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Nitral's Archive 20

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How do astronomers determine masses of planets and other celestial objects? It's not hard to scale their volume, but it's not enough to find mass out. Do they define prevailing materials and substances and speculate on the density to calculate mass using volume or what?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Usually masses are determined by observing the orbits of things around them, in the case of planets it's usually the planets' moons that are used. A lot of stars are in binary systems, and the binary orbits were used to understand the relationship between brightness and mass, which can be used to determine the mass of solo stars. For more distant things like galaxies, we can see how much the light of even farther objects gets deflected by gravity, and use that to calculate the mass." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How do animators sync video and audio so fluidly?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's easier than you think, with animation tools, you can play 1/30 a second of sound to know exactly what sound the voice actor is making, and draw based on that. With practice, you can do this very intuitively. Mimicking the words IRL helps with what mouth shapes you need to draw, and with most animation you dont need to be extremely accurate.\n\nAnd in most cases, lip syncing is done after the voices have been recorded." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: \"The only thing to fear is fear itself\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Fear causes panic. In his famous speech he was stating that we should not be afraid of our enemies but rather be afraid of being afraid. For when one panics they make bad decisions, rash decisions, and lose light of the original objective." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Harry Potter] Vampires in Hogwarts\n\nAfter reading the unholy grail of fanfiction about a certain vampire oc, there are little denial that it doesn't actually stick to canon.\n\nThat got me thinking, let's say there indeed was a witch roughly the age of Harry Potter who got accepted into Hogwarts. Said girl was so unlucky to be bitten and turned by a vampire yet still lucky enough not to be banned from Hogwarts. (Dumbledore has canonically shown tendency to make exceptions like: Hiring Lupin a werewolf or Firenze a centaur not to mention Hagrid) And that this work wasn't written by Tara Gilesbie but someone who actually knew the Potter universe. How would her life be?\n\nFinally, this witch-vampire will most likely become familiar with the Society for the Tolerance of Vampires at some point in her life.\n\nEdit: After reading the comments, I think another question is: Is their any way for her to survive Umbridge?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Life would suck.\n\nThe witches and wizards of Hogwarts are by and large *not* accepting of even minor differences. Yes, Professor Dumbledore is progressive and sees the humanity in everyone, but he does not reflect the student body. The vampire would either have an incredibly hard time trying to hide that she's a vampire, or she'd deal with taunting from the other students. There would be zero tolerance for her to actually act on her vampirism, if she attempted to bite another student a professor would cast a sunlight spell." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why does the campfire smoke keep following me?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hot air rises...So when your campfire creates warm air, it will rise above it...The cooler air around the fire gets drawn in towards the rising air...Because you are near the campfire your body blocks the path of the air heading towards the fire which causes lower air pressure and thus pulling the rising smoke and warmer air towards you..." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5 Why do so many juvenile animals, including juvenile people, experience so much hyperactivity?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All animals must learn to survive as rapidly as possible. One way this happens is through mechanisms in the brain that reward curiosity and learning. When an animal makes new discoveries, it gets a powerful sense of reward. \n\nOver time, animals also learn about dangerous things. That generates fear, and fear tempers curiosity. As a result, animals that live in very safe environments will tend to be very curious. Animals that live in extreme fear will stop being curious.\n\nBabies with protective parents will feel safe and display a lot curious, stimulation-seeking behavior." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Star Trek] What is the Borg endgame?\n\nOk, so let's say you're the Borg and you've assimilated the entire universe. Every single sentient being is now part of the collective and is stuck in full BDSM gear and an eye snorkel. What now?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Their end game is perfection. They want to become the ultimate species, and the assimilation of cultures is their means to that end. If they were to actually assimilate every species in the universe, they would probably turn their resources toward full-time experimentation on individual drones, attempting to improve their biology or cybernetics." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How come solid state drives (SSDs) are mostly only available at storage spaces of 64, 128, 256gb and hard drives are available at more \"rounded\" spaces like 150, 500, 600gb, etc.?\n\nSorry if this is terribly worded, but I couldn't think of a good way to word this." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Let's say you have a swimming pool and you want to fill it with candy. How many pieces of candy fit? Maybe it's 1,000,000 pieces.\n\nYou decide that you want to fit as many pieces of candy into the pool as possible without making the pool bigger, so you make the candy smaller (to your five-year-old self a piece of candy is a piece of candy, no matter what size it is). You start finding ways to make the candy smaller and smaller until you can fit 1,500,000 pieces of candy in your swimming pool. You tell all your friends about that feat, then you go back and try making smaller and smaller pieces of candy.\n\nThat's an analogy for the manufacture of hard drives: there's a certain physical space that they have and they're trying to fit as many bits on a platter as possible. When they hit certain milestones they push that design into production. There's no preference for numbers that are nice and round in binary, so they stick to numbers that are nice and round to humans.\n\n*******\n\nNow imagine you go into the candy production business. You release a pack of candy that has 8 pieces of candy in it. It's popular, but all the kids on the block want more pieces of candy. To satisfy that demand you release a package that just has two of the previous packages in it, wrapped together. This new 16-piece package sells great, so you fix up your machines to make the 16- piece packages the standard.\n\nOver time the demand for candy increases so you do just what you did before: you tie two packages together and sell that as a new product. Now you're selling 32-piece packages (which we know are just two 16-piece packages tied together, each of which are two 8-piece packages).\n\nRepeat this cycle several times. As you move to larger and larger packages you streamline the packaging for the smaller packages (\"this unit not marked for individual sale\"). Eventually you're selling 64-billion-piece packages and 128-billion-piece packages (where \"billion\" here is actually 1024\\*1024\\*1024).\n\nThis is the analogy for flash memory (SSD) as well as things like RAM. You have a design for a single bit of data storage, then you copy/paste that and add a bit of control logic and you have a two-bit memory cell. Then you copy/paste that and add a bit of control logic and you have a 4-bit memory cell. Repeat that process a few dozen times and you may arrive at an 8 GB memory chip. Put a few of those on a board with some control logic and you have a 64 GB drive.\n\n******\n\nThe real key difference between these two setups is that with hard drives you have a blank slate on which you try to write as much as will fit, while with flash memory you're constructing the memory cells individually using a repeating pattern." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[MCU] Why did the Infinity Stones punish Red Skull?\n\nWe've seen multiple people holding one or more Infinity Stones. We've seen multiple people trying to assemble them. We've seen multiple people using one or more stones for evil/selfish reasons. But only Red Skull was punished for this. Only he was cursed by the stones. Why? Loki tried to do worse things than Red Skull, and he was holding 2 Stones. Why wasn't he punished? In IW, Thanos wanted to kill half the universe, and in EG he wanted to use the stones to destroy the whole universe. Why didn't the stones punish him for this? Why only Red Skull was punished by the stones?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In a way, Red Skull *wasn't* punished. He grabbed the Tesseract, seeking to use it as a weapon against Cap. He didn't understand its power, so when he activated it looking for a weapon, it opened a gateway and sent him to the most powerful weapon in the universe: one of the other stones.\n\nPresumably he then sat on Voromir for a while, foiled by the fact that the only thing he loved was power & himself. In a way, he made his one punishment." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How is a saw stop able to tell when a finger comes into contact with it?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It works similar to a lamp with a touch switch. The blade has a very low electrical current in it. It can detect when it contacts something conductive. That signals the block to release and jam the blade in place." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why would a company like Mars modify one flavor of a candy like Skittles and then refuse to go back to the old flavor in the face of monumental backlash?\n\nWere the lime skittles causing cancer or something? Is it somehow incredibly cheaper to produce green apple, to the point that lost sales are less of an issue than the cost? \n\nedit: okay guys i get it nobody who ever takes issue with anything is in the majority, or something. But why would they change to begin with and then *completely ignore* all negative feedback?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Monumental backlash\" often is nothing more than a vocal minority complaining loudly and often about something they don't like. Those people are also likely to continue buying the product in spite of their vocal distaste.\n\nMars knows that these people will fade away soon, and they probably haven't seen any appreciable drop in sales numbers, so they're not going to change their minds." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "If a grenade exploded in space, what would it look like?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It wouldn't look like very much at all; a grenade doesn't produce much light so there wouldn't be much of a flash and all the fragmentation debris, smoke and gas would be travelling at around the speed of sound, give or take, so you'd see the grenade one moment and the next moment there wouldn't be anything there and if you survived, you might see the sunlight glinting off of a few specks of debris before it was all too far away to see anything. \n\nExplosions in space are a bit underwhelming and tend to be less impressive than they are on Earth where there's an atmosphere to confine the explosion and give it something to push against and interact with. Without an atmosphere, the energy of the explosion mostly goes into the kinetic energy of the gas and debris, which just whizzes away, never to be seen again." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5 why credit inquries lower one's credit score\n\nIf one is simply looking up her or his credit score and is not making a purchase on credit, why does his or her credit score take a hit?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You may check your own credit rating as often as you'd like with no impact to your overall rating.\n\nCreditors (without your knowledge, i.e., those credit card offers you get in the mail) may check your credit rating as often as they'd like without impacting your overall rating.\n\nCreditors (acting on your behalf, as in you applied for some sort of credit) checking your credit rating **will** impact your overall rating.\n\nThe third situation has the potential of impacting your overall credit rating because this type of query is only done when you apply for credit. The presumption is that if you have applied for additional credit, you are planning on borrowing for something. The impact of the query is nominal and short lived if you don't borrow the money. If you do borrow, then your score would be recalculated based on the other factors (overall credit vs debt, credit history, etc.)." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Truth for Hegel\n\nAs I understand it, truth for Hegel is something like: congruity between an intelligible substance and the thing in which it inheres, between concept and external existence, essence and being. Taken at face, this seems to leave open the possibility that, should all members within the set of all things *not* match up with their corresponding concepts, there would be only a kind of truth in potentia, or, put differently, no proposition could be truthfully said about an existing state of affairs. But in Phil of Right, section 104, we see: “It is [a necessary] part of the truth that the concept should exist, and that this existence should be in conformity with the concept.” At other times (I think in the phenomenology) he subscribes to a correspondence theory of truth. I think most interestingly, he sometimes describes truth as a state obtained only after the completion of the speculative moment of logic/thought, which contains and supersedes the abstract and negative moments; truth here only obtains in toto, not in each moment separately.\n\nSo what’s the deal? How does he see explain the necessity of truth and how does he reconcile all the different ways he talks about truth? Am I reading it wrong? I feel like I’m reading it wrong." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Asking about Hegel on truth gets a wall o' text in response. \n\nHegel doesn't just mean one thing by \"truth\" throughout all of his writings, or even throughout the same piece of writing. As you note, in the PhG he endorses a correspondence theory of the truth of (naive) empirical statements. At other times -- especially the big, weighty moments -- he talks of truth in what seem like ontological terms. It has seemed fair to many commentators to gloss that theory as: truth is correspondence between a thing and its concept. That's *mostly* right, but that formula doesn't quite capture what Hegel means when he uses his favored phrase, \"the truth of [x]\". The truth of a thing (its correspondence with its concept) is what a thing should be, and according to Hegel, truth (conceived this way) is such as to realize itself. \n\nThis can *seem* very spooky and hand-wavy, and it has certainly figured in classical readings of Hegel as invoking the World Spirit who guides all history to its necessary completion etc. But there's a reason Hegel's favorite way of explaining what he means by \"truth\" in this sense is by reference to organic unity (or more simply, the organism): an organic unity is one in which its parts are the parts they are in virtue of their collective effort to achieve and maintain the whole. \n\nThink of a life form or species: a rabbit is what it is in virtue of its effort to achieve and maintain the existence of the species, i.e., to nourish and reproduce itself. By this token, a rabbit's species is also the measure of whether it is being as it should be: if it is not able to nourish and reproduce itself, it is defective. (The truth of a rabbit is its species.) We could also say: what is is for there to be the species Rabbit is for there to be individuals that attempt to maintain the species Rabbit by nourishing and reproducing themselves. Or as Hegel would put it, the species brings itself about. \n\nThis is what Hegel means in the section of the PhR you quote: \"It is [a necessary] part of the truth that the concept should exist, and that this existence should be in conformity with the concept.\" A concept is such as to bring itself into existence by bringing into existence individuals that conform to it (which means, individuals which strive to maintain themselves *as* instantiations of that concept). As we saw in the rabbit example, this doesn't mean concepts are things with some kind of metaphysical agency, anymore than the species Rabbit is some metaphysical Spirit-thing out there acting on individual rabbits. It just means that the kind of real unity that we're calling \"concept\" here is the kind of thing that has the explanatory power an organic unity does with reference to its parts." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[The Simpsons] How popular is Krusty the Clown's show? Is he a national celebrity?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Classic Krusty was a respected variety show host in the 60s-70s. Not so much now a days.\n\nHe has a million dollar a day moon rock habit and signs his name to any shoddy product his agent gets his hands on.\n\nSo he may be quite well known, but his reputation and career have been damaged by an inflating ego and enabling psychophants. \n\nMr. Burns is similarly in a rut due to surrounding himself with the same kind of yes men as Krusty but the stakes are higher, so too was his loss." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why is it so much more enjoyable to spend hours and hours doing repetitive tasks in a video game than it is at work?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Usually video games have a reward system in place that you can easily track your progress and see a \"real\" reward for it in real time. If you grind more enemies, you get more points, new items, new stats, unlocks, etc. Numbers go up. Even on something like Minecraft, you may set out to simply dig a really big hole in the ground with no benefit other than having done it. However, you've set a goal and accomplished it, and that feels good.\n\nWork is often times you doing stuff you don't have a vested interest in. You also don't necessarily have incentive to do the work other than keeping your job and getting a paycheck." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why are tips based on how expensive a meal was?\n\nWhy are the tips we give in restaurants relative to how expensive/luxurious my meal was? How much harder is it to carry out a $30 steak from the kitchen compared to a $8 sandwich? I don't get it... Can't tips be a set rate? Or a per person rate?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At an expensive restaurant you are not just paying for the cost if the food. Part of why you are paying for is food service, ambiance etc. By tipping proportional to the cost of the meal waiters at expensive restaurants will be the ones with the most experience and will be the cream of the crop. \n\nThe other reason is that in fancy restaurants the tip has to be split more ways. The guy going around refilling waters, the people who bus in between courses, the people who bring out new fancy silverware depending on what you ordered, all if those people get some of the tip you leave." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "What if pixels were hexagonal rather than square?\n\nHexagonal packing is a more \"natural\" packing pattern than square packing. Are there any reasons beyond the obvious that modern display screens use the latter?\n\nFor example, the rasterization of a horizontal or vertical line on a square-packed display is trivial, but on a hexagonally-packed display, the rasterization of at least one of them is not. But what about an arbitrary line? My intuition tells me that an arbitrary line would have a \"better\" rasterization on a hexagonally-packed display. Would this carry over to an arbitrary image? Would photos look better with hexagonal pixels than they would with square ones?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A big problem with a hex grid is that straight lines are angled 60 degrees apart, not 90 degrees, and so you can choose high fidelity for vertical lines or horizontal lines, but not both. This would not be a problem for most images, but fine vector graphics (such as a cursor or a fine border) would have problems." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[MARVEL] Would Ghost Riders Penance stare work on Jean Grey?\n\nDidn't she commit genocide as the phoenix?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Technically, Jean did not commit genocide. The Phoenix Force created an exact copy of Jean's body, memories, and personality, and used that as a physical vessel for itself - it hid the real Jean in suspended animation. Jean later gained all the memories of the Phoenix during the time it believed itself to be Jean Grey, so in most ways, the difference is pretty academic - the Phoenix was psychologically identical to Jean, and the now-living Jean has all those memories too, so in most ways they might as well be the same person. \n\nHowever, Ghost Rider's Penance Stare affects the soul, not the mind. Jean's soul was not present when that genocide occurred." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Will the light from my flashlight touch the moon?\n\nIt's a dark night, Little urban light pollution. I have a standard-issue flashlight pointed at the moon. Will the beam hit the moon, however weakly? ALSO: when I turn the flashlight off, does the light beam \"clip off\" and continue its journey or, have I turned off a proverbial lightsaber? What happens to that beam?\n\nSilly questions I've wondered about since about age 5! Thanks!\n\nP.S. I asked this last night but I think I may have submitted incorrectly; apologies if it's a lame repost." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Photons generated from a standard flashlight can reach the moon - however, from said flashlight, as soon as they are generated they begin to disperse in a cone type form. By the time the photons have defeated atmospheric interference and reached the moon, they are so far spread out and dissipated that they are absolutely imperceptible \n\nWhen you switch off the flashlight, the photons continue to travel - they don't just disappear. But photons move at the speed of light...so as you say, yes, it does \"clip off\"\n\nOne more edit: local light pollution only effects perception." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Pirates of the Caribbean] How many generations does it take until Bill Turner's descendant's blood is not pure enough to cure the curse of the black pearl?\n\nWill Turner has half of Bootstrap Bill's blood. Say he had kids who now have 1/4 of Bill's blood, then grandkids who have 1/8, all while Barbosa's crew is still eternally living and feeling nothing.\n\nAt what point is the blood no longer pure?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Curses and magic tend to not work like that. Curses usually follow the family until the curse is lifted or the bloodline extinct. As long as you are a blood descent of Bootstrap Bill, then you can lift the curse." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: If your shower thoughts are your most interesting thoughts, you're not taking enough time to just think\n\nShower thought are known to be these weird or interesting thoughts, that you could only think about about in the shower. My friends were talking about this, and there was a consensus between them that their best thoughts come to them in the shower. There's even a subreddit for these interesting thoughts and revelations that people had while in the shower.\n\nThis lead me to think about what makes the shower so unique compared to the rest of daily life, and what about the shower allows for thoughts to flow freely. From what my friends' said, the shower is a time where they can just think and do nothing else, so it gives them the place to have thoughts that are more interesting than daily life things.\n\nThis makes sense to me, but if this is the reason for shower thoughts, it also implies that people don't take the time to think about things outside the shower. Not only that, but people have to shower, so the reason to set this time aside to think about stuff is because you have to in order to be clean. Meaning that just thinking about things is not the first priority while taking a shower and it's only a byproduct of needing to stay clean.\n\nSo since we've established that the source for shower thoughts is the fact that the shower is a place where you can just think about whatever, I think this means that if you only have interesting thoughts in the shower, that you're not taking the time to just think about stuff. Same goes for interesting thoughts before you fall asleep - if that is the only time you can think freely, you're not investing any time in allowing yourself to think.\n\nI think thinking is so important, and it's numbing to think only about daily life during the day. If I don't have enough time to think during the day I have a hard time falling asleep, since that's the only other time I have if I can't find the time during the day. How are you supposed to lead your life if the only time you get to think is your 15 minute shower?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You could take the time to \"just think\" and come up with good interesting thoughts and many of these shower geniuses do this. But what makes their shower thoughts their most interesting thoughts is because they come up with them through different and unique pathways in the brain often giving these thoughts a unique and \"interesting\" feel. Let me explain. People in general use their sense of sight most of the day and their minds react and think thoughts based on what they see and how they relate to what they are seeing. You could be relaxed on a park bench people watching and you’re doing exactly this. Whatever the other senses of your body are doing your not really registering or consciously thinking about them so separate pathways in your brain that could give you more interesting thoughts (not necessarily better) aren’t being triggered. When showering, sight is not used as frequently and your less commonly used senses are all being stimulated while in a very relaxed state. Close your eyes, Feel the warm water cleansing your body, smell that awesome shampoo refreshing your hair, become hypnotized as you hear the water splashing onto the floor, think interesting thoughts, and that’s your shower. These shower thoughts are thought about and formed differently than thoughts we have 95% of the day, and therefore, are more interesting." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How come the ISS needs regular corrections to it's orbit so it doesn't fall and yet, there are space debris from the sixties that no one is expecting to burn in the atmosphere anytime soon?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "1. Debris do fall. But some debris (like Apollo parts) are on very high orbit and are unlikely to fall any time soon.\n\n2. Stuff falls because of atmospheric friction. The higher you are - the less atmosphere is there. The smaller you are - the less surface you have for friction." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Airbus/Boeing Advertisements, Who are they trying to target?\n\nthe A350XWB just delivered to its first costumer today, \nthis question just popped up in my head, \nI have seen Airbus and Boeing advertisements in airports, on the streets, magazines, youtube... promoting how efficient their products are and passenger comfort onboard, etc. \nIt makes me wonder who are they trying to target? I doubt if any (most, at least) of us can afford one. It's airlines who make the purchase, and their job to promote their products. So, why are Aircraft manufacture like Airbus and Boeing spending millions on those advertisements seem to target the general public? Attract Investors? For public image? I wonder how many people care what kind of airplanes they are taking as long as it takes them from point A to B. \n\nit could also apply to many other things, not just airplanes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They're trying to drum up public confidence. It gets people to invest in shares. Also, when you (and millions of others) book your next flight, you might choose an airline or flight that flies your preferred aircraft, rather than the airline that flies some other aircraft. This signals the airlines to buy more of your preferred aircraft." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why are low poly 3D models made of triangles and not squares/rectangles?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the early days rectangles *were* used. A games console in the late 90's rendered everything with rectangles.\nHowever, that was a really bad idea, and triangles are much nicer to work with for a couple of reasons.\n\nFirst, of course, you can easily make a rectangle out of a pair of triangles *anyway*, so you're not really losing out on anything by using triagles. At worst you'll have twice as many of them. But the trade-off is that they're simpler to work with, so that's really ok.\n\nBut the main advantage of triangles is that they are *always* flat. If you pick three random points in a 3d space, you can *always* connect them and the result will be lie on a flat plane. That means you can connect these three points, and know you'll get a straightforward triangle.\n\nIf you pick four points at random, you probably won't be able to connect them into a rectangle at all. The four points probably won't lie on a plane, and it's not really obvious what shape would be created if you tried to connect them. It woudl depend on *how* you connect them.\n\nSo if you're working with rectangles, you have to constantly watch out for these \"broken\" shapes and that's just a lot of extra work.\n\nComputers like working really fast with really simple things. And triangles are great for that." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Marvel] Would vibranium be an be an effective defense against Covenant [Halo] plasma weapons?\n\nIf the UNSC possessed it, how would it have changed the course of the war? Would it have made their ships more durable? Would MJOLNIR armor be stronger?