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[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Captain America: Winter Soldier] What was the political fallout from Project: Insight?\n\nAlong with the whole Mandarin trouble, which got the VP arrested, how badly did the US Administration take it in the shorts from its political enemies (and allies, for that matter)?\n\nFirst off, anyone who thinks that the UN is going to take over the US would have a field day with this, since SHIELD was overseen by the World Security Council.\n\nSecond, anyone who thinks the defense budget is too pork-laden is going to wonder just how much American money went into the building of three heli-carriers which are now so much scrap metal.\n\nThird, the complete leaking of SHIELD's database makes Edward Snowden look like a minor inconvenience.\n\nFinally, two branches of US government were infiltrated by Hydra; do we believe that it only went as far as Secretary Pierce, or Senator Stern from Pennsylvania, or will we get several senate and hosue committees asking \"Are you now or have you ever been a member of Hydra?\" (\"Nope, just a communist sleeper agent.\" \"Oh, well, that's fine then, on your way.\")"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Agents of SHIELD TV series Spoilers!\n\nSHIELD was shut down, with all still operating agents either retiring(and getting jobs elsewhere) or being labeled criminals and chased by various agencies like CIA and the military.\n\nThe larger public(including most governments) didn't differentiate between Hydra and SHIELD, to them this was just SHIELD going rogue as an organisation. So Hydra survived and established themselves as a legit corporation and soaked up a lot of the people leaving SHIELD."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why is AC used instead of DC in power transmission?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The short, short version is that it is easier (cheaper) to change voltage under AC than DC.\nYou want to use very high voltage when delivering power over a long distance, but you want to use (relatively) low voltage in a home or business (for safety)."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If your goal was to be a well-rounded programmer, and were granted perfect fluency in 5 languages, but only those 5. Which would you pick?\n\nYou are not able to read any different languages from these 5, but can read derivative languages as much as you would be able to anyway (i.e. PHP -> Hack, and vice versa) akin to real life\n\n*You cannot, however, write in the languages that you can read*"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You can read derivative languages? Cool.\n\n * C\n * Perl\n * Classical LISP\n * ML\n * Smalltalk\n\nAnd that covers basically every language as a derivative, as long as nobody shows up with COBOL or Forth code."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: Why are gas prices typically the only thing we sell to the $0.009? When and why did this start? If it's only supposed to be effective marketing then why do other products not use it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It started because of taxes. Back when gas only cost about 0.15/gallon the federal government decided they wanted a piece of that to build and maintain roads, so they enacted a 3/10 of a cent tax. Gas companies weren't about to eat that so they passed the cost along to customers. Since gas was only 15 cents, rounding up a whole penny would be too much and would drive customers to your competitor.\n\nEventually they noticed that people didn't round up. If you price something at 49.9 cents, people treat it like it's 49 cents, not 50. That's why damn near everything is priced like that. 2.99, 14,990, etc. So they get to pocket almost an entire cent per gallon that people don't even feel like they're paying."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Breaking Bad] Why did Gustavo Fring associate directly with street drug dealers?\n\n>!There were two drug dealers that were killed by Walter White running them over, Gustavo Fring referred to them as \"my employees\".\n\nWith all the precautions he took, this seems odd."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You still need street level distributors when dealing drugs, no matter how professional your operation. Gustavo kept himself separated from those low-level dealers anyway, so if any of them went to prison or got taken out in other ways none of them could turn on him."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: What is it that makes human beings orders of magnitude smarter than other animals, and why are we the only species with such intelligence?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "\"...on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same reasons.\""
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5:Why do identical twins have different fingerprints?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Debunking a popular misunderstanding of DNA:\n\nYour DNA does not contain enough information to describe every single cell and how they should be layed out. What it contains are patterns. So for instance, your skin is created by a pattern which says \"turn the outer layer of stem cells into skin cells and have them grow until they are so-and-so thick\". The cells themselves grow in semi-random ways as long as they obey the pattern. The whorls and rings in your finger pads are an example of this. The pattern of the finger pad is dictated by which cells divided when, and where they happened to be. With the exact same DNA, you will end up with a different skin pattern every time. This is true for identical twins, but it is also true for clones (assuming you had the technology to create them). Even if you grew two clones in identical tanks, the small bits of random chance in the arrangement of cells during development would give them different fingerprints."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5 why was leprosy such a big issue hundreds of years ago?\n\nI remember watching a documentary about a Greek town where they would send people with Leprosy. Why was leprosy such a big deal if 95% of people are immune to it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Before the cure for leprosy was discovered it was common throughout most of the world. North America was largely spared but the US did have it's own leper colony in Louisiana. If you contracted leprosy you were sent there to die. Ancient sources tended to call every skin disease leprosy, even what we now call leprosy today is actually three different diseases with different origins."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: Will a kickball that is pitched faster go further when it is kicked?\n\nWhy or why not? My friend tried to say it was related to Newton's \"Equal and opposite reaction\" thing, but I think the action here would be the kicker's foot, nothing to do with the ball. I believe that a faster pitch will be harder to kick because more force is required to turn it around."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Keep the elasticity of the ball in mind. The harder you throw a tennis ball against the ground, the higher it bounces, the same principal applies here. The kinetic energy of the ball is converted into elastic potential energy as the ball deforms against your foot, then is converted back into kinetic energy as the ball goes flying. More energy in yields more energy out.\n\nThe equal yet opposite reaction basically means that as your foot exerts a force on the ball, the ball exerts a force on your foot, which slows it down a small bit, but not a whole lot considering a human leg has much more mass than a kickball."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Rick & Morty] Does the dimension where all proper nouns begin with shmloo only affect English speaking countries or does it also affect countries where the native tongues have difficulty pronouncing shmloo?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Depends on which of the infinite number of universes where proper nouns begin with shmloo you're talking about. \n\nThere's the one where only *English* proper nouns start with shmloo, or there's the one where it's only *French* proper nouns, or Chinese proper nouns, or there's the one where it's all proper nouns, regardless of language. \n\nThere are also dozens of universes where proper nouns *end* in shmloo. \n\nThe thing about infinite universe is that you get infinite possibilities. So if your question is \"is there a universe where _______ is possible,\" the answer is basically always yes. \n\nWithin the scope of the show, it's difficult to know which *shmloo* universe we're talking about here because we only see English speaking scenes. If anybody's seen Rick and Morty dubbed in other languages then I'd be curious to know how they handled that particular scene, though."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Ultimate Marvel Universe] Was anyone a true hero, other than spiderman, in the Ultimate Marvel Universe?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Thor wasn't so bad. He was played like some kind of slightly creepy cult leader but he wasn't an outright asshole. \n\nCaptain Mahr-Vehl seemed nice, but he didn't show up that much. The Vision (who was really more of a Silver Surfer type character) was alright... and didn't show up that much."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: why do certain countries, such as the United States, seem to always be at war with someone? How have some countries managed to stay relatively peaceful? (Ex. Switzerland)"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The US has a large economy and far reaching economic interests. This puts it in conflict with almost anything ~~nasty~~ contentious on the planet, as somehow it impacts their interests.\n\nSwitzerland has a relatively narrow set of economic interests (banking) that encourage neutrality in conflicts. They also benefit by being close to powerful countries with a vested interest in protecting them from attack. This allows them to be protected by proxy."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is there a -- and if so, what is the -- \"feedback\" mechanism from the bladder to the kidneys? (Is there a message like, \"Stop already!!\"?)\n\nLike normal humans, I wake up in the morning, put on my glasses, and take a humongous morning pee. It has not been an emergency to get to the bathroom; I am not in pain; etc.\n\nThing is, I can void nearly the same volume an hour later.\n\nIt's almost like, say, at 3ayem the bladder told the kidneys to take a break for a few hours, then later called them back to work to \"finish the job\" -- which results in the large volume of the second trip.\n\nIs there a special nerve for handling this situation? Some special fast-acting enzyme that makes it back to the kidneys via the bloodstream? What?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No. The kidneys keep making urine regardless of what state the bladder is in. This is necessary because our bodies make waste continuously, so we need to make urine continuously. If there is a distal obstruction impairing urine flow (large prostate, big stones, neurologic injury, etc), the urinary tract dilates and can ultimately rupture. At a cellular level the kidneys do eventually become unable to filter as much urine due to back-pressure, but that's not something the body was actually trying to do, and is Very Bad. This can lead to temporary or permanent kidney failure. Relevant search terms here include obstructive acute kidney injury, hydroureter, hydronephrosis, calyceal rupture, and pelvic urinoma.\n\nThe reason you pee a lot in the morning is probably more due to your brain suppressing the urge to urinate overnight, possibly with a contribution from gravity. Standing up can certainly change the distending pressure on the nerves innervating the bladder and generate an urge to urinate."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "CMV: Laws against holocaust denial is a bad thing."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In Germany and Austria, holocaust denial laws are a historical legacy. \n\nIn the decades after WW2, those countries were such a mess that they could not afford to adhere to lofty ideals of absolute free speech. They had to be pragmatic in order to rebuild a civilized society. De-nazification was part of that effort. It is hard to imagine just how brainwashed society was. It is difficult to fix that without restrictions on free speech.\n\nNowadays, these laws are no longer necessary, but repealing them would send the wrong message and offend a lot of people, so Austria and Germany are stuck with them. \n\nThese laws are not as illiberal as they seem. You are not going to go to prison for denying the holocaust while talking to someone on a bus stop. In practice, only the people who express these views to larger audiences get prosecuted."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: What physically happens in your brain when you forget something?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If you can't recall something, then for some reason you can't connect the neurones that hold parts of that memory together, usually because other pathways are opening up and blocking it. But really we don't have a clear understanding of how memory works."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Marvel] How come Tony doesn't break his bones inside Iron Man suit?\n\nDoesn't it move in inhuman speed and absorb inhuman amount of damage?