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[Dune 1984] Why did the Guildsmen speak a different language? | Isolation and the need for a highly specialized lexicon that could convey the unique requirements and experiences of creating Navigators, folding space, and interstellar economics. It is a mathematical language. | 18 | 20 |
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ELI5:How does a pharmaceutical company come up with new drugs? Do they just try various chemicals on animals until something shows promise, or is there an approach that's more "targeted" than that? | Like let's say I want to develop a better antidepressant. Where do I start with that, if I'm the R&D department? |
There are generally 2 main methods of drug discovery. In the first, you figure out a way to test new chemicals in a chemical method (like does compound X kill bacteria at very loe concentrations and not kill human cells at all). There is a large amount of testing done, and then it is moved to an animal model (usually mice). Tons more testing in several different animals and lots of human cell lines. Much later it will be tested on super low doses in humans and follow the rest of the FDA drug approval process.
The other takes a slightly more informed view. If we know that a disease is caused by some sort of chemical marker or protein in the body, we can use computers to calculate if the chemical will affect that chemistry in the body. If it passes the computer test, it can move on the the chemical tests and then through the rest of the cycle.
Basically, yes, we throw a bunch of chemicals at a problem until one looks good, but we do a lot of testing before we ever move to animal studies. A drug discovery person could (theoretically) work their entire life and never have a compound move from chemical tests (assay) to animal model. This is why it is so expensive.....IT IS FREAKING DIFFICULT! | 2,875 | 6,129 |
CMV: I believe being born into a low income family is less of a disadvantage than being born physically unattractive. | Like being born into a wealthy family, attractive people will always have better opportunities, pre-established social connections and status, will initially command more respect, the *potential* for more exposure to culture and education and a significantly easier time achieving long term goals due to the aforementioned.
* Because I have an ethnic name, I actually get a significantly reduced number of callbacks for interviews when using my legal name in my job application. I replicated this from a study that looked into the same issue, by creating two identities and using a neutral last name i.e. Smith, on the latter. I believe unattractive people face a similar problem of being able to get their foot through the door. Studies show that people will immediately notice the tallest person in a group, unless there is significant case of a person being short, e.g. dwarfism. Unattractive people are often overlooked, and people are less likely to remember them.
* Unattractive will have more issues regarding self-esteem. The detriments of being complimented on physical appearance aside, not being viewed in a favourable light, especially in adolescent to early adulthood can have long lasting ramifications - especially when people learn that appearance plays a big role in success. There are things people can do to even the playing field - wear nice clothes, consider the significance of scent to desirability, the use of wit and rhetoric - but these are things EVERYONE has to consider. Adhering to these rules does not give you an edge over anyone else observing them as well.
* People are nicer to attractive people, whether they realize it or not. Studies show that we want approval from attractive people, because we implicitly believe that their opinion is of more value. Just to add a tangential point, having attractive friends, like in one study where participants were asked to rate people based on their Facebook friends, also improves people's perception of you. So being attractive actually helps those around you.
* Unattractive people will always have to try harder, this goes double if you're not-good-looking and are of an ethnicity that is not of the norm of your country/region.
Just to counter a likely argument I'll hear, I am aware character and virtue are more valuable traits in the long term. But my argument is the limitations set by a person's looks are much more difficult to overcome, create a massive gap in terms of social capitol assuming other variables remain constant, and is virtually permanent. | I think the perfect way to change your view is to imagine 2 scenarios. You have a person born into a rich family who is unattractive, and a person born into a low income family who is attractive. In this scenario these 2 each are white, male and get identical grades in high school. Now it is very likely that the person born into a rich family goes to a much better school, because they either grew up in a better neighborhood or went to a private school. Attractive low income family person is immediately put at a disadvantage because even though he gets the same grades as the other person, his location effects the chances he will get. Because of this unattractive rich person has a much better chance of getting into a nice college, or any college for that matter. The attractive poor person can't afford a nice college, and even if they could their chances of getting into that college are small because their high school was weak. Unattractive rich person graduates from college with some degree, while attractive poor person can barely afford community college gets, in the best case scenario, an associates degree.
The amount of job opportunities for a 4 year degree are much higher than those of a 2 year degree. Yes the unattractive person may have a disadvantage in job interviews, but he would still earn far more interviews than the attractive person simply because of his status. Yes the attractive person may be better at job interviews, but once again he will get far fewer job interviews in the first place than unattractive person. | 95 | 145 |
ELI5:Is it actually dangerous to expose children to sexuality or is it just our morals? If so, why? | For the majority of human history, children lived in a cave or hut with their parents and sometimes others. They would have been completely exposed to sexuality. It's only when you start to have multi room homes that hiding sexuality from children became possible. even today, in many parts of the world, single room dwellings are the norm.
It's really difficult to say if it was dangerous, obviously people survived with the knowledge. If it harmed them, who knows? If it happens to everyone, it's normal. Although our definition of normal changes.
As to "morals", it depends on your definition. Unless you can prove that it would be bad for them, it's just custom and practice, which is sometimes mistaken for morals. | 52 | 57 |
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CMV: I think that some biblical characters were high on perception altering drugs. | Example: Moses was on mount Sinai. On this mountain you can find plants containing a strong hallucinogen called Dimethyltryptamine (combined with MAOIs, which makes it orally active) that causes intense visual and auditory hallucinations.
* It's known for causing profound religious and spiritual feelings (eg talking with a higher being)
* causes mind beding time dilation (he talked about a burning bush that didn't seem to burn down but kept on burning)
* Moses also said that his skin was glowing with some sort of aura (visual hallucinations are known to make everything glow and increase brightness and saturation).
* He also said he heard thunder noises and trumpets and "god" speaking to him and commanding him stuff (also very common for people under the influence of DMT)
At this time people probably didn't know exactly how these drugs work and are prone to believe what they experienced was real.
This is the closest to a logical explanation I've heard so far. | All the symptoms you mentioned could be caused by combinations of extremely common factors: physical brain disease, mental illness, sleep deprivation, starvation, religious practices, poorly-kept food...I would assume you just have a personal interest in DMT that's biasing you in this direction. Even if he was on a hallucinogen, it could have been ergotism as easily as DMT.
Not to mention, what makes you think he literally had those experiences while waking? He could have been describing a dream, his imagining of God, or been speaking metaphorically. | 12 | 36 |
Do you agree with the sentiment that “every student learns and grows at their own pace”? | And do you think the current state of academia encourages this type of growth and development? | Students do learn and grow at their own pace, however, their exposure to potential new interests is often external. So academia does play a role in inspiring students, but the learning and growth in that interest is up to the student. | 154 | 200 |
why should we trust our Intuitions | Is there any reason at all to believe in our intuitions of the external world, Objective morality, and free will? | That depends in part on what you mean by 'intuitions'. Herman Cappelen has a relatively recent book about the issue, *Philosophy Without Intuitions,* where he considers some possibilities and argues that 'intuition' doesn't pick out anything distinctive. If you have a specific view of intuition in mind, you might elaborate on it a bit.
But if you're asking the more basic question about what our evidence is regarding the existence of the external world, in metaethics, or regarding free will, then obviously the literature on all of those topics is immense.
Some quick recommendations are: John Greco, 'How to Reid Moore' for an interpretation and defense of Moore's proof of an external world, Russ Shafer-Landau, *Moral Realism: A Defence*, for exactly what it says on the tin, and several of Alfred Mele's books (*Free* or *Free Will and Luck)* for arguments against skepticism about free will. | 18 | 50 |
How do economists measure unpaid work? | How do economists measure unpaid work?
Alice has a farm and grows 20 apples.
She eats 10 of them and sells 10 of them for 1 USD each.
She has 10 USD to spend otherwise.
Would you say she has an income of 10 USD, even though she produced 20 USD worth of apples?
Bob has a farm and grows 15 flowers.
He sells all of them for 1 USD each, and buys 10 apples to eat for 1 USD each.
He has 5 USD to spend otherwise.
Would you say that Bob is "richer" than Alice, even though he has less money to spend after buying apples to eat? | From a theoretical economic point of view Alice produces more output than Bob, and assuming no costs or expenses were required to produce the output, then income is equal to output and therefore Alice is wealthier than Bob. That's because what Alice produced is worth $20 and what Bob produced is worth $15.
