probably do something completely insane in an effort to secure more oil supplies like try to invade the whole of OPEC at once.

As for not simply steamrolling them in a month then moving to counter insurgency for 20 years like in Iraq/Afghanistan, the UAE was still actively receiving military aid.  That total airspace dominance looks a lot shakier when your opponent has missile that can kill aircraft carriers and F-16s.


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

[User]
ELI5 What exactly is your body doing during sleep to generate/recover energy for use the next day?

Bonus question, how is this energy stored?

[Assistant]
Sleep is for your brain; it's not needed for the rest of your body and has nothing to do with physical energy

When you sleep, you brain clears itself out harmful toxins. The flow of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain increases dramatically, washing away harmful waste proteins that build up between brain cells during waking hours.

People who don't get enough sleep run an increased risk of getting Alzheimer's disease.


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

[User] ELI5: How does 3G/4G get the internet to my phone?

[Assistant]
These people suck at explaining this.

Radio is just flashing light. You can stand on a mountain with a flashlight and your friend can stand on the bottom of that mountain also with a flashlight. If you both know, say, Morse code, then you can communicate with each other just using the flashlight, right?

That's all a radio tower and your phone do, except not with the visible light spectrum. They use the radio spectrum instead - which is the exact same as visible light, it's just a different color (that color is called "radio" and it's invisible). But it's really just Morse code and two flashlights flashing at each other.

Radio is a cool color because it can go through walls and cars and other stuff, which is why you don't always have to have a *direct* view of the radio tower.

NOTE: It's not *actually* Morse code. It's binary (as mentioned below) that is made up of 1's and 0's. If you string together a bunch of 1's and 0's, you can make up your own language (like dots and dashes for Morse). This all happens so quickly that even if we could see the color radio, we wouldn't be able to tell it was flashing at all. Also, it "flashes" not in on-off but FM radios (frequency modulation) flash "high frequency" and "low frequency." So it flashes between two shades of radio. AM radios (amplitude modulation) flash "high amplitude" and "low amplitude"." So it flashes between two brightnesses of radio.

**TL;DR: The tower is a flashlight, your phone is a flashlight. They flash a color at each other called "radio" that's invisible to us but visible to each of them and can travel through walls.**


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

[User] [Jurrasic Park]You work at the marketing department for Hammond industries and since dinosaurs keep eating everyone, you have been tasked with creating a theme park from another age in history. What age do you pick other than the Jurassic and why? What are some of your star attractions?

[Assistant]
The last Ice Age and early Holocene, featuring extinct animals such as the American Lion, Aurochs, Camelops, Dire Wolf, Dodo, Giant Beaver, Giant Ground Sloth, Giant Moa, Gigantopithecus, Glyptodon, Haasts Eagle, Irish Elk, Mastodon, Short-faced Bear, Smilodon, Woolly Mammoth, and Woolly Rhinoceros.

Unlike Jurassic Parks dinosaurs, these animals have the benefit of having existed in a (relatively) similar environment to today, so they require little if any genetic modification.


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

[User]
How can two photons traveling parallel observe each other to be traveling at speed of light?

My question is dealing with the fundamental ideas of Einstein's theory of relativity.  Suppose we have two photons traveling side by side in the same direction.  If the first photon observes the other to be traveling forward at speed c, and the other photon observes the first to be traveling forward at speed c, isn't this a paradox?  The first photon observes the other zipping ahead.  Meanwhile, the other photon observes the first photon zipping ahead.  But, I observe them traveling side by side.  Where did I go wrong?

[Assistant]
> If the first photon observes

Let me stop you there, you can't draw a reference frame for a photon to observe anything. It breaks the postulates of special relativity and this is evident in that the mathematics either blows up to infinities or non-physical zeros.

So the paradox you're calling out is precisely a result from this.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are they trying to remove Earth monitoring from NASA's budget?

Neil Degrasse Tyson just mentioned his opinion on the matter in an AMA. What's the back story?

[Assistant] A cynical view would be that they do not want to document climate change. A scientist recently complained that observations made years ago on arctic regions are no longer available online since the Trump administration to over. Without the ability to refer to how things were how can we tell they changed?


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

[User]
ELI5: Is it physically possible to bring a dead body back to life?

I'm not talking about hospital scenarios but say someone dies from like drowning or choking, Why can't we revive them? Also, what's the point in freezing bodies?

