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Nitral's Archive 20

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Is it true that if someone you love very much dies, you can also die of a \"broken heart\" and if so explain it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Your body has a lot of hormones. When you experience a lot of stress that feeling you get is due to sudden creation of many hormones. When you are old and your heart is weak this jolt of hormones can damage your heart. And if you are fragile enough you can die. It is common to lose elderly married couples in pairs for this reason." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Are irrational numbers irrational in all bases and number systems?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Irrationality is a property of the number, not it's representation in any given base. How you choose to represent the number won't have any effect on whether it's irrational. To be clear, an irrational number is one that cannot be expressed as a ratio between two integers.\n\nThat said, in any *rational* base, all irrational numbers will have expansions that are not eventually repeating. However, one can consider *ir*rational bases, in which case there will be irrational numbers with terminating representations. For example, in base pi one can express pi as 10." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[LOTR] If Morgoth was weakened by his great magical deeds, then were the other Valar also weakened too e.g. Creating the trees, the dwarves?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I would say no, the Valar created according to the song of Iluvatar. Harmonic waves are able to travel easily, gaining strength from the underlying order, whereas Morgoth's dissonance goes counter to the holy song, like a wave crashing into another wave, requiring more energy to be created." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "What is the difference between contempt and disgust?\n\nI recently came across the 7 universal emotions in a lecture. Amost all of them are familiar to me with the exception of \"contempt\". Searched it up on google and got this definition: the feeling that a person or a thing is beneath consideration, worthless, or deserving scorn. To me, this also sounds like disgust which is another one of the 7. So what's the difference between the two?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Approach vs avoidance, as well as social vs. physical. We avoid disgusting things to keep us safe and healthy. Touching a dead body is gross because it can make us sick. Contempt involves approach because it is associated with feelings of aggression. Contempt is a inherently social, as it requires another party to exist." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why were fortresses often built pentagonal?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It’s the fewest number of sides where the defense weapons of the time (cannon) could have overlapping fields of fire. Cannons on both walls can target the same attackers. \n\nA 4-sided fort means each side is facing a completely different direction so they can’t do that." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Is it possible to forcibly deflate currency by removing it from circulation or is it going to inflate infinitely?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's certainly possible, but it's something most countries really want to avoid.\n\nDeflation incentivizes hoarding money, and widespread hording can crater an economy even faster than rampant inflation." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: Credit limits serve no purpose to college students\n\nEDIT: \n\nI wasn't clear initially, so I will explain. What I meant by \"necessary classes\" included classes that aren't directly in your field of study (such as communications or technical writing, for example). These courses have value for obvious reasons. I was instead referring to the situation where even after all of the necessary classes are attained, you still must take random classes around the university to reach the 120 credit limit.\n\nOriginal Post:\n\nWhat I'm talking about here are limits like \"you need 120 credit hours to graduate\". Obviously you need to complete the necessary classes to get your degree, but this 120 limit often extends past what is needed to complete degree requirements.\n\nStudents pay exorbitant amounts of money in tuition, and that amount has only been increasing. So, college for most students is an investment. Why should we have to spend extra time just getting to that arbitrary number when we already know what we need to get our degree?\n\nIn my opinion, this is a scam to keep students on campus longer, and to waste more of their money." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": ">but this 120 limit often extends past what is needed to complete degree requirements.\n\nIf the 120 credit limit is required for you to graduate, then it is _part_ of the degree requirements. It doesn't \"extend past\" them." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[WH40K] Corrupted marine renouncing chaos?\n\nHave there ever been a case of a corrupted Space Marine returning from chaos? Not that they'd get accepted back by the loyalist Space Marines, but I'm curious if the corruption in some way is reversibel." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Their souls are sworn to the chaos gods upon death, Chaos space marine's bodies are also warped and fused to their armor to better serve their patron god. \nEven if they manage to break away they are fundamentally altered from their original forms. The Emperor of mankind could definitely undo the changes wrought by chaos and potentially hold onto their souls, but they broke their oaths to him and attacked mankind so it's doubtful the Emperor would be so forgiving. \nWhat's more the Ordos Herecticus and Ordos Malleus would happily, with several Astartes on hand, kill such a traitor on sight. \n\nOrdo Scriptorum thanks you for your inquiry and an Inquisitor has been dispatched to determine the extent of your heresy. \nPraise the Emperor." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How or why does moon sometimes appear bigger and in different colour?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When moon is near the horizon, we compare its size with trees, houses, building etc, which makes it look bigger compared to when it is not on horizon. You can test this by closing one eye and covering moon with your thumb and repeat again when moon is not on horizon. Your thumb should be at the same distance from your body. \n\nThe reason for the color is due to the scattering of light by the atmosphere.\n\nSorry for the grammar." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Starship Troopers] What is the point of the armor they wear? It doesn't do anything\n\nIt seems that the armor that we wear doesn't do anything. It's uncomfortable, hot, and bulky.\n\nIt's understandable that it could be easily penetrated by the bugs as they have extremely sharp things, but the fact that our own bullets go right through it tells me that it doesn't do much, if anything.\n\nI am starting to think the Terran Federation is purposely trying to kill us; they give us piss poor weapons that barely damage the bugs, shit armor, and then send us all in to get slaughtered..." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Doesn't do anything? \n\nTry dropping without gear, soldier! Its armoured plating stops you from burning up once you break athmo, its boosters stop you from cratering on the planets surface, its navigation HUD tells you were to go after landing and marks were your squad mates are so you don't hit one of them WITH THE GOD-DAMN BUILD-IN NUKE LAUNCHER (Didn't get one? Apply for Lance Corporal promotion immediately).\n\nNow, on the bounce, Soldier! (which reminds me, how could you be \"on the bounce\" without your combat suit? Jumping 100ft buildings was impossible for Soldiers before the suit...)" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[DC] Does The Flash run on autopilot?\n\nHe processes things in less than nanoseconds and frequently runs across the world. Even running a mile would seem like thousands of years for him. This would surely make any normal person go insane. Is he incredibly patient or can he subconsciously lower his reaction speeds or something else entirely?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He can perceive things faster than we do, but his sense of time is still the same. For example, he can stretch a minute into an hour, but his sense of time still tells him that only a minute has passed. Or maybe he is just extremely patient." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Explain like I'm 5: the difference(s) between socialism and communism.\n\nI have read conflicting descriptions of the difference between socialism and communism, many of them confusing; but I'm looking for a more definitive explanation." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Socialism, at it's root is the idea that we all live in a society, and depend on eachother, and therefore should decide stuff together. Typically, this goes beyond merely the political. For example, employees should have some say in how the company they work for should be run, parents should have a say in how the school their children attend is run, etc. Wikipedia assures me that in English this is called co-determination. The next step, is that if you already depend on eachother, and decide stuff together, you have some responsibility to take care of eachother.\n\nThere's dozens of variation on these basic ideas. In Western Europe there's a lot of Social Democracy, which seperates the idea of decisionmaking and ownership, so that for example employees might have certain rights to make decisions for the company they work for, but does not entitle them to a share of the profit, or to make decisions that do not directly affect their work.\n\nAnother type of socialism is communism. This is based on the writing of Marx, and the basic idea is that the right to decide and ownership are inextricably linked, and belong to all people together. The way communism is supposed to organize this, is by people working together, sharing together and deciding together in councils (hence the name \"communism\"). These councils (or \"soviet\" in Russian), or their representatives, would come together in an overarching council that would make decisions for the entire country, and own everything on behalf of these councils. Or at least, that's the theory. For a lot of countries, if not all, that tried to implement communism, the result was that a leader would end up being in control of the overarching council and being able to lead the local councils, rather than the other way around, which opens up lots of possibilities for abuse and general dictatorship." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: What exactly is insider trading and why is it illegal?\n\nFrom what I understand it's being tipped off on the stocks. Why is it bad to get rid of stocks if you know a company is not doing well? I feel like I would want to know if it was my money." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, first off, insider trading isn't just getting rid of stocks you don't have faith in. There's nothing wrong with dropping Samsung shares in the face of this whole Note 7 exploding thing going on. The difference is whether or not the information you use to make that decision is public knowledge.\n\nInsider trading is basically 'cheating'. Think of it like a game of poker where your buddy is working with you by giving signals about his cards. He tells you through eye twitches or coughing whether he has a good hand or not, and with that information you can know when to fold or when to make a large bid. You have information that the other players don't have, which makes it an unfair situation for them.\n\nInsider trading is the same way. If you happened to be the sole person in the world outside of Apple Inc. that knew that Apple was about to announce a new type of phone capable of transforming into a jetpack and doing all your chores for you, you'd know that the announcement would cause their stock value to skyrocket. So you spend your life savings on tons of Apple shares at their current price, the announcement is made, the shares' value skyrockets and you sell them back for a fortune. You're now rich as heck because you had an advantage over everyone else in the 'game'. THAT'S insider trading." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How responsible was George Bush for the Great Recession?\n\nOften times we hear how Bush’s ineptitude was at least partially responsible for it. How true is this?