The problem in the real world is that the 10 apples that Alice eats is impossible to measure. We usually refer to this "household production". The common IRL example people give is the young mother who stops working and stays home to care for the child. In terms of the statistics the government is collecting, the household's income has fallen since the mother isn't working anymore. But their real income/output may have risen if the mother's childcare service is worth more than her old income.
So in short; Alice is richer, but government statistics would say Bob is richer. | 12 | 23 |
ELI5:Do male animals like dogs or cats that have fathered children know that they are their children? If so, do would they treat them any better if they are put together? | This question always plagued me. | I know you asked about dogs and cats, but primates have an interesting spectrum of techniques.
On one end, there are gorillas, who simply keep harems and thus know that all the kids that the females produce must be theirs, and thus care for them.
On the other end are ~~baboons~~ bonobos which just have orgies all the time and care for the kids in the tribe because "heck, at least some must be mine" but don't otherwise know.
For the latter strategy, competition for spreading genes works at the level of sperm: they literally rely on better sperm cells getting to the eggs faster than those of all the other males who mated with her.
The closer the species is to the second strategy, the higher the males' testicle-to-body ratio.
In case you're wondering, humans fall about in the middle of that spectrum, with average testicle ratios and reliance on both "keep other men away from her" and "crowd out the other guys' sperm". | 31 | 117 |
ELI5: Why is the American healthcare system so expensive when most other places, it is relatively cheap? | Most places that have universal healthcare under a single-payer system have the government pay for it.
This is, of course, funded by taxes.
Here in the US, we don't have a single-payer system. There's no one organisation that can negotiate and limit medical care costs. There are various insurance agencies, and a lot of medical care is actually for-profit. While a lot of the profit comes from the insurance companies (even the local and federal government ones), a good deal of it is still passed down to the consumer.
And yes, the fact that we're "consumers" rather than "patients" is part of the problem. | 12 | 22 |
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[Futureama] Why give a machine that bends girders sentience? | Like, what's the practical application? | Modularity, versatility, economy, reproduction. The programing cards in a robot are replaceable allowing you to change their function if needs be. They can adjust to solve problems that were not anticipated. They can, when not in use, still continue to be productive by feeding back into the economy through their excesses. Lastly robots can make more robots through reproduction. | 60 | 47 |
ELI5: why does the US have a 3 school system (elementary, middle, high)? | Government operated schools in the USA often went until around age fourteen with the expectation that students would then enter into apprenticeships or work in the family business.
As the economy changed, more parents wanted their children to be eligible for office employment. At the time, office workers came from the educated elite who attended preparatory schools. The government-operated high school was an attempt to emulate this.
At the same time, many school populations were rising, requiring the building of more facilities. Some suggested that, instead of just building more elementary schools, the existing schools could have their age range reduced and a new facility could be built for early-pubescent students which would act as a bridge between the elementary system and the high school system. This would be called a junior high school and later a middle school. | 18 | 31 |
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ELI5: Why does the human body like vibrations so much? | I have noticed that the human body really likes vibrations a lot. Like massage machines, when somebody roughens up our hair, etc. I was wondering what could be the reason for it. | > massage machines, when somebody roughens up our hair
Basically considering these as 'touch sensations', there are two aspects, the psychological aspect and the physiological aspect.
Psychological factor is that being touched or touching someone else are important modes of human interaction next to language. Studies show that the hormone oxytocin has a role in this, which is the hormone of love and attachment. That's why we feel good when we get a handshake, hug or a shoulder massage to a congratulatory pat on the back. Secondly, the physiological aspect, the stimulation, increased blood flow, etc. When we get a massage, our brain receives the sensation because our skin cells send the nerve signal from skin to brain and then our body released endorphins which act like natural pain killers. Then the body tend to be more relaxed as the stress level is reduced. | 69 | 165 |
ELI5: How do speed detectors work? | There are multiple different types of speed detectors. The three common ones are Radar, LIDAR and cameras.
Radar works by sending out radio waves at fixed intervals that hit a car, and the difference in time taken to get to the car and back can calculate the speed of the car. It also takes advantage of something called the Doppler Effect, which is what causes emergency vehicle sirens to switch pitch when driving towards you vs away from you.
LIDAR works basically the same as radar, but using lasers instead of radio waves.
Traffic enforcement cameras work by having sensors in the ground (usually) that tells you how long it takes for a car to go from one point to another. | 16 | 30 |
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Why does the Higgs boson interract with electrons but not photons? Is there some property subatomic particles have which determine the 'level of interactivity'? | As I understand it, interraction with the Higgs field via the Higgs boson is what determines a particle's mass. If this is the case, is there any specific known property subatomic particles have which determine to what extent they interract with the Higgs field? | Actually the mass is what determines the extent of their interaction with the Higgs field. It's not that the Higgs field determines a particle's mass; rather, the existence of the Higgs field simply makes it possible for other particles (fields, really) to have mass. | 13 | 19 |
How do the temperature receptors in our skin work? | The nerve endings imbedded in the skin have an array of receptors that detect different ranges of temperature. Molecularly, they are temp-sensitive ion channels, and their opening/closing regulates ion flow across the membrane, and this current produces an electrical signal in the nerve, that will travel to the central nervous system.
Fun fact: some of these channels are both sensitive to temperature and to certain chemicals, and that is why some substances "taste" hot or cold (think mint, peppers) | 22 | 16 |
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[Mad Max] Why were “classic” cars the only vehicles to survive the apocalypse? | I understand that they look much more interesting than modern vehicles, so it may just be a stylistic choice, but is there any realism to all these classic and muscle cars being the only ones left? | When resources are scarce, the simple and rugged machines are easier to keep running than the more sophisticated and complex ones.
Modern cars are full of electronics - central locking, integrated GPS, touchscreens, keyless ignition, etc. The post-apocalyptic mechanics take one look at those, then go back to the ones that they can keep running by whacking them with a hammer a few times. | 59 | 31 |
[SCP] Wouldn't the foundation have hundreds of thousands of employees, with insane monetary and political resources to do what they do at the scale that they do it? Even with liberal use of amnesiacs, how is it anything close to clandestine? | The Foundation owns dozens, if not hundreds, of shell corporations and international NGOs, and has many contacts in virtually every state government. There's also a need to know basis and a staunchly monitored security clearance hierarchy.
Not everyone who works for the Foundation is actually aware that they do.
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ELI5: What is torque? | Alright so the easiest way to get the concept of torque is to look at a loooooong pole. This pole has a certain mass and nothing will necessarily change that. However if you hold it at the center you'll notice that it is incredibly easy to balance. Now try to hold that rod at the way end while also trying to keep it balanced: this is much harder especially with a very long rod. Alternatively look at an open door. First try to open the door way at the end where the handle is: pretty easy right? Now open the door from the way base of it close to the hinge. Notice the difference in force you have to exert to shut the door? That is the torque or the rotational force of an object which gets increasingly powerful the further it is from its center or hinge.
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ELI5: Why is yogurt usually considered good for you, while ice cream is almost considered bad for you? What makes them so different? | They're both dairy products which are usually loaded with sugar. what makes one good for you while the other is relegated to dessert only status? | Yogurt has bacteria that is purportedly good for you, combined with the fact that it generally has less sugar and fat, makes it a healthier option. The probiotic part is debatable, because studies seem to indicate your gut microbiome returns to its original state after a relatively short time.
In some ways, unless you go for low sugar and fat yogurt, it's like comparing a cheeseburger with a double cheeseburger. The lesser of two evils. | 10 | 16 |
How do you come up with research ideas as an undergrad? | I am currently an undergrad student in my sophomore year. I recently approached one of my professors, and when he asked me what I wanted to do in the future, I told him I'd like to be part of the Academia and eventually become a professor. He encouraged me to do so, and has even accepted to help me by taking me into his team and help me do research about things I like, so that in the future, I can pursue a Master's or PhD a little more easily. (This is outside the US, and having some research experience does greatly help).
As such, he has given me a to-do list of things I have to get training on, such as coding, 3D printing, laser cutting, research papers to read, among many others. I have already started them, but one of the items on the list was coming up with ideas for research. Although I have read published papers, I find them to be extremely concise, and narrowed. He told me he would help me narrow it down, but I still find it pretty puzzling.