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "On Earth-616, Stark has heavily modified his body to withstand G-force and heal most of his injuries quickly, almost on par with the SSS.\n\nOn Earth-199999, common consensus is that the suit has a repulsor field that acts as an inertial dampener."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: Why is marijuana \"impossible\" to overdose on?\n\nEdit: totally forgot I posted this last night. For the first time in probably 6 months I was not on reddit during work hours... fml\n\nThanks for the answers and upvotes everyone!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Bluntly put, the median lethal dose (LD50) of THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) is so high and the methods of intake so dilute that you would have to do absolutely impossible feats to have it occur. While there are a couple of different and conflicting sources, one estimate placed it at 40,000 times as much as the dose needed to get high. This is contrasted with alcohol, where five to ten times the amounted needed to get you drunk can kill you. To extrapolate, With pot brownies you'd die of sugar poisoning long before the THC got you. With smoking, you'd have to smoke something like 1,500 pounds of weed in a period of 15 minutes.\n\nTo actually manage a THC overdose you'd have to spend a lot of effort to first purify a sizable quantity of THC and then ingest it rapidly. This would never happen accidentally."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do reliable food allergy/intollerance tests exists?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The short answer is no... skin tests are pretty good if they come up negative, but positive results are only accurate 50% of time. Oral tolerance tests done by a professional in a safe setting are most accurate but even those don't work for all types of allergies. Many types of food allergies have their own recommended tests. None of those random blood draw ones should be trusted, complete scam. This is for allergies though, which is completely different from intolerance. \n\nWhen it comes to intolerance, honestly the only reliable thing to do is strict elimination diet and very slow reintroduction. There are no tests which will show intolerance of all foods, again there are tons of different tests depending on what you're looking for... (breath test, stool samples etc) and even then some intolerances can change over time, even over a menstrual cycle. Intolerance is a pretty subjective term in general. Intolerance can mean foods cause anything from diarrhea, headaches, fatigue, bloating, general discomfort, attention disorders etc. \n\nBest thing is to take control of your own diet with a very detailed food log and symptom tracking. Read all labels and take the time to do full elimination diet. Talk to an immunologist if worried about allergies or a registered dietitian if worried about general intolerance."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Star Wars] How did only two Jedi survive (Obi Wan/Yoda) when only two other people in the galaxy knew how to sense/find Jedi (Vader/Palpatine)?\n\nI find it very far-fetched that all 10,000+ Jedi were killed after the clone wars ended. Let’s assume that after order 66 was completed 1,000-2,000 were killed by the clones. That leaves 8,000-9,000 Jedi left who had ample time to go hide. From what I understand, in the canon, Vader and Palpatine hunt down and kill all the rest of the Jedi by either the vast amounts of intel that come with running a galactic empire or by sensing their force power. I have trouble believing that 8,998 Jedi were hunted down and killed just based on those two things. It’s not like the Jedi are stupid, they should know how to hide across AN ENTIRE GALAXY OF PLACES TO HIDE. There are literally an uncountable amount of planets to hide on. Some may say “well Vader and Palpatine sensed their force and that’s how they were found,” but if Sidious could hide his force for 80 freaking years in the heart of the city where ALL THE JEDIS LIVED why didn’t all the other Jedi do this? We know that Obi Wan and Yoda do, so why did nobody else? I just find it hard to believe that they are the only two who were able to hide their forcenesss. STAR WARS REBELS SPOILER: also if Asoka is out of hiding or whatever how come Vader hasn’t sensed her before this. You’d think he would sense his own padawan quicker than anything or anyone else, especially if he has been travelling the galaxy hunting Jedi based on their force. Anyone got an answer?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You forget that Darth Vader, as one of the highest-ranking officers of the Galactic Empire, had access to nearly all the military reconnaissance resources in the known galaxy, as well as the funds to hire out mercenaries and bounty hunters as he saw fit. Arguably even worse, Palpatine very publicly made them enemies of the state, turning even civilians into eyes and ears against the Jedi, deterring them from venturing too close to civilization lest they be identified and reported. Even with their ability to conceal themselves, the Jedi Purge was a long campaign of attrition for them against a never-ending well of military force; most of the Jedi were haggard and worn-down after being on the run for close to nineteen years, making them much easier for Vader and his strike teams to track and eliminate. Now in power, the Empire had plenty of time to be thorough, after all.\n\nAs for your specific examples:\n\n - Darth Sidious is a particularly unfair point of comparison. The man was exceptionally powerful in the Force and specialized in manipulation and deception; he was quite probably the most skilled Force-user in the entire galaxy at concealing himself by a wide margin.\n - Yoda explicitly chose Dagobah to hide himself due to the energies radiating from the Dark Side Cave there being well-suited to mask his presence.\n - Obi-Wan Kenobi was closely familiar with Darth Vader, and as such was especially qualified to avoid his detection, especially considering the level of fine control he gained over his force abilities through years of meditation in the Tatooine desert.\n - The ability to sense the presence of another individual Force-sensitive being requires some relative degree of proximity; there's no reason why Vader should have been particularly aware of Ashoka's presence before being within shuttle distance of the same planet as her. Space is notably huge, after all.\n\n*EDIT: Typos.*"
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "2 years since I received my B.S. in Physics. Applied twice for Physics PhD Programs. Rejected twice. Currently working as a High School Physics Teacher. I want to go back to grad school, but I don't know how anymore. My current plan is to build up Summer Research Experience. Looking for advice. TIA.\n\n Hi everyone,\n\nI am in my mid-20s from the US. I am 2 years out of undergrad with a B.S. And here's my story. Got a full merit scholarship to a public university in a major city. Finished with a GPA of 3.4 and a B.S. in Physics. During undergrad I participated in a research lab doing work on photonics with TMDs and creating hybrid bi-layers using a stacking method. The next two semesters after I graduated I participated in a Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program at a National Laboratory working in Nuclear Data Science for the first and Theoretical Quantum Mechanics for the second.\n\nDuring these past two years I applied to many PhD programs. The first round of applications I was arrogant. I thought I could apply to a bunch of super duper advanced schools (IVYs and such) and definitely get into at least one. I learned it doesn't work that way. Second round I applied to schools at or lower in ranking than my undergrad. Thought a lower ranked school would be more willing to take a chance on me. Wrong again.\n\nBefore I received my last decision for the second round of applications I made a deal with myself: \"If I get rejected again, I'll take a break and try something else\". I got rejected again and tried something else. I am currently a physics teacher at a private high school in New England. And after a few months of working with uninterested and lazy students, I am so bored and disheartened. I didn't think every student would love math and physics, but the administration just pushes these kids through and I am pressured to walk the line.\n\nI need to try. I need to go back to grad school and see how far I can go. My current plan is to work here for a few more years and save as much money as I can; my family and myself aren't wealthy enough for me to just not have an income while I apply to grad schools. I also plan to accumulate as many accolades, research reexperiences, and letters of rec as I can before I apply again. That is what brings me here. As a teacher I have summers COMPLETELY OFF. I am currently searching for Summer Post-Baccalaureate Internships and Research Programs preferably in Experimental Particle Physics (I prefer theoretical, but I know it's harder to get into) OR PhD Bridge Programs with a stipend during the regular Fall and Spring semesters.\n\nThankfully other than money, I have no obligations or restrictions on where I can work, live, or travel to. I am open to living and working anywhere as long as it gets me closer to my goals.\n\nThank you to anyone who takes the time to respond and good luck to everyone else on their grad school journeys!\n\n**TL;DR - I want to go to grad school for a PhD in Physics. 2 years since my undergrad. A few random research experiences. Currently a high school physics teacher. ISO Summer Physics Research Programs.**"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Two thoughst:\n\nYou might want to pay someone to look at your application materials, but it sounds like something is very wrong with them. Sure, Ivy league schools are competitive, but if you are applying to grad schools of lower ranking and not getting any offers, then something must be wrong with your applications. \n\nIf you want to improve your chances of getting into a top ranked school and can afford it, you might consider an MS program as a stepping stone."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Does crime cause poverty or does poverty cause crime?\n\nI'm in disagreement with a friend of mine who's quite insistent that poverty doesn't cause crime, that it's the other way around. Is there much truth to this?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Neither. According to Quinney, in The Social Reality of Crime (1970), he argues that social inequality rooted in class conflict creates both poverty and crime. He also writes about this more thoroughly in Class, State, and, Crime (can't remember year, sorry). Poverty (the have nots) is a state of deprivation that is perpetuated or recreated by social, economic, political, and legal institutions dominated by the haves. Those in power shape the law in ways that (to use a common phrase) protect and serve their interests. Definitions of crime, and the criminal justice system, serve as a key mechanism of social control which recreates social inequality."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Dungeons & Dragons/Silence of the Lambs] What would Hannibal Lecter's alignment be?\n\nI've seen him used as an example for all three evil alignments in different places. Where would he be most likely to fit if he were a D&D character? I would lean towards saying he's Chaotic Evil, but wants people to think he's Lawful Evil."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Neutral Evil.\n\nThe Evil aspect should be obvious enough, what with the lies, deception, manipulation, and murder. The Neutral aspect comes from not having regard for law, or any sort of code or ethics that he lives by. Sure, he manages to stay under the radar, but that has more to do with him deliberately manipulating those around him than by living an upstanding life. He's not a raving maniac, so he can't be considered chaotic, either. Just pure, unrepentant, Neutral Evil."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why would it not be within the interests of the wealthiest individuals/companies to attempt to eradicate poverty?\n\nApologies in advance if this isn’t a particularly well thought out question - I have had no real education in economics so there may be an obvious answer to this. \n\nIt is quite often a moral criticism of billionaires/multinational corporations that they don’t do enough to try to eradicate poverty - this is often seen to be evidence of them lacking on a moral basis. However, as far as my limited knowledge can make out, it seems to be almost as much of an example of them lacking on the level of enlightened self interest and rationality - I would have thought that it would be more profitable in the long term for them if poverty didn’t exist.\n\nMy logic for this is fairly simple and can probably be summed up by this statement: someone who can barely make ends meet and put food on the table isn’t going to buy a car (or house or any other type of product or service that isn’t part of the bare minimum). So long as someone is living in circumstances where they have little money, they are excluding themselves from the potential customer base of almost every company (and even out of those who do supply the bare minimum items, most of them have large numbers of more ‘luxury’ items that would be excluded such as almost all of the food in a supermarket that isn’t as cheap as possible). If poverty were to be eradicated, it would ensure that for the majority of companies almost the entirety of the population is a potential customer, rather than the smaller subset it is currently.