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Great Recession can't really be primarily pinned on any one individual. There were so many different yet similar factors that went into it. Poor regulation of lending by the Federal Reserve and policy makers who didn't understand the effects and factors that went into the system they were responsible for (Bush probably fits in here, along with Fannie & Freddie Mac). As well as financial institutions who undertook very risky lending practices on the basis that the American mortgage was the most stable/guaranteed commodity in the world. As well as the general population of home buyers who took risky loans they couldn't afford under the guise that the housing market wouldn't give way and could only go up. \n\nA lot of times references to the Great Recession refer to the bursting of the \"Housing Market Bubble\" without explaining the economic factors that go into creating a bubble and it's eventual collapse. Bubbles occur when the price of an asset (Houses, Tech Company Stocks, Tulip Bulbs) increases at a dramatic rate not fundamentally rooted in the assets actual/real value. Because bubbles are tough to spot until it's too late it's hard to nail down exactly what caused them, but typically it's the result of over spending under the belief that an assests value will continue rise." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: If it's better and less painful to stand up straight, then why do some people slouch all the time?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Who says it's less painful? Posture issues aren't just due to not feeling like standing up straight. Your muscles work together and against each other to hold your body in certain positions. Poor posture habits tend to cause a muscle at one end of a joint to be overly tight, while a muscle on the other end to be overly relaxed. In trying to correct that imbalance by simply standing up straight, you're forcing the muscle that's so used to being relaxed to try to counteract the muscle that has been straining, which leads to pain and discomfort, so the person will go back to whatever poor posture position they were in that isn't uncomfortable. Over time, it starts becoming unbearable to just stand up straight, and requires a significant concentrated effort and constantly reminding oneself to manually fix their posture, because their muscles will force them into the poor posture position." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: What actually are shin splints?\n\nI have suffered shin splints or Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome for the past 5 years. I've tried everything I possible can to get rid of them, but nothing gets rid of them for good. I've had a bone scan and everything and my GP says rest is the only cure. I've got orthotics because it's my flat feet that are causing them, but I still suffer.\n\nI've heard multiple answers to what shin splints actually from physios, GPs, Google search. I still never remember. I've heard answers like: it's the muscle tearing away from the bone and its lack of fluid which causes bubbles on the shins.\n\nCan someone please explain like I'm five so that I can remember once and for all!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When you see a diagram of the muscles and bones in the body, it is drawn to show that the muscles connect to the bones only at the ends of the muscles. In reality, though, the muscles are adhered directly to the bone where they lie up against it.\n\nIf you've ever cut up a raw chicken, you know that the meat (which is mostly muscle) doesn't just fall off of the bone once the skin is removed. You have to cut it away, often scraping the meat off of the bone. Your muscles are stuck to your bones in the same way.\n\nNow imagine your muscles are moving and the stresses from that motion are pulling the muscle either away from the bone or along the bone. The parts of your muscles that are stuck to the bone get torn as the muscle moves around. This is what shin splints are." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELIF: What happened to Gandalf? \n\nLOTR SPOILER ALERT\n\nI never read the books, just saw the movies. But what happened to Gandalf that brought him back as the white wizard?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Gandalf, like all Wizards, was an Ainu - an incarnated \"lesser God\" or angel, if you will. His spirit fled Middle-Earth to Valinor (home of the Gods) when he was killed by the Balrog. He was sent back by the Valar (the Gods) to finish his job: opposing Sauron, but given greater powers to replace Saruman as chief Wizard.\n\nThe Wizards were sent to Middle-Earth by the Valar to oppose Sauron without the use of 'magical' force. All is revealed in the Silmarillion (including why they didn't want to use force)." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5 Christmas. How did it originate and how did it come to be what it is today?\n\nI have heard that it originated from a Pagan holiday, but don't know much about the topic. Can somebody please help me understand how it shaped into what it now is?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Many cultures have 'winter solstice' festivals in and around the 25th of December. This was because days were short and dark, as little as 5 hours between sun rise and sun set in some northern Scandinavian capitals (Oslo etc)\n\nSo the cheer themselves up around the time of the shortest say they would get together, have a party, exchange gifts, etc.\n\nLater Christianity became the dominant religion and pagan festivals could no longer be tolerated, so a story was created about the birth of Christ. (even though there is major dispute over this date)\n\nHowever many of the trappings of the pagan festivals can still be seen. Evergreen tree to remember even in deep winter plants can survive. Mistletoe and holly to ward of spirits. And so on.\n\nEach of the main countries that had these festivals (Gemany, Denmark, the UK, Norway, etc.) had a 'character' to go along with them, Saint Nicholas, sinterklaas, Father Christmas, and so on.\n\nWhen immigrants went to the US there needed to be someway of amalgamating these disparate elements. So gradually over time, the elements of 'German Christmas' 'British Christmas' and so on all blended together into the modern day incarnation, and Santa Claus was born to play the character in this new version. Shoes filled with candy were replaced with stockings over the fire place, candles mounted on ever green trees were replaced with the far more sensible electric lights.\n\nYou can actually still see elements of the old characters in Santa Claus, both because of the name (Santa Claus is very close to Sinterklauss) and also because if you call him 'St. Nick' or 'Father Christmas' people know who you are talking about despite these figures being different and pre-dating him.\n\nEventually the US became the dominant cultural force and exported its version of Christmas back to Europe." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Command and Conquer] so some nerd just waltzed into my barracks and apparently we work for his boss now, what gives?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hey look buddy. He's an engineer, that means he solves problems. Not problems like \"what is Kane,\" because that would fall under the purview of weird plotline bullshit. He solves practical problems. For instance, how is he going to make these big mean mother-hubbards fight for the right side without having to tear them a structurally superfluous new be-hind? The answer: Use a gun. On the first guy he comes across. And when that don't work, use more gun. Until the rest of those sacks-o-craps fall in line.\n\nNOW GIT!" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Rise of the Guardians] Why couldn't the Guardians just show themselves to the children?\n\nSo during the 2nd act of this magnificent film the heroes are trying to make Easter happen in order to make the kids believe, however Pitch Black foils this attempt and kids stop believing in the easter bunny (instantly) so Bunny in a final attempt at it, comes out of the bushes and offers them free eggs but by this point it's too late and the kids don't see him.\n\nWhy not do that earlier? If you see that this is a do or die situation, why not just come out? There doesn't seem to be a 'Guardian Rulebook' that tells you not to do that. In fact the literal last light and hope of the guardians was a child who believed because he physically watched them.\n\nSo what stops them?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Because the problem is not, strictly speaking, that the children don't believe in the *guardians-* after all, most children don't believe in the Easter Bunny anyway. The problem is they don't believe in the things the guardians *represent*\\- hope, wonder, joy, etc. Pitch isn't just making people stop believing in Santa Claus early, he's making people not believe the world can be a good place.\n\nThat's what they need to deal with, and even if they went on national tv and held press conferences, it wouldn't change that problem. Hell, it might make it worse, putting the icons of childhood wonder as just another clout-seeking celebrity.\n\nSimply, it doesn't matter how many people believe in Santa Claus. It matters how many people believe in Christmas, and that takes more then a talk show appearence." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Marvel]How come Wakanda hasn't run out of Vibranium?\n\nThey've had it for 10,000 years? How did they conserve so much of it?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They are sitting on a huge amount of it, and most applications don't require that much of it. Also, most things don't need to be remade. That vibranium spear is gonna last pretty much forever for example." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[The Venture Bros.] If Red Mantle is Buddy Holly and Dragoon is the Big Bopper, what happened to Richie Valens? Did he also fake his death and join the Guild?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Richie Valens was a necessary sacrifice to sell the lie that the other two died. He wasn't a part of the underworld, just a really good musician who chose to share the wrong plane with some*bad* people." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Dungeons and Dragons] Can I use Polymorph to reproduce with Non-Humanoids?\n\nHey there everyone! My name is Firnagallad the Level 7 Wizard, and let's just say I'm *really* looking forward to level 8. \n\nBut there is one question that the Academy refused to answer me (repeatedly). Under the effect of the Polymorph spell, can a human produce offspring with a normally nonviable non-human? Will those offspring be viable? Will they be 'half-human', or have any interesting morphological traits?\n\nFor the inevitable follow up question, don't worry. 1 minute/Level is *more* than enough." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Thanks to the Book of Erotic Fantasy, this *does* have an answer. There are some weird wizards out there on the coast.\n\nIf your current form has a penis, yes, you produce sperm and can impregnate someone normally. If your current form has a uterus, you need to remain polymorphed for the whole 9 months (the baby is lost if your transform back), but if you can manage that it works.\n\nEither way, the baby is a hybrid between your true form (i'm assuming human?) and the partners true form, regardless of what form you were in during intercourse . This can produce some weird new creatures, depending on what you fucked, and is at least theorised to be behind some of the strange hybrids out there\n\nSo it seems your dream can come true! Shine on you crazy diamond." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: War of Currents; Did Edison screwed up Tesla?\n\nI just watched \"The Prestige\" today, and so I was wondering why Edison is up on Tesla's ass? (It's just a little thing in the movie I was curious about).\n\nWhat happen if we use Tesla's AC methos now days? Would it be more efficient?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Like you're 5? Edison was making money providing power on a proven idea (DC). Tesla came along with a new, better idea (AC) and Edison knew it was better. Since he couldn't beat it, he decided to be really mean to Tesla. Edison went around to big crowds and said things like, \"AC IS REALLY DANGEROUS WATCH THIS\"* and then would electrocute large animals.\n\n*Paraphrased.\n\nTesla responded by running AC through his body to power light bulbs so people could see it was safer. Pretty cool. Basically Edison was threatened by Tesla's cool ideas which were better than Edison's. Edison was a mean guy. Tesla died broke and alone. :<" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "What is the extent of Kevin Flynns powers on the grid?\n\nWhat can he do? Create? Destroy?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He's a user. In theory he could unmake or remake the world, changing *anything* or *everything*. To explain it in the context of the Grid's togas-and-mysticism theme, users are demigods with the potential to perform godlike acts.