I am studying electrical engineering, but I am also interested in using skills from there to help the environment, especially water. Maybe, find a short or long term solution for water pollution, or sanitizing water, among others. As such, I come here to ask for advice. How should I start looking for a topic to begin research? | Good advice from other posts; one thing I'd add is when looking at published papers on topics you're interested in, look at their conclusion which should state what further research is needed to fill a gap their study didn't address/replicate in different circumstances, etc... That way you'll know what new research is needed and you could start from there | 40 | 89 |
ELI5: how are muscle size and muscle strength not 100% correlated? | Question comes from different workout strategies. You can focus on hypertrophy (muscle size) or strength. How is the actual biology of the muscle different if it's big but not as strong? If not biology, what's the physics involved? | Density and efficiency at utilizing energy (endurance). Big muscles are strong, no doubt. But they are trained to do high weight at low rep. Smaller, denser muscles are trained to do lower weights but at higher repetitions.
Think of it like... a big, thick tree trunk vs a relatively thinner, but denser concrete lamp post.
A power lifter feels like solid rock. A skinny martial artist is described as having muscles like corded steel.
Also, strength is measured by different metrics depending on how it's being leveraged. A length of rebar can chip a boulder down to pebbles with repeated hits, but that same boulder rolling down a hill will warp the same rebar upon impact rendering it bent and useless. | 19 | 18 |
What is the furthest traveling organism in proportion to their size? | How far do they go in respect to humans and does anything come close to lunar or even mars travel? If so what are their adaptations? | The monarch butterfly is probably the most relevant especially when comparing lifespan to distance. They have multigenerational migations.
Generation 1 monarchs are the offspring of the monarchs who overwintered in Mexico. Each successive generation travels farther north. It takes 3-4 generations to reach the northern United States and Canada. | 28 | 23 |
ELI5: Why medical professionals, mainly nurses, on whom lives depend, are made to work 12 hour shifts? | Shift changes take a lot of time transferring knowledge and they also introduce risk of failure to transfer vital information. The longer the shifts, the fewer shift changes to incorporate into all stuff that really needs to get done. | 36 | 64 |
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ELI5: why does squinting improve vision? | At least for me, I notice that when I squint, my vision becomes sharper. I don't know if this is a common thing, but I'm curious as to why it happens | You’ll experience trouble seeing things far away in the first place if your iris has trouble closing to focus the light onto your retina. Glasses do this for those of us who have that problem. Squinting sort of replicates what a pinhole camera does, and at the cost of some light not coming in, helps focus the light from the object you’re looking at correctly. You can make some rudimentary ‘glasses’ by taking your index finger and curling it up against your thumb so that just a little bit of light comes through, then look through it. It takes a little practice to get the hole the right size and to find the distance it needs to be from your eye (pretty close though) but that will give the same effect. | 95 | 110 |
If Japan wants inflation why don't they just print money? | In monetary theory there is a concept of pulling and pushing on a string.
Contractionary policy is akin pulling on the string—I.e. raising interest rates will always provide for some level of pricing individuals, banks, corporations out of the credit markets, just like pulling a string will cause the tail end to follow.
Expansionary policy on the other hand is like pushing on a string. Eventually the string doubles up on itself and no matter how hard you push, you’re not able to move the tail end—I.e. at a certain point, no amount of interest rate reduction is able to convince banks to lend out, or convince debt-laden companies to borrow rather than pay down existing debt. | 45 | 184 |
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ELI5: Why do some men grow patchy beard, and other men grow full breards? | I'm 15 and I have a bit of a patchy beard and I want all the hair follicles in my face to actually have hair. | Generally, your ability to grow hair (both body and facial) will increase until, usually, your early-mid 20's. At 15, some people ( like <1%) can grow full, respectable mountain-man/viking beards. The overwhelming majority of people are in the same situation as you, only able to grow facial hair in small amounts (often only directly below the sideburns and the very bottom/center of your chin).
Best advice? Just wait. | 13 | 28 |
How did Max Planck calculate a Planck Length? | Essentially you have three constants which relate to different areas of Physics. There is planck's constant hbar which relates to quantum mechanics, the speed of light c, which is to do with relativity, and the universal gravitational constant G, which relates to gravity.
There is only one way to combine these three to get a length which is
L = sqrt ( hbar G / c^3 ) =1.61 ×10^-35
By dimensional analysis, this should occur as a natural length scale when dealing with the quantisation of gravitation and the curvature of space. It also occurs in an entropy calculation for black holes
S = A / (4 L)^2
With A the area of the event horizon. | 314 | 1,094 |
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ELI5: When humans aren't to blame, How do animals go extinct? | This is a great question, and it lets us really sink our teeth into some basic biologic concepts. First of all, though, there are two basic types of extinctions: Mass extinctions, and isolated extinctions. Mass extinctions refer to vast numbers of species going extinct over relatively short period of time (usually meaning over a few millennia). These are rare events - five mass extinctions have occurred in the history of the world (some consider us to currently be in a mass extinction event - the "Holocene extinction" - which is largely human-caused.) These events are caused by natural disasters, such as the most recent asteroid collision at the Yucatan peninsula, which is believed to have driven the dinosaurs extinct. Earlier in earth's history, large volcanic eruptions were responsible for blocking out the sunlight, affecting plant life, and temporarily changing the climate enough to drive species extinct on a mass level.
Isolated extinction is much more common, and is happening all the time. Some of this is simply the result of evolution. As a species evolves, the older version of the species can be said to be "extinct". The definition of a species is somewhat arbitrary. There's not always a perfect division between two species. For example, wolves and dogs are genetically similar to the point that they can interbreed. However, they are considered different species due to other factors - wolves tend to have a very characteristic appearances, and a well-established behavior such as pack formation with a complex hierarchy, hunting techniques, howling as an important means of communication, etc; dogs have a lot more variation in their appearance, and are characterized by domestication, interaction with humans, loyalty to their adoptive families, barking more than howling, etc. Dog and wolves don't naturally interact and under most circumstances would regard each other with hostility, and so they are considered other species. Wolves in general tend to be more "pure bred". But, if wolves bred more and more with dogs, over time, the offspring would stop being wolves, and start being more mutt-like. If this happened enough, the wolves would disappear, not because they were killed off, but because the things that defined them as a species disappeared. This process is called Genetic Pollution.
Disease is another major cause of extinction. A nasty virus that affects a plant could wipe out and entire colony of plants, for example. This could lead to downstream effects, as the animals that feed on that plant might then die off.
Finally, animals can hunt each other to extinction as well, particularly invasive species that arrive in a new ecosystem and eat faster than they are eaten.
EDIT - crappy grammar | 45 | 64 |
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ELI5: How does Google Maps calculate my route so fast? What sort of logic do the algorithms use to find the fastest route? | Additionally, how does it calculate the ETA with the current traffic conditions? | Google knows the speed limit of most roads, you can add them yourself on Google Map Maker. They also know where many stop lights and stop signs are.
Since they know these things, they know a route which has a 10 mile road with a 60mph speed limit is faster than an 8 mile road with a 45mph speed limit. They also consider a route with the least amount of stop lights/signs is better.
As for traffic, every phone that uses Google Maps for navigation has location services turned on, meaning they know how many cars are on the road, and how fast they are moving. Apple Maps does this also, but because Google Maps is cross platform, their traffic data is more precise and abundant.
Google takes all of these factors in determine ETA. | 16 | 23 |
ELI5: why fish can’t breathe in air despite air having plenty of oxygen | If fish use their gills to filter oxygen from water, why can’t they do the same in air? | Gills function by having a very high surface area with a bunch of “plates” that are stacked on top of each other. Water flows in between all these plates fully wetting the top and bottom of each for a huge total surface area.
Out of the water the plates stick together like wet leaves and the fish suffocates with 90+% of the gill surface now blocked and the exposed area dangerously dry.
Some fish do have some creative solutions to breathing air though, as an adaptation to nasty swamp water or low tide. | 60 | 17 |
ELI5: Why do some people like the taste of something but someone else detests it? For example, Coffee. I hate the taste of it but my girlfriend loves it. | A few major elements play into things we like the taste of.
* There have been studies that what a woman eats while pregnant can affect the flavors that the baby prefers once they start eating solid food.