\n\nI understand there would be trade offs for this - it is my under that a less well off population creates more favourable labour market conditions for employers, as a desperate individual is more likely to agree to poorer (and thus cheaper) conditions. However, in the vast majority of cases it seems to me that the customer base of any given company will always be larger than its workforce, and by maximising it it also reduces reliance of repeat customers and other such things. Furthermore, while you might end up spending more on wages in a poverty free world, you would also have employees more likely to be wealthy enough to be able to buy your own products, meaning some of that money would end up reinvested into the company by itself.\n\nLike I said previously, I understand that this is an incredibly simplistic argument based on limited knowledge, so I am sure I have almost certainly missed out on some of the fundamentals of economics. Furthermore, I am sure that said wealthy individuals and corporations have both a level of self interest that cannot be underestimated and large numbers of highly intelligent people being paid to further it, so if such a simple approach was within their interests they would already be performing it. With that in mind then (ideally without diving off the deep end too far into advanced economics!) what is the flaw in my logic?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I do agree with your logic that the economy is a positive sum game and richer customers are better overall. I'll add to that that reducing poverty can also increase people's productivity and thus mean we can all consume more. This is the same logic as to why it's better for a country to have richer trading partners than poor ones. \n\nBut I'd like to raise a question: why would the wealthiest individuals or companies be particularly good at eradicating poverty? If someone is living in poverty there are multiple potential reasons why. Perhaps they have mental health problems, or perhaps they have a disabled child requiring full time care or perhaps they can't find a house to rent due to zoning laws or perhaps they're living in a war zone or perhaps they're an ex-prisoner who is legally restricted from working most jobs. There's nothing about those situations that necessarily imply that a tech billionaire or Walmart is good at or even capable of fixing them all. \n\nOne important concept in economics is \"comparative institutional analysis\". Different institutions (markets, governments, non-profits, etc) are good at different things. There's no simple one-size fits all answer. Not even for poverty. Governments are plausibly more competent at paying poor people money than at fixing difficult mental health problems, and some things, like changing bad laws, can only be done by governments."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Lord of the Rings] Why did Gollom not die of old age after he lost the ring?\n\n(For the sake of this argument, I am speaking more in terms of the movies as I know in the books much more time passes) But when Bilbo gives up the ring, he ages drastically in just a few months, but Gollom, who had already lived for a a few hundred years lost the ring for 60 years and seemd more of less the same."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The long-term exposure Gollum had to the ring seems to have deeply warped him in a biological sense; he doesn't respond the same as a Hobbit does to losing the Ring because *he isn't a Hobbit anymore*, but a species of one.\n\nAlternately, his connection to the Ring may be deeper than Bilbo's, meaning that even with the Ring out of his grasp he is still bound to it and under it's influence."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If one capsid of HIV works its way into my bloodstream, what are my chances of getting the virus?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "probably pretty rare. first things first, if HIV just gets into your blood stream, it could still be intercepted by Ab and get phagocytosed, where it would hopefully be degraded and not infect the macrophage. however, if it does attach to its receptor on T cells (CD4), it could enter the cell, and being a retrovirus, create a DNA copy to integrate into your T cell's genome leading to massive production of virus after activation, because HIV's genome is specifically made to make it be an asshole. The LTR's essentially create a new promoter site in YOUR DNA, and you just start pumping HIV's shit out for it. \n\nTLDR: maybe, but probably not."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How do animals live at the bottom of the ocean, with the intense pressure?\n\nI understand that there is immense pressure at the bottom of the ocean. This is why when we send submarines and such down, we need to counter this with either solid constriction or counter pressure. If a person were suddenly exposed to the pressure, they would be crushed, right?\n\nSo how do creatures live down there, ones such as anglerfish, and the tube worms near volcanic vents. I know they are not crushed, as they live down there, but how are they not?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Because they consist of incompressible materials, making the pressure pretty much irrelevant (wrt. \"crushing\", at least). Subs contain gases, so they can be compressed if the hull fails.\n\nIf you fill a balloon with air and take it to the bottom of the Challenger deep, it'll be crushed (that is, become very small). If you had filled that balloon with water instead, it will have the same size, since water is ~incompressible."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5:Why was it such a big deal to be gay in the military?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Many just didn't want gay soldiers around, and felt they would erode the largely macho culture the military encourages.\n\nOthers had more legitimate concerns. \n\nSoldiers often live in intimately close quarters and engage in activities that involve close physical contact. Some were uncomfortable with the idea that they person they were showering with might be sexually attracted to them, or use it as an opportunity to take physical liberties."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[The Time Machine] Was there a proper name for the actual Time Travel vessel or was it just called ‘The Time Machine’?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "[Assuming the book, rather than any of the various movies]\n\nNo. It was just called \"the time machine\" or similar descriptive terms, just as the time traveler himself was only known (to any who did not know him personally) as \"the time traveler.\""
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: How does muscle relaxers not stop muscles needed to live. IE: your heart\n\nHappened a long time ago, but I remember being prescribed some muscle relaxers for a pinched nerve in my back. The things they gave me hit me so hard, I could literally feel my heart slowing down. I thought to myself \"Well, this is how I die I guess\". I woke up about 18 hours later, still alive but with that drugged feeling. How do muscle relaxers not relax yourself into a slow death?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Imagine any drug you take is like a key and that key can only fit into certain keyholes (receptors) on certain doors (target organ/tissue/nerve etc). There are different types of muscle relaxers (keys) that open certain doors and causes a reaction to occur behind that door (this is the drug action). This is how the drug works. \n\nNow, there are three types of muscles (smooth - ex intestine, cardiac - heart, and skeletal). A muscle relaxer like Zanaflex fits in one type of keyhole on a certain door (brain) and behind that door a reaction occurs to only cause the skeletal muscle to relax. In Anesthesia (my profession) We give a paralytic (key) during surgery that will only fit a certain keyhole on skeletal muscle that the heart and intestines do not have (they have different keyholes). This is how we paralyze the body and not the heart/intestines."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "CMV: Linda Fairstein and her team should be prosecuted as criminals for their actions in the Central Park 5 case\n\nHere is a list of the laws that they broke:\n\n•interrogated minors without parents present\n\n•coerced false confessions from the minors\n\n•deprived them of food, water and relieving themselves for multiple hours\n\n•lied to the minors by telling them that if they confessed they would be allowed to go home\n\n•did not tell the minors or their parents their rights to lawyers\n\n•despite finding DNA evidence that it was someone else, they didn’t investigate to find the real rapist (not sure if this one is illegal)\n\nThis is everything that I’ve found but there may be more. \n\nLinda Fairstein has resigned from her job due to public pressures but despite her many criminal actions, she has not been legally punished in any way. \n\nThe laws that she and her team broke are there to prevent a case like the Central Park 5 from happening in the first place. She should be prosecuted as a criminal because she and her team committed crimes with extreme consequences.\n\nFor anyone who disagrees, please try to change my view."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Pretty sure you can’t charge someone for these types of minor offenses 30 years later.\n\nMaybe if there was some sort of felony, or violent crime... but it’s debatable if these are even criminal violations."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5 why Colors Fade in sunlight? What actually happens to the color? Does it dissipate into the air somehow?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The photons of ultra violet light from the sun interact with some chemicals that are used to create dyes and pigments (i.e. colors) in a way that causes the chemicals to change and stop having the color. The energy of the photon causes certain bonds between atoms in the dye molecule to break."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If there was a way to have a person born blind have an \"eye\" transplant to see, would their brains be able to process images?\n\nIf, in some odd years there was a tried and true way of either connecting tissues properly or taking an organ donors eyes and attacting everything properly and performing that surgery on someone who has already matured ( like say a 25 year old) person who was born blind, would their brains be able to process the images they see or would that be too much for them and drive them insane or severely depressed? or would their brains be able to adapt? \n\nI know that there would be a probable blur period for them. Taking that into account, how would that go over?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": ">would their brains be able to process the images they see or would that be too much for them and drive them insane or severely depressed?\n\nI can't speak for the exact scenario you mentioned, but Oliver Sacks wrote about a similar scenario in his book, An Anthropologist on Mars (Chapter 4, *To See and Not See*). The subject was a 50 year old gentleman who developed severe cataracts at six years old, and was effectively blind for most of his life. He received cataracts surgery at 50, and his vision was more-or-less restored (it wasn't 20-20, but it was apparently decent).\n\nIn doing so, however, he started experiencing problems. When he first opened his eyes after surgery, the world was a mess of colors to him. He couldn't recognize any shapes, he didn't know what objects he was looking at. He started making connections (\"that tan bluer from where the voice is coming must be a face\"), but it was a learning process, and he had difficult taking objects as a whole. He'd see parts, and the parts would run together. He had difficulty understanding perspective; he had difficult recognizing objects seen at new angles; he had difficulty putting letters together to form words; he had difficulty corresponding colors to their names. He could eventually do these things pretty passably, but it was never natural, never comfortable.\n\nHe fell into a depression and other illness; his work as a masseur became foreign to him after seeing his clients for the first time; he still only really \"understood\" an object if he closed his eyes and felt it with his hands. Sight had virtually no meaning to him, especially in visually cluttered spaces.\n\nEventually, he lost his eyesight again for reasons not fully known (though it was theorized that seeing light for the first time in half a century caused excessive damage to his eyes), and he was much happier with his blindness. It was all he had known for most of his life.\n\nIt's an interesting read."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What does Slavoj Žižek mean when he says \"The only way to be an atheist is through Christianity.\"?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He means basically that Christianity has already killed God for you, as it were, since God dies to Christ and Christ dies to God. The idea that \"there is no God\" is already part and parcel of Christianity itself. It is only in the concrete syllogism of our self-consciousness that the \\[holy\\] spirit lives on in the community that is mankind."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[MCU/Doctor Who] Is it worse to be a civilian in the MCU or Doctor Who version of Earth?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I tihnk the best way to settle this is to compare disasters and their severity.