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

[User]
If I'm on a planet with incredibly high gravity, and thus very slow time, looking through a telescope at a planet with much lower gravity and thus faster time, would I essentially be watching that planet in fast forward? Why or why not?

With my (very, very basic) understanding of the theory of relativity, it should look like I'm watching in fast forward, but I can't really argue one way or the other.

[Assistant] Yes you will, and you don't need *incredibly* high gravity for that. Just precise measurement tools. Normal Earth gravity is enough. You can actually observe how time goes ever so slightly faster on the Moon, or on GPS satellites. Though with the GPS satellites the effect is offset somewhat by time dilation due to special relativity, the overall speed up is still positive: a GPS satellite clock goes faster than an Earth bound clock by 45 microseconds a day.


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

[User]
Eli5 - does boiling water work as efficiently to put out a fire as cold water or even room temp water?

Or does the molecular structure change in a certain way once heated, and in turn can steam put out a fire.

[Assistant]
It would be marginally less effective, but not to any degree you might notice without testing in a lab. fire needs three things heat, oxygen, and fuel. tossing water on fire deprives fire of oxygen by displacing the air as a liquid and as water vapor, and it removes heat because it takes a very large amount of energy to heat water up. so even water at boiling can still absorb more heat and turn into steam completely removing two of the three things fire needs to exist. it honestly is less of a chemical reaction and more of a physical one, thru displacement and heat absorbtion, so the temperature of the water would not affect it to any noticable degree. ELI5 no it doesnt matter because water is really good at putting out most fires.

(note with oil and some other types of fire it wouldnt help no matter what temperature)


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

[User] [Supernatural] Why is Castiel so disgusted by the Scooby Doo character called Shaggy?

[Assistant] Well for starters, the whole SPN crew is really put off by how juvenile the Scooby gang is. That, on top of the huge feats they've accomplished (saving the world aprx. 8 million times), makes it hard for SPN folks to take them seriously, especially because they're fictional and trying to tell them how to do their job. Sam and Dean are used to covering up the truth, dealing with nonbelievers and are really just interested in getting the job done, but a ghost is a little above Cas's pay grade. He said himself that he's led armies and is now paired with a cartoon and a talking dog. He's also incredibly old and one of only 9 surviving angels, he has bigger things to worry about than a real estate scam.


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

[User]
Would a mass driver built on the moon make space exploration much easier?

I remember having a book as a kid talking about astronomy and exploration, and had a picture of a magnetic mass driver built on the moon. I know it would be costly to build, but after that humanity could basically fling many missions into the solar system and beyond, right?

Also, would it be ideal to build it completely around the moon so that a payload could be accelerated to great speed gradually? Or would centrifugal force still come into play?

[Assistant]
Not really, if that's the only thing you have on the Moon. The hardest part is really getting to Earth orbit. Let's say you want to get something first to Earth orbit and then out of the solar system completely. We can calculate how big the rocket needs to be in multiples of your actual payload mass. It turns out that you need about 30 times the mass of your payload as propellant. Of this mass, 27 parts is needed to get to Earth orbit. 3 parts is needed to escape the solar system. So if we first need to get something from Earth to Moon, then that's really most of the work done already. Actually it might be more than the whole work since soft landing on Moon isn't that easy.

On the other hand, if you had a space ship factory on the Moon, then that would help tremendously. Even more so if you have some kind of mass driver or similar to help getting off the moon. But even without that, just building the space ships on Moon would make things easier.


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

[User]
What makes teeth come up through the gums?

I've got a little baby who is teething, and I'm just wondering why teeth are there dormant but come up at such a range of times. Anywhere from 3 months to a year old for the first ones, and then on from there. What biological nudge is the body getting for these teeth to erupt? And again for adult teeth?

[Assistant]
Theres actually little agreement among the dental scientific community on what the actual force is that causes tooth eruption.

Teeth begin as little buds, like flowers, and develop in a sac, slowly laying down calcium and developing nerve tissue and vascularity.

When the time is right, cellular signaling begins the process of moving the tooth into the oral cavity. Some think the surrounding developing bone plays a role, or the periodontal ligament (the PDL), or both. The PDL holds teeth in the socket and is separated when removing (extracting) teeth.


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

[User] ELI5 - If China were to lower its tariffs on goods coming from the U.S, would this help bolster the U.S economy?

[Assistant]
It would increase exports to China. It may or may not help the economy depending on specifics of what tariffs were relaxed and the industries and specific firms and such operating there.

The book answer: It would increase exports to China.  The real answer: Overall effect is unknown.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is Braille dots and not letters? Is there a reason why Braille needs to be dots and not the alphabet?

[Assistant]
Our letters are made for looking at.  They are drawn on flat and have complex curves and lines.  Theyre easy to distinguish visually.  But its not ideal for feeling them.

Its easier to make the raised dots than the raised letters.  Its easier to feel and distinguish the raised dots than the raised letters.


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

[User] ELI5: Can black holes "eat" matter indefinitely or is there a limit? Do they ever have trouble absorbing large masses or is it always the same?

[Assistant]
A black hole is not a hole. It's just stuff. A lot of stuff. It's more stuff than you can possibly imagine stuffed into a very tiny point. Stuff attracts other stuff, that's gravity, so a lot of stuff has a lot of gravity, even if it's in a tiny container.

Imagine a one ton elephant in a hydraulic press, crushed down to the size of a sugar cube. That sugar cube still weighs one ton, and contains all of the bits that used to make up that elephant, just really really really tightly packed together and you wouldn't want it in your coffee.

Now instead of an elephant, imagine our sun, pressed down to the size of a football stadium. It still weighs as much as the sun, and all of the planets still revolve around it at the same distance, so nobody's getting sucked in, but if anything came close to the edge of where the sun *used* to be, it's going to experience the same gravity as the sun used to give at that point.

This is the start of a "black hole"; it's just so much stuff that it has so much gravity that anything close to it is going to get pulled in and become part of it, but it doesn't look like it should have so much stuff in it because it's been crushed down to a tiny ball.

You could, if you could push it around like a Katamari, use a black hole to "suck up" (i.e. crush into a thin shell) the entire universe, but since you can't and since everything in the universe is so far apart from each other, it's only going to ever be able to "eat" what's very close by, as there's much much much much much much more space (i.e. not stuff) than stuff in the universe and it tends to move apart from each other.


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

[User]
CMV: The Fat Acceptance movement/concept is based on flawed reasoning and harms the health of its followers.

My understanding of the Fat Acceptance movement and its values are that there is a centralized belief that its possible to be fat and healthy at the same time. What I hear in media linked with this movement is that being fat does not put someone at greater risk for obesity-related diseases and also that individuals who are fat can be just as healthy as those in a more ordinary range. There is also a tonality within their claims that echoes self-victimization, pointing their fingers at society for being unaccepting of their body image.

Now, I feel that the Fat Acceptance movement in its entirety is illogical and completely counteractive against progressive health and lifestyle improvements. I would like to keep anecdotal references out of my views, but would still like to mention that I have seen obesity spawn a multitude of other problems in some of those close to me.

What concerns me about the movement is that it refutes scientific evidence and really any form of commonly-understood concepts regarding health and weight that doesnt justify being fat. This to me is blatant confirmation bias. From a medical standpoint, the detriments of being overweight or obese far outweigh any potential benefits, both physically and psychologically. And I believe it comes down to stubborn self-confirmation of the idea that being fat is no worse than being physically fit.

Fat Acceptance creates more issues by allowing poor lifestyle habits to be approved over and over again, and the more misinformation that is disseminated by the movement, the less likely overweight people are to adjust their lifestyles. This is because now they have something to point to and say: hey, my lifestyle choices are accepted here, even if theyre killing me.

I understand that there exists societal biases towards overweight individuals and I do believe any form of bias or discrimination is non-progressive. Additionally I realize some individuals see the movement as accepting a persons conditions. I acknowledge the importance of realizing ones own bodily health (whether its weight or health in this case), but I find that denying the effects and consequences of said condition to be self-defeating. Posing obesity in a positive light only deters change.

As humans, it is commonly understood that we seek to be accepted, and while some positivity movements can aid in providing acceptance to a possibly ostracized group, I find issue with the Fat Acceptance movement as this form of positivity only reinforces detrimental lifestyle choices.

I would love to hear different perspectives on the matter and really get a better understanding for why this movement has become so steadfast in these beliefs and where I may be misunderstanding or wrong in my own perspective.

[Assistant]
If you hate yourself because you're fat and that causes you to binge eat as an emotional coping mechanism, then fat acceptance is the first step in losing weight. Only when you accept that your intrinsic value as a human being is not tied to your weight will you not need to emotional coping mechanism of food. That is, in many cases the first step of losing weight if you are an emotional eater is loving yourself as you are, even though you are flawed (in this case in your eating behaviors and emotional coping mechanisms). The second step is changing that behavior because you now have the love for yourself necessary to motivate it.

This initial self-love is what the fat-acceptance movement is, in an ideal world, about.


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

[User]
[Civil War] [MCU] What side of the Civil War would Hulk and Thor be on?