* From the time we start eating solid food until we're able to reliably walk on our own, we're built to largely trust whatever our parents feed us as being good and whatever that tastes like gets coded in our brains as "good". This is also the phase of life when we'll put pretty much anything within reach into our mouths.
* As a toddler, a general resistance to trying new foods kicks in. Some think this is to keep kids who can now wander off, but don't yet have any good judgment, from eating things that aren't safe.
* There's a general, built-in bias in our taste that treats sweet as inherently good, bitter as unsafe until proven otherwise, sour as a toss-up, but safer than bitter.
* After that point, anything that doesn't make us sick and has caloric value CAN taste good. If you eat something and your body detects good calories afterward, it will associate that flavor as good. This is what we mean when we use the phrase "acquired taste". You can literally make yourself like something by loading it up with calories and choking it down often enough.
So, for something like coffee, if your mom drank a lot when you were in the womb, you might be pre-disposed to like it a bit. Then, if you put enough cream and sugar in it (load it with calories), you might fairly quickly train your taste to disregard the bitter and view it as tasty. This is also the idea behind covering veggies in cheese sauce. Though, the greater our initial dislike of something, the more of this kind of training would be required to start liking it.
In fact, this whole system can be up-ended as well. When calories are supplied to the body without any flavor present (tube feeding for example), the body's appetite shuts down and drops to a really low level.
Because we all have a complicated combination of all of those things, we all tend to like a different blend of things. | 31 | 26 |
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CMV: Immigrants should not have to take a citizenship test involving the country's history, political system etc unless the details of these subjects are common knowledge among an overwhelming majority of the native population. | So I recently took a citizenship test to get Australian citizenship. I have lived here for a decade. My life is here, my family is here and I love being here. I have no criminal record in any country, I have paid all my taxes and generally been an exemplary resident the whole time I have lived here. While I cherish the influences of my own native culture that are important to me, I have made every effort to adapt myself to the way of life here and assimilate. I have frequently decried fellow immigrants who constantly complain about this country, comparing it unfavourably with their own, arguing that they could not have left that country for this one because they consciously wanted a worse life and since they benefit from being here, they should accept the cultural differences as they accept the benefits. This should be the basis on which the decision of whether or not I deserve citizenship rests, not a 20 question multiple choice test, especially considering that the majority of native people whom I work and otherwise interact with - all smart, educated individuals - would not have passed the test without preparation for it, because they could not when asked, off the top of their heads, explain the workings of the Australian parliament or the significance of historical dates.
This sort of citizenship test is common throughout the world and is rather silly, and while immigrants should be encouraged to learn their host country's history etc, it should not be a factor in deciding whether or not they deserve naturalization.
Please TTCMV.
Edit: A lot of responses are about how the native population do learn them as part of schooling and that it is useful for immigrants to understand the history, etc. I'm not denying any of that (perhaps the title does not make it clear enough), my point is that it shouldn't be a deciding factor.
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> *Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our* ***[popular topics wiki](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/populartopics)*** *first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!* | A reason such things are viewed as important is because it shows a commitment on the part of the new citizen to learning about their new country *in general*, and becoming an integrated member with ties to its history. It is moreso a test of this involvement with the country's culture and history than it is a test of the knowledge of those specific questions.
Citizens of the country grew up there their whole lives, so we know they are involved in the country's cultural background already, because they've been immersed in it their whole lives. So whether or not they know the specific questions on the test the outsiders have to take, their status was never really in question anyway, so it doesn't matter.
The questions themselves are somewhat arbitrary, and could very well have been something entirely different, because again, their only purpose is to see how committed this newcomer is to joining the culture of the new country. | 74 | 194 |
ELI5 Why can't we breed bees en masse | In nature the bees create a queen with royal jelly. Can we not use the chemicals involved in this process to mass create bee queen's and then farm the hell out of the bee queen's to create billions of bees. Assuming the pupate at a very fast rate?
Could we not solve the bee problem this way? | The bee problem isn't due to insufficient bees. Be colonies will grow prolifically on their own.
The problem is that we've created an environment in which bees die. You can create more colonies but that doesn't change the fact that we place those colonies in a very hostile environment for bees.
And not just bees really. People overstate the importance of bees and massively understate the importance of insects in general. And insect populations as a whole have plummeted. | 528 | 315 |
Is it morally wrong to own smartphones given the questionable(to say the least) treatment of their workers in every part of manufacturing. | Calculating utility has always been difficult, and it doesn't seem any easier to take a consequentialist approach to this either. Overall, industrialization (which every developed and developing country has to go through at some point) has benefited the human population, allowing for the mass production of goods and exponential growth in technological advancements. In countries like the US, you struggle more with overconsumption than you do scarcity.
Global life expectancy and nutrition have improved with noticeable declines in poverty. But pointing out these facts are not to say that industrialization doesn't come with its own ills. We also experience pollution on a mass scale (much of which we export to countries like China), and we see an increase in obesity in affluent countries. Whether or not industrialization has done more good than harm is really a matter of perspectives, many arguing that--in spite of the working conditions--foreign labor has overall seen improvements in living standards because of industrialization and global trade.
Some, specifically socialists, would argue that an economic system that permits such exploitation and inequality is unethical in and of itself, which to them overshadows the fruits of industrialization and capitalism and warrants a revolution. | 54 | 119 |
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Can someone please explain "obamacare" to me like I am five? | The government wants everyone to buy health insurance (if you need to pay for medicine, someone else will pay for you) so that sick people can get help. Since the people providing health insurance don't like losing money by helping you a lot, they are very picky about who they sell their insurance too. People who get sick a lot (old people, smokers, fat people, people who are already sick) often can't buy health insurance to get help. So, in return, the government will make it so that the health insurance companies must allow them to sell health insurance to anyone who wants it.
edit: deleted double post | 65 | 171 |
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ELI5: Why do burns blister and why do burn wounds remain warm long after the injury occurred? | Edit: Thanks, this is the first time I ever got more than 100 upvotes on anything. Ever. | Burn blisters occur when the second layer of the skin is damaged, they occur to protect the underlying skin layers from more damage and infection. You could see it as the bodys/skins natural bandage, so never pop them.
The skin remain warm because of the increased blood in the area to repair and replace the damaged skin. | 8,036 | 11,835 |
[DC] Is Superman good because he's innately a good person or because the Kents raised him well? | If he were raised by a cruel parent would he grow up cruel? Would another Kryptonian raised by the Kents come out as good? | It's always implied that the Kents formation and education shaped Clark's ethics and morale, and even his environment and background helped it too.
But... almost all the alternate versions of him not being raised by the Kents (raised by the nazis, by the soviets, by quakers, by the government, by british...) give him the same goodness, reinforcing that in fact it is innate. | 670 | 605 |
Ethics reading recommendations for amateur philosophers and new ethical skeptics | **Question**: What articles, books, or philosophers would you recommend for moral nihilists or skeptics? Specifically to both challenge or strengthen the position.
**Background**: I have a degree in a philosophy that was heavy on analytic philosophy, but have done a fair amount of reading in continental philosophy. I also organize a discussion group with friends and friends of friends for discussing philosophical topics. The participants are mostly people with philosophical sensitivity, but not philosophy training.
**The situation**: A common path I've seen in this group is: first, people who haven't had skepticism about ethical topics will discover that it's appropriate and fun to analyze and reject some ethical arguments. Next, this ethical skepticism opens the door to subjectivism or towards moral nihilism. Then, either people remain stuck in subjectivism or in moral nihilism because those are very difficult projects, or slowly and surely find some moral arguments convincing.
This seems like a common path, and a desirable path toward ethical and philosophical maturity.
**The problem**: How can I assist my fellow philosophers in exploring, challenging, and supporting moral nihilism or subjectivism? To be clear, I don't mind if nihilism is a lasting position, I simply don't have the resources to help with this exploration. I'm not remotely equipped to answer the question, "Why be ethical" for those who are caught up in the gravity of that question. I have answers that are convincing to me, but problems of is-ought, objective morality, and moral intuitions are challenging and I don't want to shortcut or cover up those issues. What I need is recommendations of philosophers smarter than me to become interlocutors for folks in my discussion groups.