\n\n**The MCU** \nMost of the events in the MCU are limited in scope. The Battle of New York, the events surrounding the defeat of Ultron, the fall of the Helicarriers, the partial destruction of Greenwich during the Alignment...these all happen in specific cities and are relatively rare occurrences. Even Hulk rampages are confined and infrequent (although devastating). \n\nThat more or less sets the pattern for the MCU. The things that happen tend to be geographically dispersed, which means their impact is also spread out and, consequently, the MCU Earth is a relatively safe place.\n\n**Doctor Who** \n...well, safe relative to the Earth that The Doctor protects. Working from 2005 onwards, we find that London is the most dangerous place to live on the planet. Cardiff is also similarly dangerous, although the amount of danger to Cardiff actually tails off after Torchwood is shut down. That said, the danger to the rest of the world *rises* at that point. There are a number of global events, including a succesful invasion by the Daleks and the theft of Earth, that caused mass civilian casualties. \n\nEven though some of the global events in Doctor Who - like when the Master took over and enslaved the population with the help of the Toclafane - were literally undone and technically never happened, when things kick off in this universe, they tend to do so on a massive scale.\n\nOn balance, it's a dodgier proposition to live on the Doctor Who Earth. The MCU Earth looks like it might be about to rival those stakes, though."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Are there any examples of organisms that completely contradict the theory of natural selection?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Evolution by natural selection (including artificial selection, humans are also part of the natural world) requires 4 things:\n\n* Offspring are similar to their parent(s)\n* Imperfect copying system (in terms of reproduction)\n* Variation amongst individuals of a species\n* Limited resources\n\nFind a species that species that isn't of this nature and you'll get yourself an organism that doesn't evolve by natural selection."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5 How WhatsApp can allow reporting of messages and still be considered as e2e encrypted? Can the app itself automatically \"report\" all the messages if requested by the police without user action?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's pretty simple....when you view a message on your device it is decrypted on that device. When you report a message, your device creates a new encrypted message between you and Facebook that contains the contents of that message (and the 4 previous from what I've heard) and (likely) the user you received it from. \n\nSo from there, because you made a new message the original is still e2e encrypted, *and* the new message (the report) is also e2e encrypted. \n\nIt's no different than showing your screen to a friend. They were not the intended recipient but now they saw an e2e encrypted message without breaking the entire e2e encryption process. \n\nEDIT: As for the 'automatically report', theoretically yes, it could, and your primary protection against that is hoping you trust FB enough to not build that in. Though if they did do that and word got out, people would likely move away from the app which would be bad for FB."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If you are heading west on the equator, what speed would you need to maintain to continually outrun the sunset?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In order to keep the sun in the same position in the sky by flying due west you need a speed of 1035 mph times cosine(latitude). That means it takes the full 1035 mph at equator and only half, around 500 mph, at 60 deg north or south (cos(60) = 0.5). Since 500 mph is around the top speed at altitude for most civilian airliners, such jet would be able to keep up if it flew at around latitude 60 deg or more north."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Experts say 70% of a population needs immunity to reach the herd threshold. Where I live, in Texas, polls say 1/3 of people refuse to get the vaccination. Can we reach herd immunity?\n\nConsidering that children are not currently being vaccinated, and studies are showing that immunity is stronger and lasts longer through the vaccine as opposed to infection, how likely is it that we'll actually reach the point people are calling \"back to normal\"?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Natural immunity will work to fill in the gaps. We don't know how long it lasts, but seems to be a while. \n\nAlso, keep in mind that the biggest issue with COVID-19 is how quickly it overwhelms medical facilities. Even if the virus is not wiped out, if the most vulnerable and a good chunk of the population are protected, it will become just another deadly virus we live with like the flu."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: The three species in video game StarCraft II are \"trivially\" balanced. When developing and maintaining the game, what are the methods used by Blizzard Entertainment to make sure that the species are \"trivially\" balanced?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Play testing, play testing, play testing.\n\nThen they play test some more.\n\nEven then they don't get it exactly right. There is a constant cycle of players developing unbalancing strategies, and Blizzard adjusting the play balance to compensate."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Eli5 If bug killer can kill insects, how is it safe to spray all over your house and not be harmful to humans?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In general, modern pesticides are designed to target specific things that the insect has and mammals (like humans) don’t. Since we are pretty distant from insects genetically, there are numerous proteins in insects that either do not exist in, or are substantially different from ones, in humans."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: when people use a supercomputer to supercompute things, what exactly are they doing? Do they use special software or is just a faster version of common software?\n\nAlso, I don't know if people use it IRL. Only seen it in movies and books and the like."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They are mostly fast because of multiple processes at the same time. The do not work well on linear problems and scale best on tasks that can be done in parallel. They have special schedulers that assign calculations to cores and collate the results. \n\nIts more like a hundred or thousand PCs all working together on one problem."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: Why are phone scammer that spoof caller ID unstoppable? Why can't telecom operators filter spoofed caller ID info the way data networks filter spoofed IP addresses?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Telecom operators benefit from spoofed caller id, it leads to more calls. Network operators use the return IP to send answers back, so spoofing it doesn't get you any data. They mostly check for spoofing because it's a symptom of evil. Telecom operators are evil, so it's not on their list of problems to solve."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Star Trek] So... the holodeck DOES get used for lots and lots of sexual depravity, right?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What people do during their holodeck time is up to them and as long as it doesn't interfere with their work or life outside of the holodeck then they're left alone but there's a reason for holodeck waste removal..."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: How can illegal websites (i.e. piracy and illegal streaming) have advertisements on their sites of well-known companies and brands?\n\nHow can companies be allowed legally to do this and why doesn't this immediately expose these websites to the federal government?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If a site isn't based in the US they have no obligation to comply with US law. \n\nMost sites just sign up to an advertising service and then that service places ads on the site. Well-known companies & brands often have no ability to choose where there ads appear."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How large does an object in space need to be in order to gravitationally bind an average human to its surface?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "\"Bind an average human\" seems to be the crux of your question.\n\nLets instead ask \"Whats the biggest object a human can escape the gravitational pull of?\"\n\nFor this we need 2 items: the escape velocity of an object, and the average speed a human can reach.\n\nA small amount of googling tells me that the average jumping height for males is about .504 meters, while a good height is .6. Lets use .5 for a simple answer.\nUsing basic kinematics, we find that humans can generally give themselves a velocity of sqrt(g) or about 3.13 m/s.\nHowever, this is only vertically. Humans are generally able to sprint at a speed of around 7 m/s. So it will be much easier for our astronaut to simply start sprinting then it would to be jumping.\n\nThe escape velocity of a body is given by v=sqrt(2*G*M/r). So big objects are hard to get away from, but large objects are easy to get away from. So density comes into play. This won't be as easy as giving a simple number.\n\nInstead, lets find some likely candidates. Ceres is the largest asteroid in our solar system. Ceres has a mean radius of 473,000m and a mass of 9.4*10^20 kg.\nThis gives Ceres an escape velocity of 515 m/s. No, chance of getting off that.\n\n67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko is the comet that was recently landed on by Rosetta's Lander Philae, which famously bounced but stayed on the surface. Because of its odd shape, we can get about 4100 meters away from its center. It has a mass of 9.98*10^12 kg. So it has an escape velocity of around .5 m/s at its tip! We can definitely escape this!\n\nSo we're looking somewhere between our solar system's biggest asteroid and an oddly shaped comet."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: How do directions work in space?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They're either relative to the orbit that the ship is on(prograde, retrograde, normal, anti-normal, radial in, radial out) or relative to a fixed set of reference points(Earth, moon, or sun) which you can then use up/down or north/south, east/west to refer to directions.\n\nOnce you have your reference set you can define things with angles just like we do here on Earth with incilination(up/down) and ascension(left/right rotation)"
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Traditional black holes happen where something is so dense that it has such a strong gravitational pull that not even light can escape from it. Could there be, theoretically, black holes caused by one of the other four fundamental forces?\n\nBlack holes caused by the electromagnetic force or the strong nuclear force, for example. Or maybe the weak nuclear force.\n\nI am imagining the same concept as a gravitational black hole (nothing can escape from its grip past a certain distance from it), but caused by one of the other three forces, just to clarify."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Such an object would affect only things that interact with that force, so only charged objects for the electromagnetic force, or objects with colour charge for the strong force, etc. Even though they might never be able to escape, light still could.\n\nQuark pairs are sort of analogous to this: if you try to pull them apart, it requires so much energy that you just end up creating another pair of quarks."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "As a philosophy student, is there any use to me learning Set Theory especially if my focus in grad school will be around Kant and Hegel?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Learning set theory won't directly help you understand Kant and Hegel. \n\nLearning set theory might be useful for general intellectual development, and you might find set theory itself inherently interesting. But the concerns of set theorists are far afield of Kant's and Hegel's concerns."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Marvel][X-Men] How did Wolverine's claws get sharpened?\n\nWolverine's bone claws seem to have a naturally sharp edge to them but once his skeleton has the adamantium bonded to it they seem to gain a significantly sharper edge. Was this done after he got the adamantium? Did it bond that way around the bone? Thanks for your time."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It could be that the natural tendency of adamantium is to form a monomolecular edge, much like how some crystals and rocks will naturally form cubes, or cylinders due to their molecular makeup. When the adamantium mixed with the bone claws, the leading edge forces the cooling metal to crystalize into an edge a single atoms thickness. The cohesion of the adamantium is strong enough to the edge never dulls, remaining sharp forever."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How is it that dogs and wolves are still the same species? How much more do dogs need to change before they become a different species?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Dogs and wolves *are* separate species, *Canis lupus* and *Canis familiaris*. There are many species of animals that can still interbreed but are still classified as separate species due to physical, behavioral, or temporal barriers that make it extremely unlikely for the animals to hybridize. Dogs and wolves are more physically distinct than some, so it seems more surprising."