[Assistant]
There are 3 main points when a person is dying:

1. They stop breathing.

2. The heart stops.

3. The brain dies.

---

Until #3 happens, they're not technically dead.

When a person stops breathing (they're drowning or choking), if their airways are cleared they can be resuscitated (eg through CPR).

When their heart stops, ~~they can be brought back through CPR or defibrillation~~ they're clinically dead, although in some **very rare** cases, injections of adrenaline and a vasopressor combined with CPR, or the application of transcutaneous electrical pacing can bring them back to life.

When the brain dies they're ~~clinically~~ biologically dead. That said however, there have been cases where either patients are incorrectly declared brain-dead~~, or they have come back from being brain-dead~~, generally when the brain has been showing no activity but the body is on life support. This is extremely rare however. The brain works (in layman terms) by having electrical pulses jump between neurons. These neurons trigger other neurons. If the neurons all stop functioning, there isn't really anything that can get them going again, at least not in a basic pattern as before; without that pattern, you don't get a living human back; just a bunch of twitching muscles, etc.

---

As for freezing bodies; the idea goes 2 ways:

Short-term freezing:

A lot of people die on the way to hospital, either as patients in car crashes, or as soldiers, disaster victims, etc that get badly hurt in the middle of nowhere. In many of those cases, the patient could be allowed to live by "freezing" their body (their blood is temporarily replaced and their body is cooled down, but not into an icicle), which would delay the problem for a few hours, allowing them to be transported back to a proper medical facility. This technique is the one in the news, currently awaiting human trials.

The other idea is to freeze the body for as long as desired. Currently this isn't possible as the body begins to deteriorate; cells in the body need energy and nutrients. Special fluids (the stuff that replaces the blood) can kind of do that, but that doesn't address all of the cell's requirements.

If this and any other issues can be solved, then it is hoped that if patients have terminal diseases, or injuries that surgeons / doctors have no idea how to fix, then they can be frozen where they'll be woken up one day in the future, when the technology / medical science is good enough to solve the person's issues.

Also, some people just plain hope to be able to get frozen so that they can experience the future, or (if they're old) get their mind uploaded into a computer / have their body cured of aging.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Instead of or in addition to wiping C3PO's memory at the end of ROTS, why wasn't his programming modified to make him keep his mouth shut better?

Wouldn't he still be a risk if he started a conversation with an Imperial sympathizer?

[Assistant]
It would counter what his original programming and intent was.  He is designed for human cyborg relations.  That means he needs to be able to talk for things like translating.  The best solution would be to provide specific instructions and limit his access to protected information.

Note that he already does this - note that in ANH he doesnt reveal who Leah is directly playing coy to make sure Luke isnt a threat.  It doesnt take 3PO long to determine that he isnt interested in the Princess other than that she is beautiful.  When 3P0 gives Luke a nugget by mentioning his captain Luke totally blows it off asking unrelated questions.  3P0 only begins to trust him at that point and when he seems to be concerned with her safety rather than his mission.


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

[User] Pfizer vaccine was initially recommended to be stored at -60C to -80C for transportation. Is the vaccine still at a liquid state at this temperature or is it frozen solid?

[Assistant] It can now be stored at 2-8 degrees C for up to 30 days after defrosting and before dilution. Yes its solidly frozen when it arrives but thaws very quickly. The vial contains 0.45ml of undiluted vaccine which once thawed is diluted with 1.8ml of Saline to bring it to 2.25ml total volume. This is how we can always get 6 doses of 0.3ml and with practice, persistence and a very low dead space syringe can often get 7 doses from a vial.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do I get car-sick when I'm a passenger, but never when I'm the driver?

[Assistant] The sickness is the result of a conflict between your senses (mostly your visual sense and your sense of balance). When you sit in the rear of the car you often don't really know where the car is going and a sudden turn, which your eyes didn't signal you beforehand, makes you feel uncomfortable.


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

[User]
Why cant we use nuclear fuel until it's spent?

We use plutonium and uranium to fuel our nuclear plants. In hospitals, they're used in xray machines. At a certain point, they are considered "spent", but still contain enough energy to be considered a problem. Why can't we use them until they're gone, just like a log would be just carbon and water vapor when it's burnt out?