**Conclusion**: Developing philosophical skills is as much about becoming comfortable with hard, seemingly intractable problems as it is about discovering and discarding bad arguments. I want to equip my friends with the best moves and ideas available.
| *The Elements of Moral Philosophy* by Rachels has a few chapters on relativism, as does *Morality: An Introduction to Ethics* by Williams. If you want to "equip your friends with the best moves and ideas available," though, you're going to have to read stuff that's probably way more advanced than amateurs are typically going to want to engage with, like Brink's *Moral Realism and The Foundation of Ethics*, Cuneo's *The Normative Web*, Enoch's *Taking Morality Seriously*, and so on. | 12 | 27 |
ELI5: Why do most countries limit work/travel visas to 30 years age or less? | I think the type of working holiday visas that allow people to stay for a year and work a while doing so, is usually restricted to age 18-30, because it is primarily intended for students who take a year abroad.
There tend to be plenty of other visa types that don't limit the age of the applicant like this.
| 10 | 38 |
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[Star Trek TNG]Hunger has been solved on Earth but creating food from nothing at an atomic level can't be more energy efficient than actual agriculture. Does Earth have mass scale agriculture to feed the masses or is most food replicated? | We know for sure there is SOME agriculture on Earth, we have seen it or had references to it. But that could be... "artisan" farming. And we know that crops are grown on many Federation colony worlds, but that could only be because they don't have the energy infrastructure to make all their food via replicators. | More energy efficient? No. More space efficient? More water efficient? More time efficient? All yes, and those are more important. Remember that all waste products, including bathroom waste, is used as input for the replicators. The vast majority of food is replicated. There are real restaurants and real agriculture here and there, but it's seen as entertainment rather than sustenance. | 194 | 227 |
ELI5: Why does trimming plants make them grow stronger? | The plant gives equal energy and nutrients to all of it's leaves, flowers, and stems. When a part of the plant is dead or dying it is still giving nutrients to that part - when that part is trimmed off the energy can't go there any more and can feed the rest of the plant. For a plant that has multiple stalks/trunks like a bush or tree, the energy has to be split amongst each part, but if you trim the plant down to only one stalk/branch/trunk then all the energy goes to the one that's left. | 18 | 15 |
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Do cancer cells repair DNA damage more efficiently than healthy cells? | I know that defects in DNA damage repair can initiate malignancy, and I know that efficient DNA repair is one means by which cancer cells resist chemotherapy and radiotherapy. However, I'm not sure if cancer cells, in general, have better DNA repair capacity than healthy cells. | In general, the lack of ability to repair mutations is what causes cancer. Malignant cells manage to "bypass" regulatory mechanisms which cause the cell to initiate DNA repair. The lack of repair mechanisms is what allows certain treatments to be effective without killing off all the healthy cells. BRCA mutations are a common example of this.
I.e., a mutagen, such as radiation, is introduced to the body. These factors cause an increased rate in genetic mutations. Non-malignant cells can initiate repair mechanisms to fix these mutations, allowing for normal cell division; if these mechanisms fail, apoptosis occurs and the cell dies. In cancer cells, these mutations will not be repaired & apoptosis will not be initiated. Therefore, the cell will continue to accumulate mutations, some of which cause it's malignancy. Eventually, these mutations accumulate, and with enough mutations (such as during radiation treatments) cell death can be initiated.
Edit: in summary, no. Part of the basis of cancer cells is that the do not repair DNA mutations | 15 | 22 |
ELI5: What is an area vector and why is it useful? | I'm taking an introductory course of physics in college (my major has nothing to do with maths nor physics; this is just an elective) and it came out while going over magnetic flux. Any google search I make ends up with some complicated maths explaining what it is which I don't understand. What does it do, what is it, and why does my square have a vector coming out from the middle of it? | It basically tells you in which direction the area DOESN‘T expand. As a plane area is 2-dimensional you either need two directions to tell where the area is in 3-dimensional space. Or you tell one direction it doesn’t go, each direction that’s perpendicular to that one is inside the area.
Short ELI5: it‘s useful for knowing where the area is and isn’t. | 40 | 51 |
ELI5: How can we distinguish something that is real news and fake news? | First, look at the reputability of the source. The source may be a *biased* source (every source is biased in its own way), but if it's reputable, then you can typically trust the facts. If the source has a print edition or was around 30 years ago, its reputability increases. If the source's headlines are typically sensationalized or "click-bait", its reputability decreases. If the headlines are written in a way such as to make you feel angry, jubilant, or prideful, its reputability decreases.
Also, look for multiple reputable sources reporting the same facts. If nobody else is reporting it, wait a day and see. You don't always have to be up-to-the-second with whatever the news cycle is telling you. | 58 | 94 |
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How do radio telescopes peer into the universe through all the interference from radio broadcasts on and around the earth? | There are international agreements which reserve numerous, scientifically important regions of the radio frequency spectrum for Radio Astronomy. So, if everyone plays nice, those frequency bands should be quiet. | 22 | 21 |
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ELI5: Why did humans develop in Africa when there's so much more water/food in the Northern Hemisphere? | Similarly, I understand why the Yangtze was the home of the asian cradle of civilization, but why the Tigris and Euphrates? Iraq seems really dusty and not as low in civilization costs as say, Turkey. | Evolution needs some sort of selective pressure. Let me try to tone it down to ELI5: If food is plentiful, a species may not evolve. For example, bison have roamed the great plains of North America for thousands of years, and they have no reason to evolve any further (ignoring the problem of humans hunting them to near extinction).
Here is the key: Africa was not always this dry. It used to be more of a paradise for primates. However, it gradually became drier and drier, and food gradually became harder to find. This is a perfect scenario for evolution to do its work. Our ancestors had to work harder and harder to find food over a long period of time. If you were smarter, you would survive long enough to have children. If you couldn't figure out how to communicate with others or how to fashion tools for hunting, your genes would die out. Thus, Africa was the perfect place for humans to evolve.
Once we were smart enough to live in Africa, we were smart enough to figure out how to leave Africa and find the bountiful paradises that awaited us.
| 60 | 25 |
ELI5: Why are animal sounds different in different languages? How did their spellings originate? | Different languages use different sets of sounds, and different ways of stringing sounds together, to make words. For example, the way an American would say the 'r' in "red" doesn't exist that way in Japanese. Another example, the way a Francophone would say the 'r' in "rouge" doesn't exist in English.
The sounds that things make, such as animals, are described differently based on the sounds of the language being used. We think cats say "meow" because that makes sense by the standards of English. Japanese people think cats say "nyan" because that makes more sense when you're working from Japanese sounds. Nyan doesn't make as much sense in English, and meow doesn't make as much sense in Japanese. | 30 | 51 |
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ELI5: Why pharmaceutical prices in the USA is a thousand times more than the same drug sold in a developong country | For example, here in Bangladesh 20mg of Fluoxetine (Brand name Prozac) costs 0.037 USD while in the USA it costs 7.5 USD per tablet at Walmart.
That is just insane!! These two drugs have the exact same material yet their prices are a thousand times different. Can someone ELI5 why this is so? | About 200 years ago, commercial developers were facing a problem. It cost money to invent something new, but once you invented it it was really cheap for a craftsman to take it apart and build it themselves. Governments feared that new technology development would cease altogether. Their solution was to grant a short-term monopoly on any new invention, allowing inventors to reap all of the benefits of their investments to make it profitable to improve them.
Once you have a monopoly, you gain access to a bunch of tools to make money. Instead of charging about what it costs to make something, you charge whatever price will get you the most profit by figuring out how many people will buy at each price, multiplying that number by the profit per unit at that price, then picking the most profitable price.
The American market is most profitable at the price they set in America. In Bangladesh, though, the most profitable price is lower. So they set different prices in different areas, arguing that otherwise their most profitable move would be to charge American prices everywhere, denying developing nations access at all. As that would be a thing that would actually happen, governments agreed, granting discount drugs to developing nations while improving the profit of drug companies over all.