I know in the Civil War movie, Hulk and Thor were off in space(Hulk fighting for the Grandmaster and Thor was doing...whatever he was), but I'm curious, how do you  think each of them would react to the Sokovia Accords and what their stances would be on them? I thought that Thor would be Team Cap, as he never liked being told what to do, especially by mortals, and Bruce would be team Iron Man, as he believes Hulk needs to be controlled, as he built the Hulk-Buster armor alongside Tony. What are your thoughts?

[Assistant]
> Stark: It'd be great if we had a Hulk right about now.  Any shot?

> Romanoff: You really think he'd be on our side?

> Stark: Nah.

Banner's first major adventure involved fleeing General (later Secretary) Ross and preventing the Hulk from being weaponized.  There's no chance he goes Pro-Accords.


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

[User] [Mass Effect] We are the Norgi. We just recently discovered the Mass Portals and now found finally our way to Citadel Space. What do we have to do to become part of the Galactic Civilizations?

[Assistant]
Sparatus (Turian):  These Norgi are reckless!  They activated a dead relay.  Who knows where else that thing leads?  What else did they connect to our network?!  This is too much like the Relay 314 Incident.

Udina (Human):  You mean the First Contact War!  It is an outrage you refuse to recognize-!

Valern (Salarian): Not a productive use of time.  Not the topic either.  These Norgi are to be discussed.

Tevos (Asari):  Yes, they are here now.  All are welcome to the Citadel Council.  They are free to send representatives to the Citadel to form an embassy.

Sparatus:  There are certainrequirements that must be met.  All species with an embassy must sign to the Treaty of Farixen.

Udina:  An artificially limiting piece of-!

Tevos:  Ambassador!  Please!  Yes, The Norgi must sign to the Treaty.  It is a pact among the council races as to the military forces we may deploy throughout citadel space.

Udina:  And it is unfairly slanted!  For every dreadnought we are allowed, the Turians are allowed five!

Valern: It is a reasonable balance of forces, especially given your recent carrier expansion programs.

Tevos: All species who have signed the Treaty are welcome to have an embassy here, where they may petition the Council.  We have other standardized systems that council races are encouraged to adopt, but these are not required for membership in Council space.

Sparatus:  Council seats and Full Membership on the Council is a much harder prospect to come by.  They are granted once a species has exhibited a great contribution to the galactic community, and is deemed ready to join the Council itself.

Valern:  Spectre candidacy is a good indicator.  Acts of great galactic worth.  Experience.  Can take many years.

Sparatus: As a Council race, there are certain matters we would require they adhere to.  The ban on AI development.  An injunction not to wage war on another Council race."

Udina.  You speak of the Quarians, and the Batarians.

Valern:  Again.  Not the point.  These Norgi are welcome?  Shall we vote?

*Bing. Bing. Bing. Bing.*

Tevos:  It is decided.  These Norgi shall be accorded the status of Council race, conditional on their acceptance of the Charter, and the signing of the Treaty of Farixen.  Let us hope that one day they shall join us as full member of the Citadel Council itself.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do cold/flu symptoms get worse at night?

Fevers spike, cough and congestion gets worse, body pain intensifies. Is it about the circadian rhythm?

[Assistant] Your immune system's inflammatory response is heightened at night. Sleep is when the body and brain do work to repair themselves. This means your symptoms worsen and your temperature raises to fever in an attempt to kill the virus or whatever bug you have. Even allergy symptoms like to get pretty bad at night with congestion. This is often why the PM version of medication has ingredients to help you sleep through it all.


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

[User] [Interstellar] Is the Gargantua system physically possible?

[Assistant]
Yes, because we have direct observation of it from the *Endurance* mission.

(You're looking for AskScience, AskScienceFiction deals with in-universe answers. Asking if an in-universe thing is possible from an in-universe perspective is a bit redundant.)


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

[User] ELI5: From a single cell to a human - is every cell's behavior, task, etc all governed by DNA and more importantly, how does DNA interact with the cell to control it?

[Assistant]
So the cool thing about biology is that we're all just "chemistry buckets". We're just a lot of very advanced chemistry, and chemistry dictates everything we are.

Proteins are a family of molecule that are actually very diverse. They can make structures, like cell walls and fingernails. But again -- just chemicals. They're not "smart". A protein has a job to do, and it does it. Keratin, which is one of the proteins that make up hair and nails, is shaped so that it lines itself up into structures.

Other proteins carry "messages" from one place to another. Really that just means that some protein is sent into the blood, where it travels the whole body -- cause again, just a sack of chemistry -- and eventually it'll find a place that it fits. And when it does "fit" into something, that something may react, maybe by producing other chemicals.

Proteins also break down other materials (enzymes), can attack pathogens, and do lots more.

DNA itself is the protein cookbook. It's also just a chemical; a huge one, but a chemical nonetheless. In labs, to inspect DNA, they actually grow more of it. You just take DNA, and throw it into a soup of other chemicals that replicate DNA (those same chemicals found in the body) and then you cook it, and boom, you have a lot more DNA.

Either way, there's another chemical that interacts with DNA. It latches onto a bit of DNA, takes its shape, falls away and then another chemical comes in and builds a protein from that shape. It's almost like taking a cast and then a mold of something you want to sculp. The DNA is huge and "codes" lots of different proteins -- all your proteins, in fact -- but the RNA only needs to interact with a section at a time.

And remember still, nothing "smart" is happening here. It's just several chemical reactions, one after another.

But because DNA is the template for every protein your body uses, it defines your whole body. There's one protein that causes the gold flecks around the ring of your iris (in your eye) -- some people have it, some people don't. But at no point do these biological tools make "decisions"; the DNA doesn't "control" a cell in the sense that it's directing traffic. It's just a very complex system of different chemicals interacting with each other and producing different effects.


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

[User]
[Fallout] Why are there still skeletons just lying around in populated areas?

I understand that the people in Paradise Falls might not care, it adds to their image. But the bathrooms in Little Lamplight have a skeleton just lying in the middle.

I was also wondering, in the many decades since the bombs fell, why do people still hold onto burnt/destroyed books? The Brotherhood don't bother with them, they even pay strangers a hefty fee to recover Pre-war condition books.

[Assistant]
A destroyed world is all most people alive today has ever really known. It doesn't occur to them to clean up everything - and there isn't much nice to fill the space. Most places do move their skeletons at least, but there's still tonnes of rubbish and debris that get left because its just so normal for them to be there. Maybe the kids in Little Lamplight just don't want to touch a skeleton, maybe they believe in ghosts and that they shouldn't be disturbed.

With the books, nobody wants to just get rid of them because there are still odd scraps of letters in them here and there. Even if msot information is lost, maybe one day a page or two that survived may be useful. Plus they can be used to help teach children to read.


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

[User]
CMV: Attraction isnt a choice (but interest in the potential partner can grow)

Ive been taking a lot with other people about this recently, and Ive come to learn that for some women attraction can be very different from men.

I am male, and Ive begun to learn that for many women they were not instantly smitten with their future husband, but became more interested as they got to know the character of the man on dates.

Unlike men, women often feel things more on an emotional level, than basic visual attraction toward outer beauty and physical appearance, so maybe the statement attraction is not a choice doesnt entirely work for women, but I do believe it works for men, speaking from experience.

HOWEVER, I still feel that what women have described could very well be different than attraction, because I feel like attraction involves sexual appeal based on appearance and personality whereas they are trying to get to know the character of the man in order to trust him and may have an easier time overcoming the look of the man, his features, because they like his heart. I could see getting past the appearance of the women to be much harder for most men.

However thats different from finding him attractive from the get go. Also, people can make themselves more attractive to a person depending on if they are motivated to enhancing their appearance (getting a good haircut, losing weight, good hygiene etc). Nonetheless women, and men, could easily agree that someone who is naturally good looking and appealing to them can be labeled under attractive compared to someone they have zero sexual attraction towards.

We have certain traits or features that we find appealing in the people we are attracted to, compared to those we do not wish to enter into a relationship with. There are certainly people who are attracted to the same gender as themselves or are into other sexual orientations, all of which do not make the conscious choice to sexually desire these people. Same is true of straight people.

It seems that our attraction comes from a deeper place than just our thought life where we imagine and crave a future partner. Rather who we find attractive may instead come from our genetic makeup or early development and childhood behavior. Maybe we had a crush as a kid, the same age as us, and those traits (brown eyes, brown hair, skin color) just appealed to us and transferred over to adulthood. But its certainly not simply a choice who we find attractive.

[Assistant]
Women and Men are human beings, not hive minds. You cannot lump all of them into the two baskets of attracted to looks and attracted to personality.

Women have one night stands and find guys sexy without knowing anything about them and men have deep emotional binds with a girl after getting to know her before dating.


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

[User]
ELI5 why deer behave differently when confronted

Deer are known to be extremely cautious creatures and even the slightest sounds can spook them. However deer often freeze up when cars are riding by. Are they scared and freeze up or are they curious and waiting to see what will happen?

[Assistant]
Scared perhaps and also waiting.

Deer will run fast away like you said.  But they also will lay completely still if a potential predator is nearby and they think that the predator doesn't see them.

Once they feel they are spotted they will likely take off.

I've had deer do this many times.  Young fawns especially will lay still even if their mom runs away (possibly drawing predators away).  They'll lie and wait for mom to return.


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

[User]
[The Walking Dead] How is Michonne keeping those katanas so damn sharp?