[Assistant] Spent is an interesting word in nuclear fuel.  Normally the fuel is considered spent if there is enough ingrowth of neutron absorbers to render the control rods useless in the all the way out position.  Then it needs to be reprocessed and the bad stuff removed.  And to do that, requires that the fuel rods be removed, the zirconium outer liner removed, and the metals dissolved.  Then it goes into a chemical separation, and new fuel can be made from the remaining uranium and for mixed oxide fuel, the plutonium.  This ALL has to be done, once the rods are removed, in a hot cell.  The rods have to sit for months to years to let the short lived isotopes decay away.


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

[User] [Marvel/DC] Who is more patriotic? Captain America or Superman?

[Assistant]
Well, there *was* that alternate universe where Superman renounced his American citizenship...

But yeah, it's Cap. Note that he's not blindly loyal to the country, but he's loyal to the dream of what it could, and should be. Superman is the same, true, but he tends to think of himself as a citizen of the world rather than an American citizen and, of late, he's not the kind of person who proudly proclaims that he is an American or tosses and turns over the problems the country faces. Cap is.

While they're both patriots, and neither of them is a blind patriot, Cap simply cares about the country and cares about being an American and what it means or should mean more than Superman does.


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

[User] ELI5: How exactly will obamacare lower the cost that that hospitals charge the insurance companies for an ER visit?

[Assistant]
A) If everyone is covered, ER costs don't need to make up for uninsured people.  Hospitals are required to treat everyone that comes into the ER, regardless of ability to pay.  The hospital has to write-off the cost & take the extra money from people that are paying (if you're following along at home, this is effectively socialism)

B) When everyone's covered, it becomes reasonable for people to go to the doctor *before* it becomes an emergency.  If a patient is treated earlier, before a condition is serious, it can often be prevented at a far lower cost than dealing with a critical situation.  Keeping people healthy keeps the overall cost of healthcare lower.


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

[User]
[Kingsmen] How did mobile carriers and telecom regulators react to such an obvious monopolistic move?

I mean, free sim cards with limitless data and phone calls?

[Assistant] They don't care. Before releasing his SIM cards, Valentine had let the world's rich and powerful in on the plan, which would include the executives of major mobile carriers and telecom regulators. Some mid-level manager might raise some concerns, but they would probably be told not to worry about it by higher ups.


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

[User]
[40k] What would a newly born orkoid ecosystem look like?

The ecosystem has just birthed its first orks, what do they see?

[Assistant]
The entire Ork ecosystem comes from spores, and it comes in waves.

The first to appear are Squigs, which are the animal/fungal hybrigs that form the base of the Ork food chain, as well as being their domestic animals, weapons platforms (in the case of squiggoths) and even decoration. Yes, Orks "wear" hair squigs.

The second wave are called snotlings. The smallest of the bipedal orks, they're the equivalent to modern Earth's low-income labor force. They begin setting up the basic necessities for Orks, as well and handling all the low-income stuff like food prep.

Wave three are gretchen (sometimes called grots). This is the first military-level force, but they're no Orks. Their primary role in their emergence is to get the Ork industrial base up and running - every Mekboy has three or four grots, and most vehicles are swarming with them to make quick repairs and jury rigs. They're also used as cannon fodder on the battle field.

Incidentally, gretchen are actually smarter than orks, and a bit more cunning - they need to be to survive. If you play WOW, they'd be a lot like goblins.

And finally, you get Orks. At that point, all you can do is just lay back, spread your legs, and let the **WAAAAAAAGGGHHH!!**


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

[User] Why do economists believe rent control policies harm the poor instead of carrying out the intent and helping them out greatly?

[Assistant] Rent control generally takes place in areas where there is a housing shortage and high demand (hence why rents are so high). Rent control places a cap on how much a landlord can charge. This may help the people who are already in these apartments, but that also places a cap on how profitable new housing can be. This discourages investment and development in new building complexes which further exacerbates the housing shortage, which is what leads to the high prices in the first place. It also prevents landlords from having extra cash to improve current housing units (not that all landlords would have done this without rent control, but there is zero incentive to improve your unit if you cant see any returns from that investment). Rent control essentially puts the brakes on an already short housing supply, and the population will just continue to grow causing more scarcity.


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

[User]
ELI5: How jurors on long cases maintain a job and a steady income while the case goes on?

I'm currently watching the O.J. Simpson case and in it they talk about the jurors being "locked up" in a hotel for ~280 days.

How do they maintain a job or get a money?