So, basically, the companies charge the 'real' price in developed nations that they need to to make their research budgets work, then charge a production-cost price in developing nations that wouldn't be able to access the drug otherwise. Everyone wins - you get new drugs being developed all the time (which you pay for), and Bangladesh gets the drugs that they can barely afford to produce. | 69 | 359 |
ELI5: How did people figure out what was and what was not an element? | In the 21st century we know about atoms, neutrons, quarks and all that and we can describe what an element is through them. How did we make lists of elements before we knew about those? | for most of history there was a lot of guesswork to it. in fact, if you look back at the historical names of some elements, you can see they would sometimes mistake a compound of 1 thing for an element of another. a lot of the highly reactive elements went unrecognized for a long time.
some of the biggest contributors to chemistry are the mol, ideal gas law, and colloidal properties. to state simply, these things care about the number of molecules involved. once you know how many molecules you're dealing with, you can figure out a lot of properties of those molecules. by comparing them with known elements, you can get a good idea of whether or not you have an element yourself. | 12 | 70 |
Eli5: [ELI5] What qualifies a chemical or mineral as a "vitamin?" Are all vitamins good for you in proper dosages? | The word was originally "vitamine" in 1920 mean to refer to chemicals thought to contain amino acids necessary for the function of living organisms. This was changed to "vitamin" when we learned that amino acids were not necessarily a component of these substances.
Generally, a vitamin has the following properties:
* It is an organic molecule (That is a molecule built around the element carbon with carbon-hydrogen bonds)
* It is an essential nutrient (It plays a part in the biochemical processes that keep your body alive and help sustain it and allow it to grow and function)
In contrast we have things like fatty acids, minerals, and amino acids. Both fatty acids and amino acids are organic compounds, but have some more additional requirements above being merely an organic compounds and minerals are basically "everything else". | 16 | 17 |
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CMV: Genders don't matter and we shouldn't be arguing about it | I'd like to add a caveat here that for people that are fighting to be recognized and accepted in a society that traditionally has had 2 genders, incorrectly and purposefully mis-gendering someone is hurtful and harmful.
Having said that, there is no real reason to gender people other than the fact humans like to categorize. Genders and sex for that matter is an entirely made up system used to define people and there does not seem to be any justification for it.
Medically it does not matter if you are a man or a woman, what matters is what your chromosome makeup is, what your family health history is and what your sexual organs are to name a few. Male and female are just words to loosely describe people with either penises or vaginas because they clearly require different forms of care, but there are many other factors that depend on the individual and not their sex or gender.
The group that is steadfast that there must only be 2 genders I think are wasting energy on something that really should not matter at all and it is a waste of time arguing about it, just like it is a waste of time arguing about which religion holds true. There are many different interpretations and no need for a defined definition.
However, it is possible there are instances where explicitly defining a gender is necessary, but I have yet to come across one that actually holds true and is not rooted in a bigoted agenda. If someone can present an instance of this I am open to having my mind changed.
Personally, the least interesting thing about me is my gender and sexual orientation. Fighting so hard to be defined by them feels like a gigantic waste of energy. | >Medically it does not matter if you are a man or a woman, what matters is what your chromosome makeup is, what your family health history is and what your sexual organs are to name a few. Male and female are just words to loosely describe people with either penises or vaginas because they clearly require different forms of care, but there are many other factors that depend on the individual and not their sex or gender.
I agree with everything you've said except this point. It does medically matter what your biological makeup and sex is. Gender and sex are two different things. Genetic males and females have different organs, and therefore need different operations done to them. A trans female still needs a prostate exam, and a trans male may still need to visit an OBGYN despite not identifying with their traditional gender. | 892 | 1,609 |
[Terminator franchise] How sentient are the Terminators? | Both the T-800 and T-1000 have overriding programming that they don't or can't deviate from - kill their target. However, they have a lot of leeway within the programming and often seem to make spur of the moment decisions. They let some civilians live and kill others. They use subterfuge sometimes and brute power sometimes. It doesn't seem as though they're following an algorithm that gives them the best outcome toward the target, more like they're assessing the current situation and acting accordingly. This seems pretty close to free will. And... In Terminator: [Dark Fate], it's revealed that after its target is gone, the T-800 basically has free will, and does things that a human in similar circumstances might, such as starting a business and family and blending in as a human. Would you call the Terminators free-willed? So, are they sentient? They're AI, yes, but a sufficiently advanced AI to have self-awareness. Do they have free will?
Edited to fix title. I forgot which movie was which. | A constant theme within the Terminator Universe is the prospect of machines developing to the point they begin exhibiting more and more human traits, specifically emotions. The "Uncle Bob" expressed humor, concern, and empathy (all of which was made possible after the switch over of his chip from Read-only to Read-write)
T-1000 expressed what may be "Sadism". | 46 | 67 |
ELI5: Why do animal eyes reflect light at night but human eyes don't? | Many animals have a special reflective layer in their eyes to improve night time vision. Humans don't have this special layer, although you will see Red Eye in photo's whre the flash is bright enough to reflect off the actual retina. | 16 | 21 |
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Why do the rats in the rat park experiment chose the plain water over morphine ? | Do they learn that the morphine has negative effects ? Or is the it that plain water stench their thirst more ?
Did the follow up experiments and discussion elucidate the mechanism that shapes that behavior ?
Thank you | the concept that rat park operates under is that social creatures need connection to survive and be content. it’s not that they learned a negative outcome of a drug side effect, it’s that they only used and abused morphine if they were alone in their cage. When they had a social realm, they no longer felt the need to fill the “void” that was left by loneliness. The argument is that this extends to humans in that humans find artificial means to replicate their lack of social support.
From the sociological perspective, it is learned behavior. They learn that the morphine water makes them feel good and so they go back to it until they die. But there are reinforcing factors in that the other rats create a community and in that community, none of them drink the morphine water because it does not benefit them socially.
From the psychological perspective, the research I’m aware of is that humans have vices they use for
comfort. When life stressors outweigh the social support of the individual, they turn towards whatever vice to bring comfort. Unfortunately, these vices have the power to adversely affect relationships due to stigma.
There is plenty of research to suggest that drugs themselves are not addictive in the way that we assume, but rather they become addictive because of extremely bad life circumstance such as homelessness, or there’s a learned response to taking certain drugs that makes them addictive to the individual, only because they’ve been told that these drugs are addictive.
Source: I’m a senior Psychology/Sociology double major and I’ve taken 2 social science drug classes within the last 2 years. | 16 | 20 |
How to get involved with media or big research groups in STEM? | Hey everyone, I'm currently studying in STEM (biology) and a second passion of mine is media. Ever since I was little I would see these documentaries produced by BBC, Disney, etc. Or YouTube/Netflix shows produced by research teams like Nautilus, OceanX, the people that made Chasing Corals, etc. I've realized that I would love to combine my two passions in one (along with teaching, which I love) to be able to reach a larger audience.
My question to those people in the field, how does one go about getting their foot in the door for this kind of career? I would like to somehow work production as well as be part of these research teams. I'm assuming most of them are private sector so should I get out of academia the minute I'm done my PhD and start looking at joining and applying to these research firms? Or would it be possible to do a documentary of my own research or a topic of my choosing and somehow get a company to distribute it?
I'm assuming this is an even bigger gamble than trying to be a professor at a university but I would think it would be amazing to do. At least have it on the side as a passion project. I had a biology prof once who participated in tons of documentaries and when I asked him how he did it, he said he just had connections prior in the entertainment industry. Would this be something I need as well? | Do you want to appear in documentaries or help produce them? The prof you mention who appears probably is being interviewed for them and not making content or editorial decisions. Different set of skills for each, though doing some work in science communication may help for either. | 26 | 84 |
ELI5: Is there something about soap in particular that makes it hurt more when it gets in your eyes? | I understand that eyes are sensitive organs and the body wants to protect them from pretty much everything, which is why we have eyelids and tear ducts and eyelashes. But it doesn't hurt all that much to open your eyes in water. Is there something in particular about soap, maybe its hydrophobic/hydrophilic nature or its basic PH that makes it hurt more?
Thank you,
Signed: someone who got soap in their eye in the shower today. | Soaps are generally strongly basic, as bases are good for rendering the protein and fat molecules which we wash off plates and ourselves when cleaning. Breaking these molecules up allows them to be more easily wiped away. In addition, soap is a surfactant, which means it is capable of causing oil and water to mix by binding to both polar and nonpolar molecules. This means running water over a soap-soaked oil stain will remove it rapidly.
This is also why we use dish soap to clean wildlife in oil spills.