\n\nWhen he first entered the Grid, he had to try really hard to temporarily redirect a light beam and it left him utterly exhausted. When he built his own Grid and spent years practicing, he was able to build a city from nothing, populated it with programs, created an avatar in his own image, and inadvertently created artificial life in the form of the ISOs." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "What existed before the Big Bang?\n\nA little research has taught me that before the Big Bang, all the mass in the universe existed in a tiny singularity. Since time slows around large mass, and this had all the mass in the universe, time didn't exist before this. Technically this means there is no \"before\" the Big Bang, but I was wondering if there are any theories as to how that singularity came into existence out of nothingness?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "based on what we know now of physics, \"before\" the big bang did not exist. It created matter, and without matter (e.g. at least whirring electrons) we don't have time because there is nothing to measure." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[The Flash TV] *new episode spoiler* Why did Barry get help from...\n\nWhy did they need help from Snart to move the meta humans?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For whatever reason, possibly the high stress of the situation and the antagonism of Wells, it slipped the mind of every main character that Flash could have run all the imprisoned meta humans to the airstrip without the need of the truck, and in a short enough time that the knockout gas wouldn't have worn off.\n\nInstead, they decided to move them with a truck, and Barry, fearing the Metas could escape and outnumber him, decided to enlist Snart to help contain them in that eventuality." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "What is the difference between Agency and Will?\n\nNewbie here at psychology. To my limited understanding, agency seems to be just another word for will, but this can hardly be the case. Could you please define for me what the difference between Agency and Will is?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "So how I've always viewed it is that the will is more psychological or mental. We have the will to chose our own future. Our will is *free* in that we can chose whatever actions or make whatever decisions we wish. Agency however is more of our ability to act on our free will. For example, while humans everywhere have free will, there are certain places in the world where their individual agency to act on this free will is limited." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[40k] Is the Emperor's origin canon?\n\nIs the Emperor's origin as the result of the reincarnation of the shamans of old still canon? Or is GW planning on retconning it like the rest of the aspects of the Emperor?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe? Maybe not? \n\nShit, even if it is canon it might not be true, 40k is real bad (or good, depending on how you look at it) about having unreliable narrators.\n\nWhat is canon is that the Emperor showed one of his custodians a vision of the emperor as a child in ancient Anatolia, and even then he had psychic powers." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[MCU] What difference between universes, timelines, and realities?\n\nVenom and Loki spoilers will be basis for the background of my question. \n\n\nLoki and the TVA suggest that different timelines exist that branch off the “sacred timeline”. Which would be basically the MCU. MCU between Dr. Strange, Infinity War, End Game and Loki suggests that timelines are different realities in which choices affected outcomes of great importance. However in all these timelines every character that we know from the MCU exists. The characters don’t always become what they are meant to be but they still exists. \n\nThey use the words universe and timeline interchangeably and it doesn’t really make sense to me. To me a different universe would be one where most if any of the MCU characters don’t even exist. A different timeline would be if Tony Stark was just a regular mechanic. \n\nLoki supports my belief I feel because there’s never any evidence that any of the other universes existed ie X-men or Amazing Spider-Man. There’s variants of TVA, of Loki, or Kang but never any of Wolverine or evidence that Adamantium exists. \n\nAll this to say I just watched the new Venom and the post credit scene while enjoyable makes no sense. \n\nHow is it possible that Venom can now exists in the MCU? Surely if it was a branch of the “sacred timeline” at least some elements of the MCU would have appeared before now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A universe or reality is a single dimension that normally contains an alternate Earth. The MCU/Earth-19999/Reality-19999 (Avengers films) and Earth-616/Reality-19999 (comics universe) are examples of universes. The \"real world\" universe (our own) has been called Reality-1218. They are also called parallel universes, in that they co-exist with other universes with no direct interaction, such as the MCU and Earth-616 are similar but no derived from the same source. Picture two rivers flowing parallel but neve overlapping.\n\nA timeline is often used as another term to describe other universes or realities, but more specifically it is used when referring to that universe when time travel is involved. Whenever one time travels, they normally cannot enter their own timeline (ie they cannot interact with their direct past) but rather a divergent timeline branches off from the main timeline, effectively identical other than the chances made by the time travelers. Divergent timelines can also occur on their own without time travel. Picture on river that branches into a second stream, the first stream remains unchanged but their is a second one flowing from the same source.\n\nThe term alternate universe is a blanket term to describe all variations of universes or realities.\n\nThe Multiverse is the collection of ll the realities and timelines of the Marvel continuity (all the comics, films, TV series, etc). In a broader context, there are also other Multiverses, each one containing their own franchise. There is the DC Multiverse, the Star Trek Multiverse, the Doctor Who Multiverse, etc. In general, characters from one multiverse do not interact with characters from another unless there is some intercompany crossover (like the comic Justice League/Avengers).\n\nThere is also the Omniverse, a term effectively describing all the universes and multiverses as a whole." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Is the International Space Station's orbit altered by the weight of new supply deliveries?\n\nI read that the ISS receives several tons of supplies at each delivery. Does this change the momentum or overall energy, or otherwise do anything to the object's orbit, and does its path need to be adjusted or boosted somehow to compensate for the additional mass?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes and no!\n\nWhen the new supplies arrive, the rocket that delivered them has already boosted them up to the correct orbital velocity/energy to be in the same orbit as the ISS. So although the supplies add mass to the ISS when they come aboard, they also bring all the kinetic energy they've been given, which exactly balances the increased mass - because if they didn't have the same velocity as the ISS they'd be crashing into it or missing it rather than being carried along the docking tunnel!\n\nLikewise, when stuff leaves the ISS, it has the same velocity (right until the capsule starts gently maneuvering away), so it carries away just enough momentum/kinetic energy to balance the mass it takes away. The re-entry craft then fires engines to change that into a trajectory going down to Earth, and all that energy it's taken from the ISS is turned into heat when aerobraking, in parachutes, etc." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Star Trek: holosuite] We know that they make more space inside them once turned on than what their actual dimensions are when they are off. My question is what happens if I make it prject a football field fill it with boxes and then turn it off?\n\nDid I just blow up the ship as trillions of particles suddenly occupy the same space?\n\nMake it project****" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That is how they appear to work but don't really. It uses illusion to create a bigger seeming space. For example a few times someone throws something and it hits a shimmering force field to demonstrate the limitations.\n\n\nIt's not explicitly stated, but it also probably creates something like a grid system when people are split up, separating them with force fields upon which images are projected. And the floor moves people as they walk so they don't bump into walls / force fields.\n\n\nHowever it works it definitely doesn't create extra space inside." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[predator] why do the yautja use visible lasers instead of infrared lasers?\n\nWouldnt it give the predators an advantage if their prey would not be able to know if they are being targeted?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's part of their honor code to give their prey an opportunity to avoid being shot. Extra layer of challenge for themselves if they don't make the first shot and their prey figures out the lights mean death." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "If livers regenerate, would it be possible for me to donate half my liver, grow it back, then donate it again? If so, how many times can one repeat this process?\n\nEDIT: Thanks for all the responses guys! I enjoy learning about this stuff." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No, you can only donate your liver once, mostly limited by the fact that not just any part of the liver can be sliced off and be able to fully regrow. There are two (main) lobes in the liver and each has a full set of connections needed to connect to the rest of the body (an artery, vein and bile duct). They take one of the lobes, and the remaining one just gets bigger to compensate, the taken one does not grow back." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5 how does growing work?\n\nJust wondered how does a person get taller and how does the body know when to stop? I know your bones arent the same at birth compared to an adult but how?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The simple answer is that the bones in your body have special regions near the joints called \"growth plates\". These are areas of cartilage that the bones can elongate off of, causing you to get taller until the plate fully turns into bone itself. This occurs around the later teens, generally around 13-15 for girls and 15-17 for boys. These are ballpark numbers though, some people stop earlier and some stop later. \n\nYou can actually fracture across a growth plate and cause that bone to stop growing altogether." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How do ad blockers work?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ads mostly come from known sources, known websites. They aren't generally served by the same site as you're visiting. So ad-blockers know a lot of these servers, and will block traffic from those servers.\n\nThey also know a lot of the HTML and JavaScript ads typically use, and will remove them from incoming HTTP responses before they get rendered." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Could an object orbit within the event horizon of a supermassive black hole?\n\nSince we theorise that tidal forces exerted by gravity just inside the event horizon of a supermassive black hole would have a negligible effect on matter, could a space station orbit for 500 years with people living their everyday lives without noticing the effects of the black hole. If such an orbit were possible, would it last indefinitely?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No, it's not possible. Inside the event horizon of a black hole all particles are forced to move inward radially in an analogous way to how all particles must move forward in time outside the event horizon. So no orbits are possible. There are actually well-defined limits to where orbits are possible or not. The most famous of these is called the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO). For a non-spinning black hole, the ISCO is 3 times larger than the Schwarzschild radius (the distance. So it's actually not possible to orbit the black hole in some places outside the event horizon! For a spinning black hole, the ISCO actually matches the event horizon at the equatorial plane if you're orbiting in the same direction that the black hole is spinning.\n\nThere are a few other important distances, one example of which is the photon sphere, where photons can travel in a ~~stable~~ circular orbit. That turns out to be 1.5 times the Schwarzschild radius for a non-spinning black hole.