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Probably not by much.\n\nWe don't know the melting point of vibranium. We do know it stops kinetic weaponry, but the covenant don't really use those. \n\nPlasma weaponry is extremely hot (wiki says 28,000 °C or 50,000 °F), it works by melting the hell out of whatever it hits. No matter what melting point vibranium has, it is unlikely to be a perfect insulator. Any vibranium armor, whether it be on a ship or on a person, is eventually going to transfer the heat into the interior, killing and cooking whoever is inside." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: What's the point of the \"press any button to continue\" screen in some video games, why not just boot to the main menu?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Artistically maybe they wanted to show a \"clean\" screen without a bunch of menu options on it. But there's really no technical reason to have one. A bunch of games boot directly to the main menu.\n\nA better question is why are there unskippable splash screens? And the answer to that is that the game is loading in the background, sometimes the menu itself is loading in the background (ex: Just Cause 3, though for a cool reason, because there is no transition from menu to game when you're ready to play, the menu is created from your save file progress... look up a video of it, you'll understand)" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Eli5 Why do microstates (Liechtenstein, Monaco etc) have such high GDP per capitas?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "So most of these nations are set up as tax shelters. For example, Lichtenstein income tax tops at 8%. Monaco doesn’t have a personal income tax at all. That’s your reason.\n\nAnother interesting observation, however, is that even if not for this microstates would still probably occupy the upper echelon of GDP per capita. Why? Because the lower sample size you have, the higher a distribution you’ll get. America used to give funding incentives to schools based on test performance until they discovered both the highest and lowest performing schools were the districts with the least amount of students. Not because they were necessarily doing anything right or wrong, but because their natural variability was much higher. You see this with all sorts of statistics, such as crime rates. Or suicide rates. Or lottery winners. Or population with a PhD, etc." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: how exactly does battery \"give power\" to a smartphone or laptop? What magic does electricity do to a battery?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A battery sort of burns some substance, very slowly, in a way that makes the energy come out in electricity, instead of heat.\n\nThe basic idea is that you make the chemical reactions happen in two steps, one of which happens at one side, and the other happens at the other side. One reaction needs an electron, which is a particle that has an electric charge, and the other reaction releases an electron. This means that the first step pulls electrons from the first side, leaving it with a positive charge, and the second step releases electrons to the other side, making for a negative charge. And if you have too many electrons in one place, and not enough in another, then you can connect a circuit, like a light bulb or a phone, between the two places, and electrons will be forced through the circuit - and we call this electricity." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why don't we already know everything that's inside the pyramids?\n\nIn response to the news about temperature scans revealing \"anomalies\" in the pyramids that may be additional burial chambers etc. - why don't we already know exactly what's in there? These are some of the most famous buildings in the world, they are not new discoveries and I don't understand why they haven't been explored from top to bottom by now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Two people ahve answered that the pyramids are \"incredibly complex\"- they aren't- they're giant piles of rocks, with narrow shafts and a few small rooms inside. We know about those because the shafts reach the surface. There may be other rooms, but it would require tunneling through tons of rock to access them, because there are no doors or hallways to these rooms, and millions of tons of rock on top of them." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Phineas and Ferb] How do Phineas and Ferb get the money needed to create their projects?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The rollercoaster episode shows that the duo are not above making money off of their projects (Phineas dryly remarks that he and Ferb should have charged more to ride it after it unexpectedly gets even more exciting than was initially planned). Chances are, they're probably funding all of their projects with the *massive* profits they earned from one or more of their earlier ones." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: Identity comes from both within and without. It’s not all about what you see yourself as.\n\nWhile self image or self identity is important, it serves a much smaller utility than how others perceive you. Functionally, identity occurs many orders of magnitude more often in the eyes of those who perceive you rather than yourself. The total sum of their perception of you is much more impactful to both them and yourself than whatever it is you may see yourself as. This cannot be undone. Self identification is not the entirety of identity. It’s not even a majority of identity. It exists, but it’s not the whole." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I think it differs depending on what type of identity we're talking about. Racial identity, for example, is a very external identity. It has almost nothing to do with who you are on the inside, and has everything to do with how society treats you. This is why \"transracial\" can't be a thing. (Fun fact, transracial was a term used before the appearance of Rachel Dolezal types, and was used to refer to adoption situations where the parents and child are different races.)\n\nGender identity and sexuality, on the other hand, are much more internal. Say you're a bisexual man, but have only ever dated women to avoid homophobia. The world might perceive you as a straight guy and treat you like one, but internally you still feel that attraction towards men. You're still, by definition, bisexual, and the way people treat you can't change that." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "eli5 how does salt support hydration in the body?\n\nI’ve always thought that salt actually dehydrates us (which is why we can’t drink salt water), but apparently it supports hydration… can someone please explain?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the gut there are water transporting channels. For them to work, you need energy, sodium and chloride ions (salt), and glucose. The World Health Organization uses a solution of water, salt, and sugar for cases of severe dehydration from things like cholera. It's like Gatorade but a lot less sweet." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why is raising our hear rate from exercise considered healthy while stimulants are considered bad for the heart?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The heart rate increase from exercise is self-limiting - e.g. if you over-exert you generally get tired and slow down. Your exercise pushes to the limits, slowly extends them, but \"tells you\" when you need to back down. \n\nIf you take stimulants you bypass that entire self-regulation system and can easily overdo it." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Real Time Strategy] Why are rockets so ineffective against infantry?\n\nI think in most CnC games an infantry unit can take quite a few rockets before they go down but much fewer bullets." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Because this are Armor Piercing Rockets. \nIf you want kill person with a rocket you use anti personnel one. The one that creates lot of shrapnel. However such rocket are useless against flying and ground vehicles. \nSo you put in to rocket engine, some kind of guiding system. And warhead that can damage something Like Mammoth Tank. \nAdding shrapnels will make rocket to big. So they specialize equipment." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why do doctors focus on LDL cholesterol scores when Coronary Artery Calcium scores are exponentially better at predicting heart disease/heart attacks?\n\nIs there something I'm missing outside of cost?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Because apparently a coronary artery calcium score is an application of a CT scan, which is expensive, exposes your body to radiation, puts you on a waiting list, etc... and you can just get an LDL cholesterol by a simple blood test." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Marvel] Tony Stark has upgraded the Iron Man suit to keep pace with his enemies, but War Machine is just an old Iron Man suit. Why is War Machine still able to compete?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Tony's got 42 but they're all specialised for specific tasks. He feels like without his suit he's nothing so he needs one for every foreseeable event. Many of them are also just prototypes and not necessarily ready for combat. \n\nThe war machine suit is a great all rounder. For a terrestrial and conventionally armed taliban style force it'll do, hell it's great. It's just not designed for taking on Gods and aliens. \n\nBy the end of the extremis event Tony realises he *is* more than just a man even without a suit for every single occasion and destroys them all." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Star Wars] Did Tarkin outrank Vader?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Sith Order completely outranks the military in the Empire. Even Vader's own words during the meeting were a subtle implication of that:\n\n>*Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.*\n\nThe Empire serve the Sith. Vader did not have to listen to Tarkin at all, but did so on a whim or out of respect for Tarkin.\n\nThe only exception would be if the Emperor commanded Vader to listen to Tarkin, but in such a case Vader is only under the command of Tarkin by proxy." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How can millions of people use the ~400 underwater cables for internet simultaneously?\n\nI'm aware each cable is branched into many many smaller cables but surely there still can't be one cable per person so how is the issue of overlapping data signals solved?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There isn’t one cable per person. Many (many many many) people are taking tiny slices of transmission time in turn.\n\nIn addition, if it’s a fiber optic cable, you can run multiple light beams down one fiber and they won’t interfere with each other. \n\nSo one physical cable will contain many individual fibers, each fiber can carry multiple signals, and each signal is time shared between a huge number of individual users." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I think accusing people of white/male/straight privilege is nothing but an ad-hominem. CMV.\n\nWhen anyone tells me I should check my privilege, I obediently do so. Sometimes for days in a row and the question never actually leaves me. \"Am I being unsensitive\"? That's a question that should always haunt every one of us.\n\nBut, from personal experience, the word privilege isn't used as much to make people think critically of their own positions, but mainly to delegitimize opinions. Against affirmative action? The sole reason is because of your white privilege. Against abortion? The sole reason is your male privilege. And I've heard too much in reddit's Christian subs that the only reason to interpret the Bible as against religious gay marriage is straight privilege. Like if literary and theological interpretation methods did not exist.\n\nI respect people with opposing views, because life taught me the hard way I'm not the only person in the world with a brain. But many people use the word \"privilege\" simply to deny the discussion and go on with their self-righteous ways. CMV.\n\n^(disclaimer: I'm for affirmative action)\n\n**EDIT:** Ok, I failed to give a mainstream example of this happening. Here is it: \"if men had wombs abortion would be a sacrament\". In other words, \"the only reason there are pro-life men is because they're not checking their privilege\". That's a mainstream pro-choice slogan. I'm not trying to discuss abortion here, just saying social justice movement isn't careful about misusing the notion of \"privilege\". CMV!\n\n**EDIT2:** OK. Unfortunately my view couldn't be changed. I see the main problem is that, despite, as I said before, the concept of privilege being useful and beneficial in conversations, using it to accuse people does no good to discussions. Actually it just radicalizes and pisses off everyone. OR make naive white males change their opinions out of guilt. I think, as some here said, my opinion is hardly going to change over this because *accusing* people of privilege as a strategy to win argument is nothing but cheap and low." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Invoking the idea of privilege doesn't necessarily delegitimize opinions, but it does seek to to contextualize them. Consider:\n\nA Christian and a Jew are discussing a Biblical passage from the Book of Ruth. Is it not reasonable in this conversation for each participant to consider both their own faith and that of the other in the context of their approach to the text? Is it an ad-hominem attack for one to say to the other, \"I believe you are relying too heavily upon your personal religious tradition in your interpretation here.\" ?\n\nThat's all \"check your privilege\" is -- a shorthand, somewhat glib way of saying that you are giving too much weight to your own personal history and cultural context in how you consider an issue, and that you'd benefit from expanding your frame of reference. It's identifying a fallacy on the other person's part; it's only delegitimizing to an opinion if *that is actually happening* in the first place." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How does moisture sometimes generate more friction (aiding better grips then dry hands for example) but other times generate less friction (slippery floor for example)?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Water sticks to surface.\n\nWater glides over water.\n\nWhen there is a lot of water, water acts as a gliding film between two surfaces.\n\nWhen there is little water, water sticks to a surface on one side, sticks to another on the other side, but there's not enough water to form the gliding film, thus 'increasing friction' not unlike a double sided tape." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why is there such a massive gap between galaxies? Why isn't the universe just one giant cluster?