[Assistant] Don't know how it is in the states but here (canada) you get paid a little for being a juror and your employer can't fire you for that reason. Plus if you are indispensable for your employer they will sometimes release you from jury duty.


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

[User]
ELI5 - Why do ISP's broadband plans always give much lower upload than download speeds?

I have cable at home with 100mbs down/2mbs up. At work i have 25/25 and it seems much faster. Why dont up and down speeds get matched in plans?

[Assistant] Imagine driving a car downloading is going forward and uploading is reverse.  You don't reverse often and most people don't care how fast you go in it.  So you prioritize going forward and over time this causes this huge difference.


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

[User]
[WH40K] Why do Space Marines serve in the Devastator and Assault squads -before- being made standard Tactical Marines? Shouldn't those be elite positions that they have to prove they are capable of and earn by first serving as a Tactical Marine?

Devastator Squads: Extremely heavy firepower that should only be placed in experienced hands due to the company's reliance upon it in crucial moments to turn the tide of battle and the danger of friendly fire it poses if wielded improperly.

Assault Squads: Weaker ranged arms (pistols) that require greater finesse to use effectively, subjection to melee combat (and weaponry) which necessitates extreme martial skill and tenacity to survive, and the additional task of operating a Jump Pack all make this position considerably more complex than the Tactical Marine position that follows it.

It seems to me that the roles of both Devastator and Assault Squads would not only require more skill (and perhaps bravery), but would also be of crucial tactical significance to the company/chapter on the field of battle and would thus logically be reserved for Tactical Marines who have proven they have the ability to handle such an assignment. Additionally, it is counter-intuitive to equip a marine with a Lascannon or Jump Pack and then take either away as a means of "promoting" him.

So, why is it the other way around?

Edit: Thanks for the replies, guys! It all makes sense now.

[Assistant]
Tac marines ARE the elite. As elite as you get before joining the first company. They can fill any role as required on the battlefield without hyperspecialised equipment. Either of those two roles has one real niche. Tactical marines? You need to know every possible role upside down and back to front first so when Brother Sergeant Chucklefuck and his merry men charge the Broodlord eating your Captain's face, you're not sitting there looking for the on button on your chainsword - or trying to get the hang of that whole predictive dodging thing that you were always told you'd need to remain alive versus something with claws that slice the universe itself and moves faster than an Eldar. Lives depend on you doing it and doing it well. Most marines start off as devastators to begin 'learning' the Battlefield - less need for conditonal awareness. And raptors don't need to be aware of anything beyond enemy positioning. A tac marine needs all of this and more.

Same deal with devastators. When the call comes through for covering fire, you don't want to be trying to puzzle out the best way to fire your bolter at something beyond nominal range. In both cases you have a few decades of experience in a specialised role to draw on in addition to your basic training.


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

[User]
CMV: Attitudes towards racial and gender issues shouldn't be labelled as left wing or right wing

Of course, left wing and right wing parties differ in opinion on those issues. However, my point is that they aren't a inherently political thing. Society made them political.

For example, the right wing in United States is super against abortions, LGBT, drug legalization, etc. However, technically if the right wing is all about "freedom" as they say they are, then they shouldn't be against those things. (I know that it is much more complicated than that, but I'm saying that they aren't true to their pro-freedom stance since they also hate all that)

Another example is how the Soviet Union was super leftist, however, they were really against LGBT too. Yet modern day feminists say that "left wing is the way to go for LGBT rights". In addition, soviet union punishes prisoners hard, yet left-wingers says that left-wing is about not punishing prisoners. Speaking of prisons, American Republicans want stricter prisons, death penalty, more police and military, yet say that government control is bad. These are all proof that stances on social issues shouldn't be associated with either the left or right. The truth is that politics is almost inherently hypocritical and there will always be contradictions.

Edit: wow there are people who scrolled through my post history, then PM me calling me "biased to the left" or "biased to the right". Damn do you guys have so much time. Here's the thing, most of my post history calls out the right wing, since I am left wing personally. However, this post in particular isn't about me taking a side. In fact, the point of my post is that we should move past the left wing/right wing labels when it comes to social issues.

[Assistant]
"Left wing" and "right wing" are relative terms: they only make sense in relation to one another, and in relation to a specific national context. When we're comparing across national contexts, we often find that what's "left" in one country would actually be "right" in another: as an example, if the context is the Scandinavian countries, then the Democratic party of the U.S. is "right-of-center," not on the "left," in comparison to their "left" parties. The arbitrariness of calling racial and gender issues "left" or "right" has to do with the arbitrariness of the labels themselves, not about racial and gender issues themselves.