Cutting heads off is hell on a blade, even the best ones. And sharpening katana's is a pretty arduous process that takes a bit more than a whetstone. Considering how many heads she must have chopped off, how the hell are those blades not dull as cheap machetes by now?

[Assistant] Correction: Cutting off *human* heads is hell on a blade. Decomposition takes a lot of the structural integrity of a body away. Decapitating a walker is both less wearing on a blade, and doesn't require the blade to be sharpened as often or as well.


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

[User]
CMV:People are too obsessed with prestigious universities.

This obsession is something I dont understand. Sure , people who graduate in Harvard will get a better starting salary than someone from an average university.But thats only because the people who get into Harvard usually are not average people. They work hard, intelligent, or they have some family connections.

But most people seem to ignore all of those factors and are just stuck on the Idea that prestigious universities equals automatic success.

I have witnessed people bragging about what university they got accepted into and other people congratulating them as if they have already made it In life.

If you post a day in the life of a Harvard student video on YouTube , you are more likely to get million views than a video discussing the man who solved Fermat Last Theorem.

In a day and age where information is available for those who care, why in the heck are people so obsessed with going to a school that probably wont teach them something that they cant find in a textbook?

I think people too obsessed with big college names and its very foolish IMO. Change my view please because I dont understand.

[Assistant]
Have you heard about signaling theory in economics?

Basically, it says that education doesn't have any incentric value but only servers as a signal to future employers about your quality.

So companies dont hire you because your skills (things you know) but because who you are (good studier, hard worker, family connections etc.) Diploma from ivy league school signals that you have good qualities that company wants and then trains you in the specific task they need. Fact that you need to work hard (or have right connections/money) to get to these schools works as filter meaning that people that are in have these qualities. Now employee doesnt have to filter their candidates by these qualities because schools have already done that.

TL;DR: Your knowledge or skills doesnt matter but what kind of person you are.


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

[User]
[Rick and Morty] How is getting the Szechuan Sauce such a big problem?

I mean Rick said it himself often enough, every possible event exist somewhere in the Multiverse.

 How difficult can it be to find a Universe in which the Szechuan Sauce was never discontinued, or to find a Universe where the Mulan film just came out so they still serve Szechuan Sauce at McDonald?

[Assistant]
That's much easier said than done. There is no guarantee that a universe exists in which the exact same recipe of Szechuan sauce is still available. And if that universe does exist, there is no time efficient way in which to find it with his existing technology. It's basically trial and error.

Finding it is going to take a lot of luck. His portal technology seems to be kind of blind. He doesn't type in "universe in which Szechuan is still available" and then jump through. He's using some kind of coordinates. It would be like trying to find a specific item/person on Earth by randomly typing in GPS coordinates. You will eventually find it, but it might take a few lifetimes and most of the time you'll just hit ocean. He has to go universe by universe and search the hard way.

In a truly infinite multiverse Rick could visit 100,000 universes per second for trillions of years and never run across the exact same Szechuan sauce. He has to refine the search method or he'll simply run out of time. Rick probably only has a few decades of life left in him. So he can't just brute force search for the sauce for the rest of eternity. He has to think of a new way to search the multiverse for a very specific item and he doesn't have the solution yet.


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

[User] [Death Note] Why didn't L just check Light and Misa's handwriting?

[Assistant]
At one point in the manga, Light says he's been intentionally writing differently in the Death Note to his normal handwriting.

Misa is no genius, but we see she is pretty good at disguise. She probably had the same idea.


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

[User] ELI5 - why do people at the equator (spinning 1000 mph with the earth) and the poles (not spinning almost at all) experience gravity the same? This feels like it would have a massive difference on just walking around!

[Assistant]
There is actually a difference! It's a very minor difference, amounting to less than half a percent, but at the poles you *do* exert just a bit more force on the ground under you.

Since the surface speed of the earth spinning is so high, you might think the force felt due to centripetal acceleration might also be a lot higher, but this also depends on the very large diameter of the earth. If you're whizzing at 1000mph around a very tight hairpin turn on a car racetrack, then the G forces as you go around that turn will be immense. But going at the same speed around a gentler curve, the forces are lower even if you're going just as fast. The curvature of the Earth is so gentle that 1000mph is no sweat.


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

[User] [Star Wars] What was Yoda's relationship with the wookies and how did that relationship form?

[Assistant] Both Yoda's species and Wookies are very long lived. Jedi do a lot of diplomatic missions and over the decades/centuries he's been a consistent point of contact for the various tribes and helped them build their place and reputation in the Galaxy.


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

[User]
[MCU] What's up with my living situation post-blip?

So i'm taking out the trash right, and all of a sudden my arms start turning to dust! I scream in terror but then my whole body fades away. Like half a second later, i'm back, and i'm freaked out at whatever just happened. As I run back to my house, I find that the door is locked. I bang on the door in frustration, but to my surprise some guy opens the door.

Now he's asking me who I am and I'm trying to explain this is my house. I tell him about me "turning to dust" and I assume he's gonna think i'm crazy, but, again, to my surprise he knows what I'm talking and he thinks its a miracle. He explains to me about some "blip" thing and how its been 5 years. I'm shocked and all, but I just want back in my house. He won't let me in, claims it's his house now. What am I supposed to do? I don't have any relatives, atleast not any that are close, and i'm kind of a loner, so there's no friends I can just call up.

[Assistant]
I guess become a supervillain now.

Seriously now, get in contact with the authorities and ask them for help. You're not the only blip returner, so they're probably setting up places for you all to stay at. People may be driving around now looking for resurrected folk to tell them where to go.


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

[User] [Star Wars] At the duel on mustafar why doesn't one side just start force flinging lava at the other?

[Assistant]
Because of a variety of reasons.

One, because that takes concentration and effort, which their opponent isn't going to give them when they're in range of a lightsaber.

Two, because Anakin is clearly not thinking about using the environment as a weapon.

Three, because despite everything, Obi-Wan still is trying to stop his friend from becoming a monster, he's not trying to destroy him.

We already saw what would happen if the two fought a Force-battle against each other, and it came out pretty much evenly. A Force battle using lava would just be the same, but with lava.


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

[User] ELI5: Does the immune system get weak or rusty having not had to fight off human spread infections for over a year while in quarantine?

[Assistant]
It really depends upon the organism being bacteria or virus.  Nobody knows how long Covid-19 vaccines will offer immunity, yet.  Also different vaccines will vary.  Chicken Pox vaccine (varicella) lasts \~40-50 years, then immunity lessens, that's why there is a Shingles vaccine for elders.  Measles last your lifetime.  Tetanus should be re-vaccinated every 6-10 years.

The yearly flu (influenza) lasts only about a year, but not because the immune system weakens, it's because the virus changes and the body no longer recognizes it.

Vaccines or the natural infection itself (such as chicken pox) give the same immunity.  With chicken pox whose immunity lasts about 40 years, it is the immune system getting weaker.  With influenza, it's "I don't recognize this enemy."  With Tetanus it's "I forgot how to fight this."

Not all mutations are bad.  Back around 2009 the "swine flu" hit the world, another pandemic, but the virus mutated so much that it pretty much was no longer a big issue.  Unfortunately Covid-19 is not being so polite, but it also could mutate into a friendlier form, or as you've heard a "worse" one.  In this case it's not more harmful, it simply spreads easier.

Covid-19 vaccines are most likely going to become an annual thing, maybe even mixed with the flu shot.  Remember though that vaccines can give "partial immunity."  This means that while you might become ill, you might not become seriously ill.


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

[User]
Why don't electrons traveling in the orbitals of atoms lose energy, although they are a mass traveling a narrow space which should require some kind of acceleration to stay close to the atom?

As I learned in physics the acceleration of a mass (and the change of direction is an acceleration) results in a change of kinetic energy, so traveling in a narrow space like an electron around an atom requires acceleration to change the direction of the electron to stay around the atom, so then why are atoms stable at all and why don't electrons bounded to atoms lose energy all the time?

Edit: I meant acceleration of charge, not mass, thanks for pointig this out.

[Assistant]
This is a good question, and one of the questions that led us away from the classical model of the atom and towards the quantum model. You are correct that the classical way we think of an atom (positively charged nucleus, negative particle in a circular orbit around it) would emit radiation, causing the electron to decay into the nucleus. The fact that this doesn't happen means this must not be the correct model.

We now know that the electron is not a point mass orbiting the nucleus at all, but a "density cloud" which constantly surrounds it. You've likely heard of the "wave particle duality" of light- well it's not just light which has this duality, all particles do (it's just most pronounced with light, since the less mass a particle has the more "wave like" it acts). So, the electron is in a wave around the nucleus (and actually, when it is in its ground state it is in a standing wave) so it doesn't radiate (in fact, when it is in an excited state it is no longer a standing wave, which is why it does radiate and then fall down to the ground state).


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

[User] ELI5: Whenever I buy a video game disc, (Xbox, Ps4, etc.) It says it needs to download the game into the console. Isn't the game already on the disc?

[Assistant]
On modern consoles it has to install the data from the disc onto the console's hard drive. That's because blu-ray drives are just too slow to load data for modern games, so it has to be installed on a faster (although still pretty slow to be honest) hard drive.