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The gaps between galaxies are not all that large. The distance between the Milky Way and Andromeda is around 2 million light years, and the diameter of the Milky way is around 100,000 light years- so the ratio of the size and distance between galaxies is around 50. Compare that to stars - the ratio between the distance to Alpha centauri and the Sun's size is around 50,000,000. \n\nGalaxies are close enough together that they interact all the time. In fact, we think that the Milky Way and Andromeda will collide in a billion years, forming a giant elliptical galaxy. On the other hand, the distance between stars is so great relative to their size that no stars are expected to collide during this galactic collision." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Fear the Walking Dead] Why does Mexico seem so much better off than the USA in terms of maintaining a society in the apocalypse?\n\nSo, we see some undead in Mexico in FTWD, but... nothing compared to the destruction and infestation in America.\n\nIs it because Mexico is more spread out? More arid, which might contribute to the dessication/decomposition of the undead?\n\nIs it because the cartels have a metric fuck-ton of guns and no hesitancy to use them when \"rioters\" start feasting on the flesh of the living?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mexico is very sparsely populated compared to the states. Outside of a handful of tourist cities and state capitols most of Mexico is about as densely populated as the US midwest. People are there but 40 minutes or more of driving between towns which is equivalent to a days worth of walking or more. \n\nThe united states has several differences in consumer products as well that while not a major difference will provide Mexico a slightly better survival odds as supply chains are shorter and many goods like dry milk and non refrigerated food stuffs are more readily available in markets. This means people will be better fed and supplied even if the supply chain collapses unlike many regions in the USA where local production of food is impossible. \n\nBut the largest difference between the USA and Mexico in the universe is the response of the public. The Americans were told to evacuate to large cities and protected by the military which unfortunately turned many more people than would have happened otherwise. This makes large cities in the US like turned over anthills spreading the walkers into the surrounding regions. Mexico by contrast is more spread out and the military controlled by much more powerful state governors who could direct them differently rather than following a nationwide mandate. Since their population was so spread out and unable to congregate as easily the military was deployed against outbreaks rather than trying to create a \"fortress\" against outbreaks." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "If the boiling point of water is approximately 100° C, why does water evaporate on an average day?\n\nI'm a third year meachanical engineering student with a basic thermodynamic background, so don't hesitate using scientific terms.\n\nI've considered varying pressures, but the few ideas that I've come up with seem far fetched and not too plausible.\n\nThe reason it confuses me, is that a substance cannot change phase without passing it's boiling point and staying at that specific temperature for the duration of the condensation or evaporation. If this is true, why does water evaporate even at low temperatures? Is what I have just mentioned only an approximation?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A liquid exists at equilibrium with its vapour. At any given point, individual molecules near the surface may have enough energy to break free and enter the gas phase, while gas phase molecules may hit the liquid with little enough energy to be absorbed into the liquid.\n\nWhen the atmospheric vapour pressure is lower than the equilibrium vapour pressure, obviously water will continue to enter the gas phase until either equilibrium is established, or you run out of liquid water.\n\nKeeping in mind that temperature is the *average* temperature of a substance, individual particles may well have enough energy to enter the gas phase. This also explains why evaporation is an endothermic process (aside from the thermodynamic explanation of the latent heat of evaporation). As the most energetic particles are removed from the liquid, the average energy (and therefore temperature) decreases. The cooler water then absorbs heat from its surroundings, and the process continues.\n\nThe boiling point of a liquid is simply the temperature at which its vapour pressure (which increases with temperature) is equal to the ambient pressure. Hence why water boils at much lower temperatures at higher altitudes." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Doctor Who] What would happen if you threw a blanket over a Weeping Angel?\n\nYou can't technically \"see\" it, at least not directly. Could it move if you were looking at the blanket?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You technically aren't seeing one recorded on film either, but it still stops moving when you view the image of it. Being 'observed' and 'seeing' something are different, even if it has a sheet on it, you are still observing it." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why do children's stomachs look bloated when they are malnourished?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's called kwashiorkor, and is caused by a protein deficiency. In normal conditions, we have proteins floating around in the blood, which causes fluid to be retained due to osmotic forces. However, this protein needs to be replenished. When it isn't, fluids will pool in the soft tissues of the body, and will cause the bloating effect in malnourished children." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why does NASA use russian capsules instead of making their own capsules?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nasa does not \"use\" russian capsules, instead they book seats on the soyuz capsules which fly from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. There are currently efforts in the USA to develop capsules, by NASA itself but also mainly by private companies like spaceX and ULA. But as long as these are not fully certified and tested they will need to continue to book seats on the soyuz capsules." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Can other species get Down syndrome/trisomy 21?\n\nSome species don’t have 21 pairs of chromosomes but can they get a Down syndrome like disorder ?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Due to the differences in the genomes, there is no direct equivalent to Down syndrome in animals, but they can get trisomies. One example is trisomy 28 in cattle, which is usually fatal shortly after birth or during gestation. Another example is trisomy 16 in mice, which is used as a limited model for human trisomy 21." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: Cultural Appropriation is Healthy and Beneficial\n\nJust to preface because I see it coming - when I talk about cultural appropriation, I’m talking about people borrowing cultural products or practices from other cultures. I am **not** talking about blackface, the Washington Redskins, or anything of that sort, because those are plain racism. Blackface isn't part of African-American culture, and \"redskin\" isn't part of Native American culture.\n\nThe way I understand it, cases of cultural appropriation usually make several assumptions that I disagree with. Not every case will involve all assumptions, but these are common themes that tend to come up. These assumptions are:\n\n1. Cultural products usually develop within a single culture\n\nSo many well-known cultural products are the result of centuries if not millenia of cultures borrowing from one another. Italian food would be unrecognizable without tomatoes, but these didn't exist in Italy until they were brought over from the new world. Hip-hop and trap music are uniquely African-American genres, but they would NEVER exist as we know them today without the Japanese synthesizers that defined their sounds (the MPC for hip-hop and 808 for trap).\n\n2. Culture is defined by the way you look\n\nAccording to the logic of cultural appropriation, a European-American wearing a ceremonial Vietnamese dress is offensive, but an Asian-American wearing the same dress isn't, even if the Asian-American was was born in the US, does not speak Vietnamese, and has the same knowledge of Vietnamese culture that most Americans have (which is, basically none). This assumption is inherently racist because it categorizes people by their looks. This is also why you won't hear about cultural appropriation when Chinese people wear Vietnamese clothes, or when Ethiopians borrow from west-african culture, even though these groups come from fundamentally different cultures. This mindset ignores the rich, mind-boggling beauty and diversity of Asian and African cultures, classifying people instead based on their skin color.\n\nThe common counter-argument for this is that white people (whatever that means) are colonizers and therefore when they borrow from an Asian or African culture it's demeaning. But this argument itself is ethnocentric, because it views white Americans as the center of the world, ignoring around literally a 1,000 years of aggressive Chinese colonialism in Vietnam, as well as warfare among different African tribes and nations.\n\n3. Borrowing from someone else's culture means that the original people of that culture get less recognition for their culture\n\nI agree that this does happen and happens often. For example, Elvis was an excellent musician, but there were many other Rock n' Roll artists that were just as talented. They didn’t succeed as much because they were black. However, this isn't a problem with borrowing culture, but with how a racist audience receives this culture. In other words, the problem isn't with Elvis, it's with his listeners.\n\n4. If something is sacred to you, others should treat it as sacred as well\n\nThis is something that comes up, for example, when non-native-american people wear war bonnets (which traditionally carry a lot of significance in native cultures). I don’t accept this argument, because just because you think something is sacred, doesn’t entitle you to force others to think so as well. A lot of people think that the idea of marriage being between a man and a woman is sacred, but that doesn’t entitle them to make others think that way too.\n\n5. Using another culture’s products is OK as long as you study and understand its cultural significance\n\nI 100% support people learning and getting to know other cultures. But practically, this can’t be a prerequisite to borrowing cultural products. I don’t need to pass an Italian history quiz to eat pasta. In addition, this is usually a double standard because many times people engage in practices from their own culture while having little to no knowledge of their traditional significance or origins.\n\nBottom line, I fail to see any meaningful harm in cultural borrowing, particularly considering its awesome benefits. Living in the US, I'm surrounded everyday by amazing things that would never have been created if this country wasn't the confluence of people from literally hundreds of cultures. CMV!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I think you're misunderstanding appropriation and appreciation. \n\nIt is one thing to use things from other cultures if it enhances the understanding of that culture. \n\nWhile many get angry over appropriation when it is simply appreciation, the reason why appropriation is how we end up with the satirical stereotypes like Chinese wearing big round hats with buck teeth, Jewish people with giant noses and Mexicans as gardeners. There are tons of companies making money off of this imagery. The issue is that it makes it difficult for these cultures to not have these images because they are so common. It is offensive and it makes people less interested in learning about these cultures that are essentially jokes. \n\nA white person opening a taco shop because of their appreciation of Mexican cuisine is not appropriation. Especially if they learned their technique from Mexican sources, because then they are simple an interim voice for that culture." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Doom]Where on earth does Doomguy carry his huge arsenal?\n\nI hope it’s not where I think he’s carrying it..." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Weapons that fold down to make them easier for transportation, plus some localized teleportation technology.\n\nOr he summons them with his anger, like an extremely pissed off wizard. It... might explain why ripping a demon apart with his bare hands may turn their blood into bullets and healing items." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Student Evaluation Question\n\nI taught an adjunct class and received poor student evaluations. The comments all cite the fact that the students were told there would be a final only two weeks before class ended. This is true. When I was hired, my syllabus was approved by the Dept head. I was told I should require a full term paper and no final exam. We even sat down together and discussed my syllabus in her office. Then, later in the semester, the Dept. Head changed. Two weeks before the end of the semester, the new Dept head told me I needed to give the students a final exam. I argued bc I knew I would receive poor reviews as this was unfair to the students (who I’m sure signed up for the class specifically for its lack of an exam) but he insisted and I complied because I was an adjunct and afraid of angering him. I even remember telling him “I can’t do that to them; it’s not fair” and him saying something like, “you are the professor and anything is fair”. Now, I am applying to another teaching position and this is the only class that has student evaluations and my new position asks me for evaluations. \n\nHow do I explain this to my new potential employer during the job application? I want to take responsibility but I also truly don’t know how else I could have handled this situation. I want to explain the situation but I don’t want to seem like I’m blaming my Department Head for the bad reviews, though I absolutely blame him. I worry blaming him will look like poor character during a job interview. All poor reviews specifically state this issue as the reason for my poor reviews- and I don’t blame them. The students should have been angry. I made it an extremely easy exam but it wasn’t fair to me or the students that my boss suddenly told me I needed to do this. \n\nMaybe more importantly, if a situation like this happens again- in which a Dept head insists I change my course or do something I know will be disruptive to the students after the course has already begun- what can I do to stand my ground and refuse to do it?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For future reference, you could have tried pushing back due to academic freedom, perhaps with the support of a faculty senate, union, or other department members. Or just refused to give in even without such support. Basically, the reasoning behind pushing back is that they’re not going to rehire you with shitty evals anyway, so might as well make a stand for academic freedom. \n\nCan you be selective about which parts of the evals you show? \n\nFirst semester teaching evals might not be weighted too heavily, especially during the pandemic. \n\nIf you do choose to include them as is, make a point in your teaching statement (or cover letter) about the importance of balancing being a team player, with what is best for students’ learning and the rigor of the class, and that students’ enjoyment of a class (which is what evals usually reflect) is secondary (or tertiary) to those." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why do elderly people sound old?\n\nWhat is it about one’s vocal chords/intonation/enunciation that causes them to physically sound older? I can tell when the person who answers the phone is young, middle aged or elderly. Why?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Voice and speech pathologist here. The aging of the voice is known as vocal senescence. The auditory characteristics that cause a perceptual change in aged voices were studied by Iwao Honjo and Nobuhiko Isshiki in an article in 1978 in the journal Oto-Rhino-Laryngologica entitled ‘Laryngoscopic and Vocal Characteristics of Aged Persons’ They reported that “laryngoscopic and vocal changes in aged persons were examined in 20 males and 20 females whose ages ranged from 69 to 85 years, with the mean of 75 years. From their recorded voices, assessment of voice quality, measurements of both the fundamental frequency, and the pitch perturbation were carried out.\n“The characteristic findings obtained were as follows: (a) the aged males tended to show a marked vocal cord atrophy and/or edema with a higher fundamental frequency of voice (mean of 162Hz) than that in adult males, (b) the aged females tended to have a vocal cord edema and slight hoarseness with a relatively lower fundamental frequency (mean of 165Hz) than that of adult females.\n“Vocal changes in senescence are characterized by slight hoarseness or a noticeable change in fundamental frequency of voice.\n“The change of vocal cords in terms of mass, such as atrophy or edema is considered to be the most responsible factor in the above vocal changes during senescence.”" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How insurance companies can legally not cover your various bills based on loop holes but are not required to pay you back for all your payments over the years?\n\nI have always found this as one of the saddest things about the world we live in today, and never understood it. How can one side not hold hold up their end of a deal and still keep all the payments they have recieved for that service?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You bought insurance against X. \n\nYou didn't buy insurance against Y.\n\nIf Y happens, there's no reason for the insurance company to do anything.\n\nIf you thought you were insured against Y, this would be frustrating for you, but still nothing to do with the insurance company.\n\nIf the insurance company deliberately made it difficult to understand what was and wasn't covered, or even led you to believe that you were insured against Y, now you might have cause to say they owe you something. But it's not having a loophole that would be the issue but deliberately concealing the loophole would be." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Spider-Man] How did Peter hide his massive new muscle build?\n\nIf his transformation was at the level of, say, Captain America, how could he have hid it from his parents? Also, how did he justify not needing glasses?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Peter never got massive. His strength is superhuman (and technically supernatural in many continuities), so while he's very well toned from his activities, he never got bulky.\n\nMeanwhile, Cap got a boost up to be the fastest and strongest that a regular human could be, a theoretical \"peak\" human who went from the stereotypical 98-lb weakling to well over double his original weight due to the massive physical gains." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Wondering if there’s a specific name for this “fallacy”...\n\nI have a lot of trouble with thinking “Welp. I’ve already fucked it, may as well give up completely.”\n\nFor example, if I get a bad mark on an assignment I lack motivation to keep trying for the rest of the course. My partner has taking to calling it “Reverse sunk cost fallacy.”" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This sounds more like a cognitive distortion than a fallacy. Perhaps \"faulty generalization\", \"jumping to conclusions\", or \"negativity bias\". You could look up a list of them online and see which apply to you." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: The play video/movie button (Triangle) should be shown when the video is paused, and the pause button (Two vertical lines) should be shown when the video is playing.\n\nThis is a minor UI thing in video/movie streaming services, but it bugs me for some inexplicable reason. Recently, in streaming services like certain versions of Disney Plus, the pause indicator appears when the video is paused, and the play button appears when the video is playing. Let's call this **Type A**. In many other services, the inverse is true: the play button appears when the video is paused, and so on. Let's call this **Type B**.\n\nThe reason why I think Type B is better is because the two buttons act as toggles. When you click the play button triangle, the video should play: the action matches the icon that you clicked. When you click the pause lines, the video should pause. In real life, when you press a labeled button, the action that resembles the label is what follows. \n\nTLDR; When the play button (Right facing triangle) is visible and you click it, the video should play. When the pause button (Two vertical lines) is visible and you click it, the video should pause. \n\nI'm open to having my mind changed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Type B works for pcs tablets and phones where you interact with the screen (finger or mouse). But for TVs type B makes no sense. There is no toggle, you use a dedicated button.\nSo if your service is mainly targeted for TVs go with type A." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How does the Nintendo 3DS work?\n\nHow does the 3DS display 3D gameplay with just turning the switch on?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The screen is displaying two images at once, in alternating vertical columns. In front of the screen is a barrier that blocks half of the columns. When you're at the right distance away from the screen, the barrier blocks one image entirely for one eye, and the other for the other eye, creating a 3D effect. At the wrong distance, you get a garbled mess of both images. Turning the effect off just causes the entire screen to display the same image. The barrier is still there, but now it doesn't matter what angle you view it from, both eyes will see the same image." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "When a star goes super nova, is the gold fused inside the star's core, or does the shockwave fuse matter in it's outer orbit? Neither/both?\n\nJust wondering. You folks are great." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The \"core\" never really fuses gold, as the core is only ever capable of fusing up to iron, and only the heaviest stars will ever get to that point. Smaller stars like our sun can only provide enough temperature and pressure through gravity to fuse up to oxygen and carbon, and then die out as white dwarfs. As gold is significantly heavier than iron, a star's core can never produce it while it's still \"alive.\" \n\n\nIron is the point at which further fusion reactions require you to add energy rather than the reaction producing any. That's the point at which the core suddenly collapses and begins the supernova, because the iron is not producing energy pressure to hold up the weight of the rest of the star anymore. \n\n\nAs the core collapses, unless it's so heavy that it collapses straight into a black hole, it stops and \"bounces\" at the point it creates a neutron star, which can hold itself up through other methods than fusion. The rebound shock wave briefly produces energies and pressures even higher than the fusion core of the original star. This brief period is capable of fusing the rest of the elements heavier than iron on the periodic table. \n\n\nHowever it's funny you ask about gold, because up until now, we didn't think this brief period during a supernova was sufficient to create the amount of gold we actually see in the universe. Very recently, we observed two neutron stars orbiting and colliding into each other. This seems to create enough temperature and pressure for long enough to explain the rest of the gold out there." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Star Trek] We just made first contact! The aliens say our planet is inside something called the \"Klingon Empire.\" What happens now?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You prepare a parade to welcome your new overlords. And thats to buy time for you to stockpile your valuables at the end of the parade route so they don't have to go looting. you don't want them to loot. Welcome to the Empire!" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "If evolution involves subtle changes in DNA structure, why aren't there more \"transitional\" species (e.g. more birds that can't really fly, or half-fish/half-land-creatures) alive today?\n\nIt seems like there would be an abundance of these transitional creatures, and the \"end result\" (species as we know them today) would be much smaller in comparison.\n\nNotwithstanding fossils that may exist but we have not yet found, shouldn't we see many of these creatures living in the wild right now? It seems like there should be *some* transitional species that, while their numbers are dwindling since they are at some sort of disadvantage, are nevertheless still around." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All the species are transitional. The word \"transitional\" only works retrospectively, as we normally do not know in which direction a species is evolving, and with several species to compare.\n\n\nedit: \n\nLet's take you, and next to you your mother, and her mother and so on. If you take enough mothers, you will eventually reach a mother that looks like a small, furry animal you have never seen before. But you can see all the mothers/daughters lined up. Some have more than one child that will turn out to be different animals. Monkeys are standing closer to you, and manatees further away.\n\nMind that it was of course not the same individual that gave birth to different species. Imagine painting with watercolors, and from a central red you go with one brush to green and with another to blue. If the steps inbetween are as small as in evolution, you won't be able to tell them apart for a very long time.\n\nTo come back to the transitional species: each of them is - retrospectively - a transitional state. But evolution has no goal to reach, and thus no end of the transition. Yes, you are the end at the moment, but with your children, it will continue." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Could a person determine their location or what year it is based on the position of the stars they see?\n\nOften in science fiction, when a ship or person is flung to an unknown location, they often use the position of the stars or either determine that they are in the past or they're in another galaxy.\n\nIs this possible?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes. Ancient navigators used the stars to determine their latitude all the time. The angle between Polaris and the horizon in particular can give you an idea of your latitude in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, the angle between a particular star and the horizon *at a particular time* can give you an idea of your latitude. (Longitude is determined by the difference between your local time and the time at the Prime Meridian.)\n\nIf you were somehow flung into the far future, you could get an idea of what year it is based on which constellations are visible at which time of year, something that changes over time. This is caused by a phenomenon called \"precession\", which is a fancy way of saying that the Earth wobbles on its rotational axis. (This happens to be why your astrological sign isn't what you think it is -- most astrologers use a date scheme that's many centuries out of date.)\n\nAlso, the stars move relative to each other over time, which causes distortions in the constellations. If you know the positions and velocities of the stars in a given year, you can extrapolate what year it is currently based on the difference between where you observe the stars to be and where they were in that other year.\n\nFinally, if you found yourself in a random place in the galaxy that was still within the sphere containing all the major stars in all the constellations, you could triangulate your position based on the known positions of those stars relative to the Earth, and where you observe those stars to be in your sky at your current location." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Terminator] Why do some terminators scream when they're about to die?\n\nLike the T-1000 in the molten metal and the T-X when it was going to blow up. Are they raging out?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Terminators are programmed to simulate human behavior in all its forms, although their ability to do so is hampered by the pre-settings of their chips. The only human behavior that is limited is stuff that would impact their mission (I.E, morals/emotion.) Since the mission is already failed at that point, the restrictions don't apply." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why is Braille not just bumped out letters of the alphabet?\n\nI'm pretty sure it's just because it would take up too much space, but am not sure." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That was the old system, before braille. \n\nBraille was specifically designed because the old system was near impossible to read for blind people. The similarities between letters like G Q O C were a massive annoyance, and placed a limit on how fast you could actually read. \n\nIn contrast, the easily distinguished individual dots were a huge improvement." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[MCU] What happened before Avengers Infinity War that led to Stark's incorporation of nanotech into his armor? The earlier Iron Man armors are advanced technology, then there's a leap to the armor being almost magical. Is there a reason for this incredible leap in technology?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Tony Stark's greatest limitation has always been his own lack of motivation and ambition. For most of his life, he did the bare minimum he could to maintain his position as a billionaire playboy. He improved the Extremis in one night while drunk. And based on Stane's interactions it doesn't seem like Tony wasn't that involved in the day to day business activities while at the same time the scientist working for Stark Tech, recognized that they weren't on par with Tony. \n\nIt wasn't until Afganistan that Tony gained any focus, but at that time he was only going up against Earth-based threats. The first few challenges he faced were people using derivatives of his own technology. He didn't need to innovate that much yet.\n\nThe next big push was the Invasion of New York, which showed him that there was a much bigger universe and larger threats. His reaction was the Ultron Project, this required a significant work but also ended up being a major failure. This left him back at square one while also his conversations with Thor further convinced him of the need for better weapons.