More than that, here's a classical definition of politics: the battle over the distribution of resources in a society. Racial and gender inequalities are inherently political on that definition, in that they have to do with unequal access to the same resources, such as marriage equality and jobs.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Have there ever been any benevolent Symbiotes?

Every Symbiote I know of seems to have turned in to super-villain of some description after taking a host.

Are there any that have broken this rule, where the Symbiote and host have lived a normal life or even been a hero?

[Assistant]
Uhhh.... hate to break it to you, but the Venom symbiote and all its children *are* the good ones.

The Venom symbiote and its children are all mutants, exiles of a race of parasitic creatures that rapidly burns through its hosts. Venom was kicked out for living with its host and letting them live. Really, it only is as monsterous as it is from being attached to so many homicidal hosts.

Toxin and Hybrid are the nicest you'll get.


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

[User] ELI5: Why did laptops, and nearly the entire monitor industry, switch to glossy screens?

[Assistant] The matte screen coating causes a small amount of distortion, which is fine from the distance you'd view a TV, but people sit closer to monitors. The glossy ones sold better because of the minor difference.


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

[User]
What countries didnt print money and pay for furloughed employees in response to Covid-19 and lockdowns?

Many people in the West are scared of how governments and central banks have printed lots of money in response to the pandemic and are destroying the value of their cash. Unique to this economic crisis compared to others is how some of this money has been paid directly to furloughed employees.

Are there any countries that didnt print much money (if at all) and left their economies to try and recover by themselves? Are there any that didnt pay for furloughed employees and left them to survive as best they could? In particular, what did China do?

Dont post a comment criticising the more inhuman implications of my question (letting the furloughed workers fend for themselves etc). Feel free to comment about the humanitarian aspect if you can link it to some economic consequence or reality though. Hope that makes sense.

[Assistant]
>Many people in the West are scared of how governments and central banks have printed lots of money in response to the pandemic and are destroying the value of their cash.

Modern economies with modern central banks *don't print money to finance the government*.

They print money to *keep* inflation at a stable level. And they have to print a lot of money because there are strong deflationary forces. Nobody is "destroying the value of their cash", rather they are just trying to keep it *stable* at the same levels we would see without the pandemic.


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

[User]
Why did Foucault believe that sexuality was not repressed in Victorian times?

So, I've read several articles, books and  wikipedia-entries describing Foucaults view on the "repressive  hypothesis". The basic notion, as my little brain can comprehend it, is  that we now have the wrong-headed belief that Victorians were sexually  repressed and that in "modern" society we have become more liberated and  free, being able to openly discuss sexual matters. But Foucault  believes this is incorrect and that in reality the Victorians werent so  sexually repressed and talked a lot about sex, though only in scientific  and academic terms.
But isn't this still sexual repression if it is  only discussed in medical terms (talking about perverts and homosexuals)  and by academic, the general public still being unable to talk about it  or even deal with it socially.

I really  hope this falls under a question permitted, though most of my questions  posted here get deleted post-haste for not being philosophical  enough...

[Assistant]
> But isn't this still sexual repression if it is only discussed in medical terms (talking about perverts and homosexuals) and by academic, the general public still being unable to talk about it or even deal with it socially.

Even the way you've described it here shows that this isn't so.  The general public could talk about sex quite a lot, though the talk itself was given within the context of (then) medical/scientific language.  The repressive hypothesis (as Foucault describes it) entails that public talk about sex was repressed, not just filtered through some institutional discourse.


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

[User]
ELI5: What are charter schools in America? Do they differ from private schools and public schools? If so, how and why?

I'm confused about a few things. Do charter schools have tuition? So they employ licensed teaches? What are the benefits? Thank you for any information or experiences in advance.

[Assistant]
It can depend from state to state, but they are typically private organizations that provide alternatives to local public schools. In the US you are generally forced to go to the school in the district you live. And many times, especially in urban areas, these schools suck. Charter schools allow some or all of the per pupil tax levy for the public school to go to the charter school who takes on the student. The charter school must still operate under the guidance and regulations of the state.

They are becoming popular because many inner city schools suck and have shitty teachers they can't fire. Parents see the charter school as an upgrade and a way to get their child into an environment that may provide a better education or even just a safer school.