Usually you also have to download patches, even if the game has just come out. The data that goes onto the disc has to be ready months before the game comes out. So in the time between that data being ready and the game actually coming out the developers continue to work on fixing bugs, tweaking the gameplay, maybe even adding features. So when the game actually comes out there is an update ready and waiting to be downloaded.

In theory if the game is single player you can choose not to download the update and just play it anyway. But unfortunately some games are pretty broken without that day 1 patch.


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

[User]
ELI5 what makes a Pub different from other bars.

The Irish pub owner's AMA had an interesting comment "all pubs are bars, but not all bars are pubs". Being Canadian I love going to chill bars, and one of these that I go to is an irish free house...a pub...but others are just, bars...what exactly constitutes a pub?

*edit: It seems that historically speaking, there was a difference, but these days the difference is simply atmosphere. In pubs you feel comfortable, almost at home.

*EDIT 2: a couple of different people have asked now...is there a difference between a pub, a tavern and a saloon? or are they different words from different geographies basically meaning the same thing?

[Assistant]
A pub is somewhere you should feel comfortable to spend the whole day and even take children during earlier hours. It should be a cosy place, decorated in a friendly and welcoming manner, if a little naff. There should be games available such as pool, darts and a quiz machine. The better ones will even have dominoes, chess and backgammon sets behind the bar. There ought to be a jukebox around with the entire Led Zeppelin discography or at least get the lads to bring their guitars and fiddles and we'll kick up a tune ourselves.

If you're there at lunchtime hours expect pies, fish & chips and a half-decent tikka masala to be available, if your in during later hours than you'll have to make do with crisps, pickled onions and Scotch eggs. If you're good mates with the landlord, however, he may be willing to make you a sandwich when you're absolutely tanked at 1.30 am.

If the pub takes even the least amount of pride in what they do there will be a good choice of real ales such as Hobgoblin and Old Tom served at cellar temperature as these actually taste of something unlike near-frozen mass-produced lagers. The good ol' water-of-life should be in abundance be it Irish, Scotch, Bourbon or otherwise. In short, a pub is the very focal point of civilised society.

A bar, on the other hand, is a truly dreadful place. Tastelessly decked out in chrome, pine and mood-lighting, this hell-hole is full of wankers from the City getting shitfaced on shite like Bud and Kronenburg whilst listening to god-awful repetitive pop music at near deafing volumes.


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

[User]
[Alien] Why not just study the xenomorph in deep space far from Earth?

Based off an earlier question I saw, considering Weyland wants the xenomorph so bad and clearly has the money and resources to make friggin colonies and massive space stations, why not just study the xenomorph out in space? Make multiple stations and position most arpund gas giants, that way, should things go wrong, the station simply falls into the planet and there are still other specimens to study. And Earth is safe. Why not just do this?

[Assistant] Because the good scientists like all professionals in high demand want to live in places with something to do outside of work. You have multiple PhDs in biology, xenobiology and medicine. Do you want to live on a planet with no breathable atmosphere, inside a 10x10' cell, with your only social outlet the techs who work for you, no bar, no cultural events, no place for your kid to play other than a hopefully off giant turbine or do you want to live in NYC/Seattle/Orbital Habitat Extreme over those?


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

[User]
ELI5: What exactly is a partial derivative?

What exactly is a partial derivative? I have a basic idea of a derivative i.e, I know that dy/dx is rate of change of y with respect to x and that it represents the slope of a curve

Thanks!

[Assistant] Its still a slope. But when you multiple variables then you have a surface instead of just a curve. You can hold all but one variable constant then take the derivative to find the slope in only one direction.


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

[User] ELI5: How can some remote controls still work even when the LED is not pointed directly at the TV?

[Assistant] LED is not laser. It's like a small bulb, just glowing and sending light everywhere. You can see LEDs on your devices (tv, router, usuall power on/off on everything), even if they are not directly pointing at you, right?


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

[User]
ELI5: How come blowing fire makes the flame stronger but blowing candles makes it die?

I actually wanna know because fires at camps and stuff grow when you blow\* but blowing at a candle puts it out. Imagine it's the same size as a campfire, so you can't just say because it's small.

[Assistant]
To make a fire you need three things; fuel, oxygen, heat or ignition source.

When you blow out a candle you are cooling it off, thus the paraffin vapors don't ignite.

When you blow on a campfire, you're adding extra oxygen.


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

[User] ELI5: how did the sizes of mattresses become standardized? Is there a regulation authority for such things?

[Assistant]
There is no standard, its cultivated from years and years of different companies selling different products.

For example, if a mattress manufacturers 60x80 mattress (Queen) sells very well, the company that manufactures bed frames will want to sell frames that fit this size, as well as the company that sells sheets, comforters, etc. Concurrently, competitors also see this size selling well, so they will want to produce it themselves to capture some of that market.

That being said, there is still some variation in the market; one companys King may measure 76x80 while the next companys measures 78x80.

I believe someone else in this thread pointed out the wiki page for bed sizes, you will see some variation between the popular sizes between different countries, all stemming from the above.


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

[User]
[Game Of Thrones] What if Joffrey was nice?

What if Joffrey wasn't an evil psychopath? What if he was a kind, friendly kid?

How would this have changed things?

[Assistant]
If Joffrey were nice, the world would actually be a much much much better place. But by insisting on the glorified tradition of putting children and morons on the Throne, the world has created it's own destruction.

Remember that Joffrey's Misogyny and Anger that originally lead to Ned Stark's execution. This even started the War of the Five Kings, where the North rebelled from the Crown on the basis of this action.

Everything that followed that War as a result, therefore, is rested on the anger and incompetence of a Teenage Incest-Bastard. This includes the destruction of House Stark, Bolton, the flaying of Theon Greyjoy, etc. In fact, almost every character has an explicit reason to hate and revenge against this particular dude.

The Lesson of Joffrey the Illborn, is the power of one rash action to completely and irrevocably destroy everything.


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

[User]
[Spider-Man] Is Peter special, or would the bite have worked on anyone?

Is there something special about Parker's DNA that let the spider affect him the way it did, or would anyone who got bit develop spider powers?  Did he have a dormant X gene or something?

[Assistant] Peter was chosen. In J. Michael Straczynskis (and John Romita Jr.s) Run on the Amazing Spider-Man they delve into the history of it and the Spider-man is a bit like the Vampire Slayer (Buffy) is so much as there have been numerous Spider-men through different times and cultures all the way back to the African spider god Anansi.


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

[User]
ELI5 How does digital clock work?

How does digital clock counting time? Not display i wonder how they can know how much time pass?

[Assistant]
There is a special elements called a quartz. It is the same thing that beach sand is made of. It has a special property of converting different Energies. With pressure it turns into heat, with light it splits light, and with electricity it creates a vibration.

Some quartz crystals make a very stable vibration. Imagine one of these quartz could do 1000 times the second perfectly. We learned how to measure that has had to turn that into a clock.

You may be familiar with counting seconds as one one thousand or one alligator. Running electricity through a piece of quartz crystal splits one second into to one thousand beats per second. By making a device that can separate every 1000 beats we can create a stable clock.


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

[User] Can we make sugar, in vitro, out of CO2 and water--with sunlight or any other kind of energy input--any more efficiently than plants can?

[Assistant]
The short answer is: No, we cannot make sugar out of CO2 and Water more efficiently than photosynthetic organisms.

There are a couple things to think about this question though. First off, we can't do it more efficiently than plants, but turning CO2 into sugars is something that *could* in principle be done with our current understanding of organic chemistry.

As you may be aware, CO2 is a very stable molecule and consequently is not very reactive. Because of this, getting reactions with carbon dioxide typically involves "high energy" reactants (e.g. alkali metals or alkaline earth metals). It takes a fair amount of energy to obtain these reactive metals - so much so that generating them to react with carbon dioxide is not an efficient means of using carbon dioxide. Essentially, all reactions of carbon dioxide will lead to products that are higher in energy at than the reactants you used (i.e. you need to put energy in to get the reaction to go forward).

One of the main challenges in turning carbon dioxide into more useful things is putting in as little energy as you need to get to your products. For example, lets say carbon dioxide to product B takes 400 kcal/mol energy imput on paper. When you try to do this reaction (and lets assume you can) it takes you 800 kcal/mol to do it (i.e. you have wasted 400 kcal/mol to get to your products).  One of the principal causes of this wasted energy is having to go through very unstable (high energy) intermediates. This is where catalyst can help - they can change the reaction mechanism so that you do not have to go through such high energy intermediates, allowing you to get to your products with much much less (in theory) wasted energy so you can get really close to that predicted 400 kcal/mol of our example reaction.  The catalysts in plants and other photosynthetic organisms is a protein called RuBisCO. This enzyme *specifcally* turns a 5-carbon sugar into two 3-carbon sugars by the addition of carbon dioxide. The organism then goes on to make sugars using other chemistry.

Another thing that is worth considering is why even bother making sugar from CO2? Sugar is a very complicated molecule compared to carbon dioxide and consequently would take a lot of effort to make. At this point, you have to ask what your goal is. If your goal is to turn carbon dioxide into a fuel, then it would be better to turn carbon dioxide into methanol or carbon monoxide (carbon monoxide can be turned into liquid hydrocarbons).  Essentially, each transformation we make to our carbon dioxide and subsequent products is going to require an input of energy (and time). So ideally (for the purposes of energy storage) you would want to make the fewest transformations possible.