However, this is very unfortunate for your eyes, as the cell membranes in your corneal cells are also made of fats. Putting a dab of soap on them begins to literally render your eyes, which is incredibly painful specifically because that encourages you to dunk your head in water to wipe the soap off. | 29 | 29 |
ELI5: Why are there so many varieties of apples yet other forms of produce may only have 2 or 3 varieties (or none at all)? | If I go to the grocery store I'll see multiple bins with different types of apples, but if I look at the banana section it's just a bin of same variety bananas. Why? | In apples there are a variety of varieties that folks use for different things.
Just like you have white onions, yellow onions, sweet onions, green onions.... Or red peppers, orange/yellow peppers, green peppers, mini peppers, jalapeño, habanero, Serrano.... Or russet or Yukon gold, or baby red potatoes.... Or Roma tomatoes or beefsteak or cherry.....
But some produce has become particularly popular or comoditized in just a few similar variations for various reasons. Bananas for example are a clone of the variety that transports well and folks are familiar with. Carrots used to be all sorts of colors, but orange settled into popularity and the different varieties grown are all pretty similar in form and flavor - and growth so they're good commercial variants.
Most produce there are dozens if not hundreds of varieties available, but they don't all transport or sell well at retail. Of the thousands of apple varieties, you still only get a handful in the store. | 15 | 15 |
ELI5: How do Octopus know what color they are when they camouflage? | How do they learn what color and texture to turn into if they have no mirrors to see and adapt to? | The chromatophore cells of the octopus can detect light - basically every individual cell can "see" without using their eyes. They're able to detect what the environment looks like, and then mimic the colors and textures with their skin. | 36 | 28 |
ELI5: if a lightyear is the distance light travels in one year, how do we know something is 1000 light years away? Would we not have to wait 1000 years before we know, or do we use something other than light to measure objects in space? | I know VERY little on the subject so would appreciate a basic explanation please! | For distant stars and galaxies, there's some highly educated guesswork based on apparent speed and brightness, but for closer ones, there's actually a really intuitive method called **parallax**!
It works like this: suppose there's some distant object like a mountain that you want to know the distance to. Notice that as you walk sideways, closer objects like trees appear to pass you much faster than the mountain. This is the parallax effect.
To use it mathematically, simply measure how far you walked, and how far you had to rotate your head to keep the mountain in view. Now the start point, end point, and the mountain itself form a triangle, of which you know the measure of one side and two angles. Using trigonometry, this is enough information to determine the remaining sides, which are the distance between you and the mountain!
It would be difficult to walk far enough on earth to see a measurable change in the location of a star, but we can "walk" the entire earth just by waiting 6 months for it to be on the opposite side of its orbit. This enables us to calculate the position of nearby stars, without actually going to them. | 692 | 717 |
[Ren and Stimpy] Is "Log" really just a piece of wood well marketed at children or is there a legitimate function "Log" provides that the discerning consumer cannot live without in these trying times? | It has many legitimate functions including:
* It rolls down stairs, alone or in pairs.
* It rolls over your neighbor's dog.
* It's great for a snack.
* It fits on your back.
* It's big.
* It's heavy.
* It's wood.
* It's better than bad.
* It's good. | 59 | 29 |
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can two irrational numbers add to a rational number? | &#x200B;
[i thought of \(-e\) + \(+e\)=0 , but i cant figure any other example not like -a+a=0, are there other examples?, so the statement is correct?](https://preview.redd.it/pnh6p2jj1mb91.jpg?width=411&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e31c05adcb2536117af03528104c3ba251c43813) | For slightly more interesting examples, you could construct irrational numbers of the form a + b where a is rational and b is irrational.
Example: x1 = 3 + sqrt(5) and x2 = 1/2 - sqrt(5)
Then x1 + x2 = 3.5, a rational number. | 47 | 25 |
What is the actual science behind cutting flower stems at a 45 degree angle? | Can anyone explain the science behind this? I know that's it increases surface area, but does this increase capillary action? For instance, if I have a bundle of straws, and I cut them at a 45, the SA does increase, but I can't necessarily drink faster just because of that. A detailed response is very much appreciated. | It is beneficial because if they are cut at an angle, the crushing of the xylem (vessels) will not cut off the flow of H2O and minerals to the rest of the plant. If cut straight across, the xylem can be crushed closed. | 21 | 54 |
ELI5: What limits spaceship's speed in space, i.e. why can't we travel (much) faster to Mars? | I was thinking about the e=mc^2 thing, but but then how light manages to travel in (well) the speed of light? Anyway, very confused. | A few limitations:
* in space, there is no friction - if you use fuel to speed up, you are eventually going to have to use fuel to slow down
* the tyranny of the rocket equation - going faster requires more fuel...fuel adds mass, which means you need even more fuel to go faster - modern rockets are like 90% fuel and 10% payload
* engineering - current technology limits have quickly a spacecraft can accelerate and for how long
* the earth's gravity - escaping the earth's gravity and atmosphere is the first thing a spacecraft must do, and much of its design is devoted to that | 151 | 202 |
ELI5: what makes ankle joints withstand age-related wear and tear, comparatively speaking? | Hip replacement surgeries are commonplace, especially due to age-related damage. But ankle joints don’t seem to suffer the same amount of damage / require replacing as much as either hips (or knees) do, despite being smaller and more delicate constructions. What in the construction of ankles makes them more resilient than other weight-bearing joints? | The magic of the ankle biomechanics is more-so in the synergy it has with the foot than simply the ankle itself. The ankle-foot complex (AFC) is an extremely intricate & complex structure with a high concentration of bones and muscles, connected by very supportive and flexible Connective Tissue (Tendons, ligaments, fascia).
With the AFC being the first load-Bearing system of the body, we expect these Connective tissues to be far more responsive and adaptable to the stressors imposed from our body and the changing terrain. While the hips may have stronger ligaments than the ankle, the ankle has an uncanny ability to adapt to the changing environment because of the foots ability to evenly distribute the load evenly before sending the force upstream.
Summing this up, the Ankles ability to alter its compliance based on the terrain it’s interacting with may cause it be more resilient to the less compliant hip joint. | 10 | 22 |
Do I need a university degree to become a good programmer? | Hello!
I do not have a uni degree. However, I enjoy programming and want to become better.
Would it be best to take a 3-5 year education at an university (here in Sweden) or to learn things myself? What are the best resources to learn things that I would learn at a university?
I have looked into a Masters degree on CS but I first have to read 4 classes before I can attend.
Can I just buy math books and CS books and read them, do projects etc? Or would it be better to get a real education? What is the best way to get a really good foundation? | You can become a good enough programmer for many companies. However, it depends on what you want to do. If you just want to program, and basically program whatever a boss tells you to program, that's fine without a CS degree. A degree, though, can help you on a lot of things. Stuff like code optimization, database query optimization, analyzing potential solutions to mathematical problems to see which is best suited, etc. is really hard to achieve without taking a degree in CS. Take that from a guy who is currently doing a PhD in Computer Science, you just get a whole different level of understanding of the underlying mathematical mechanisms when you have a degree.
There is also the added point that many companies would rather hire a guy with a degree than a guy without a degree. | 33 | 24 |
How advanced is this Python task? | My friend is trying to get this case study complete. Just wondering what would be a good way to go about it as I want to learn code myself and might use this as practice. Would a Python coder make 4 separate programs to run these calculations?
https://imgur.com/2LprkTE | To answer how advance of a program it is to implement that in python, i would say very beginner level, it's just a one liner all of them. Specially if you use some libraries.
For separate programs- It depends on how you want it. | 16 | 22 |
If Cacti are known for growing in the harshest of environments, Why don't we see them in non-harsh environments? | They protect themselves from predators, don't need a lot of water. So why don't they dominate vegetation in other places? | Cacti are incredibly competitive in their environment, meaning they have adaptations to make efficient use of resources in a resource poor environment. However, other species that evolved in higher resource environments are similarly adapted to use more resources effectively, allowing them to out compete cacti which may uptake nutrients more slowly due to their adaptation to extreme environments. | 1,616 | 1,689 |
ELI5:How does a sweet scent (such as in soaps or perfumes) smell, but not taste sweet? | Naturally occurring sweet items such as fruits and berries, have a semi sweet smell to them to help lure animals towards them, consume them, and then proceed to spread their seeds and make new plants. Part of what makes them enjoyable is the taste. This association of sweet smell = sweet taste from an evolutionary standpoint helps to ensure the survival of the species.