\n\nEDIT: As sto-ifics42 pointed out, orbits at the photon sphere are not stable. The photon sphere is the point closest to the black hole for which a circular orbit is possible. Another interesting distance is the so-called marginally bound orbit at twice the Schwarzschild radius. Circular orbits here are unstable because they are below the ISCO. This means that any small perturbation gets amplified exponentially. For particles at or below the marginally bound orbit, they have enough energy for these perturbations to cause them to escape to infinity!" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: why is math (statistics, calculus, etc) so important for a strong programmer?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There are lots of areas of programming that require only basic math. If you're doing development for a moderate-sized web site or app, it's quite possible you'll almost never use any math, and never anything beyond things taught in high-school algebra.\n\nMore generally, some programmers use a lot of math all the time, some hardly use math at all.\n\nThere are many more specialized areas of programming that require a lot of math. Computer graphics uses a lot of trigonometry and calculus, so pretty much any game that requires physics or 3-d rendering uses a lot of math. Video and audio compression uses Fourier analysis. Cryptography uses number theory. Those are just a few examples - there are lots of specialties. Good programmers often need to have at least some familiarity with those areas, even if that isn't their area of expertise.\n\nQuite often large-scale software engineering requires more math - for example web sites that need to scale to millions of users. It's hard to properly optimize sites to handle a lot of traffic without a good foundation in probability and statistics.\n\nA degree in Computer Science typically covers many of those things, which is why there's a math requirement. In addition, Computer Science involves a lot of mathematical analysis of programs, including determining what's possible to compute, determining asymptotic runtime and memory usage, and mathematical proofs of bounds and of correctness." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How can plants survive hydroponically, but die from over watering in different environments?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Over watering plants can kill them in several ways. It can \"drown\" roots and deprive them of oxygen. It can interfere with uptake of certain nutrients, or it can promote fungal growth which can infect plants.\n\nHydroponic setups aerate the water to keep it oxygenated, and typically have some portion of the roots exposed to air. The water has specific nutrient levels in a form the plant can use. Fungi tends to do poorly in these systems because, unlike dirt, there isn't a lot of organic material to consume. That said, not all plants can be grown hydroponically. It's best suited for annual plants that have a short life cycle and doesn't work well for plants with specific soil needs." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Star Wars] How difficult is it to fly a ship and how many people know how?\n\nIs flying a ship comparable to driving a car? Or is it more like flying a plane? Somewhere in between? Throughout the movies we see characters having to actively seek a pilot to fly for them, though the Star Wars protagonists are not the average joe. How common is it for the average person to have at least somewhat competent ship-flying ability?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If you're flying a legal ship along legal hyperspace routes, it wouldn't be too difficult. It would be a matter of entering in the right coordinates, getting the right clearance and pressing go. There's a reason why standardized hyperspace routes are so vital for trade and travel. \n\nThat being said hyperspace travel does take a decent amount of time and spaceships are stupid expensive so it's highly unlikely that everyone owns a spaceship. Likely a civilian would ride group spaceships to travel to other worlds. So it's probably like flying a plane." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Humans need oxygen to survive, but air isn’t 100 percent oxygen so what happens to all the other chemicals we breath in?\n\nI’ve always known air isn’t pure oxygen, that there’s a lot of chemicals that make up the air around us but another post sparked this question in me when explaining there is nitrogen and argon and other stuff in the air around us.\n\nWhat is happening for our bodies to breath in this soup of chemicals and only use oxygen, then exhale Carbon dioxide? Or monoxide? I’m not even sure what it is we exhale.. but are these other chemicals harmful in any way?\n\nDo we use the nitrogen and other stuff we inhale? Or does or body filter out just oxygen and lets everything else go when we exhale?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The nitrogen does form an interesting function. It doesn’t get absorbed and basically just gets exhaled out again. However this means that the nitrogen serves to splint open the little air sacs in the lungs (alveoli) and prevent them from collapsing.\n\nVery sick patients in intensive care requiring very high amounts of oxygen on a ventilator can experience what is known as “absorption atelectasis”. If someone is on very high amounts of oxygen (especially in the 90-100% range) the air they are breathing will therefore have little or no nitrogen. This means when they absorb oxygen from the air, the total volume of gas in the air sacs will reduce, meaning they shrink a little bit. This is problematic when people are difficult to ventilate and senior ICU drs will be extremely reluctant to leave patients on 100% oxygen, partially for that reason. Perversely, by the air sacs collapsing a bit the patients ability to absorb oxygen from the air will get worse." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I think couples should limit themselves to having no more than two children. CMV.\n\nI think that every human being has the right to live a quality life. However, the more human beings there are, the harder it becomes for them to live such a life : territory, food, water and other resources are obviously limited. We already consume more resources than the Earth is able to provide.\n\nOn one hand, it seems to me that having children is selfish : there are already children who have no food to eat and no shelter, why create more?\n\nOn the other hand, having children is a fundamental aspect of our nature : I do not believe that anyone should be forbidden from having children. (Actually, in some cases I could understand forbidding someone from having children, but this isn't relevant here.)\n\nBecause of this, I believe that, from a moral standpoint (not necessarily legal), every couple (2 people) should limit themselves to having no more than two children in order to counteract growth of population.\n\nObviously, some cases are a bit more complicated (couples breaking up after having one child, children dying at a young age, etc.) Those cases would need further attention.\n\nUnplanned pregnancies would obviously be a problem, but those can be solved by contraception means. If a couple has a third child because of negligence, they should let a couple with fertility problems adopt it (I would not vouch for infanticide).\n\nAnyone care to change my view? Why should it be okay for couples to have more than two children?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "> We already consume more resources than the Earth is able to provide.\n\nThis is false. We have more than enough arable farmland and uninhabited space on Earth to support between 9 and 16 billion people. We don't have a resource problem: we have a distribution problem. Citizens of Western societies consume a disproportionate amount of resources, relative to their population. There is no reason to take away the fundamental right to procreate just because Western societies are profoundly wasteful and greedy. \n\n> If a couple has a third child because of negligence, they should let a couple with fertility problems adopt it \n\nWhat difference does it make? If two people have three children, there is +1 child in the equation. If four people (two couples) have 3 children, there is -1 child in the equation. If the couple with three children is better able to provide for those three children than the childless couple could provide for one, it would be in the child's best interest to stay with its parents. There will always be couples who are voluntarily childless. Should couples who wish to have more than two children be allowed to do so if they obtain permission or a waver from a childless couple? What about people who never marry or gay couples? \n\nFundamentally, the problem you're attempting to address is both non-existent and impossible to address in the current geopolitical climate. The areas of the world where overpopulation is having serious health, resource-consumption, and poverty consequences lack both the strong central governmental authority to enforce such a mandate and the legal and social status of women that would allow them to control their fertility. \n\nPerhaps, in a One World Government scenario, we could use the power of the state to enforce birth-rate standards on every human being on the planet. But for First World countries (which are the only areas with sufficient access to contraception and governments stable enough to enforce birth-rate standards) to make an impact on global overpopulation, those countries would have to undertake *negative* population growth to compensate. Negative population growth is devastating to an economy, as the elderly are not cared for, unemployment plummets (raising the cost of labor and the cost of goods), and the tax base shrinks. Nations would be unable to service their debts, and global capital would come to a standstill. \n\nEconomies must grow to survive, and to do so, they need more (not less) people. Look to the rising global prominence of India and China for your examples. Humankind *does* need to work toward more sustainable energy and resource management methods, and a more equitable distribution of global resources, but limiting population in 1st World countries where such a solution would be feasible is a ham-fisted and backward way of addressing these problems." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why do cats love Cat-Nip so much and what exactly does it do with them?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When they scratch and nibble on it it releases a chemical known as nepetalactone.\n\nIf they inhale it, it's a simulator but if they eat it it's a sedative. \n\nJust like people and drugs/alcohol, different cats have different reactions." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[The Dark Knight] When Bruce Wayne sets things up with the Skyhook crew, how do they not know he's Batman?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were smugglers. They don't give a shit about *what* they're transporting. If they're getting paid, that's all that matters.\n\nIf Bruce was worried about them talking, then all he'd have to do is pay them more generously.\n\nIf that fails, there's very little the smugglers could gain from know who Batman was because:\n\n1. Batman was still very new on the scene during the events of Dark Knight. At most a few years and even then, up until his trip to Hong Kong, he never left Gotham.\n\n2. They're smugglers. There's no honor among thieves, but if they willingly spill the beans on Batman, then it's only a matter of time before the rest of the underworld learns this group can't keep a secret. And there are bigger secrets than a Batman. Much bigger.\n\n3. Do they even know who or what the hell Batman is? Alfred's exact words were \"*South Korean smugglers operating out of Pyongyang*\", implying their modus operandi was exclusive to the Korean peninsula. During the entire *Dark Knight* franchise, Batman's importance only affected Gotham. Essentially, if you're not from Gotham, who gives a shit?" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Is there maximum as to how loud a sound can be?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sound is a pressure wave. You have a region of high pressure followed by low pressure, high, low, high, low.\n\nYou can make an arbitrarily high pressure, but you can't have a low pressure zone that's lower than vacuum. This caps the loudest true sound at about 194 decibels. Anything louder is more like a blast wave, with a substantial region of near-vacuum behind it." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How does radiation make other objects radioactive?\n\nAnd is it always happen regardless of dosage?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The primary way that ionizing radiation makes things radioactive is by inducing nuclear reactions in the material, and transmuting its nuclei into different, radioactive species.\n\nThis is primarily only a concern with neutron radiation, although very high-intensity, high-energy charged particles or gamma rays can activate things too.