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

[User] ELI5: How we know that there isn't another planet in the exact same spot as Earth on the other side of the Sun. Like 6 Months behind?

[Assistant]
Pick up a bucket of water and spin around, holding it out at arms length.  Notice how you're wobbling as you spin?

Now, take two buckets of water, one in each hand, and spin around.  They are balancing each other, and you are no longer wobbling.

The sun is "wobbling" because of all of the planets that circle it.  Scientists are able to measure the amount of wobble of the sun, and knowing the mass of each planet, can calculate that the Earth is also causing the Sun to wobble.  If it weren't, it would be because there is  an equal mass on the other side of the sun.  However, it is, so at the very least, there is no equal mass there.


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

[User]
If free neutrons decay in 15 minutes how are neutron stars stable?

I assume the neutrons in the star are unbound so what mechanism is keeping the neutrons from decaying?

[Assistant]
For the neutron to decay

N -> P + e^- + antineutrino

and for this reaction to be energetically favourable, the electron has to have an unoccupied low energy quantum state to fall into. But all these states are already occupied by the free electrons which are highly degenerate. So the reaction cannot proceed in an energetically favourable way. So that's why neutron stars are stable against decay.


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

[User]
ELI5: Where do deleted files go?

Where do deleted files go?

[Assistant]
They actually don't go anywhere unless you tell them to very specifically.

Imagine you have a book full of random words. The first word is #1, the second word is #2 and so on. Say the first page looks like this:

cat had a dog Jill

You can tell a story: *Jill had a cat*, by telling the reader to go to words 5, 2, 3, and 1 in that order. But it's meaningless without that pointer reference, so all you need to do to destroy that story is remove the list of pointing numbers.

That's how your computer stores files on its drive. There is a pointer file that tells it where chunks of that file are located, often in one place but sometimes (and often for really big files on small drives) broken in a bunch.

When you delete the file, you actually just delete the pointers that tell the computer "your file's chunks are first here, and then here, and then here" as well as the pointers that protect those parts of the hard drive and say "when you're storing new information, do not put anything else here, or here, or here, because those places are already in use".

Step 1 is to keep the area protected, but move the pointers to those region to your Recycle Bin. This is so you can easily recover them.

Step 2, when you empty your Recycle bin, is to delete the pointers and tell the computer those parts of the hard drive are now usable to store other things, essentially unlocking them so they can be written over later.

You can PERMANENTLY destroy all references to those files by writing zeroes to every part of your hard drive's storage, wiping out anything that was previously stored there. Governments do this when disposing of computers that have held sensitive information.


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

[User] ELI5: What does it mean to say the earth is tilted on its axis? Tilted with respect to what?

[Assistant]
>ELI5: What does it mean to say the earth is tilted on its axis? Tilted with respect to what?

Tilted with respect to the ecliptic, the plane defined by the Earth's orbit around the sun.

You can grab a pen and draw a circle on a piece of paper. That pen could be held perpendicular to paper while you're tracing the circle or you could hold it at an angle - *tilted* relative to the plane of the paper.


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

[User] Is It True Helium Is a Liquid At 0 Kelvin?

[Assistant] At atmospheric pressure it is, but if you turn up the pressure to an insane amount you'll turn it onto a solid. From a quick look at a phase diagram you'll need over 25 times atmospheric pressure to turn Helium into a solid.


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

[User]
CMV: There is no reason why PC games can't have unlimited save slots

In many of the games I played, one can create a folder, move all of one's saves there and then all the save slots would be free for use again. No game I tried, however, lets you actually do this simple file manipulation from within the game, and no game does it for you automatically when saving.

There are games that restrict save slots to one for valid gameplay reasons, which is fine, and "shitty PC port" could explain this decision in some other games, but I've even seen PC-exclusive games do this (kingdoms of amalur is the most recent example that comes to mind). Why? If there are memory concerns, I'm perfectly fine with not having all the saves accessible at once but I don't see any valid reasons why this would be simply impossible to do within a game.

CMV, reddit.

[Assistant]
Some PC games do offer unlimited saves. The Civilization series is the first to pop to mind. The limited saves isn't usually due to restraints in memory. It is usually for strategy. Unlimited saves reduces your risks.

I remember the old days of PC gaming, MS-Dos, Commodore, and the rest. Using hex editors on saves was fun. Definitely unbalancing but fun nevertheless.


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

[User]
[DC Comics] If there is only ONE Darkseid, no matter the reality, why doesn't he conquer Golden Age Earth?

There's supposedly only one Darkseid, the same version. Why doesn't he conquer Golden Age Earth where the Golden Age heroes, such as gravity-fueled Superman, wouldn't stand a chance against him and his army?

[Assistant] If he entered a universe, it would crumble under his might. That's why he relies on avatars as they're all tendrils of his power. Not every universe is the same, some can only handle a certain amount of power, so his avatar reflects the power of the universe. Golden Age Earth can't handle as much as Silver Age or Rebirth, so likewise his avatar is limited. That's why in other universes he can be arrested by police.


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

[User] How do you cool things to extreme low temperatures +1-2K?

[Assistant] For anything below liquid helium temperature, generally laser cooling is used.  There are many different mechanisms for exactly what physical properties are used.  The general principle is that you shine photons at very specific frequencies, so that the material is more likely, on average, to give momentum to the photon rather than remove momentum from it.


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

[User]
[Teletubbies] What exactly are the Teletubbies and Teletubbie Land?

They have vague human characteristics, even different genders and races. And they possess some rudimentary form of intelligence on par with a human toddler. But who created them and why?

Then there's the question of their technology. They have a vacuum with artificial intelligence, their home has automated food dispensers, and they even have a scooter. Obviously creatures like these could not physically build these contraptions due to their lack of resources and intelligence.

So how did all of this come to be?

[Assistant] They are the product of a child's imagination. The child is the baby in the sun. The world is the child's interpretation of the world around him. The teletubies are his various emotions as he interacts with various toys and objects that his parents leave with him. The tv segment is either when his parents leave the TV on in front of him, or when his parents take him out to the market or on vacation or something like that.


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

[User] Eli5: Are people that live alone in the woods breaking any laws(hunting, building, etc) or are they "immune" to said laws?

[Assistant]
Living alone in the woods does not exempt one from the applicable laws. Whatever is illegal for the federal, state, county, local government that has jurisdiction over the area is illegal regardless of where the person lives.

Having said that, it is possible that people in those circumstances will get away with it just from the fact that there's no one around to police them.


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

[User] ELI5: why does the arm feel like static when you hit your elbow on a corner?

[Assistant]
At the elbow end of your humerus, there's a bit of a groove where your ulnar nerve passes over the end of the bone, so the nerve's pretty exposed there.  If you bang your elbow the wrong way, you'll hit that vulnerable nerve and pinch it against the bone, and it causes a bunch of spurious sensations from all along where that nerve is connected.  It serves most of your forearm and hand, so the whole area lights up.

Most of our big nerves are buried deep, where they're safe, but there just isn't a ton of room at the elbow joint so we've ended up with a bit of a vulnerability there.


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

[User] [Star Trek] Holodeck question: Can one Holodeck connect to another, so the occupants have "online" experiences? Or are Holodecks only capable of working alone?

[Assistant] Yep. The Federation briefly used this for teleconferencing purposes, and set up little mini-holodeck projectors on ship bridges. (This was a technology they used instead of viewscreens for like two episodes on DS9, and then quietly stopped using again.)


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

[User] Can you explain in simple terms, why can nothing travel faster than light?

[Assistant]
For me, the simplest way to explain it is that experimentally, we have measured the speed of light to be always the same value - 3 x 10^8 m/s, otherwise known as c. What does that mean?

It means that if you shoot a beam of light, it will always be traveling away from you at c. Even if you have a rocket ship, and manage to reach 1/2 the speed of light compared to where you started, the beam of light will still be traveling away from you at the exact same speed. Other weird stuff happens (time dilation, etc), but all of special relativity can be derived from the *experimental result* that the speed of light in a vacuum is always the same.

The short answer is, no matter how fast you go to try to catch up with it, light will always travel away from you at the same speed, and therefore you cannot ever catch up to a beam of light. That is why you, and also everything else, cannot travel faster than the speed of light.


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

[User] [Phineas and Ferb] has doctor D ever created a useful (helpful) inator or is every invention just meant to cause a minor inconvenience?

[Assistant]
he did create the all you can eat inator that causes your metabolism to speed up so you could eat a lot but not gain any weight.

He also made the age acelerator inator that sped things up age wise. It was used to speed up the process to make cheese. It could be used to speed up other products that require waiting time.

He made the copy and paste inator that made pretty much perfect clones of himself. While we do see it clone himself, it also clones his clothes he is wearing. So we could probably assume that it could clone new materials or food even maybe.

He created a shrinking sphere that shrinks stuff he doesn't like to a really tiny scale. If it was edited, it could shrink a bunch of trash to help clear up space in landfills and other trash areas.

He created the beard inator that allows people to grow beards. Probably could be edited to grow any hair. Could have a business where he blasts people with it to give them hair and then they give him money.