\n\nAnd this is what leads to the nano-tech, Tony was now focused and eager to create something powerful. Tony always had the capacity to create nano-tech he just never had the drive to do it. But, once he had the motivation to sit down for a few months/years creating it wasn't an issue." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: People who claim *insert musician/band here* saved my life are almost always exaggerating and statements like this trivialize suicide.\n\nAs a big music listener, I constantly see references to certain songs \"saving\" people's lives. For example, comments on music videos on YouTube as well as Hopeless Records' series of compilations titled \"Songs that Saved My Life\". I can only imagine the majority of these claims aren't sincere / literal. \n\nIn my opinion, statements such as this greatly downplay the seriousness of suicide and are disrespectful to genuine suicide survivors. Whilst promoting discussion around mental health is important, portraying depression and other mental illnesses as \"cool\" is problematic and should be stopped." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "> portraying depression and other mental illnesses as \"cool\" is problematic and should be stopped.\n\nThey're not saying \"depression and suicide are cool\". They're saying it's cool how music can resonate with people, carry a message and encourage someone to keep going through seemingly hopeless times in their life." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Given the extreme difficulty of unifying Gravity with the other three fundamental forces is it not likely that it's just a completely unrelated phenomenon?\n\nAs I understand it gravity is a fairly stable deformation of spacetime (or, possibly the cause of the deformation, I'm unclear on the specifics), while the other three forces have no similar effect. In fact it seems to behave completely differently from the others, and to me this suggests it isn't similar enough to be unified (seems like suggesting that a rope and a phone call are similar because they can, given the right circumstances, be used to move an object closer to me). Why, then, is there such a strong desire within the physics community to unify them? Or (and I consider this far more likely, given my relative ignorance on the subject compared to actual physics researchers) am I completely missing something?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As is always the case in research, we don't know in advance how things will work out, so certainly the quest for unification is driven by aesthetics. \n \nHowever, there are scientific similarities that can be found among the forces. For example, all the forces we know of are founded on what are called *local symmetries*---the equations of motion are left unchanged by transformations that can vary from point to point in space and time. Furthermore, it is known that if you take gravity in a higher number dimensions and reduce it to the world we know (3 space and 1 time dimensions), the resulting theory looks like gravity as we know it in 3+1 dimensions plus some additional things, and those additional things naturally appear as gauge theories, the same class of theories that our models of the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces fall into." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Does colorblindness affect the functionality of old-school 3D glasses?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It’s not seeing in red or blue that makes the glasses work. It’s the red or blue light being stopped by the lenses before it ever hits the eye. This splits the combined image into two separate images." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Robot/Empire/Foundation] In over 20,000 years of Galactic History, Spacer tech of robots and life extension never re-appeared across Galactic culture. Why?\n\nThere was a huge culture clash between the the first interstellar culture, the Spacers, which started out in the 21st century, and the Settlers which came 1500 years later. Spacers viewed Settlers as declasse and vulgar, and Settlers viewed the Spacers, genetically engineered to live over 400 years, as effete and decadent, hopelessly dependent on robots, and had a great dislike of Spacer technology. \n\nEventually the Settlers won out and the Spacer populations either died out or were absorbed into Settler populations. But the Settler wave of immigration started around 3500 AD and the Galactic Empire was founded around 12000 AD. By that time, the conflict between the Spacers and Settlers was ancient history and the Spacers were all long gone. The Galactic Empire lasted 12000 years before the Foundation, and by that time even the existence of Earth was a lost, forgotten memory. During this time, it was explicitly stated that not even the Emperor of the Galaxy had access to life extension. \n\nSo in over 20,000 years of time and technological advancement, none of the tens of thousands of worlds of the Galaxy, during pre-Empire, Empire, or Foundation times, ever re-introduced either robotics or life extension? How did this not happen?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "R. Daneel Olivaw is why. \nSeeing what life extension technology did to the Spacers, Daneel was convinced it was in humanity's best interest that such technology not be used. \nFrom there he is compelled by the Zeroth Law to manipulate human affairs such that the technology never gets redeveloped." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "When I donate blood, I sometimes wonder: What happens if the blood recipient is allergic to something I recently ate?\n\nDo the allergens make it into the blood stream or does the digestive system destroy any molecules that could create an allergic reaction?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Food allergies typically act on tissues the food encounters before digestion, such as the oral and esophageal mucosa, resulting in swelling or rashes of the throat leading to constricted airways. Once the food enters the stomach the allergens are broken down before entering the bloodstream, so blood to blood transmission of allergens is minimal." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Chinese Politics; how does it work?\n\nI'm a Westerner who hears so many conflicting things about Chinese politics. I like to think I understand the US political system pretty well but the Chinese one I don't understand at all. Is it communist? Is it capitalist? Is it democratic? \n\nMaybe this is the wrong kind of question for ELI5. I don't think most five year olds even know what politics really is. But if someone could try and explain it to me that would be great." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Chinese government is probably best described as market-Leninism. The economy is fairly free market and capitalist with private citizens allowed to own property and even start their own businesses. The government however is still very similar to the original political system devised by early revolutionaries like Lenin. The government is completely controlled by the communist party from the village to the national level. The party has 3 main responsibilities: personnel, propaganda, and the PLA. \n \nUnlike the US where the US military is the military of the US, the PLA is not the military of China, but is rather the military of the party. As a result the military becomes very powerful politically within the party, something that would never happen in the US. Chinese leaders must have the full backing of the military in order to be effective. \n\nThe party is also responsible for controlling the media. The Propaganda Department controls how much coverage should be given to certain topics. For example lots of press coverage was given to the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands standoff with Japan while protests in Tibet are pretty much ignored. \n\nThe party is also responsible for overseeing the appointment of all officials and positions of influence. All personnel decisions must be made with the approval of the Organization Department. \n\nIn terms of policy making, the most powerful organ is the Politburo Standing Committee, which is made up of 5-9 party members each responsible for one thing, who then make decisions based on consensus. The National People's Congress (Chinese Congress) is theoretically the most powerful but mainly serves to simply approve everything the PSC does. Occasionally they will make mediate any sort of policy differences/conflicts between different parts of the party.\n\nThe most powerful person within the PSC is the Paramount Leader (Xi JinPing) who also holds the office of President, General Secretary of the Party, and Head of the Central Military Commission. He's the most powerful person in China and the person who hold the most power and influence but his word is not the law (as it was back in the Mao era). He must cooperate with the rest of the PSC and party.\n\nFinally there is the State Council, which is headed by the Premier (Li YuanChao) which administrates everything by issuing directives/orders, drafting bills for the PSC/NPC, and balancing the budget. The State Council is where the party and the government fuse together. \n\ntl;dr there are 3 branches: The party, the government, and the military. The party's decisions are made by the PSC (headed by the President/Paramount Leader) with the approval of the NPC. The government is embodied by the State Council, led by the Premier, and is responsible for administrating everything and putting everything together. The military is the PLA, which is responsible for keeping order and its support is also needed by the rest of the party." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Does Earth have the most varied elemental composition in the solar system?\n\nOn the surface, Earth looks like a very diverse planet compared to the monotone wastelands of the other planets. However, I wonder if this translates to actual elemental diversity, I.e. a relatively high standard deviation of atomic number." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If you don't count man-made elements, Earth is pretty typical for the inner planets in our solar system when it comes to abundance of elements. \n\nDuring the birth of the Solar System, the orbits of the inner planets was too warm for *volatile* molecules like water and methane to condense. Thus, Venus, Earth Mars etc have a lot more compounds with high melting points, such as metals and rocky silicates, since these compounds clumped together during accretion while the volatile compounds continued to float around until the were captured by the high gravity planets forming in the outer solar system. \n\nThe terrain looks diverse because earth's gravity is strong enough to keep an atmosphere, and the temperature is *just right* for water in the atmosphere to be liquid some of the time. This liquid water forms oceans, causes erosion, and makes it possible for life to form. Those oceans, erosions and life is what provides the zest or color to our landscapes.\n\nFor a look at what the elements in earth would look like without water or an atmosphere, just look at the moon. It's a monotone wasteland with pretty much the exact same elemental abundance as the earth." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: You either support the troops, or you support war. You can't support both.\n\nAs we continue to see our veterans be treated poorly (or not treated at all) by the VA. I remind myself of all the \"Support Our Troops\" slogans that were plastered everywhere just a few years ago. It makes me think that people really don't care about the toll war takes on soldiers and their families. What they actually support about is war itself, because 'Murica.\n\nI honestly believe that if you truly support the troops, then you should actually SUPPORT them when they are in need. I feel we have an obligation to as a country.\n\nWhen I hear people say \"Support The Troops\", I ask myself if they truly support the men and women who fight for our freedom, and their families, and if they would do what they could to help a veteran in need. Do their lives and well being actually mean something to them? Or are they just supporting the fact that we are in war?\n\nSeeing the way our vets are being treated now, it makes me feel like you can either support our troops, or you support war, but you can support both." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": ">It makes me think that people really don't care about the toll war takes on soldiers and their families. What they actually support about is war itself, because 'Murica.\n\nThat's why the slogan is \"Support Our Troops\" not \"Support Our War\" , the statement suggests you think about the human element not just the ideological/political reasons for the war." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why is Qualcomm able to hit 5nm but Intel is stuck on 14nm and amd is still pushing 7nm?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I think there's a huge dIfference between x86_x64, and ARM. Also Intel manufactures their own chips in-house, while qualcomm (and AMD) use external parties. That basically means that all required machinery and tooling already exists and is primed, meaning qualcomm and AMD 'just' need to engineer the chipsets, then have them made at whoever has the tech to do so.\n\nIntel needs to buy all their own tools/machinery/factories.\n\nWhy intel won't just find a 3rd party, i don't know. But it's nice to see them bite the dust for once." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "If entropy is a measure for the amount of disorder in a system, why is it at its maximum when equillibrum is achieved?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Entropy is not a measure of disorder but of your lack of information about the state of the system. When a system is in thermal equilibrium, the number of possible actual microstates the system can find itself in is maximum, therefore your knowledge about it is minimum, and entropy is maximum." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why do planets further from the sun receive less energy from its light? How does 'empty' space diminish this energy?\n\nI was researching the factors that influence the surface temperature of planets and I was expecting to find that atmosphere composition (greenhouse gases and what not, Venus as an example) was the main factor, but it turns out the most important one was distance from the sun. How can light traveling through 'empty' space lose energy?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Imagine you build a spherical shell around the sun, just bigger than the sun itself, and that the shell is absorbing all the incident radiation. Each square-meter of this shell would be receiving a very large amount of power from the sun. Then imagine you double the radius of that shell. Now, because its surface area is four times the size but it's still receiving the total output of the sun, each square meter receives one-fourth that which it was receiving when the shell was smaller. Now imagine you expand the shell even more, so that it has the same radius as Earth's orbit. Now the total output of the sun is divided among a *very* large area, so each individual area is not receiving nearly as much energy. So the light isn't losing energy, it's just getting more spread out." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "If chimps held slaves would we be morally obligated to intervene?\n\nLet's say there were chimp castes and those at the bottom were treated horrendously." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Look up the moral status of animals. A defender of the integral moral status of animals would claim they have the exact same rights as us. And if we are entitled to not being enslaved, and obliged to stop human slavery, it follows that we'd have to stop it.\n\nOthers believe animals have no rights, or at least not the same as humans. In the first case there'd be no moral obligation at all to stop chimp slavery, and in the first, a possibility of so.\n\nIt's interesting how the act itself suggests animal moral worth, especially for those that deny it. Many defend this moral anthropocentrism, the thesis that only humans have moral worth, by grounding moral status in rationality. And since humans are the only animal with an obvious rationality, it follows that they are the only ones with moral worth.\n\nStill, some (like Descartes, famously) denied any kind of sentience to animals, usually for theological reasons (though whether or not that is his case is debatable). He famously insisted animals do not have souls and therefore do not perceive anything. A wounded dog only seems in pain, but it is a mere organic automaton." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5- what is an ego death?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's the experience of losing track of your sense of self, typically in the context of using a psychedelic drug, but also potentially during intense meditation.\n\nThe Ego in this context is the Freudian concept of the Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id operates in the subconscious - it's your instincts, your desire to feel pleasure, your primitive drive to survive. The Ego is your sense of self, your self-esteem, your conscious decision making ability, your experience of reality. The Superego is like your conscience - it's where morality, guilt and anxiety come from.\n\nSo, an ego death is a detachment from reality and from your sense of self." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Harry Potter] Is Fiendfyre a difficult spell, difficult to find a teacher for, or something else?\n\nI find it very strange that the only person to use such a powerful spell in the entire series struggled with his magical studies and showed no particular aptitude for casting spells compared to his peers." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No.\n\nFiendfyre isn't a difficult spell, not in terms of ability. Crabbe cast it, and he was thick as two bricks. It does require a bit of magical power, which Crabbe has through practice if nothing else - he can manage a Killing Curse, which according to Crouch requires a fair bit of power. Fiendfyre is a monstrously powerful spell and easy enough to learn. It makes up for that by being ridiculously dangerous. Crabbe died casting it. It consumed the entire Room of Hidden Things in minutes. It is simply too dangerous for anyone without enormous willpower and control to cast, if they have half an ounce of sense." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Would the assembly of the ISS have been cheaper if the NASA used traditionnal rockets instead of the shuttle?\n\nI have been hearing criticism toward the shuttle for being terribly inefficient, yet I also heard others claim it was great for assembling the station." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Almost certainly.\n\nIt's a simple comparison of cost per launch, to payload deliverable to LEO per launch. At around 50K pounds of lifting capacity to 450,000,000 per launch we can say the Space Shuttle spend about 9,000 dollars per pound it pushed into orbit. By contrast, the Saturn V could throw over 300,000 pounds to low earth orbit, and cost around 110,000,000 dollars per rocket(186,000,000 if you consider the total program costs). That gives us a *much* lower price of a mere 367(620 with program costs) dollars per pound lifted into orbit.\n\nThe Space Shuttle was a marvel of engineering, but from a cost-benefit perspective it sucked." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How can such a small dose of medication have such a huge impact in the way our bodies work?\n\nI take some medications prescribed by my doctor. These medications are all prescribed in milligram doses ... when you take into consideration I’m a male of 190lbs, I just can’t fathom that such small quantities can have such drastic effects on how my body functions. Another example: I hear on the news the rise of drugs laced with Fentanyl and that all it takes is a few grains to kill you. How is this even possible?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This question is wildly broad, since the mechanism of action for various substances can be wildly different. But metaphorically, it's the same way you can demolish a high rise without explosives on every wall. We think of our bodies as a distinct unit, but they aren't. They're huge conglomerations of various systems. You don't need to affect everything; you just need to affect one special piece of a given system." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why does salt water dehydrate you when salt helps you retain water?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Part of the problem is, seawater is really salty, about 3.5% salt by weight. An 8 oz (227 g) serving of seawater contains about 8 grams of salt. That's a lot of salt! The recommended maximum per day for sodium is 2.3 grams, which corresponds to 5.8 grams of NaCl table salt, about the same as in 1 teaspoon.\n\nBy comparison, bodily fluids like blood serum, cytoplasm, or interstitial fluid, are only about 0.9% salt by weight. When seawater comes into contact with cells in the intestines, where water is usually absorbed, osmosis pulls water out of those cells until the concentration is equal on both sides of the cell walls. So for every 8 oz serving you consume, your intestines want to supply 31 oz of water to equalize the concentration of salt.\n\nSo right there you're going to have problems, but in addition to your body dumping a bunch of water into your intestines, it's also going to absorb some of that salt and put it into the bloodstream. Your kidneys will be like \"Whoa! Too much salt!\" and try to get rid of it. But the only way they have to get rid of it is to concentrate salt into your urine, and they can only make that a little less salty than seawater. That means they're going to have to get rid of water to get rid of salt. They're expecting you to resupply your body with freshwater, and they don't have a backup plan when you don't do that. So now you've got diarrhea and your peeing too much, and you're probably vomiting too - you're probably going to die of dehydration.\n\nWhen eating salty foods, it's a different story, usually. The mix of liquids and food in your intestines isn't going to be nearly as salty as seawater, so your body will be fine with just absorbing the salt and the water. But if you eat a lot of salt, it's still going to want to pull water out of your cells, so your cells end up a little dehydrated unless you drink a lot of liquids. So then you get a lot of liquids in your blood, and you get high blood pressure. Then your doc prescribes a diuretic so you'll pee some of that extra water out, and the salt you ate along with it." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why does the iPhone require a passcode after restart if the fingerprint scanner is secure?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As was made famous by the FBI/Apple confrontation from last year, recent iPhones do a pretty decent job of encrypting all content stored in the phone. The way the encryption works is that the *master key*—the big, 256-bit secret number that's required to decode the phone's contents—is never stored in the phone's permanent memory, but rather reconstructed when it's needed. Reconstructing the master key requires two pieces of information:\n\n* The phone's secret unique ID, stored in the processor when it is built;\n* The passcode selected by the user.\n\nThe fingerprint scanner cannot be used for this, because it's an *inexact* scanner that doesn't produce the same result twice. It's like taking two photos of the same person—you can recognize that it's the same person in the two photos, but the photos won't be identical. But reconstructing the master key requires an exact match—something that's possible with a passcode but not with a fingerprint scanner.\n\nSo the phone uses the fingerprint scanner to reduce the frequency at which you'd need to reenter your passcode. The phone can only use your fingerprint to let you in when the master key is available in temporary memory. Restarting the phone loses the content of the temporary memory, so you must reenter the passcode." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "What constitutes \"excessive parental criticism\"?\n\nHello friends,\n\nI'm studying the aetiology of social anxiety disorder and excessive parental criticism is listed as a possible factor in my lecture, as it undermines self-confidence. Does anyone know to what extent *excessive* criticism would be? Its probably hard to say but how frequent is excessive?\n\nAnother related question: Is criticism in jest still considered criticism in a context such as this? \n\nThank you!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Criticism is different from guidance. Parents should guide, not criticize.\n\nJest has double meaning, and thus require a certain level of advanced processing to decode. Age and intelligence is a big factor here." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[IronMan 3] How does Tony Stark's new armor work?\n\nSorry for the vague question. What I want to know is how does Tony's armor become front loading, rear loading, even able to eject him and release only his leg? Its not nano-tech is it?\n\nHe enters his armor sometimes from the front, sometimes from the back... how does that work?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He gave each bit of the armour its own independent processor. Up to the Battle of New York he had to attach bracelets to his wrists in order for his armour to find him and suit him up. \n\nRealising that this was a problem Stark upgraded each piece of armour so that it could work independently of every other piece. That way, if he was ever falling off a building again getting at least enough to let him fly would save him from crashing, even if he didn't have the full suit." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[general fantasy] Why do undead have trouble crossing moving water?\n\nFrom all I've heard, moving water terrifies them. and they need solid earth of some kind beneath their feet. This implies many different things. But why is it so?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It depends largely on the undead, but a great deal of the relation between Vampires and running water likely stems from the early tradition of baptizing in a river, in emulation of John's baptism. Rivers becamme a symbol of holy cleansing. \n\nOther possible explanations derive from a Vampires association with the Earth (resting in and depending on the earth of their burial site). Water is particularly potent and element against Earth, and the Vampires are weakened by its rapid movement.\n\nAs for other undead... Running water can carry a great deal of force. Maintaining the cohesion of Zombies or Skeletons could be difficult if something is always tearing forcefully at them." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[MCU]How do Hulk's pants stay on?\n\nIn comics, Reed Richards made pants specifically for Bruce, so where does he go for all his pants?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the Battle of New York, luck that they stretched without breaking. Though the pair he was wearing before the battle got removed and/or destroyed sometime between the SHIELD jet he was tearing up exploding and him landing and reverting to Banner. After that, Stark designs pants meant specifically for Code Green situations." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why are mosquitoes more active at sundown?\n\nI go outside on my front porch for smoke breaks at all different times of day and night. Since mosquitoes in Texas are nothing unusual I do get bitten when I go out but I've noticed in the very late afternoon, early evening around sunset there are more of them. If I go out at late at night, dawn, morning or early afternoon I get a bite or two. I go out around 6-9 or so and I'm a buffet. Why?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Their skin is really thin, so thin that the sun kinda dries it out and it's not good for them to be in the full sun, but when the sun goes down, it's nice and moist and they can fly around without the harsh sun harming their fragile skin." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How close are we to be able to use nuclear fusion to produce our energy?\n\nI was taught when I was in school that fusion, at that time, took more energy to achieve than was released. However I heard someone claiming that we are very close to achieving fusion with a net energy output (I think its called cold fusion?). How true is this?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Barring any unprecedented breakthrough, we're still very far (read: decades) from using nuclear fusion in a commercially viable manner.\n\nWe can already do fusion in experimental reactors. That's not new. We can also do fusion in a way that more energy is produced than is used in H-bombs. The problem is combining the two :)\n\nA nuclear fusion reaction is rather hard to achieve and the essence of the problem is one of scale: The larger and more extreme the setup, the higher its efficiency. Current experimental reactors are too small to produce more energy than they consume. So the goal is to make a reactor that is bigger and operates at even higher temperature and pressure to go beyond the threshold of \"Q = 1\" (Q is the ratio between output and input energy, if Q > 1 then more energy is produced than consumed).\n\nThe current big project is ITER, this is planned to be the first fusion reactor to achieve Q > 1. The design goal is to reach Q = 10. But targets for continuous operation are only in the order of magnitude of hundreds of seconds (several minutes). Large parts of ITER and supporting infrastructure are currently being built in southern France. The project is scheduled to have its first plasma operations inside the reactor in 2020 and start fusion reactions in 2027. \n\nBut these are just schedules and delays can't be excluded since there is a lot to figure out still. The conditions inside the fusion plasma will be unlike anything we've made so far and even though magnetic fields will be used to prevent the fusion plasma from touching the vessel walls, making a reactor vessel that can withstand such stresses and still allow for energy to be extracted is a challenge, to say the least.