\n\n>And is it always happen regardless of dosage?\n\nThe total amount of induced radioactivity will be proportional to the dose. At small doses, the induced radioactivity will be small but nonzero." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: why do some ice pops crystallize while others just become rock solid?\n\nHello,\n\nSo recently I’ve fallen back in love with ice pops but noticed that some of them are solid through and through while others are almost as if they have developed crystal structures within it.\n\nI thought it was because of sugar but the amount is comparable between the 2 with them having about the same sugar content.\n\nWhat could be causing it to form into those crystalline consistency and is there a way to replicate it?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "theres 3 factors here. \n\nFirst is the rate of frezing. \n\nA slow freezing process will produce larger crystals, while a faster freezing will produce smaller crystals with a smoother texture, thats why its recommended that you cool down food to pre freezing temperatures (especially meat) so the freezing process is shorter. \n\nThe second is Agitation. \nIce cream is churned, meaning its moved constantly and mixed to make sure ice crystals are distributed uniformly over the the mass of the liquid being frozen and breaking crystals that are growing too big, mantaining a smooth tecture. \n\nThe third is impurities. \nIcecream has several things mixed in to it which modify the texutre, fats, sugars, air, the air bubbles give it a smoother texture, the sugars interrupt the size of the ice crystals and the fats give you a different texture which limits the packing of the ice crystals. \n\nAlso an interesting thing about this is that in the making of many soft candies these 3 factors come in to play, the amount of water in a sugar mixture defines how hard a piece of candy will get, in toffee the mixture is agitated to put air in to it as to soften it and in many mashmellow recipies, the addition of a different sugar type (fructose) is added to disrupt the sugar crystal formation allowing a softer texture." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: Because all human thoughts, behaviors, and emotions can be reduced to chemicals which biologists and chemists can study, the field of psychology is unnecessary.\n\nI don't deny that psychological scientists have made many important and useful contributions to society. And I'm not as wedded to the idea that psychology is unnecessary as the title might suggest. But the \"hard science is all that matters\" voice inside of me is strong, and I'd like to try and quell it a bit.\n\nSo far, a good argument I've heard against my position has to do with the placebo effect. Yes, although the placebo effect can be boiled down to the activation of certain chemicals in certain parts of the brain, what actually makes the placebo effect compelling is that it shows how powerful the effects of *thoughts* and *beliefs* can be on the body, a phenomenon a psychologist would probably be better suited to study, rather than a biologist or chemist." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Perhaps applying the logic to other fields will make you see how ridiculous it is.\n\n0. Since all action posed by economic agents can be reduced to human thoughts, behaviors, and emotions which psychologists can study, the field of economics is unnecessary.\n1. Since all human thoughts, behaviors, and emotions can be reduced to chemicals which biologists and chemists can study, the field of psychology is unnecessary.\n2. Since all of biology can be reduced to chemical reactions which \nchemists can study, the field of biology is unnecessary. \n3. Since all of chemistry can be reduced to interaction between particles which physicists can study, the field of chemistry is unnecessary. \n\nWhile it may be possible to think of economics at the atomic level, it's simply not practical. It's much more efficient and sufficiently effective to opt for econometric analysis instead. The same is true for chemistry, where learning about how organic chemistry is sufficient to proceed to synthesis. Rarely, if ever, does one need to know about the nitty-gritty of physics to produce the right molecule. \n\nIn the case of psychology, one can learn more than enough from clinical trials. In fact, we've yet to figure out enough about the neurochemistry for biologists to derive that information alone. \n\nAnother way to think about it is astrophysics versus particle physics. Fundamentally, everything is about particle physics but that does not render astrophysics useless. When we zoom in or out, we can gain different kinds of knowledge which would have taken a lot more time and effort to figure out using a different methodology. Maybe, one day, particle physics will have reached a point where we could have known everything we know now about astrophysics but meanwhile we'd have been passing on a lot of low-hanging fruits." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[LOTR] Gandalf says \"the world is gnawed by nameless things. I will bring no report to darken the light of day.\" Were all the nameless things so evil and scary that people couldn't handle knowing about them?\n\nWouldn't it be a good idea to inform the world about potential threats?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I always thought that to mean Gandalf knew of lots of evil creatures hidden in the dark, but they would never come out to threaten Man so there was no reason to get everyone worked up regaling them with horror stories, especially in light of the current conflict." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why the hell does Amazon not pay taxes?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This is a large oversimplification. What they mean when they say that is that Amazon did not pay any federal corporate income taxes. \n\nThey still paid payroll taxes on all their employees, Sales taxes in states they operate in that have them, state franchise taxes, property taxes. \n\nIn Federal taxation there is a concept called the Net Operating Loss or the NOL. As a corporation you file your taxes every year even if you did not make money. If you lost money that year you generate a NOL. Those NOL's can roll forward until you do make money. \n\nIf you make a Corporation in year 0. Year 1, you lose 1,000 and year 2 you lose 500, in year 3 you make 1,500, you will pay 0 income taxes in year 3. Then some journalist says, \"Amazon doesn't pay taxes.\" You click on his website and he gets that sweet sweet advertising money. \n\nI don't know if Amazon does this but a lot of countries use overseas subsidiaries to avoid tax. Basically you make a corporation in a beneficial tax environment, like Ireland. (They are typically small island nations that don't have much in the way of resources, Bahamas, Cyprus, Malta, Ireland) Then you license the right to do business from your U.S. Corporation to that corporation and move all the profits onto it. The problem is, you can't get the money back into the U.S. without paying tax on it but you can stash it in an overseas bank account and avoid tax until you need it." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[The Matrix] How can the machines feed all the humans\n\nAccording to the films the dead are reprocessed to feed living.\n\nHowever i am asking if an adult dead bodys biomass would produce enough energy to feed one person for his livetime.\n\nI highly doubt that. And if this is not the case and the earth surface is destroyed wouldnt that mean that the machines would have to grow and harvest something with artifical light.\n\nWould that not mean that the power output of a human far outweights the power to sustain him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "One of the best fanfic excerpts I've seen:\n\n>Neo: \"Doesn't harvesting human body heat for energy, violate the laws of thermodynamics?\" \nMorpheus: \"Where'd you learn about thermodynamics, Neo?\" \nNeo: \"In school.\" \nMorpheus: \"Where'd you go to school, Neo?\" \nNeo: \"Oh.\" \nMorpheus: \"The machines tell elegant lies.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5:How does healthcare in the US work?\n\nIf a person of their family can't pay for their medical bill what happens? Does the hospital just pull the plug and just let the person die?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No. Hospitals are not allowed to turn people away or stop treating because they can't pay. Instead, the patient gets a bill that they cannot afford to pay. They then go into bankruptcy and have a slew of financial problems due to the unfortunate circumstances of getting sick. Sadly, even with insurance, many Americans face bankruptcy after serious illness due to high deductible plans." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why, when you buy cakes from the Costco, Market Basket, etc. bakeries, they have ingredients like propylene glycol, caramel color, xantham gum, etc., that I would never use in a cake? Do they have vats of that stuff to bake cakes with?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Most of those additives are to preserve the cake so it can sit out for several days without tasting too stale, or to keep it from drying out. Artificial colors have obvious uses.\n\nVats? No, just bottles/cans like you would expect other ingredients to come in." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why is it believed black holes preserve mass, charge and angular momentum, but not baryon number, weak isospin and lepton number?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Basically nobody has a fully quantum mechanically sound theory that relates to black holes, so people don't know whether they expect these things to be conserved or not. \n\nI would say these quantities probably are conserved but don't affect the properties of a black hole. To an outside observer matter never even reaches the singularity of a black hole, or even cross the event horizon if the black hole is not growing. As such there is no time (to an outside observer) for any weird physics to break conservation of these quantities. \nThe particles don't actually need to enter the event horizon to contribute to the black holes mass via the holographic principle." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How safe can monosodium glutamate actually be if it's an excitotoxin?\n\nNormally I'm one to ignore the fads of calling foods unsafe because of one flawed study or something like that. But according to a couple reasonably reliable sources, MSG is an excitotoxin, and excitotoxins kill nerves. So how safe can MSG actually be if it's an excitotoxin?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Lots of things are toxic in large quantities. The LD50 of MSG (the amount of a substance that needs to be consumed for a 50% chance of death in most subjects) is 15-18 g/kg of body weight; the LD50 of salt is around 3 g/kg. As a simple additive, you're more likely to die from acute salt ingestion.\n\nThat's not to say there couldn't be other possible side effects, but the current state of affairs seems to suggest little to no real negative side effects." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why does whole grain food cost more if it presumably requires less processing?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When you have a production line optimized for one product, it takes extra effort to make it do something else, even if it involves doing less.\n\nIn the case of whole grains, it is not just less processing. Whole grains have different textures, tastes, and baking properties, so you have to change ingredients, mixing procedures, baking times and temperatures, and other parts of the production process." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Tolkien] So do the Dwarves get the short end (no pun) of the eschatological stick?\n\nSo I get that The Gift of Men (mortality, being free to forge their own path, being independent of the world and going someplace \"else\" upon death) applies to Men and Hobbits. I get that Elves are tied to Arda and to the Music of the Ainur such that they are effectively bound to both until the world ends and the music ceases. What I don't get is... just how shafted are the Dwarves by all this? \n \nLike, Dwarves are not immortal as the Elves are (living for a few hundred years tops). In this respect, they share the concept of mortality with Men. However, Dwarven souls also don't go someplace \"else\" upon death (the halls of Eru Illuvatar?) as those of Men do; likewise, they don't enjoy the power to forge their own destinies as Men do, and are just as bound to the fate of nature as the Elves. So just what exactly happens to a Dwarf soul when the body dies? Does it just cease to exist? Do Dwarves get the negatives of both Elven and Human fates while enjoying the benefits of neither? \n \nOr is it simply the case that Dwarves don't have souls of their own, despite being gifted with true life by Eru Illuvatar?