He created Norm a pretty much AI that runs on squirrel power.

He created an invisble ray. Could be sold to government or just other people to create invisible things.

and thats only a couple of them from the series. Doof does create pretty smart machines it's just that he doesn't think how they could be used better than how he plans to use them.


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

[User]
How does a lightning bolt create thunder?

I don't understand how a bolt of light creates sound.

[Assistant]
A lightning strike consists of a high current running through a small channel of ionized gas in the atmosphere. Normally, our atmosphere is a very poor conductor, but if sufficient charge builds up in a cloud, the electric field might become strong enough in some places to start creating a conductive channel. Once this channel is complete and connects cloud to ground (or in some cases, different parts of a cloud with opposite charge), charges can flow freely.

The large current flowing through such a thin channel causes the air in the channel to heat quickly. And hot air takes up more volume than cold air, so the heated channel expands. Rapidly. This rapid expansion of the lightning channel creates a shockwave that we can hear as the boom in a thunder. The shockwave is reflected by elements of the landscape and passes through regions with different temperature, which causes the original shockwave to break up into a longer rumble rather than a short boom.


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

[User] [Indiana Jones] Could any contraption conceived in the late 1930's (or earlier) be so sensitive to light disturbance that it could trigger a booby trap?

[Assistant] It was really a pressure trap triggered by stepping on a floor tile. Much like a magician using misdirection, Indy stepped down at the same time is putting his hand in the light because he suspected he would be double crossed. Upon running out the other guy avoided the light but stepped on the wrong stone.


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

[User] ELI5: why do gravitational forces create rings on a single plane, rather than a globe?

[Assistant]
It's not gravitational forces that do this, it's collisions.

Orbits at the same distance in anything *except* a single plane will collide.  When that happens, the particles exchange momentum and tend to come out closer to an "everage" orbit, with a plane between the two incoming particles'.

Repeat lots of times for millions of particles, and all of the particles end up in one plane.

This also circularizes the orbits, for exactly the same reason: particles moving in will collide with particles moving out, and the radial motion will be averaged out.


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

[User]
The tensor is property of many fundamental forces in QED, but it is not explained in readily graspable terms...

Does anyone here have a good way to explain what a tensor is, what the different ranks and classes of tensors in normal terms?

Thanks in advance.

[Assistant]
A tensor is basically the general term for vectors and matrices. A tensor has a rank which is the number of dimensions it has: a rank zero tensor is a scalar (number), a rank one tensor is a vector, a rank two tensor is a matrix, and higher rank tensors don't have fancy names.

Generally in physics, each row or column of a tensor corresponds to a specific dimension in space. For example, the velocity gradient tensor describes how the x component of the velocity changes in the x direction, how it changes in the y direction, how the y component changes in the x direction, and how the y component changes in the y direction.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why did Ancient Rome use a solar calendar instead of a lunar one?

Lunar calendars seem like they make more sense from an ancient standpoint, in that the phases of the moon are a natural indicator of the passing of time. Solar seems to make much less sense in that the months have inconsistent days and don't really track to anything external.

So I'm curious if Rome always used a solar calendar, or if there's a lunar one that predates the Julian calendar. If the latter, what motivated the switch from lunar to solar?

[Assistant] Solar calendars are better at tracking seasons. People in regions that get the 4 standard seasons tended to develop solar calendars. People close to the equator who tend to get wet/dry seasons instead tended to make lunar calendars. Some cultures made both, and the Maya had very complex calendars that were lunar and solar as well as calculating things are longer cycles of a few years, dozen years, centuries, and thousand years.


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

[User] [Marvel] What characters or abilities would *not* gain an appreciable boost from being bonded with a symbiote? Are there any?

[Assistant] Most symbiotes are weak to sonic waves and heat, so characters whose powers are based on sounds (Banshee, Siryn, etc) and ones whose powers are based on heat (Human Torch, etc) would probably not mesh well with a symbiote.


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

[User] ELI5: How did they calculate a single sperm to have 37 megabytes of information?

[Assistant]
DNA is coded with 4 letters: A, T, G, C.

A byte can hold 4 pieces of these letters. A byte can contain for example "ATTG".

If you know how long your data is, then you know how much byte you need. For example "AATGCCAT" is 8 code long, than you need 2 bytes.

37MB is appr. 37 Million bytes. That means the genetic code must be about 4\*37 Million = 148 Million codes.

A sperm has the half of your genes/code. If a human has about 300 Milion codes then the calculation is correct.


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

[User]
CMV: Drugs shouldn't be criminalized unless you're a danger to the public. It should be treated and not punished.

Addiction is a disease/mental illness that needs to be treated, not criminalized/punished. Instead of being in jail, you should have to log a certain amount of court ordered hours in mandatory programs like rehab, drug and alcohol counseling, probation which includes drug tests (duh)

DUIs and child endangerment due to exposure of drugs would still be criminalized. That falls into being a danger to others.

Selling drugs is a danger to others so it should still be illegal. I don't think that it's illegal to have an addiction and use drugs, but it should be illegal if you're fueling someone's addiction by selling

Edit: I meant drug related crimes, particularly drug possession shouldn't be criminalized unless you're endangering the public.

[Assistant] Are you advocating that Drugs be treated like how we currently regard alcohol? Where possession in itself is not illegal but regulated? Surgeon General warnings, open restrictions on public use, age restrictions etc? If so what would be the point of outright making it illegal to sell drugs?


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

[User]
[Pokemon] I fought in the Pokemon war under the command of Lt. Surge. What was the world like?

What nations were at war?

Whose side were we on?

What was being fought over?

What were the weapons used?

Where was the war-front?

[Assistant]
From the official cannon, Surge is American. For the timeline to work out, it would have had to have been the Gulf War. He was, officially, a member of the Army, a pilot, and his electric Pokemon saved his life.

Since we know the avionics of Gulf War aircraft, it must be that he suffered an electrical failure that was shocked back to life. Pokemon were used as a classified black box project to be brought along on aircraft to deal with electrical failures. Other Pokemon may have been used in select roles, but not out in the open as we do not, in the 'region' we live in, know about their existence.


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

[User]
[LOTR] Does destroying the One Ring cure addiction to the One Ring?

Did Frodo or Bilbo continue to crave the One Ring after the ring was destroyed?

[Assistant]
Gandalf says that "Some wounds never heal," and it's implied that he's speaking of the addiction to the Ring and the actual damage that it does to the soul, along with the other wounds that Frodo has from the Morgul-blade at Weathertop and from Shelob's sting.  Bilbo also mentions missing the Ring when he and Frodo reunite at Rivendell, though it's not clear if he's simply old and recalling his memories, or if he's still feeling an addiction.

To me, the clearest passage that shows some addiction comes soon after the hobbits have settled back into the Shire and started rebuilding it.  For context, Frodo had been given a gemstone by Arwen as a gift:

>On the thirteenth of that month Farmer Cotton found Frodo lying on his bed; he was clutching a white gem that hung on a chain about his neck and he seemed half in a dream.
It is gone for ever, he said, and now all is dark and empty.
But the fit passed, and when Sam got back on the twenty-fifth, Frodo had recovered, and he said nothing about himself.

To me, those are some of the classic signs of addiction - and while those dream states might not be constant, it seemed that he felt the need to wear Arwen's gem around his neck, so he could always have that sensation of something precious near him.

In any case, the Elves definitely acknowledged that permanent damage had been done to the Ringbearers on the deepest level - after all, they allowed Bilbo, Frodo, and even (later on) Samwise to go across the Sea for peace and healing, and Sam had only been a Ringbearer for a couple of hours.


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

[User] The outer electron of a Cesium-133 atom reverses its direction of spin when exposed to microwave radiation of precisely 9.19263177 GHz, which is the basis of the atomic clock. But what happens if the frequency is off slightly? What if it's a Hertz or two too high or too low? How does the atom react?

[Assistant] Take a stream of cesium is sent past the microwave radiation. the closer the radiation is to the proper frequency, the more cesium atoms will transition to their higher state. The atoms then pass a  filter which removes non-transitioned atoms from the stream, and the rest (the  atoms that did transition) hit a detector. A hgher the signal coming off the detector means moreatoms made the transition which means the microwaves are closer to the correct frequency. Jigger the microwave frequency until you find a peak or maximum in the signal. Now you know the microwaves are very close to the 9.2GHz you are looking for. Split off that input signal, divide it down to 5 or 10 MHz and you got yourself an atomic clock. A cesium beam frequency standard actually. This is a rough approximation to what happens in an HP 5061A.


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

[User] Why do we feel itches?

[Assistant]
There are many, many reasons why we itch. Itch researchers break them down into 4 main classifications of itch:

* First is called "pruritoceptive itch", which is just a fancy word for itching that originates in the skin. This is the most common type of itch and can be caused by stimuli such as insect bites or poison ivy.
* The second type of itch is called "neuropathic itch" and is caused by nerve damage that results in an itching sensation, despite the fact that the skin above looks normal.
* The third type of itch is called "neurogenic itch". This type is similar to neuropathic itch in that it involves the nervous system, but it is not caused by damage. Instead, when certain chemicals interact with the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord), it can cause an itching sensation elsewhere in the body.
* The last category of itch is called "psychogenic itch". It is caused by a psychological disorder, such as delusional parasitosis.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do Christians think there are no prophets after Jesus (Muhammad, John Smith, etc.) even though they believe in the prophets that came before Jesus (Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses)?