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If you flip a coin an infinite amount of times, will you also at some point have an infinite streak of heads?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "For any fixed n, you will (almost surely, aka with probability 1) have a string of n heads in a row sometime; if you divide up your throws in sets of n, you have probability 2^(-n) of getting all of them heads in that set - so prob. of never getting n successive heads in k*n throws is at most (1-2^(-n))^k, and as the amount of throws (and k) increases, this approaches 0.\n\nHowever, \"at some point have an infinite streak of heads\" means that after N throws, all the remaining coin tosses result in heads; but that happens with probability 0."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5 If the chord progression number system is i - II - iii - iv - V - VI - VII and your first chord is C minor, how do you determine what chord II and so forth will be? Also, how do you determine which order to play them?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": ">ELI5 If the chord progression number system is i - II - iii - iv - V - VI - VII and your first chord is C minor, how do you determine what chord II and so forth will be? \n\nThe numbers indicate the scale degree. i is the first note of the scale, ii is the second, etc. Which means you have to know the notes of the scale. Maybe you understand that now from other responses. \n\n>Also, how do you determine which order to play them?\n\nYou play them in the order the song requires. Or if you're writing a song yourself, you order them how you want to get a particular sound. There are many possible chord progressions."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[The Boys] question on the compound V (spoilers Season 1)\n\nHi, I just finished season 1 of The Boys and it was awesome. \nI just want to make sure I understand the compound V thing:\nThe V compound is a secret compound used by Vought to create superheroes. They make NDA contracts with the parents so nobody knows about it, even the supers themselves.\n\nIn season 1, Homelander wants to create super terrorists. He steals some V and gives it to A-Train who will deliver it to terrorists including those who have Kimiko. By the way, A-Train will keep some of it for himself and his girlfriend and he will become addicted. \n\nIn all of that, I try to understand: \n\nWhat do Homelander, Popclaw, A-Train or even Maeve know about the V compound? Is Homelander the only superhero who knows what V is really for? \nI think that this secret must be very hard to keep so I don't see how other superheroes could not know about it. Besides, I don't see how Homelander and A-Train can get V discreetly without Stilwell knowing about it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's pretty clear their is a small black market trade in compound V. \nEither someone who knew the production process set up an underground kitchen; some is stolen from Vought and resold, or, Vought itself is deliberately running a black market for reasons of it's own."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: Why do banks close at five when most people are just getting off of work? Wouldn't it be in their better interest to stay open later?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You're assuming banks actually care about consumers. They don't.\n\nBanks make most of their money out of businesses - the charges involved in business banking, merchant accounts, etc. are far more profitable than the tiny fees paid by most consumers.\n\nBanks are open when their profitable customers are open - during business hours."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Professors: Do you like when a student comes to your office hours just to chat about your subject of interest?\n\nI am very interested in writing and have a professor who I love chatting with about the subject. Anything really. He likes to write books and occasionally I like to get his perspective on certain subjects. I am just afraid that I am visiting him too much (I have visited him maybe 3 times over the course of the semester) and I don't want him to feel like I am wasting his time or being obsessive."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's official office hours? For students? And there aren't students waiting to do real business? And you ask specific, relevant questions and/or raise specific, relevant points? And you don't overstay your welcome and your professor is engaged in the conversation? \n\nYes? Carry on. You sound like a delight."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[The Matrix] What happens in the matrix when the people inside it think they're having children?\n\nI seem to recall that Morpheus (or someone) mentioned that he'd seen babies being grown.\n\nSo what happens in the matrix when two avatars simulate meeting, having sex, the woman getting pregnant, visiting the doctors, getting ultrasound/scans etc, and childbirth itself.\n\nFurther to that, how do things like miscarriages, stillbirths and abortions work? Was there a real foetus being 'grown' somewhere that for whatever reason didn't grow enough to be 'born'?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "sub.log 234928349 server uuty8 - INTERACTION:}} Pod 8847ty.. sex (PIV+UNPROTECTED+CONS...) Pod 4487na.. run [impregnation algorithm+STD algorithm]. \n\nsub.log 234928352 server uuty8 - MATERIAL TRANSFER:}} Pod 8847ty.. SEND spermatozoa TO Pod 4487na.. run [impregnation protocol]. \n\nsub.log 234928372 server uuty8 - AUTORUN:}} Pod 4487na.. run [SIMULATION;PREGNANCY]>synchronize incubator 3904ty. \n\nsub.log 234928378 server uuty9 - MATERIAL TRANSFER:}} Incubator 3904ty.. -> receive zygote-8847ty|4487na.\n\nsub.log 234928379 server uuty9 - SYSTEM:}} Incubator 3904ty.. -> run [SIMULATION;GESTATION] synchronize with Pod 4487na. \n\n\n--------------\n\n\nsub.log 234928458 server uuty9 - ERROR:}} Incubator 3904ty.. -> REASON: hormonal imbalance.. DUMP human generation.. \n\nsub.log 234928458 server uuty9 - SYSTEM:}} Incubator 3904ty.. CANCEL [SIMULATION;GESTATION] SEND CANCEL pregnancy in Pod 4487na. \n\nsub.log 234928472 server uuty8 - AUTORUN:}} Pod 4487na.. run [SIMULATION;MISCARRIAGE]>CANCEL synchronize incubator 3904ty."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why do fans sound like white noise?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The spectral signature of a fan is actually very rarely white noise (i.e. flat across all frequencies). It's usually got a skeleton of pink noise (which means there's more low frequency energy and then it rolls off as frequency goes up) and then some sort of peak or tonal aspect of it that corresponds to the blade pass frequency. That's usually somewhere between 100 and 300 Hz.\n\nThe reason it sounds like white noise to us has somewhat to do with our sensitivity to sounds. Even though there is less energy output at higher frequencies, our ear is more sensitive to them. Depending on the spectral signature of the fan, this frequency-dependent sensitivity to hearing can effectively \"cancel out\" with the energy rolloff of the fan's sound emission spectrum, making it sound like white noise to our ear."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Does an MD/PhD with a neurosurgery specialization correspond to the longest possible average higher education training time?\n\nI am not interested in going that route. My respect to the people who have the wherewithal to do so. I just got curious and was scoping through CVs of MD PhD neurosurgeons, and it generally seemed like the training tended to last between 16 - 18 years after undergrad, 8 years for the MD/PhD, 7 years for the neurosurgery residency, then another 1 - 3 years of fellowship. This has to be the longest average single academic training \"program\" right? Someone coming out of undergrad at 22 going this route will be near or into their 40s before they are done with formal training \\*if\\* they are fortunate enough to avoid major delays. I've also seen CVs of people who did a non-integrated PhD following an MD or vice versa to make things even longer. For sure, this seems like a road that is closed off for anyone who has even a moderately older start in their postgraduate schooling due to the sheer time threshold."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Many neurosurgeons also do 1-2 years of sub-specialty fellowship training after residency. Also it’s not that uncommon to take 9 years to complete the MD/PhD curriculum (the graduate school phase is typically 4 years but many need 5).\n\nSincerely, an eighth year MD/PhD student currently interviewing for neurosurgery residency hoping to have his first real job at age 38-40 depending on fellowship plans."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I would kill 1 person to save 2. CMV\n\nAssume that the only consequence of killing this one person will be that the other 2 are able to live. Essentially, destroying this one person's life is the means to save the other 2 people. Also, you are the only person who is able to perform this act. All of these three people are not expected to die any time soon and are not suicidal. You can assume they are men of means or not, I personally don't think it matters and that 1 powerful life is never more important than two squalid lives. If you want to debate about that though, go ahead.\n\nI would kill 1 to save 2 because, although I feel it is my duty not to murder people, I feel compelled to kill in this case because it saves more people\n\nedit: assume you don't know much about the three people, and are therefore not responsible for any indirect consequences such as causing more deaths or failing to save more people if you choose to kill the 1 man."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "At a very basic level, consider that this means that the one person will kill you to save themselves. And be quite justified in doing so as *they* are killing *in self defense*. \n\nTo even begin to be logically consistent and morally correct you would have to also be willing to sacrifice yourself to save two people. If you aren't then you are just playing god."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Harry Potter] I have a Muggle sibling I would like to join me on a magical quest. I'd like to put a kit together for them to use and since they can't use magic directly can anyone suggest magical items I can include that they could use indirectly?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Muggles can make use of potions, as well as artifacts which don't require magical activation. This means he could use a poet key (for example) as they only require being touched while a preset condition (like a time or word) is met, but not a broomstick.\n\nI suggest having him carry medical potions as well as incendiaries and other utility potions in an expanded bag. You could also include items from the WWW, like canary creams (eat it, fly somewhere, change back) and instant darkness powder. Definitely get him a Shield Hat."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Rogue One] Why didn't Vader just use Force Pull to get the Death Star plans from the rebel troopers?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't think he knew which of the rebels had the plans, so his plan was to trap them in the corridor and kill them. He held the door to the starship closed and fought a dozen guys with blasters at once. He was too busy fighting and keeping them trapped."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Eli5 what exactly causes the sensation of feeling thirsty when we are dehydrated?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "When you’re dehydrated, you have less water in your blood so the blood becomes more concentrated and blood volume decreases. Your kidney is used to filtering all the blood, so it can feel when you have less blood to filter, and it releases hormones that help increase your blood pressure and decrease the amount of water in your pee. A special part of your brain samples your blood and can sense both the kidney hormones and the increased blood concentration. This brain part sends signals to the area responsible for thirst, turning the thirsty feeling on."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: Why are the steering wheels of buses/trucks/lorries more or less angled horizontally instead of the angle seen in cars?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They aren't all like that, but the ones that are is typically because the driver is sitting further forward/higher in comparison to the steering gearbox than the driver in a car does. Fewer joints to adjust the angle of the steering wheel leads to better responsiveness and fewer parts to break."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What is the utility of Kant's distinction between analytic/synthetic and a priori/a posteriori knowledge before expounding upon his premises of the categories of the mind in Critique of Pure Reason?\n\nSo I am a little confused about why he begins his metaphysics with this. I get that the categories of the mind are a priori (although the usage of a priori here is still perplexing - how can categories, conceptual filters belonging to the mind, be called a priori if they themselves are not actual knowledge, only objects of knowledge?) and that maybe clarifying the definition of that would be useful, but overall a little confused. Feel free to spew to me about the work in general if it seems I am misunderstanding something; the more the merrier.\n\nThank you so much!!!