Some people oppose them because they remove power from public school teacher unions or because they often take the better students from public schools making the public school less safe. Even in areas where the charter school must accept students via a  lottery system they still only have a pool of applicants whose parents care enough to apply to get them out of the shitty public schools. Some would prefer more students in unsafe shitty schools and/or less educational choice because their political beliefs tell them to support unions and government sponsored programs.


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

[User]
Basic Income for only the Poor?

Hi All,

Policy conversations seem to center around UBI for the entire population, but why not just focus on BI for those in the most need? Approximately 11% of Americans live below the federal poverty line.

Interested to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

[Assistant] One argument for a universal transfer like a basic income or negative income tax is that it would not create perverse incentives to discourage the poor from getting out of poverty. It is a lump-sum transfer. So, it is not cut when a person earns more income in the market.


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

[User]
Questions on Kropotkin and Marx

I've done some reading on Marx but not much on Kropotkin. I know Marx doesn't theorize much on what a communist society would actually look like in his view, (classless, stateless, money-less) and I've heard Kropotkin does theorize what an anarcho-communist society would look like a lot more.

So is there any difference between the two, Kropotkin's interpretation of communism and Marx's interpretation of communism besides getting there in the first place? Do you know what Marx's view on illegitimate hierarchies, i.e. having a boss when one isn't needed in the workplace is? (an example when a boss is needed could be when the boss is more experienced, for example being a pilot and is in charge for safety reasons/takes priority over the copilot).

Also, why specifically does Kropotkin disagree with the Marxian economic analysis of capitalism?

(P.S. please don't answer if you're not well read on both Marx and Kropotkin. I want an accurate answer, I'm confused enough already lol)

[Assistant]
Marx simply doesn't approach the issue in terms of hierarchies. The issue for him is capital and exploitation. The surplus value of the commodity is taken from the labourer by the capitalist, as to him, all value is derived from labour, in one of the most central parts of Marxism, the Labour Theory of Value (LtV).

Kropotkin disagrees with the LtV - he thinks the best approach to the issue is the outright rejection of value. If a house is built by the labour required to put the bricks and cement and so on together, what about the mining of the stone to make the bricks etc etc - the line simply goes on too long to accept the LtV.

As for Kropotkin's theorising, he talks about specific forms of government - direct democracy, etc. He speaks specifically about how certain things such as agriculture and housing might work in an anarcho-communist society. Marx does not dare to feign such hypotheses.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does smelling something like wasabi or horseradish immediately clear your sinuses?

[Assistant]
The things that do that are irritants.  Basically, when your body comes in contact with them, it reacts- in the case of eyes and nose, your body tries to flush irritants by producing tears/mucous.

Your sinuses are blocked because mucous in them is thickened and staying in place instead of flowing- the natural flushing from the irritants mixes fresh moisture in to the existing blocking mucous, which allows it to flow properly and clear out of your sinuses.


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

[User] ELI5: How does "acquired taste" work? And how are some tastes able to be acquired no problem, while others will never be acquired?

[Assistant]
Let's limit the answer to food/drink taste, which is actually more smell than taste. The brain is always trying to figure out if something in the mouth is good nutritious food or bad poison. In general, bitter and decomposed or moldy things=bad, sweet/salty/fatty/proteiny things=good, and sour is variable. The first time you eat something, you have limited information beyond basic patterns. Young babies need lots of nutrition and have parents to help, so they like all kinds of things, but toddlers are capable of finding something toxic, so they get pickier.

So, the first time you try coffee, your  brain's reaction is likely "this is very strongly flavored and bitter, probably poison." Try it a few more times, and your brain gets used to it, confirms nothing bad was associated with it last time, and may start to associate it with positives like mild stimulation. Conversely, if you throw up after eating a food you used to like, it may be a while before you regain your desire for it--now your brain has evidence it was poison and should be avoided.


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

[User]
[MCU]Does Tony Stark still have the implants for the Mark XLII interface in his forearms?

Early in Iron Man 3, Tony is seen injecting himself with microrepeater implants in order to control the Mark XLIIs pieces with movements. Is it possible that he ever removed them, and if not, does he still use them to control any of his technology?

[Assistant]
I mean sure he could have but what would be the point?

By now he has his whole mental control over his suits but being able to control them with movements could be a useful backup in an emergency.

Basically, why would he have removed them? What would be the point?