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No body knows, the Dwarves weren’t planned like elves and men but Eru gave them life anyway.\n\nThe Dwarves have their own beliefs about the nature of their souls and their afterlives. Good luck getting them to tell you their religion, they don’t even tell outsiders their actual names." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Star Wars]What's the reasoning behind putting an astromech droid in an x-wing?\n\nThe scene in A new Hope where R2D2 winds up fixing a small part of Luke's ship is pretty iconic, but it got me wondering, an astromech is only going to have access to a very small part of the ship for in-flight repairs. \nWhat else does the AM unit do that makes it valuable enough to add so much weight to the ship." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They're used to calculate jumps to hyperspace, getting to a distant area takes many jumps requiring accurate calculations to prevent crashes into planetary bodies etc. The X Wing isn't big enough for a computer for this without sacrificing its ability as a fighter so astromechs are used." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: What makes \"ice-breaker\" ships so different than regular ships that allows even the smallest ice-breaker ship to easily get through ice-covered waters that would pose a giant risk to a regular ship?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "An ice breaker is built much stronger than a large ship. You might think that a large ship is unbreakable, but that is not so. It really doesn't take much to damage a ship beyond repair. A simple beaching onto sand in rough weather can do it!\n\nThey also have different shaped hulls. The main idea is that the hull is rounded, so it rides up on top of ice instead of trying to push through it. When the ship is on top of the ice, its huge weight breaks the ice. This shape of hull is not as good for normal water - it is less stable, so rocks more, and less efficient.\n\nRiding up on top of the ice is basically pushing the ship out of the water. This requires enormous force. So an icebreaker has much more powerful engines." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How do underground caverns support their weight?\n\nIt seems strange to me that caverns can form miles underground, and are able to withstand the immense pressure of all the Earth above them. How do they manage to stand under this pressure, and how did porous areas in the Earth form in the first place?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That appearence of stability is an ephemeral transient phenomenon. Caverns usually form through progressive dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, from the infiltration of slightly acidic surface water. As dissolution progresses, they indeed become progressively less stable and frequently collapse. Ultimately, the larger caves of most mature karst systems finish off as sinkholes (dolines)." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why did penicillin replace sulfa drugs that were used prior to its discovery? What was so great about penicillin in comparison to them?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Efficacy and toxicity.\n\nPenicillin actually kills bacteria in addition to inhibiting their growth by interfering with their ongoing activity of remodeling their cells walls. Sulfa drugs do not kill bacteria, they only inhibit bacterial growth by inhibiting cell division by inhibiting folate synthesis - folate being necessary for nucleic acid synthesis. This makes penicillin more effective under many circumstances.\n\nThe sulfa drugs have a substantially higher rate of adverse reactions, many of which are comparatively much more severe than with penicillin. ~3% of people have adverse reactions to sulfa drugs, most commonly rashes or hives, but there are a variety of severe and potentially life threatening reactions. Because these drugs are meant to be so widely used, 3% ends up being a large number of people. ~1% of people experience potentially significant adverse reactions to penicillin, with a very small fraction of these being potentially life threatening.\n\nIf you were treat a million sick people with different infections at different levels of progression with either type of drug, more of them would be effectively cured with penicillin than sulfa drugs, and more of them would experience adverse reactions - especially life threatening adverse reactions - with sulfa drugs." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Star Wars] Could Yoda and Mace Windu have overpowered Palpatine?\n\nIf Yoda had been on Coruscant when the Jedi went to arrest Palpatine and he had gone with them, would they have been able to arrest him? Would he have let Windu kill Palpatine?\n\nWould the \"coup\" even had happened if Yoda was on Coruscant?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mace Windu alone overpowered him. Mace and Yoda together could have defeated him, but alas it was not to be.\n\n[This is straight from the RotS creator commentary track that Mace overpowered Palpatine.]" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why can you charge Nintendo Switch using a laptop but if you connect it to a MacBook you actually charge the MacBook instead of the console?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "USB-C negotiates bi-directional power control and communication on a per device basis. If the MacBook USB-C controller determines that the Switch is a valid recipient for power, it will reverse the power direction and provide output power from the charging port. \n\nThis was intentionally part of the design to lead to greater flexibility for systems." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Soylent Green] Is humanity doomed to extinction?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They obviously can't support themselves on just Soylent Green, But in the worst case scenario if there's mass starvation that would leave plenty of farmland for them to grow food to feed whoever is left." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why are some people so eager for the Baby Boomer generation to die off?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You know how when you are constipated, and you spend a lot of time pushing that first big block out? The job market and economy are constipated, and once we squeeze all the baby boomers out of our economic rectum, the younger turds will have room to breathe." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Batman] Does Bruce Wayne know what it is like being a poor person?\n\nBruce has faced numerous tragedies in his life, but it seems like in general he grew up in a very pampered household. Parties, sports cars, yeah sure he became the Batman, but does he know what it is to be a destitute, or a person with no money? Can he sympathize? The dude lives in a mansion and has his own butler and is a billionaire who has friends in high places. \n\nAs a superhero, isn't he a bit disconnected from say, a homeless joe who is on the streets? Can Batman relate?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In some continuities he spent a lot of his youth bumming around the world picking up skills. Most of those skills came from places where one simply couldn't live like a rich person; getting trained in a temple in Japan or leaning escape artistry in a circus means living the life of a temple student or a carny. He's lived among a lot of different types of people, and while he always had his cash as a sort of \"emergency parachute\" he did share their day to day life and bear witness to their struggles." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "From personal observation, a majority of mothers over 35 years old appear to be on some form of antidepressant/anti-anxiety. Is this observation accurate? Why is this? Is the rate similar in men as well? Why or why not?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Are you talking about women who give birth after the age of 35? Or are you talking about every woman who had a child at any age being depressed after age 35? You may want to clarify that in your post." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I saw an intensely green meteor shoot across the sky. Why was it green, and how common are they?\n\nAdditionally it had a very flat trajectory and flew slightly slower and farther than most other meteors I've seen. Color reminiscent of bioluminescent plankton, or the green hues of an aurora.\n\nFirst time I've ever seen one, it was very beautiful. \n\nThank you!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's green for the same reason that auroras are green mostly. Oxygen is excited by the passage of the meteor and release green light to get back to its rest-state. \n\nIt does happen quite often, the only thing necessary for the green light to be seen is that the meteor stays mostly in one piece down through the lower stratas of the atmosphere." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: The process for remastering old games (PS1 etc) for new consoles (PS4/XBoxOne)" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The first and primary thing done is porting the game. For these consoles that usually means there are different graphic APIs, and you need to update the game engine to use the newer APIs. Going from something like PS3 to PS4 shouldn't be a lot of work, Sony wants to make it easy for you. But stuff like PS4 to XBoxOne isn't necessarily easy, PS4 uses GNM and XBoxOne uses DirectX, there are other system APIs that change and everything in your game using them needs to be changed to match. Then you need to account for differences in CPUs and how your code interacts with it. On older/slower CPUs it was very common to use non-portable cpu-specific code to speed stuff up, it's less common with newer systems. Anyways, all that stuff needs to be updated to work on the new processor.\n\nAfter doing all that, the game should mostly run as is on the newer system. Re-mastering additionally includes things like updating textures because the faster system can handle it and making a few improvement to the graphics engine. That is all normal game development stuff, and they do it as much as they want really." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Half life 2] What's the difference between humans and trans-human overwatch soldiers?\n\nThe combine are supposed to heavily modify humans to turn them into Overwatch soldiers, but they don't seem to have any special abilities. They can only carry a normal amount of weaponry, and go down when hit about the head with a crowbar, same as regular humans\n\nWhat is the point of all that modification?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The transhuman modification process physically rebuilds the person to be both wholly reliant on Combine tech (the suit and mask are environmentally sealed so the transhuman inside can survive) and utterly brainwashed to be loyal to the Combine. The Overwatch uses them as disposable grunts since they're unfailingly loyal to the Combine, despite being mentally crippled to the point of being automatons. There have been cases where they won't get out of the way of a speeding car or falling objects so they can keep shooting at their assigned target.\n\nThere's regular humans in the Overwatch as well, race traitors who've sold out to the oppressors in order to secure a slightly better standard of living and better food rations. Barney is one of these - no transhuman modifications and the suit/mask can be removed." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why are faces the biggest factor in attractiveness? Is this consistent through cultures? through time?\n\nfaces are the most important part of initial attraction, at least in the developed world. What does the face convey that drives sexual selection to favor facial features even more than muscle mass or height? Is this consistent through cultures and time? What about other primates? do they also value facial features more than the other typical selection markers?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A lot of genetic abnormalities express partially as craniofacial abnormalities, and these same abnormalities can indicate abnormalities with brain development or systemic abnormalities that reduce survival and general fitness." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Gravity Falls] What did the kid in pool solitary do to warrant such a sentence?\n\nLike, if we take the after credits scenes as fact, he was in for a long, *long* time, well after the current summer ended. What could he have done that wouldn't get the *actual* police involved(inept as they may appear)?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At the very end, you can see the boy raise a flag that's very similar to Chile's (it's actually a super-simplified US flag, but go with me here), along with a cryptogram that comes out to: \"VIVAN LOS PATOS DE LA PISCINA\".