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The best way that I've seen this explained is that the distinctions are a way in which Kant *formalizes* an already existing problem: how to account for concepts like causality? Recall especially that Kant is responding, in part, to Hume - Hume's problem is that experience alone cannot provide us with a concept of causality (all you can experience are 'constant conjunctions'). So *empiricism* cannot furnish the ground for causality. However it's also clear that *logic* alone (rationalism), can't do the trick either: no logical connection between propositions can provides us with a ground for causality either (recall Kant's dismantling of the ontological argument: existence is not a predicate: you can't 'logic' your way into existence). \n\nSo if causality cannot be accounted for either by means of 'sheer' empiricism nor 'sheer' rationalism, you need a kind of 'third way' to account for causality. For what is causality? It is an *extralogical* connection between things: a relation that is not 'merely' logical (causality can't be reduced to transitive relations between propositions), nor merely empirical. A connection stronger than 'constant conjunction', but not as strong as logical transitivity: neither *a posteriori* nor *analytically a priori*: it must belong instead to the order of the *synthetic a priori -* an 'alogical' connection. This is the sense in which these distinctions *name* existing problems in philosophy, as Kant understood them. This is why the whole of the CPR is oriented towards to question of 'how is the synthetic a priori possible?'. This is, as a were, a synonym for 'how is (knowledge of) causality possible?', among other things (to which Kant will answer: 'because transcendental subjectivity').\n\nThis is also why Kant sees himself as charting a path between both empricism and rationalism. If you keep Hume in mind while trying to understand these terms (and Leibniz to a certain extent), it helps alot."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[DnD] So, 12th level is the highest spell level ever cast. Assuming Mystra revoked the magic limit, what would the highest possible spell level be? Could you cast 13th level spells? 15th? 20th? What would those spells be like?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If the old epic spell rules hold true, a >12 level spell would be capable of works that verge on godlike acts of creation or destruction. Making bespoke continents or killing everyone in the phone book named Ted would be very doable for someone doing magic at that level. The downside is that you really are puttering around in a realm mortals were not meant to tread, and the blowback can be severe, even when everything goes to plan; botch the job, and the consequences are catastrophic."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Can loud noises block other noises?\n\nIf when sound is made, it is made in the form of waves that we hear, can the waves block each other? For example: if a balloon is popped in a noisy room, is it \"quieter\" than if it is popped in a quiet room. (and not \"quieter\" in the sense that you perceive it less, I mean is the actual wave lessened)?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes and no. Noise can be cancelled when a similar noise consisting of the same frequency and amplitude is played 180 degrees out of phase. This is how noise cancelling headphones work. While ambient noise is likely to have some of the frequencies you are trying to cancel, the noise itself wont attenuate much of the balloon popping. On the other hand, if you are being exposed to a loud environment, your ears will become less sensitive for a short time."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[MCU - Guardians of the Galaxy] Why wasn't Gamora interrogated by the Nova Corps?\n\nIt seems like they just left her to be killed in jail.\r\rI would have thought they'd want to question her for information on Ronan."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They weren't really taking Ronan seriously as a threat. It wasn't until Star Lord's warning (that they chose to believe, despite him being kind of, but not 100%, a dick) and Ronan actually attacking their planet that they were actually willing to put effort into fighting him."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is the self an illusion?\n\nAfter reading on the subject it seems that a lot of philosophers think that the self is an illusion like Daniel Dennet, Sam Harris, Patricia Churchland etc. Do most philosophers agree that the self is an illusion? The idea of not having a self is deeply disturbing to me."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's very rare for any philosopher these days to say that X, be it the self or whatever, is an illusion and leave it at that. \n\nThis isn't the case, for example, of what Dennett or Churchland say about the self. Rather, their views are that some of our folk psychological understanding of the self might simply be false under a more neuroscientific image of the self, or something like that. It's a better idea to read their work to understand first the view of the self that they believe is problematic, the reasons give for why it's so, and how we should conceive of the self in its place."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is zero probability equal to Impossibility?\n\nIf you have an infinite set of equally possible choices, then the probability of choosing one of these purely randomly is zero, doesn't this also make a purely random choice impossible? Keep in mind, I'm talking about an abstract experiment here, no human or device can truly comprehend an infinite set of probabilities and have a purely random choice. [I understand that one can choose a number from an infinite set, but that's not the point, since your mind only has a finite set in mind, so you actually choose from a finite set]"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Let me reformulate your question. For the sake of concreteness, let us imagine that we want to choose a real number between 0 and 1 at random (uniformly). The *paradox* you are getting at is that the probability for picking any particular number, like say 7/15, is equal to zero, so how can it be that we have a 50% chance of picking a number smaller than 1/2, or any number at all?\n\nThis paradox is a bit like Zeno's paradoxes. To resolve it, you have to shift perspective. The key question is: what does it *mean* to pick a real number at random?\n\nThe answer is that being allowed to pick between infinitely many possibilities is an *approximation*. It does not actually occur in nature, but it is very useful to model certain natural phenomena in this way. But keep in mind that it's only a *model* of nature, not a representation of what nature *\"actually is\"*. (The latter is beyond the scope of this comment, and humanity in general.)\n\nMathematically, random choice between infinitely many things can be described by a formalism called *measure theory*. The essence of measure theory is this: in the beginning, you are only allowed to ask about probabilities of a number falling into an *interval*. For instance, you can ask what the chance is that your random real number is between 0.3019 and 0.3024, which means that it is *approximately equal* to 0.302. You are not allowed to ask for the probability whether the number is *precisely equal* to 0.302, only whether it is within a certain error bound. Clearly, there is no paradox here.\n\nThe next step in the formalism of measure theory is to extend the questions that you may ask. You now may ask for the probability of hitting a specific number. You pay a small price for that, namely this probability will be zero, which may seem somewhat paradoxical. But this is just a formal thing that makes calculations more convenient. The originally allowed questions are still the only ones of \"practical\" importance. Being able to ask more question is just a tool to make the mathematics a little nicer. (And one has to prove that allowing more question does not lead to inconsistencies.)\n\nIn this way, the paradox is resolved: the original question has no practical meaning, it is only a formal trick."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If I wanted to refrigerate 1 litre of water to 5 degrees celsius, would it be faster to place 500ml into 2 bottles (in the same fridge) as opposed to 1 litre in 1 bottle?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The heat transfer rate is determining how fast you transfer the heat from the liquid inside the bottle to the colder outside and thus cool the liquid inside. The heat transfer rate is proportional to the surface area of the interface between the cold and warm volumes.\n\nTwo smaller bottles (or two half filled 1L bottles) have a larger surface area than one 1L bottle, so the water split between two bottles would be chilled faster."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Are sentient beings inherently bad for the planet they're on?\n\nSomething that's been heavily messing with my brain today is, are sentient beings inherently bad for a planet. Is having desires outside of basic instinct inherently destructive. The fact that things such as towns and city's simply exist seems inherently destructive to the planet (large areas where nature has been almost completely destroyed for human settlement).\n\nAs a species do we have a responsibility to live with the world in its natural state? Should we be tearing down our houses and live in tents in the forest? Should we be completely eliminating things like electricity and cars from our lives as they involve altering the world around us arguably more than anyone should? Or do we continue forward with a focus on harm reduction under the mindset of \"sentient beings kinda rule the show\"?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why is it good that a planet be in its 'natural state'? Specifically seemingly its 'natural state' at a particularly arbitrary point in time. Perhaps we will be so destructive to the planet that we will destroy all life on the planet, thus returning the planet to something like the 'natural state' it was 4 billion years ago. There's nothing magical and perfect about earth being dominated by trees, trees emerged a few hundred million years ago, and overturned that which was before. \n\nI don't think anything can really be good or bad for a planet, but it's a strange kind of pessimistic or negative anthropocentrism to assume that what is 'good' for the planet is however the world happened to be 20,000 years ago."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: Why was plasma television technology discontinued?\n\nI ask because it seemed premature to me. OLED has great promise in the next 5 years, but it's still not there yet and certainly not there in terms of value/price ratio. I've been told by a videophile that the best TV on the market is now discontinued, the Panasonic VT60. So what we're left with is mediocre offerings at the low to mid range (LCDs), and great offerings at only the very high end."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "LCD technology is generally cheaper, easier to make, and provides benefits in a lot of places that plasma doesn't, especially as you continue to go up in resolution. LCDs are also brighter, which can be a plus here and there."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: why is it that when an alcoholic stops drinking alcohol they become sick even though alcohol is incredibly bad for us, what is happening in our body that makes us sick for not having it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Basically when you get used to a toxic substance being around, your body produces more of the chemicals needed to process it than it's normal for you to have. This is why people develop a tolerance. Some substances, such as alcohol, also alter the way systems in the body work, such as your digestion and nervous system. So when you stop having alcohol, your body is already not working right and it's flooded with chemicals that aren't normally supposed to be there, so it makes you sick. There's more to it than that, but basically it comes down to that. The body strives to be in balance, and after a certain amount of regulation, it becomes necessary for the alcohol to be there in order for things to stay balanced. Like when you have a really fat kid on the see-saw; if he suddenly jumps off all the kids on the other side are going to come crashing down. That's what happens inside your body, the alcohol is the fat kid and all your body systems pile up to be able to balance it out, but they're pulling so hard the opposite direction that if the fat kid disappears, your body falls down in a heap."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Stargate] Where do the Ancients get the materials for all there constructions?\n\nLets brake it down a little:\n\nWhile they were technologically semi-advance (incapable of true FTL):\n\nUnknown number of Seed Ships (probably in the thousands) hundreds of meters long, made out of durable dense materials so probably saying million of tons heavy wouldn't be a big overstatement. All of which at least equipped with a certain number of Stargate to begin with.\n\nDestiny, 2 to 3 times bigger then the Seed Ships.\n\nUnknown number of stone-metal constructions on planets serving as bases and cities.\n\nOnce they got more advance:\n\nUnknown numbers of City Ships (comparable or bigger then Destiny) they were build while still in Milky Way (maybe not thousand but at least near the hundreds again).\n\nA Stargate system spanning along a whole galaxy\n\nAnd again updated City's build out of stone-metal around the galaxy and again an unknown number of outposts.