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

[User]
[Marvel] How will Iron Man deal with Dr. Strange

So within the MCU there is magic. Iron Man is a man of science. He explains Thor and all he can do by calling it advanced science he just doesn't understand. The other avengers are either normal humans or also get their abilities from some kind of science. Even when the guardians show up they use have alien science, similar to Thor, but Dr. Strange is something else. He uses straight up magic. How will Iron Man explain this and/or deal with this?

[Assistant] He rationalizes magic as a subset of physics that is somehow not manipulable by ~~non-magic beings~~ the untrained. Eventually, he reaches a definition of "magic is the understanding and exploitation of the multiverse and it's energies". And then he goes to work on his suits and pushes it out of his mind.


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

[User]
I need superpowers, like, right now. How do I get them without dying?

So my friend Gus was recently caught in a gamma bomb explosion. Predictably, he was disintegrated. Another friend of mine, Bob, had his 'intrinsic field' removed in a laboratory accident; it was horrific. He's dead too, of course. My coworker Dave fared a little better; when a radioactive turtle bit him he merely needed a rabies shot and some iodine, and he spent about three days throwing up. The turtle died, though.

I swear to God, the media only reports the stories where this sort of thing gives you powers, instead of just maiming or killing you.

Now, to make matters worse, I find that my neighbor and long-time rival Nate can control technology or something, and he's making bank doing it. And he claims he was 'born that way.' What a dick!

Anyway, I need to get some superpowers to deal with the dangers present in the modern world and hopefully make some money along the way. I am not rich or a genius, and I don't want to die horribly in the process. What's the safest way for me to go about this?

[Assistant]
Well, you're going to have to make a deal with a demon. Not too difficult, head down to your local library check the farthest corner on the top shelf, Open 'er up, read the spell. If you're lucky it might only possess you and share it's strength. Unlucky, you lose your soul.

Good news is, no one killed your uncle or your parents for this to happen.


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

[User] [Dragon Ball Z] Why didn't the gang rebuild Android 16? Or if it was too much to rebuild him, surely they could have used the dragon balls to wish him back?

[Assistant]
While not canon, DBZA did add a touching side note that addressed this. Android 16 *did* have a soul, but he did not come back when they wished back all of Cell's victims because he did not wish to return.

His programming to kill Goku meant that life was a torment for him, and he found peace only in his own death (and probably in the fact that goku was dead as well).

His purpose fulfilled, he enjoyed his retirement studying Other World ornithology.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why are not there just people called Jesus outside the Hispanic countries?

Just as in Muslim-majority countries there are thousands and thousands of people called Mohamed, in the Spanish-speaking countries (mostly Catholics) there are also many people called Jesus. Why does not this happen in the rest of countries of Christian majority, mainly the Anglo-Saxon countries?

[Assistant] The Iberian peninsula fell under Islamic rule after the Arab Conquest of Hispannia. Muslims love to name their children Muhammad. As a response to this habbit by their Muslim rulers, the Iberians began to name their children Jesus. The short answer is Hispannia fell under Muslim rule, hence they adapt their practice of naming. The Anglo-Saxon countries, never fell under Muslim rule, hence they don't do that. Though, the anomaly to this is the Balkans since Jesus is not a popular name in that region yet the region was subjugated under the Muslims just like Iberia was.


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

[User] Could solar sails be used on a satellite to constantly accelerate it so that it would be able to travel to a nearby star much faster than would normally be possible?

[Assistant] It is feasible to use solar sails as a boost to move around the solar system, but there are issues with diminishing returns using them more interstellar travel. As they get farther from the sun, the radiation pressure gets weaker and weaker as the sun appears smaller and smaller. Additionally, as the sail builds up velocity away from the sun, the incident radiation becomes Doppler shifted and the momentum transfer gets less and less efficient. There was a proposal a few years ago to develop super strong focused lasers to blast a radiation sail towards Alpha Centauri, which a physically possible but somewhat outlandish idea.


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

[User]
[Mad Max 2/3] Are the Gyro Captain and Jeremiah the same person?

Same appearance, same mannerisms and both are pilots.

If they are the same why doesn't Max acknowledge this?

[Assistant] The Mad Max timeline is fuzzy in the extreme. The most satisfying explanation I've heard is that all the Mad Max stories are assembled from oral histories of the Pockylips - mostly taken from the Tellers of Sydney and the History Men of the Great Northern Tribe.