I'm not Christian, but this is one thing about the faith that has always baffled me.

[Assistant] You might also ask why Muslims and Mormons don't recognize prophets after Muhammad and John Smith. It's just the most recent update on the religion that is compatible with their faith. Believing in some prophets doesn't require one to believe in all prophets. Religion tends to be heavily discretionary.


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

[User]
CMV: commenting in medium to large comment sections anywhere is stupid

Case in point, YouTube. I spend a lot of time time watching videos and or listening to things relevant for me but i'd never get into commenting. It's useless, top dogs are usually cringey one liners or the uploader themselves adding another closing remarks like "also don't forget to do that and that", so your comment is washed behind.

What's the point? You're just wasting your time time by now, and the comments are just awful. I'm pretty sure this is also where toxic fanbases form. I think people who still enthusiastically comment on youtube are stupid. I'm sorry, but i can't see a reason to consider commenting on anything and I think youtube should eliminate comments for good.

[Assistant] Just because you don't read the comment section doesn't nobody else does. Even if only a handful of people read your comment, you still conveyed your message and exposed people to your ideas. That's the point of any type of communication.


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

[User] ELI5: How did a shaved head become synonymous with the white power movement? Why are they called skinheads?

[Assistant]
"Skinheads" is a subculture originating in Britain in the late 60s, it resulted from a split in the "mods" subculture and was formed from the more violence-prone "hard mods" portion of the subculture where the fashion was for guys to have shorter hair and a working-class style(as opposed to the "peacock mods" who wore more expensive clothes and weren't involved in gangs).

These "hard mods" had very short hair(less than half an inch long) resulting in the name "skinheads", in the following decades the fashionable length got shorter until "skinhead" really was a perfect way to describe the look.

Skinheads, like any very large group, had people who represented a wide range of views and beliefs, and there were both racist and explicitly anti-racist Skinhead groups. Racist political groups did see a jump in membership from Skinheads during the era of their popularity, during which racially-motivated crimes were also on the rise, in the media the perception that they were racist  won out over efforts of the anti-racist groups which for the most part has fixed in place the perception that skinheads are racist which leads to the circular-reinforcing logic of "if you are racist you should be a skinhead".


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

[User]
[Family Guy] When did Brian lose his integrity?

I would love a specific event or series of events, but whatever is fine.

I was watching an old episode, the one where Peter is stranded on an island, and Lois remarried with Brian. Brian did a very noble thing by breaking it off with Lois so she could get back with Peter. He didn't even push too hard for sex, despite the fact that they were married and he really wanted to.

Fast forward to one of the more recent episodes, Brian was willing to let Stewie stay under the care of an abusive caregiver, who might I add dislocated stewie's arm, just for a chance to sleep with her. Then after discovering she was taken, he instantly turned on her.

I want to know what exactly made such a caring, insightful, and noble dog, become so jaded, caniving, and frankly a p.o.s.

[Assistant]
Brian was always the smart one in the house, because he was unchallenged. Early on he was flexing his muscles and managed to weasel his way into tight-knit groups like the new rat pack.

As time went on, people began to see him for what he really was. His drinking and drug abuse began to catch up and he became more and more paranoid people would see him for the fraud he believed himself to be.

To hold up his facade, he made more and more elaborate attempts to appear classy and sophisticated. His martini became straight vodka or whiskey to get that faster buzz. His love for jazz became classical, because thats what smart people listen to.

This tied in with lois dumping him, and his desperation for love began to compete with his need for physical contact. He no longer wanted the perfect woman, he wanted any woman who would give him 10 minutes of her night. But these easy women didn't see classy, or care for sophisticated, so he began to try and meet them at their level to connect. Pretending to like pop music or the kardashians just to gander a peek of her sleek lady cheeks.

Now he has no idea who he is, what he is or why he is. He's just a shell of his former brian.


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

[User] ELI5: What goes into mens' cologne that makes them smell "manly". What about these fragrances/chemicals makes them masculine?

[Assistant]
It's contextual. In western culture most women's perfumes have fruit, flower, and vanilla notes. Men's cologne generally have earthy notes like pine and musk.

By context you think of it as smelling one way or another because you've always associated certain smells with perfume and others with cologne.


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

[User] ELI5: How big does a landmass have to be for it to no longer be considered an island?

[Assistant]
It has to be "sub-continental", basically, not a continent itself.

They generally define it based on what chunk of earths crust it sits on, called a "tectonic plate".  Ocean plates look different then continental plates.  If it's surrounded by water and isn't a continental plate, then it's an island, or if it's on a continental plate but separate from the main portion by water, it's an island.


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

[User]
[Marvel] How dangerous would a lethal Spider-Man be?

Say, that he's still a good guy at his heart, but isn't so concerned with holding back and has few to no qualms with taking the lives of his foes.

[Assistant]
He would instantly become one of the most dangerous human beings alive. What holds Spider-Man back is his innate sense of morality. When called upon he easily holds his own among some of the Avengers' greatest threats but he spends his time doing things like chasing down muggers and rescuing people from burning buildings because everyday people are the ones who need help the most. If he pushed himself he would be a *far* greater threat. When Doc Ock took over his body he found that he could fairly easily punch the jaws off the villains he fights but he chooses to hold back because he doesn't want to kill them.

What makes Spider-Man unique is that he is *so* good at *so* many things. Are you stronger than him? Well, he's probably faster than you so you won't be able to hit him. Are you faster than him? Well, he's probably stronger than you so your hits won't do much damage. Are you faster *and* stronger than him? Well, he's *definitely* smarter than you and can come up with some other way to beat you. A Spider-Man with no qualms about killing would be a major threat. To beat him you'd have to be stronger *and* faster *and* smarter, and the number of people who are all of those things is pretty small.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is light considered analogous to time?

In every video I see about time relativity, they explain it by showing that light bends due to gravity. But why does that imply that time bends as well? Isn't light just a collection of photons?

[Assistant]
The light is just there as an example. If the light were not there, space itself would be bending. Space and time are part of the same thing:spacetime.

By having the light be present, you can see the path and curvature of spacetime. The speed of light is the speed of all causality (its just that light is the most obvious thing that always goes at the faster possible speed). If the path of light is disturbed due to the warping of space, then time in inherently changed.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did wheels work before we invented wheel bearings?

I watched a program last night which showed a wheelwright recreating an old fashioned cart wheel and slipping it straight onto a thick wooden axle. It made me wonder just how easy it would have been to pull, and why the wheel and the axle didn't burst into flame from the friction?

I guess they probably lubricated it with something greasy like fat, but surely that would spin off or wear away in no time? Wouldn't it just soak into the wood?

Given how ubiquitous carts were in the old days, how did they work before we invented wheel bearings?

[Assistant]
Yes they relied on two surfaces rubbing together, and yes those surfaces were often greased. A lot (probably the majority) of rotating objects still rely on plain bearings with sliding contact like this.

Regarding the resistance, note that the sliding surface is quite a small diameter, and cart wheels tend to be very large. This means that the sliding distance for a given travel distance is quite small, so the effective resistance is quite low. This also helps to reduce wear.

Another solution to wear is to make one part sacrificial, often this is a bush or pillow block. This part is made of softer material than the other so wears faster. This can be replaced periodically, and reduces wear on the harder, retained part.

Some woods (and plastics) are also self lubricating and so prized for this purpose. For example submarines are or were until recently made with lignum vitae shaft bearings.


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

[User]
ELI5:why does the Swiss army guard the Vatican?

I was told that it was historical reason. If so why do they guard the Vatican today and why doesn't the Italian army guard?

[Assistant] The short answer is that the Swiss Guard are mercenaries. The Vatican has continued to pay to extend the Swiss Guard contract for over 500 years. At this point it's mostly just tradition, however, those guards are well trained.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do our energy levels go down when we're depressed?

Depressed people I've seen generally feel more tired and fatigued than usual and end up sleeping more than usual. Why is this?

[Assistant] Depression in many ways puts your body through the same processes that a lot of physical illnesses do. One part of that is that both are associated with the release of what are called pro-inflammatory cytokines in your body. Like the name implies, these are chemicals that cause inflammation in your body. Evolutionarily speaking, what humans and other animals do when they are sick is retreat and rest. They retreat because they are weak and wouldnt be able to defend themselves against enemies. They are fatigued because their body is fighting off whatever is making them ill, and sleep more to reserve their energy. A lot of other stuff can happen here as well, but essentially your body shuts down everything that is not necessary for your immediate survival (sex drive? being able to solve super difficult sudokus? you dont need that right now!) Collectively these are called sickness behaviors, and they developed because they are adaptive for your survival. Only with depression things get a little trickier because there is no obvious virus or bacteria to fight off. But essentially youre body is confused but trying to help the best it can: it can hear the alarm bells ringing, and the alarm signal sounds a lot like being physically injured.


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

[User] [Naruto] How does Nagato (after Impure World Reincarnation) still have Rinnegan despite the fact that Tobi removed them?Would someone revived with Rinne Rebirth also come back with their Rinnegan intact? Do eye powers become part of your soul or something?