\n\n\nSo my questions becomes the Ancient where very very active in there days, building settlements, building and sending ships out there yet we don't have any evidence of them doing any mining or Stargate personal mentioning finding planets with Stargate's which are mined for all they are worth. \n\nEven if they somehow utilise whole planets the infrastructure needed for something like that must be huge and can't simply disappear. Furthermore Earth was there supposed base and adopted home yet there is no sign of any harvest done on it ether."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "ZPMs aren't generators. They are literally creating energy from nothing (well, technically from accelerated entropy of a artificial pocket universe). We have also seen Ancient technology capable of compiling mater from energy. \n\nSimply solution.. once they developed ZPM tech, which seems to have been before their arrival on earth, their need for resource extraction ceases."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: From where did the first bitcoin get its value?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": ">I understand money's value is associated with something materialistic like gold or, in the case of the US, given a value based on the strength of the economy.\n\nSo why does gold have value? Why does the economy have value? \n\nIn the end, \"value\" is an abstract notion that was invented by humans, and essentially means \"people want this thing, and will give you other things to get it.\" Money has value not because it's backed by anything, but because people *believe* it has value.\n\nSo the first bitcoin had value because someone somewhere wanted it, and was willing to trade something else for it."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "CMV: Leaving people disconnected from the rest of the world is tragic, not beautiful\n\nThis is in response to a post that hit my front page today. Throughout the comments, people talk about how cool it is that these people behave in basically the same way as their Neolithic ancestors, and how they “chose” this life and it is beautiful in its own way.\n\nWhat I think these redditors are neglecting is the fact that is not an informed choice. These islanders aren’t choosing some idyllic isolated life over the hustle and bustle of modern existence. They are choosing what they know over a scary unknown.\n\nMeanwhile these islanders suffer all the lovely problems of the Stone Age, like enormous maternal mortality rates, children making it to adulthood less often than not, easily treatable problems likes appendicitis being death sentences. If the islanders actually understood their decision, would they make it as they do currently?\n\nEdit: changes to my view so far:\n\nThe status quo remains because it’s very hard, if even possible, to change it. Problems like how to morally introduce modern society without tearing down what is already there and causing harm are difficult to solve and would require incredibly gradual solutions, no instant “hey guys here’s a smart phone” revelations.\n\nHowever, I’ve not been convinced by the “good old days” arguments or the idea that if presented fairly modernization would be turned down by most of the tribesmen. Feel free to debate that with me further."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "> If the islanders actually understood their decision, would they make it as they do currently?\n\nThis can NEVER be a truly informed decision. How can any amount of information bridge the gap between the Stone Age and quantum computing in order to allow someone to make a truly informed decision about whether or not to join the modern world?"
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: Why are moldy food bad for us? Molds on foods like yogurt/cheese is fine, but on bread and suddenly we’re sick."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Different kinds of mold are bad for us. Like bacteria, there’s many species; some are harmful, some are harmless or even nutritious. The ones used to make moldy cheeses are carefully selected cultures that don’t harm us. The ones on your old bread or fruit that get you sick generally will digest into chemicals that make you sick. So unless you’re able to determine the species, or it’s meant to be there, don’t eat the mold."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why are rainy clouds grey and not white? Is the greyness a measure for the amount of rain it contains?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Clouds appear white since sunlight passes through them. Well, to be more accurate, sunlight is scattered when it passes through the water droplets that make up clouds, and so your eyes detect the sunlight passing through the cloud which is what gives clouds their white appearance.\n\nHowever, clouds can appear grey due to bigger water droplets (so yes, a clouds 'greyness' can actually be used as a sort of visual measurement of the water content of a cloud). This is because sunlight undergoes more scattering through bigger water droplets, and so more sunlight is being scattered to the sides of the cloud and in various other directions. This results in your eyes picking up less light (since a lot of the light is going in directions other than towards your eyes) and so the clouds appear darker/greyer."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: Where does the debt a person had go when he/she dies?\n\nWhen a person dies, where does their debt go? Is it transferred or does the bank just forgive the debt? If the debt just goes away, why doesn't everyone just spend as much as they want, as it will be gone when they die?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Debt is not transferred to heirs.\n\nHowever, if the loan was \"secured\" like a mortgage tied to some property, then the creditor can take the property and keep it or sell it (depending on the loan agreement) in place of getting their debt paid.\n\nIf the loan was unsecured, then when the executor of the will takes all the property in the deceased estate and liquidates it (sells for money to then distribute) the creditors get paid out before the beneficiaries. If the estate has property that is worth $10,000 but the deceased owes $15,000 then the debtors get the $10,000 split between them and the beneficiaries inherit nothing."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why does South Africa do so much genetic sequencing of COVID viruses in comparison to other countries?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "When the AIDS epidemic struck Africa, several countries (South Africa being one of them) took that opportunity to put a substantial amount of funding into research and prevention, causing them to eventually (now) actually be a prominent force in the field of epidemiology."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "CMV: deed restrictions should be outlawed.\n\nDeed restrictions are when the owner of a property sells it to someone else and prohibits what the new buyer can do with the property.\n\nIt is why you see so many old gas stations used as liquor stores or car repair stations. The seller of the previous gas station doesn't want competition, so they restrict what the new buyer can do on the property.\n\nThese deed restrictions create challenges for the communities where they exist. They restrict competition and they often result in undesirable land uses for community. Instead of a gas station having better marketing or better products, they prohibit their competition in a certain area. Because zoning laws dictate/limit so much of land use in the united states, Deed restrictions can essentially blockade any new businesses from coming into town.\n\nDeed restrictions should be unenforceable and made illegal."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "i think that's overbroad. For example, it's pretty awesome that you can take a forest you own and say \"this can never be developed, it must be preserved for ever\" (conservation easement). It's pretty great that i can pass property to a historical society and be assured they won't sell it for a strip mall.\n\nI think the question is whether different zones should disallow certain kinds of deed restrictions. For example, if you want the benefit of commercial use i think it's reasonable that you give up the right to apply said restrictions."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Dark Souls] Are there any places where people live normal lives?\n\nWhere are the towns and villages that have normal people just trying to make a living?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In Dark Souls 1 and 2 it's implied that away from Lodran or Drangleic there are kingdoms where poeple live normal lives as humans, dealing with cursed people as best they can. But the kingdoms we play through are the epicenters of the undead curse, places where almost every being is undead, with few exceptions. Normal society does not exist.\n\nMeanwhile in Dark Souls 3 the world is basically done for and you are more likely to run into a kingdom run by the undead (like Londor) than into a single living human."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Toy Story] What did Buzz think was happening when Andy plays with him and he loses all control of his actions?\n\n\n\nWhile Buzz is still under the \"real Buzz Lightyear\" delusion he is actively played with. At one point he refers to \"your chief, Andy\" and we see him get put down, dust himself off, and walk away after a play session at one point. How does he integrate that into his existence as a real space ranger?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I wonder if he somehow turns into toy mode while being played with, and doesn't' remember anything about it. Like how toys have that demo mode at the store?\n\nThat said, Andy likely plays with him as if buzz were a space ranger. So he believes that the fantasies Andy makes up are the real thing - he just thinks flying feels like being moved around in the air by a hand."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Harry Potter] How come Fenrir Greyback's werewolf form looks much more horrific than Professor Lupin's?\n\nIn Prisoner Of Azkaban Professor Lupin's werewolf form is hairless except for the top of his head I believe and he looks like a typical werewolf besides the hairlessness but Fenrir Greyback who always almost looks like a werewolf even in human form has I think official artwork depicting his werewolf form and it is downright horrific, he looks vile and just awful.\n\nSo how come Lupin looks mostly like a regular werewolf and Greyback looks like some demon??"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Certain health and medical conditions are psychosomantic, meaning a person's state of mind can have an effect on their health. Remus mostly rejects his affliction and treats it as a curse that needs to be controlled, while Fenrir revels in being a werewolf and is so depraved that he has turned to cannibalism (which itself is known to cause insanity)."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: How can Hooters hire strictly female servers without getting into some kind of legal trouble concerning discrimination?\n\nI know this might be sort of an odd question, but if a male applied for a waiting position at Hooters (or a similar restaurant), what legally allows the restaurant to deny them the waiting position due to their gender?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There's a provision in the law which says\n>Notwithstanding any other provision... it shall not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to hire and employ employees... on the basis of his religion, sex, or national origin in those certain instances where religion, sex, or national origin is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise\n\n(1964 Civil Rights Act, Title VII, Sec. 703(e)(1))\n\nThis means that you're free to use sex discrimination, if your business model *requires* people of a certain sex. The business model of Hooters is \"boobs selling you chicken wings\"; people without boobs can't do that."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sartre and Marxism\n\nI’ve heard people say that Sartre was a Marxist and I’ve heard others say that his philosophical ideas were non-Marxist and that he was merely sympathetic towards Marxism.\nCould someone explain what his relationship to Marxism was exactly and what the contradictions are?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Sartre believed that Marxism and existentialism were fundamentally compatible, with his later essay *Search for a Method* and *Critique of Dialectical Reason* written to that end. Sartre viewed himself as a Marxist and was a vocal defender of the Soviet Union, even after news of Stalin's state violence. Orthodox Marxists, though, would probably repudiate his existentialist Marxism."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "When did people first start associating functions to y and x graphs? Why?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Mid 17th century. René Descartes published his *La Géométrie* in 1637, proposing the union of algebra and geometry, and a 1649 Latin translation expanded and clarified this to the two-axis system we know. We still call it *Cartesian* coordinates after Descartes."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Pokemon] Why do the different city's gyms come at different levels of difficulty?\n\nAside from the fact that the gyms become increasingly more difficult due to your character needing to level up their pokemon, how can the gyms within a region have such a large difference in difficulty?