\n\nThis leads me to believe that Soos was not the first to want an inflatable duck revolution, and Poolcheck's first response was to confine the initial collaborators rather than violently eject them from the pool." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[The Orville] Why is pop culture from the 21st century so important in the 25th century?\n\nEvery Earth based member of the crew, including and especially the captain, make references to 21st century pop culture, music, and art. Did culture stop producing humour? Why the emphasis? The oldest cultural references I can think of all reflect geniuses like Shakespeare, Leonardo, Mozart, etc. so is it implied that the 21st century was the peak of pop culture? If so, why do their references stop in the earlier 21st century and don't bring up events in the late 21st century?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You would be surprised at what informs our pop cultural references, and use of phrases in everyday language, from the Bible, to Aesop's fables, and various Greek plays. \n\nWe also have things like the SCA which actively work to promote older skills and art forms.\n\nFinally, we have way more video references of current popular culture than we do of past works, which means things will likely last longer in public awareness." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Are there any papers showing that privatization reduces corruption?\n\nI'm trying to come up with a BA thesis topic, and one thing I considered was that privatization can reduce corruption, but increase inequality. So it may be a good policy to have temporary privatization in government agencies during a transitional stage of democratization." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I feel like (from your description and title) like you're seeking to show that \"privatization -> reduced corruption\". A better way to phrase this (since you're doing it for a BA thesis) would probably be \"what is the relationship between privatization and corruption\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: How does glue not stick to the inside of the bottle ?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The glue is dissolved in a solvent. When the glue is exposed to air, the solvent evaporates, leaving the glue to harden (and glue things together!).\n\nThink of a bowl of salty water. The salt is our 'glue' and the water is our 'solvent'. Once the water evaporates, the salt will be left behind (and it will be in a different form, instead of dissolved in water, it will be crystalline. Similar to the glue!)." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Harry Potter] What happens when one without fear stands in the presence of a Boggart?\n\nsorry in advance if this has been asked before but i for the life of me cannot find a conclusive answer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's near impossible to honestly not be afraid of *anything*. There's plenty of people who don't give in to fear, but that doesn't mean they aren't afraid.\n\nIn the incredibly rare instances where someone just doesn't *have* that emotion for some reason then I'd imagine that they won't see anything at all, or they'll get the magical equivalent of a BSOD where the boggart should be." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Can fetuses heal?\n\nI was thinking about this today, and I legitimately have no idea. If there was a fetus in a womb, and a doctor scraped part of it's skin with a knife/scapel, would said fetus heal, or would it grow with a skin defect in that area?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They can heal. Fetal surgery is actually performed to treat a birth defects before birth. After the surgery the fetus continues to develop and heal from the procedure until it is delivered as close to full term as possible." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why indigenous women in Canada have been murdered or gone missing at such a high rate?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Highway of Tears dissapearances have gotten a lot of publicity, and the public perception is that Native Women are being killed by a serial killer or something similar.\n\nSeveral advocacy groups are claiming that the police aren't doing anything about the problem, and draw comparisons to the Pickton murders, which further causes fears of a serial killer.\n\nThe truth is, however, that the vast majority of native women who suffer violence do so at the hands of people they know - friends and family members. Furthermore, native men actually disappear at an even higher rate than native women in Canada, but since there is no stand out incidences, the issue hasn't gotten much attention.\n\nWhen you look at the statistics and control for poverty - the increased rates of violence and disappearances don't seem to be racially connected, but the extremely high correlation of poverty and race in Canada leads to a statistical increase for natives." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[D&D] Is Chaotic Evil character capable of love?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Of course. Alignment doesn't say much about personality and emotions, just morality. And it is not restrictions, but tendencies.\n\nFor example, The Joker is one of the most iconic CE characters and he loves Harley Quinn." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: South African farm murders are racial attacks.\n\nHad a debate with a relative who told me that they're not.\n\nFor some explanation (other than what Google can offer): some Africans in SA say the farmers' land belongs to them. I have no idea if it actually does. But there are hundreds of brutal farm attacks and murders, and this happens daily. Sometimes nothing is stolen, it's just brutal murder.\n\nI'll add that from what I have seen, farmers being murdered are white people, I genuinely do not know if other races are targeted too. \n\nThere is also a song by a well known political party called \"Kill the Boer (farmer)\". \n\nSo my relative says they are not racially motivated, and I disagree. \n\nI looove a good debate, and I'd enjoy hearing some different viewpoints!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There are basically no farmers that are not white, so it would be impossible for farm attacks to not appear racially based.\n\nThe problem is that because of the way South Africa is (I live here) anything that can be attributed to race can just as easily be attributed to class." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How do we know the actual wavelength of light originating from the cluster of galaxies that are receding away from us when all we observe is red shifted light because of expansion?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Every element has its own characteristic spectrum of light, so we can look for this fingerprint in the light we receive. Since hydrogen is by far the most abundant element, we expect the spectrum of hydrogen to feature prominently. However, the features of the hydrogen spectrum won't appear at the same wavelengths as they do when we measure hydrogen in the lab, because of the red shift. \n\nInstead, the spectrum is shifted by a certain amount. But despite the shift, the structure remains unchanged, so we can identify the spectral lines of hydrogen in the light we collect. And by the amount it has shifted from what we measure in the lab, we can obtain an estimate for the speed with which the source is moving away from us." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: how do ceiling fans collect dust while the fan is on?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The surface of the blades isn't entirely without friction, and dust comes in different sizes and forms. As the blades turn, dust small enough to fit gets trapped onto small cavities, ridges and hooks of this surface. The more dust that gets stuck this way the easier it becomes for other bits of dust to get stuck to the existing bits, creating layers. Everything that moves also build up a charge of static electricity, which makes matter such as dust cling to it easier. \n\nThe compact layers of dust that forms on them is why it appears so dark when wiping fan-blades." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[MCU] What was stopping Thor from tearing his way out of that \"freaky circle\" jail cell on Sakaar?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, for starters it was built to contain superhumanly strong creatures such as Korg - fighters powerful enough to survive against the Hulk long enough for the fight to be considered entertaining.\n\nBut more importantly, Thor was at an absolute low point, psychologically speaking. His father had died, his hammer was broken, his brother had betrayed him yet again (okay, that one really shouldn't be having so much of an effect these days), and on top of everything else his beautiful hair had been lost to him. Is it any wonder that he could not muster the energy to even attempt to shatter the walls?" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why aren't we (the people) presented with the evidence (which Obama clearly stated that they have) that the Syrian Government were the ones who used the chemical weapons on the people of Syria ? And why aren't more people asking to see the evidence?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Because in America, it's not the people's job to decide to go to war. It's Congress's job, and Congress was given long presentations about Syria and Obama's reasons for wanting to attack. They were given the evidence." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "CMV: Mandated reporting is a terrible idea\n\nI understand the principle behind mandated reporting. If someone, especially a kid or a teen, is planning on doing something that would hurt themselves or others, the person they are talking to should notify people who can help.\n\nThe problem is, this eliminates any trust between the patient and counselor, and eliminates the counselor as any sort is serious confidante. If the patient is having suicidal thoughts, they would be much more likely to withhold them if they knew the person they are talking to would be required to report them. We need to encourage discussions like these, not discourage them.\n\nIt seems infinitely better to develop trust between the counselor and patient instead of discouraging difficult discussions. The counselor could get help as they see fit.\n\nYou can change my view by showing that my understanding of mandated reporting is flawed, demonstrating why the reporting needs to be required, or by showing benefits of mandated reporting that aren’t initially obvious." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I don't think mandatory reporters have to report suicidal thoughts. They have to report child abuse. \n\n&nbsp;\n\n> A mandated reporter is a person who, because of his or her profession, is legally required to report any suspicion of child abuse or neglect to the relevant authorities. \n\n&nbsp;\n\nThe above quote was from some generic social worker website, but even the California specific site only mentions abuse. Not sucide." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: If calories are just a unit of energy then how can things like Redbull have 0 calories but still give you energy?\n\nI feel like there's some crucial bit of understanding that I'm missing here." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Energy is an odd word when it comes to food. You derive energy only from foods containing calories. However, there are substances that for various reasons give you the perception of being energetic, or awake, or whatever. Consider that a pound of fat has approximately 3,500 calories worth of energy within it to use. That's enough to run for several hours. What things like Red Bull do is introduce chemicals into you that block receptors that tell you that you are tired. There are also other chemicals with no value, or little value, or that aren't really understood very well. Generally, it's the Caffeine and Guarana that are assisting in making you feel less tired. \n\nThe rest is likely psychology, and later on psychological addiction. You'd be better served drinking a cup of coffee and avoiding the rest. Better safe than sorry." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Berserk] Yeah I've just been sucked into this hellish dimension with a bunch of my friends and told I'm destined to sacrifice them to become a demon king. I don't really want to, is there a manager I can speak to or something?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You wouldn't be in this situation if deep down you didn't want to murder all your friends in exchange for power. It's not like their sacrifice will be in vain. You will have the power to make the world a better place that conforms to your ideals. Are the deaths of a few people who have been willing to follow you through hell and high water really worth more than the lives of the rest of the people of the world and successive generations? Go ahead, eat your friends. Just lay off the forced NTR. That's a bit excessive." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "If there’s no treatment for Coronavirus, how do people recover once hospitalized in critical condition?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Essentially, people hospitalized for COVID-19 are not being treated for COVID-19, they are being treated for its symptoms, which are what kills the most people.\n\nNamely, respiratory difficulties caused by the virus can kill, but can also be alleviated with assisted respiration equipment.\n\nIf done right and without too many complications, these band-aids on the lethal symptoms can keep the person alive long enough for their body to develop effective antibodies and, eventually, beat the virus down and become immune through their own immune system.\n\nFor this, a functional immune system is still required. If the immune system is too slow, or too weak, it's possible the body might never be able to defeat the virus, or may end up having to deploy its biggest guns because there's too much of the virus everywhere in the body, at which point the immune system can simply kill the person. This is why older victims and those with immune system preconditions are more at risk." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Star Wars] Did the Empire pick up stranded TIE fighters after a battle?\n\nSay a Rebel attack destroys the capital ship carrying the TIEs but the already scrambled TIEs manage to kill or drive away all of the Rebel forces. Given that TIE fighters do not have hyperdrives, will the Empire pick up these remaining TIE fighters or let them die of starvation or asphyxiation when the life support runs out?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Empire does view TIEs and their pilots as expendable, but that doesn't mean they're wasteful with them. \n\nYes, they will send a ship to pick up the stranded TIES, if possible. Depending on how many there are, you're looking at a Gozanti or up to a Quasar Fire if there's a lot left. In the case that the pilots are low on life support, they'll send anything nearby to get the pilots, then come pick up the ships later." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "After billions spent on HIV research, it became more profitable to sell meds for the infected than it would be to sell a vaccine to everyone, so we'll only see a vaccine when this scenario invert. CMV.\n\nIn short, I believe that only when the number of HIV infected people drop below profitable scale, we'll see a vaccine, mostly because for now, companies have to get the research invested money back by selling other drugs to control the symptoms.\n\nWhen this number shift, it will become more profitable to sell the vaccine to the world.\n\nSince the beginning of the epidemic, more than 60 million people have contracted HIV and nearly 30 million have died of HIV-related causes. Today, more than 34 million people now live with HIV/AIDS.\n\nIf the infected people number drop below 15~10 million, it may be more profitable to just sell a vaccine. Let's say this would take place from 10 to 20 years from now.\n\nMany can say: \"Hey, there's thousands of good scientists working on a vaccine right now\", but then I'll say: \"Yes, but how the big pharma is going to get it's research money back if a vaccine becomes available before their research ROI?\".\n\nIn the end, money has a voice on this matter, and I wanna talk about how important it really is, when we're talking about it instead of the product of it (the vaccine).\n\nAnd I wanna stress that I'm not a conspiratard or anything like it, but money is VERY important and I just wanna talk about this vaccine from this perspective.\n\nChange my view." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Unless a mutual conspiracy was agreed upon by the big pharma companies, capitalism would solve the problem. Say we have three companies: X Y Z. They all sell HIV medication. X actually finds a vaccine for HIV. It only costs $400, much less than HIV medication, and the current situation is much more profitable. But he knows that eventually patterns will wear off and Y and Z will get the vaccine too. But X could have a monopoly for while and sell all of the $400 vaccines." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: When you buy software, the source code usually is not made public, but doesn’t your computer still have to run the code to use the software? How can it run the code without allowing the user to see the code?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Say you have some source code... in your source code is the line \"if playerhealth<0, gameover = true.\" Seems pretty easy to understand.\n\nNow the compiler will convert that into binary. It will look something like this \"010111000101010010.\" \n\nYou can decompile it, but the compiler through out all of the variable names and just gave them numbers, so now you're left with\n\"If AE0<0, 0F1=1\"\n\nNow maybe you can play around with the game and the code, and eventually you'll figure out that AE0 means playerhealth and 0F1 means gameover... but you'll have to do this with hundreds or thousands of variables. It would be a daunting task for any modern software, to say the least." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why does sexual fetishism exist and, moreover, why are some fetishes more common than others?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I just finished a Human Sexuality class, and our professor showed us studies in which fetishism developed due to early sexual experiences, many times including trauma, stress, or punishment. However, fetishism varies case by case.\n\nIn one case, a man with a shoe fetish described how as a child, his parents were hyper vigilant about knowing where he was and what he was doing every second of the day. He was caught masturbating a couple of times and punished harshly. From there on out, every time he wanted to masturbate, he would hide under his bed and do it as quickly as possible. From under the bed, all he could see were shoes. Every time he masturbated under the threat of being caught and severely punished, he would get under the bed, and his view was always shoes.\n\nThus was born his shoe fetish." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: why do so many people run for president when it's obvious they aren't going to win?\n\nCruz and Sanders must know they aren't going to win, right? What's the point of running?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "To boost their own credibility. Sure they won't win, but they're making a name for themselves and making themselves known. It's what they say and how they say that generally drives people to see what they're capable of and what they want enacted if (but very unlikely) they become President. If they can't be elected (and they won't), they can at least say they ran for President and will try to use their influence on a smaller level before they ran." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Terminator] What is a Terminator's plan for living out the rest of its life in the past, assuming its assassination mission is completed?\n\nIn T2 Arnold S. said he could not self terminate, so we know they won't commit suicide. So what's the plan for after the target is eliminated? Live quietly until the war starts, then link up with Skynet? That's gonna be difficult (for a non-shapeshifter) who is a murderer being hunted by law enforcement." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He is not a human, he doesn't have needs like humans do and doesn't act like one. It's very hard to find such a thing.\n\nHe just has to find a hole to hibernate in until Skynet has enough influence to use him in war effort." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[KOTOR] Was Kreia right?\n\nShe seemed pretty convincing, wars are fought over and over again to maintain the \"balance\" of the force. At the cost of billions of lives, endlessly. The great hyperspace war, the Jedi civil war, the Cold War, the clone wars, the Rebellion, to name just a few. There are tons of references to the force having a \"will\" forcing events one way or the other. \n\nWas she right in saying the galaxy would be much better off being deafened to the force?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Of course it would be. Most of the conflicts you mention were started by force users.\n\nThat doesn't mean wars would disappear, they would not. But there would be smaller in scale because when Jedi and Sith are involved everything goes out of hands.\n\nNow, let's be honest, you all would be Mandalorians now, without Jedi there is no chance the Galaxy can defend itself against us." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[MCU] How was Red Skull appointed as guardian of the Soul Stone?\n\nWe know that the Tesseract sent the Red Skull to Vormir, but what I'm confused about is how exactly did he get the job of protecting the Soul Stone. Who approached him when he came to Vormir, gave him his robe and knowledge of the Stone, and said \"this thing's your problem now.\"?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He seems to have some degree of super knowledge or awareness now, hence his little trick with naming the parents of everyone he meets (and he's available for birthday parties!). \n\nPossibly he has some connection with the Soul Stone now that's feeding him this information, and also tells him what he must do." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5: Why wouldn't a flat tax work for the United States?\n\nLike Herman Cain had proposed with his 9/9/9 stance. A flat tax for income, state, and federal." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The reason is that it would actually increase taxes on the poor. \nSales taxes are the same for rich people and poor people, but they hit poor people harder. \nThe reason is this: \n \nLet's say the sales tax is 10% \nSuppose you are a rich person making $1,000,000 a month. \nThere is no way you are going to spend that much money in the month.\nMaybe you spend $200,000 that month and save the rest. \nThat mean the sales tax is $20,000 or 2% of your income. \n \nSuppose you are a poor person making $1,000 a month. \nWhen your pay check comes in your are likely to spend almost all of it, on rent, bills or food. Many do not have left over to save.\nSay you spend all $950, you pay $95 in taxes\nThat means the sales tax is 9.5% of your income. \n \n9.5% is a lot bigger than 2%, which is why income tax seeks to equalize it. \n\nAs to why it makes sense economically. Again you give a rich people a dollar they'll save most of it, maybe they'll invest a small part of it. Give a poor person a dollar they'll immediately put it back into the economy." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "[Overwatch] Why doesn't D.va replace her MEKA's shotguns with rocket launchers like Pharrah's or gatling guns like Bastion's?\n\nI think it would make sense." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She's a pro-gamer, not a MEKA engineer. She just pilots the thing, she doesn't design or build them. \nIntegrating such drastically different weapons systems is beyond her ability, and frankly would likely compromise the operation of the MEKA in undesirable ways." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "If I'm flying by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, would I see them bright and colorful or would they be somewhat dark because they're so far away from the sun?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The fact is, you can see Jupiter and Saturn here on Earth without trouble. \n\nWhich means they are reflecting PLENTY of light for you to see them up close just fine. \n\nY'all can take your math and cram it up your bung holes." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:" }, { "from": "human", "value": "ELI5:How can a small amount of medicine (like a pill) affect my whole body?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's not unreasonable that small amounts of things can have a dramatic effect on the body. A tiny thorn only effects a very small number of nerves (compared to your entire body) which sends a small number of signals to your brain. Yet it can overwhelm your senses. A small amount of poison from a sting can effect your body. Also consider that your body produces minute amounts of hormones to control your body functions. \n\nThis is the only way that your body can function. It has to be designed so that small amounts of substances can produce large changes. This is true for any effective system. A large company is controlled by a few people at the top. An airport is controlled by a few people in a tower. An army is controlled by a few generals. \n\nSimilarly, your body is controlled by *signals* in the form of chemicals. That's what many medications are. They are signals. Those chemical signals end up creating various larger changes in the body." } ]