\n\nAnd while ITER is designed to generate more energy than it consumes, it's still very much an experimental device, set up for scientific purpose and not commercial application. The followup to ITER, called DEMO is a prototype of a potential commercial plant built on the same principles as ITER, but slightly larger. Its very tentative schedule has first operation starting in 2033, with an upgrade/expansion already planned afterwards and the second, final phase of operation starting in 2040. But this very strongly depends on whatever we learn with ITER. And DEMO is still a demonstration model, not something that will be mass produced. \n\nNext to ITER and DEMO, which will use a technique called \"magnetic confinement fusion\" in a \"tokamak reactor\", there are several other avenues being explored. The donut-shaped tokamak reactor has an alternative in the so-called stellarator, which also uses magnetic fields to confine the plasma. In addition to magnetic confinement, fusion has been achieved using intertial confinement, which essentially involves a fuel pellet being forced to implode due to exposure to lasers, causing the outer layers being pushed inwards and confining the fusion reaction in the inner layers of the pallet.\n\nAll these techniques work, but none work at an efficiency that allows for commercial application. Currently tokamak reactors are in the lead when it comes to scientific attention, as evidenced by the ITER megaproject, but the jury is still out on what'll end up winning the race.\n\nYou hear cold fusion being mentioned from time to time as an easy and affordable alternative that does not involve effectively putting the sun in a small box and hooking it to the powergrid. In the late '80s there was some buzz about scientists allegedly finding fusion reactions taking place in conditions close to room temperature. \n\nHowever, these findings were quickly disproven. These days, there's still a fringe community that revolves around the notion that cold fusion is possible in the way that was described back then. They also use the term \"Low Energy Nuclear Reaction\" (LENR). From time to time, some news article appears claiming a new device delivering practically free energy using something related to cold fusion / LENR. \n\nUnfortunately, there has been no independent scientific proof of such a device actually delivering on its promises. When tests are being published, they're often of very poor quality, done by people affiliated by the creator or done without the researchers having full access to the device (At one point a test report described a cable being attached to the device without the researchers being allowed to see where the cable lead or to unplug it).\n\nSo for now, cold fusion / LENR is fringe activity that is riddled with scammers and people that are a bit too trusting. If cold fusion or something similar would be possible, it would be the holy grail to solve the energy puzzle. Because while \"regular\" nuclear fusion is a perfectly achievable process, actually getting useful power out of it is a large challenge it's unlikely that it will be the source of widely available, virtually unlimited clean energy this century." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[MCU] If the president of the United States is blipped in IW and replaced, who gets to president when he/she comes back?\n\nI imagine that in the interim either the VP will step in, or within 5 years time an election might have actually been held. But assuming the president rematerializes on some toilet in the White House, what happens next?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The term of the President runs for four years from the Inauguration, regardless of whether or not the person elected is actually *serving* that office every day of it. A Blipped President is, effectively, a Dead president, and that means the VP is sworn in as President to serve out the remainder of the term (or whomever is senior-most in what's left of the line of succession). If the administration declared the blipped President to be officially dead, then the successor is sworn in *as* President, and is President for the rest of the term, whether or not the \"dead\" person somehow miraculously returns to life. If the administration decides that the blipped President isn't quite *completely* dead, but is instead just \"missing\", then the cabinet (or whomever is left) signs a letter assigning the powers of the President to the appropriate successor as \"Acting President\" (this is what happens when a President is incapacitated, such as being in surgery or a coma). This preserves the option of returning said powers to the proper President once the \"disappearance\" has ended. \n\nBut, regardless, the term of that particular presidency ends four years to the day after it starts. So when President Disappearo suddenly reappears five years later, it doesn't really matter. They're no longer President, by any legal measure, and haven't been for quite some time. \n\nSo when they rematerialize on the toilet in the White House, they're politely informed of the situation and escorted off the premises. Or, well, the very nice and appropriate version of that. But they're not President anymore." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Black Mirror: Bandersnatch] Spoilers: A question regarding the fate of one of the characters.\n\nIn the timeline where Colin jumped off the balcony, and then later went AWOL at work in a future play through, did Stefan kill him? The show doesn't give a definitive answer on Colin's fate, other than Stefan mentioning he saw Colin kill himself in a dream.\n\nIn universe explanations, please. :)" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "i dont have an answer but he doesnt come back if he jumps and you reset to before that so maybe he's not dead if he didnt come back, and he remembers the first convo the way it happens the second time *even if you didnt go there*\n\ni bet he's either the demon or he's at least a self aware \"questgiver\" npc since he doesnt seem to have any autonomy but he's aware through timelines.\n\nhas anyone mapped the scenes he's there for?" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[LotR] How does Aragorn claim the throne of Gondor if Isildur abdicated?\n\nDidn't Isildur abdicate the throne of Gondor to his nephew Melindil prior to heading North to rule over Arnor? If so, how does Aragorn, a descendant of Isildur, have a claim to Gondor?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Isildur never abdicated. Just as his father, Elendil, committed rule of Gondor to himself and Anárion while ruling as High King of both Arnor and Gondor from the North, so did Isildur commit rule of Gondor to Meneldil while he traveled North to rule as High King. The right of rule over both Gondor and Arnor as High King technically passed to his son Valandil, but effectually it ceased to exist (except for a failed claim by the last King of Arnor, Arvedui) until Aragorn came along and reasserted it some 3000 years later." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Does the government know about the Men In Black?\n\nIn the first movie, it was said that the Men In Black is funded independently, and not part of any government branch. And it's obvious that law enforcement has no clue about them because we saw them mind wiping people in the NYPD building. So does the government know about the organization or is it just that covert? I don't recall them ever talking about contacting the president, and their own members are even forced to forget about it after reaching an age of retirement (Some time in their late fifties it seems, unless they get promoted to a position of leadership). So I guess my real question is: does anyone but the MIB know of the organization's existence? (I mean actually knowing for certain of their existence, because I know the movies established that they were kind of an urban legend, but let's not count that)." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At one point the government *did* know about the MiB. They began as a poorly-funded organization in the 1950s, one which few took seriously, until the Baltians made contact.\n\nBaltian First Contact occurred on the night of Thursday, March 2nd, 1961 when a group of Baltian refugees landed on Earth just outside New York City. They came here on a mission to establish Earth as an apolitical neutral zone for aliens in need of a planet to relocate. This meeting became a cornerstone event in the formation of the Men in Black.\n\nThe MiB have since severed any connection with the US Government on the grounds that they were too intrusive. Not too long after, the Baltians left Earth for reasons not given and their current whereabouts remain unknown." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why are semi-auto marksman rifles not as accurate as bolt-actions?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There are a lot less variables with a bolt action. They are simple and strong, and that makes for less ‘play’ in the action. Semi autos use a gas system, rechamber based on recoil and basically have more moving parts, which is more that can throw off the ballistics of a given shot. They are also often constructed to be more portable, and light. Which results in shorter barrel length, which means reduced accuracy. (I seem to have been informed this is more to do with velocity than ballistics, fair enough)\n\nMost modern sniper rifles also use more powerful rounds than ‘traditional’ rifle cartridges, such as 338 lapua magnum. These rounds offer superior ballistics, but are impractical for use in a marksman rifle, on the move with an infantry section.\n\nThat said, it’s not always true. A modern marksman rifle is produced to a higher standard of accuracy than a bolt action sniper rifle from 100 years ago." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How does animal testing really work?\n\nI was thinking about it and realized that I’ve got a lot of preconceptions from my teen vegan years (Yeah, I used to be that guy). I still think we’re unnecessarily cruel to animals in many ways but definitely no longer trust PETA as a reliable source. So, does the US government really require new shampoo products to be poured over cute bunnies’ eyes before entering the market or is that just BS? Can anyone enlighten me on when and why animal testing is necessary leaving the moral discussion aside?\n\nThanks in advance.\n\nEdit: Thanks for the responses, guys! I’m all for medical testing, which I understand covers the vast majority of animal experiments. I’m still against cosmetic testing, regardless of how the suffering is minimized, but it was nice to hear from people who work at the labs and learning that they do care about their animals.\n\nAlso, for the record, I wouldn’t trust PETA to take care of a plant." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I don’t know the specifics for shampoo. But for animal research, before any experiment you need to write up a proposal that dictates why the animals needs to be tested, and the measures you will take to do it in the safest way possible, using the least number of animals. You also need to show why it is imperative animals need to be used, and the good that will come out of it.\n\nIt is Incredibly regulated, and scientists take great care to do it the best way possible. At the end of the day animal testing saves lives by providing necessary medication and vaccines that would not be available without it." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: if an identical twin get children, and their children take a DNA test, will it say that they are half brother/sister?\n\nI mean they don't get children together, but they both get a partner and then get children. (No game of thrones)" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In short, yes. Since identical twins have the same DNA, their offspring will then have DNA that suggests that they share a same parent. This emphasized even more if a set of identical twins have kids with another set of identical twins, in which case a DNA test will identify them as full siblings (with respect to genetic similarity)." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why do some pictures look like they are sharper and better than real life?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Real life has so much extra visual information that cannot be filtered out, which can distort the way things appear. For example, glare, unpolarized eye structure, differential strength between a person's two eyes, varying iris apeture, and most importantly, varied visual ability person to person. \n\nCameras can filter out glare to make an image sharper. They can enhance color and brightness to correct for ambient light variations, they can used polarized lenses to reduce distortion from horizontal reflections etc." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: What happens to dust particles that get in to the eyes and lungs?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If they truly get deep into your lungs, they may become trapped there, but that's a relatively hard place to reach. Most are caught before then in mucus lining your airways. Tiny moving cilia work in concert to gradually move this mucus towards your throat, where you either swallow it or cough it out. \n\nDust in your eyes is flushed out with tears, either onto the face if the irritation (And the crying) is great enough, or by draining into your nasolacrimal duct into the back of your nose/throat." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How can mercury be so dense, yet still be a liquid?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The density of a substance doesn't necessarily correlate to its physical state of matter. For example, solid water (ice) is a solid, but it's actually less dense than liquid water because of the \"honeycomb\" structure that water molecules adopt when forming certain types of ice. \n\nSo, just because something is less dense doesn't mean it should be a liquid or gas." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why is an open-source OS considered more secure than a closed source?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For open source systems, the computer code that makes up that system is public, and anyone can read through it. So if someone has left some sort of backdoor or security flaw, it can be caught and fixed. \n\nClosed source systems have code that's only available to the people who make the software. It could have a dozen backdoors or security holes, and you'll never know unless it gets exploited and someone talks about it.\n \nThe idea is that if you can see how the system is put together, you can build a more secure system than one that works with code you cant see." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Bright] How would you safely test someone for Bright powers?\n\nAccording to the film, touching a magic wand with your bare hands will definitely tell you if you're a Bright... only problem is you'll will fucking *explode* if you aren't one. Is there any other means of testing a person for Bright abilities that doesn't involve the chance of dying horribly?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Based upon the one dude interrogated by the feds, Brights are somewhat recognizable by folks.\n\nHe pegged the one cop as special after only a few moments with him.\n\nSo while holding a wand is a 100% answer, there are other methods known to magic users and their followers." } ]