[Assistant] Im pretty sure that Edo Tensei returns people to life the way they were when they died.For example when Madara died he had given his rinnegan to Nagato,so when he was brought back with Rinne Rebirth he lost his rinnegan because they were fake(they crumbled away).


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

[User] ELI5: Why was Mylan's CEO forced to testify before congress over EpiPen prices? As a private company, aren't they allowed to charge whatever they think people will pay?

[Assistant]
there's a little bit more to it. Her father is in congress, and he was critical in a process that created a government requirement to keep a supply of epi-pens in all public schools, shortly before the price hike.

now, some people feel like this may be some corruption at work, for obvious reasons.


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

[User]
ELI5: why does sour candy give you sores in your mouth?

I ate a bag of sour skittles on one side of my mouth earlier today and now my tongue is sore on that side. Why does this happen?

[Assistant]
Acidic foods taste sour to us. So if you eat a lot of acidic food you literally damage the skin of your mouth via the acid.

Think of a lemon. Lemons are sour because they have a lot of "citric acid" in them.


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

[User] [Marvel/DC] How does the rest of the world feel about the USA having basically a monopoly on superheroes?

[Assistant]
It oftentimes results in an arms race.  Other world powers try to develop heroes of their own or try to build up deterrents against US hero aggression, such as massive nuclear arsenals.  It's not that these countries want war, it's that they don't trust the US to not abuse its access to metahumans.

The result of these arms races is that these worlds end up closer to destruction than they would be without heroes.  The clearest example of this is the earth of Dr. Manhattan, but other heroes like Iron Man and Superman have also spurred arms races and heightened tensions.


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

[User] [ELI5] Why are most screws either flathead or Phillips? Why not just one or the other? Are there advantages to different head types on screws?

[Assistant]
because they're designed for two different things.   flatheads are for manual screwdrivers.   philips are for power screwdrivers on assembly line.   phillips are self centering and self cam-out so it doesn't overtorque the screw.   phillips can apply more torque but easy to slide out of the slot.

square bit or robertson is the best.  but you have to pay the owner of the patent a royalty to use it.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why is virtually every claim about human nutrition controversial?

First calories were bad. Then it was fat. Later it was carbs. Why is it so hard to identify the ideal human diet?

[Assistant] Because you can't put a human in a locked cage for 80 years and feed it an experimental diet. We can use animal models, we can use short tests, we can ask people what they ate, but you can't definitively prove nutrition requirements or long-term effects  without experimentation.


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

[User]
[Warcraft] Say I am a middle class human living in Stormwind. Is it completely impossible for me to become a shaman or a druid?

Would it ever be possible for me to harness the power of the elements or nature and become a fully fledged shaman or druid? If not, why can't I?

[Assistant]
It took ages of living close to nature for the Tauren, Orcs, Trolls and so on to learn and respect nature and the elements, you can't cut a process like that short. And it's not a simple process like learning to cast a fireball, it's about mutual understanding between the people and the land.

unless you are a goblin, then you can cut a deal.

The High Elves just severed their tie a tiny bit, so they don't have druids anymore. They still have some remnant of their old druid way by being allied with the local treants.

Before you ask about those Draenei, the reason the Draenei can do it is because the Dranei can learn to do anything. Freaking unnatural if you ask me.


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

[User]
What are the advantages for a base 12 system?

People who want everyone to change to a base 12 system are often portrayed as crazy. What are the advantages for this system? Is it only because it's easily divisible by a lot of numbers?

[Assistant]
One major advantage is that 12 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12. 10 is only divisible by 2, 5 and 10.

So 12 can be divided into thirds easily, quarters, halves, three quarters... 10 does not quarter easily. Thirds, quarters and halves are units we find easy to work with.


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

[User]
[Dragonball Z] Can Cell become stronger through training, or is his power set, and can only rise through absorption or Zenkai?

Then only times we've seen Cell gain any strength is through absorbing thousands of people, the Androids, or getting a Zenkai. Does that mean he can't train to become stronger? In his mind he's perfect in his final form and doesn't see a reason to train anyways.

[Assistant]
Cell is part saiyan, so he to can utilize their ability to get stronger after nearly dying. This is heavily hinted at when he exploded himself. This pushed him to near Gohan levels of power PLUS gave him the ability to use instant transmission.

That said, he lacks the mentality to get stronger.

He feels he is perfect. His own mental barriers would prevent him messing with his perceived perfection.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do all kids around the world like sugary food (like candy, chocolate, sugary drinks, etc.) more than anything else, and when reaching adulthood, most don't get obsessed with it that much?

Even if they're not hungry, they would eat candy at any time
Also, how much is too much for children?

[Assistant]
Evolution and experience.

Sugary foods are loaded with energy.

Most of our existence, we could not get enough food, so when we found something like berries, loaded with energy, it was beneficial to eat them as much as possible. So we evolved to crave those kind of foods.

Now that we have a surplus of food, we don't need to eat as much, but we are still wired to crave it.

As for why kids over do it with candy, that's personal experience. Eating too much sugar at once has negative effects on our body, which we don't really recognize until later in life.

There's also a bit of rebellious nature at play. Parents tell their kids don't eat all that candy. So the kids do. When the kids become parents, they see how foolish that was.


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

[User]
[Spider-Man: Far From Home] Issues with EDITH augmented reality facial recognition

SO Edith can scan a room and identify everyone there--Cool, but how come it didn't recognize a TOP EXECUTIVE from Stark industries? (Mysterio) or all of the employees in the fake bar? Also, how come it was fooled by the hologram? Wouldn't Advanced AI say to Peter, there is something wrong with the faces around you--ie--Hey All the people around you are all models from Getty Images stock photography. OR the heat signatures from mysterio are coming from an invisible area 5 feet to the left... No?

[Assistant]
He scrubbed his presence and image from the internet before he enacted his plan.

Mysterios whole plan was to present himself to the world as a new hero who came from a whole other dimension to be the savior of the world. How would that work is anyone could just look at him and say "Hey wait a minute, you're this guy." So obviously, he and his team would need to completely erase all evidence of Quentin Beck from the internet - not just his time at Stark, but graduation evidence, financial records, even his passport and drivers license would need to be destroyed.


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

[User]
Is everything humans do natural?

We are part of nature, so is what we do natural?

[Assistant]
This question pivots on whether we have a clear consensus about what it takes for something to be "natural" - once we have that in place, we can determine which, if any, human behaviors count as natural.

Importantly, natural and good are different concepts. Usually there's an implicit assumption behind questions like this that what is natural is acceptable or right or praiseworthy -- which is just a variation of status quo bias.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Why Doesn't Doom Get Surgery To Fix His Face?

I understand the 60s were a different time and medicine wasn't advanced, but with modern medicine it sounds totally do-able.

Doom is one of the most powerful men in the world, and it's clearly something he cares about.  He's done it in the past on a few occasion, such as when he had the power of The Beyonder.

[Assistant]
You don't understand- it's irreparable.

The scars, they're so bad, they're beyond fixing. No doctor Doom would respect could ever repair him to his former glory, at best he'd be a pale reminder of what was once beautiful.

It's better that he be known by the mask and what remains of the face his heritage gave him than to be seen with his face so further mutilated.

Only when Doom has ultimate power and is content with his rule will he attend to such momentous issues. Until then, there is only DOOM.


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

[User]
How do other political ideologies respond to Rawls' veil of ignorance?

[newb] Rawls' thought experiment seems really convincing. However, I'd like to hear the opposition's response to what he's saying.

Also, critiques of social liberalism are welcome. Thanks for your help!

[Assistant]
There's a lot that's been said about the implausibility of the original position. Here are two criticisms.

First, Rawls fiats that parties behind the veil of ignorance know the "basic truths" of human psychology, sociology, political science, economics, and so on. Critics point out that there are hardly established truths in these fields, and so Rawls is caught in a dilemma: either enumerate exactly what these truths are (and thus open himself to criticism on this front) or don't, rendering his theory too formal to be of use. The idea here is that Rawls has really punted the difficult questions of social organization down the line while giving the impression that he's come to substantive conclusions. For example, he himself thinks his theory supports both socialist and capitalist modes of organization. If a theory of political organization doesn't decide between something so fundamental to the structure of a society, then what good can it be? (says the critic).

Second, Rawls thinks that there's going to be *deliberation* behind the veil of ignorance which leads to conclusions about the structure of society. But, given that parties behind the original position are formally identical (e.g. minimally rational, with no contingent features influencing their decisionmaking, etc.), it's hard to imagine what this deliberation would look like. It'd be like one person deliberating with themselves. But what does that even mean? Surely they would just agree with themselves, on pain of self-contradiction.

I believe Robert Paul Wolff's *Understanding Rawls* makes these critiques.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why television and media cameras are so big, despite the same level of picture detail being achievable on much smaller devices?

What's all that 'extra camera' used for?

[Assistant] Much higher quality sensors and optics.  In order to fit a small camera on the back of your phone, there's a lot of compromises that need to be made so that it will fit in that limited space.  That will affect the sharpness, clarity, and detail of the image, and when you're getting paid for top quality shots, a camera phone just doesn't cut it.