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, the gyms are there with the intention of trainers progressing through them. So it's natural that there would be a difference in difficulty, so trainers can challenge gyms as they and their Pokemon grow. At least according to some sources (Pokemon Origins) the gym leaders each have a variety of Pokemon of different levels and pick the ones they use based on how many badges the challenger has. So, for example, Brock uses his level 12 Geodude and level 12 Onix when his challenger has no badges yet."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind] What exactly polluted the Earth, and where did the massive insects come from?\n\nThe insects couldn't have evolved from present day bugs in a mere 1000 years. Even supposing that the human apocalypse happened hundreds of years after modern day, it would take tens of millions of years to see something like the Ohm evolve. Perhaps the technology that created the Giant Warriors was a genetically enhanced spore that precipitated expedited evolution?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A lot of this is directly answered in the manga, which has a much more expansive story than the film:\n\n- The God-Warriors are nuclear-powered, or at least emit hard radiation around themselves when they are awake and functioning. Said radiation proves fatal to at least one important character and sickens a couple others.\n\n- Additionally, in the film the God-Warrior just kinda roars and crawls around. In the manga, they are self-aware and can function semi-autonomously - not to mention they can fly (and, again, spread radiation when they do).\n\n- Even with the far greater damage they are obviously capable of, there are a couple of other references to the Earth being polluted before the apocalypse - probably talking about industrial waste and pollution generated by humans.\n\n- The Ohmu and the Sea of Corruption are explicitly bioengineered by survivors of the Seven Days of Fire, who then uploaded their minds into a bio-computer to await the time when the Sea would cleanse the pollution and return the Earth to a pristine, livable state. The Ohmu's enraged mass-rampages are actually a sort of deliberate programming - an attempt to extend the sea into areas it previously hadn't reached so the cleansing can be completed worldwide.\n\n- Interestingly, the Doroks first attempt to 'breed' an Ohmu in a tank before they resort to just capturing one and dragging it around."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why can we effectively fight off bacteria but it seems like modern medicine can't help at all against viruses. Why are we still helpless against viruses?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Viruses and bacteria are inherently different things. Bacteria are simple prokaryotic organisms and with that come with a variety of ways you can destroy them (based on their cell wall type, etc.). Viruses are a little bit more tricky because they aren't \"alive\" in the traditional sense. They are a bundle of DNA/RNA in a protein capsid that utilize a host to propagate themselves. Depending on the type of virus, it can either be lytic and explode the cell with newly formed viruses (it utilizes the mechanisms that a cell would normally replicate itself while inherently destroying the cell) or be lysogenic and incorporate itself into the host genome for generations until it is ready to become lytic.\n\nWith this in mind, you can't simply destroy a virus in the same way you can bacteria because they are very different in composition. A lot of things that would destroy a virus would also destroy the proper functioning of a cell, so you'd have to find other mechanisms to fight it off (such as using an inactivated virus to teach your immune cells to recognize it and fight it off i.e. a vaccine)."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: Why, before healthful practice, was it so common for a woman to die during childbirth? Do other species have this problem?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "To some extent, yes every species has trouble with childbirth. Some species always die after childbirth. \n\nHowever, Humans are pretty bad at child birth. Standing upright and having big heads puts extra strain on the whole process. If those traits didn't provide a lot of benefit, we would have some issues from an evolutionary standpoint."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do single celled organisms experience inflammation?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Inflammation occurs when pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1beta, TNF-alpha) are activated in a cell. These cytokines exit the cell and activate an immune response whereby innate immune cells (neutrophils, macrophages) congregate around the area to combat whatever caused the inflammatory response. Due to the multi celled nature of inflammation, a single cell cannot experience inflammation.\n\nSingle celled organisms have their own unique ways to deal with infection though. For example, some bacteria can cut out viral DNA from their genome (this is where we got CRISPR from!)."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: What is insomnia and why can't our brains shut off when we're excessively tired\n\nWhy can't our brains shut off and sleep when we're overly tired and trying to fall asleep?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Insomnia can be caused by many things, but one of the most common causes of insomnia is a non-functioning ability to produce the chemical that makes us begin to fall asleep.\n\nOur brain (neurotypically) naturally makes all of the chemicals we need on a given day to function. One of them, melatonin, is produced in low light conditions when the body is laying down or comfortable, and it triggers the sleepiness that lulls us to sleep. For whatever reason (and there are many), some people's brains don't make enough of this chemical naturally to fall asleep easily.\n\nSome causes of malfunctioning melatonin production include PTSD, rewiring what your brain expects \"low lighting\" conditions to look like by watching bright screens in the dark, as a symptom of other disorders like anxiety and depression, as a symptom of taking medications, from not getting enough exercise, and so on."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[Star Wars ANH] During the attack on the Death Star, why didn't the Empire deploy, like, a lot more TIE fighters?\n\nIt seemed like they were pretty conservative in the number of fighters they launched to combat the attacking rebel fighters. Why not launch 2,000 TIE fighters, to swiftly overwhelm and destroy the rebels?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "At that moment, Tarkin was the embodiment of arrogance. He did not think the Rebels stood a chance, and paid almost no attention to the pitiful attack from a handful of fighter craft. In his eyes, the Death Star was invincible, and moments away from destroying the primary Rebel base. Remember, he shot down the idea of evacuation when the Rebel plans had been analyzed, and his engineers recognized the weakness they were gunning for. \n\nSo the TIE response was literally just following the bare minimum of military protocol, and possibly not even ordered from him, but a lower officer responding so said protocol. \n\nIf any other (competent) commander had been in charge of the Death Star, it's likely the fighter response would have been much heavier. But perhaps it was the will of the Force that Tarkin was so overconfident."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: Why can't we just base the weight of a kilogram by saying that it is the weight of 1L of water instead of using the International Prototype Kilogram?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "1L of water at what temperature and pressure? A liter is a unit of volume, and a liter of steam is going to have a lot less mass than a liter of water at the bottom of the Mariana trench. Most human life exists in a similar band of temperature and pressure, so 1L of water weighs about a kilogram, but it lacks the precision of a set prototype kilogram."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "[The Elder Scrolls] If I build a high enough ladder and climb it, will I enter an Oblivion plane?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Sorta. \n\nThe distance between Nirn and Oblivion is practically indescribable. \n\nIt's more than just 'space'. \n\nYou could conceivably reach the edges of Oblivion, but then you'd be in a great empty void with nothing nearby. \n\nYou'd find yourself in a place where the normal rules of 'existing' don't matter. \n\nYou might forget to breath or eat until you die. You might not even die and just persist in a state of ignorant confusion. \n\nWithout sufficient protection, you would slowly forget that you're even anywhere at all."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My prof said \"The liberal value system favours freedom over morality, the egalitarian value system favours morality over freedom. The conflict between these two value systems is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, social conflicts of our time\", can you expand on this?\n\nIt's a translation. Favours can be translated as \"ranks\" as well, not sure which fits best."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, and no.\n\nThe liberal value system favours the political conditions that reproduce individual liberty over any other principles, whereas egalitarian systems favour the political conditions that reproduce equality. The professor seems to be operating with two (debatable) hidden premises: the way that liberals describe freedom is broadly correct, and that the principle of equality is ostensibly an ethical principle before it is political. Presumably the professor is a liberal instructing on liberal political theory, because we might say that the struggle between these two poles of liberty and equality, between the protection of individual rights (\\*ahem\\* private property \\*ahem\\*) and equality is the conflict at the heart of liberal thought.\n\nAlternatively, this is a lazy provocation based on false narratives of the Cold War."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: Why does non-sentient life try to survive?\n\nIt has honestly never made sense to me why a plant or cell incapable of thought or emotion would care about whether it lives or dies. It's confusing, but it just seems strange that plants and cells without will or emotion aren't indifferent to death."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Imagine you are standing on a storm drain grate holding a variety of objects of various sizes and shapes. You drop them all on this grate and some of them will fall through while others will not. You gather all of those that didn't fall through up and drop them again, repeating this process many times.\n\nWhen you are done what do the objects you have left all have in common? Obviously it is that they are very unlikely to fall through that storm drain grate! This is the basic idea at work with all life.\n\nOrganisms live and reproduce because that is what got them to be around today. If they didn't reproduce they would be like the stuff that fell through the grate, they wouldn't exist anymore. Living is a prerequisite to reproducing, corpses don't make babies, so living creatures around today tend towards staying alive long enough to reproduce.\n\nThey don't **want** to stay alive exactly, they stay alive because of what they are, because of their fundamental structure. If you can't get air you struggle to breathe not because you make a reasoned, logical thought process from the necessity of breathing to maintaining biological functions to your intended life goals. You struggle to breathe because of an evolved biochemical pathway linking the buildup of carbon dioxide in your blood to a reflexive urge to breathe. Creatures that didn't have that strong reflex tended to asphyxiate and became less common as time went by, so all we have left are those that do have the reflex.\n\nSo to answer your question plants don't need emotions or goals to do things that maintain their lives, just like objects don't need to desire features that keep them from falling down that storm drain grate. It is just what they are because they have been sorted for those features."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "ELI5: How can my mobile phone still perform an emergency call even when there is no coverage available?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Because phone operators allow mobiles from other networks to make emergency calls on their network.\nSo while you may not have coverage, because you're a Vodafone customer, there still might be T Mobile coverage available, which you can use only for emergency calls."
}
] |
[
{
"from": "system",
"value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is there a reason a greenscreen has to be green? Can other colours be used?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Any color can be used, however bright green is often used because it's a color that doesn't appear commonly in clothes or in the human body, making it easier to separate out the background and things in front of it. If you try to, for example, use white you rule out white clothing which is common, because the software wouldn't be able to distinguish between the clothes and background, or the whites of your eyes for example. It's a color that usually contrasts well with things you want to film, but other than that it isn't special."
}
] |
Subsets and Splits