In things such as soaps and perfumes, that may or may not contain the same chemicals/plant based ingredients, there are other chemicals that have tastes that far outweigh that of the 'sweet scent' on your tongue. Usually these are chemicals meant to make the smells and product last a long time.
In products that don't contain the plant/sweet item derivative, they chemically reproduce something that is close to the original to pass it off as the same or similar smell. These chemical reproductions of scents generally won't taste good unless taste is also a factor considered in the development process. | 11 | 21 |
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CMV: The "preponderance of evidence" system in US college rape cases is backwards and unfair to men. | The preponderance of evidence system as it applies to American college sexual assault/rape is unfair to men. The system states that whichever party is "more likely guilty based on evidence" then they are able to be officially convicted. A common way of explaining this is to say that preponderance of the evidence means that if even 51% of the evidence presented supports one party, that party gets the decision. In most of these cases there is little to no "evidence" of rape except for just the accusers word against the accused. Because "preponderance of the evidence means the side with 50.0001% of the evidence wins" is a lot scarier than “preponderance of the evidence means that the relevant body looks at all the evidence and rules for the party it thinks has the stronger case.” Men are at a significant disadvantage from the get go with the 51.1% standard by entering into a case where 100% of the needed evidence is given to the accuser just because they accused someone. Convince me that this is the right way to go about handling college rape cases.
| Keep in mind these are not criminal trials. These are private organizations that are setting standards for conduct within their own community. It's perfectly reasonable for a group to have a standard such as this when determining whether or not to allow members to continue to be a part of the group.
In the case of a rape accusation, there really is no other reasonable standard. You've got two people, A and B. If, based on evidence, there is a 51% chance that A raped B, that means your group *probably* has a rapist, and that rapist is victimizing one of the members of your group. You wouldn't continue socializing with a friend who *probably* stole money from your wallet while you weren't looking, even if you didn't think you could ever prove it. | 16 | 21 |
What kinds of African philosophy are there? | I realised that I'm aware of a number of philosophical traditions, from the Greeks, to the Chinese, to the British, the Arabs, Americans, and so on, but I have absolutely no knowledge of African philosophy.
Are there any good African philosophers to read? Do they come from a standpoint unique to Africa? Is there a unique African philosophical tradition? Do they all stem from The field seems drastically underrepresented to me.
Any information about African philosophy would be much appreciated! | African political philosophy is particularly vibrant, especially given the history of the continent vis-a-vis postcolonial identity.
The best philosophers to read are John Mbiti, Ifeanyi Menkiti, Paulin J. Hountondji, and D.A. Masolo. African philosophy tends to hold two primary camps: the first is the position of ethnophilosophy, which believes that the task of the African philosopher is to re-engage with traditional beliefs that have gone underrepresented in academic literature, and is close to being part-ethnography, part-sociology, part-history of ideas. The latter camp, usually African philosophers trained in the UK, are staunchly analytic and believe that there is no such thing as 'African philosophy'; there is just 'philosophy', and Africans happen to do it.
It's a very interesting debate, and it's very lively debate within the literature utterly ignored by the West. Don't think that the African philosophical tradition doesn't exist, or that it is under-represented, there is an excellent mixture of African contributions to current philosophical debates, and Africans discussing the key debates within their own continent, that has been neglected by western scholars for decades.
I recommend 'An Introduction To Africana Philosophy' edited by Lewis R. Gordon, as well as 'African Philosophy as Cultural Inquiry' by Ivan Karp for a solid grounding in the ethnophilosophical approach. | 34 | 55 |
[Marvel/DC]What distinction is there between magic and other superpowers? | Examples: Thor controls the storms. He's magic. Storm is even more versatile, but she's just a mutant.
Magik, Colossus' sister, is a mutant who can open portals to limbo, among other things, and is considered a sorceress. Nightcrawler teleports himself through Hell on a regular basis, but he's just a mutant.
Scarlet Witch is a mutant who is magic. Phoenix is a cosmic entity often bound to a mutant.
Cyttorak is a cosmic entity who is magic, thus Juggernaut's powers are also magic. Galactus is a cosmic entity but is not considered magic, thus Silver Surfer's powers are "cosmic".
I could go on, and you guys could probably come up with ten times more examples still (and I didn't even mention DC properties). How do their universes distinguish between which powers are magic versus which are mutations, cosmic, alien biology, lab accidents, etc., beyond just the writers declaring, "he's magic" or "she isn't"? | Mutants and mutates are born with their powers or develop them naturally in response to a stimulus. It's an innate ability. Also, many superheroes in this category are non-human and their powers are just normal for their race.
Magic is learned or bestowed (although you might have been born with an affinity or talent for it), which makes it a skill instead of a trait. Magic also tends to be a bit more fiddly about its rules and limits.
> Scarlet Witch is a mutant who is magic.
Yes, she's both. Her mutant power is reality warping by altering probabilities. That power also gives her an intuitive grasp of magic, which she was taught (among other things, it varies from universe to universe). | 28 | 28 |
People are Blaming Inflation on a Corporate Drive for Profit, But What is the Problem with This? | Hello, many people are claiming that inflation is not being driven by supply chain disruptions nor an increase in the money supply, but because of corporations raising their prices to accumulate more profit.
My question is: if inflation is the result of corporations wanting more profit, what is the problem with this?
Isn't inflation the result of suppliers increasing the price to move the market closer to equilibrium because in the previous state demand exceeded supply?
Also, if corporations increase prices and demand barely lowers, doesn't that mean that prices were previously too low? Put differently, if corporations increase prices and the demand barely changes, doesn't this mean the market has now moved closer to equilibrium?
Lastly, if corporations increase prices and people are still (begrudgingly) happy to pay these prices, aren't corporations merely profiting off the excessive demand relative to the finite supply of their products? And isn't it the purpose of corporations to generate as much profit as they can?
To me, I am not seeing what the problem is. Isn't this how markets are supposed to work? | From an economist's perspective, the basic problem with this is empirical. Inflation was low for decades between the 1980s and 2020. If today's inflation is due to a corporate drive for profit, that implies that corporations in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s *weren't* driving for profit. No one has produced any evidence of this.
From a distributional basis, it's important to remember that workers frequently have pensions or retirement savings that are invested in the share market. Therefore lower profits for corporations affects many workers' retirement incomes. The ethics of firms taking lower profits aren't clear. | 100 | 33 |
Correcting grammatical mistakes in professor's paper | A professor asked me to informally review one of their manuscripts. As I'm not that experienced in the field, I don't have many comments to add other than "Interesting", and the majority of my comments are just correcting grammatical issues or suggestions about sentence structure. I feel kind of weird correcting a professor's mistakes, and I'm not sure if the focus on grammatical issues will be frowned upon. | You haven't provided much context to the situation, but if the professor knows that you aren't very experienced in the field, they may be specifically asking for understandability and clarity of writing edits from you. In this case, grammatical choices and mistakes are perfectly okay to point out: most academics post-Phd are so used to being corrected that they have confidence to either take or completely ignore suggestions towards fixing their grammar/style.
They may also be looking for comments on how well you understood the paper, did the Intro set up the discussion/paper well, was there a narrative to the paper, etc. If you don't feel confident making any of those type of comments, then purely grammatical comments will still be appreciated. | 25 | 23 |
ELI5: Why is astronaut Scott Kelly’s body suffering severe health issues after 300+ days in space? | He is suffering joint pain, swelling, rashes, vision problems, etc. | Low gravity causes problems with our bodies since they were built around an environment where there are certain pressures places on our body from living on Earth. Since he is in space with none of these pressures (namely gravity) his body becomes weaker, his blood flow is effected, pressure on the eyes is effected, etc.
ETA: We just aren't built to be in zero g for long periods of time. Its one of the problems that prevent us from going to Mars right now is that it would take a year for a round trip. Thats really hard on our bodies and we haven't come up with a way to counter the effects yet. | 26 | 27 |
CMV: I feel perfectly fine judging people who use misspelled words or fail to use even the most basic grammar. | I am very confident in the idea that people can and should use the internet (or, fuck, even a dictionary) to at least spell words correctly. Some may say they don't care enough, and that's fine most of the time. If a mechanic is taking a few minutes to write instructions for me to fix something on my car, I'm happy to overlook a few simple spelling and grammar mistakes. But if you're typing an email or posting to facebook and every fifth word is misused or misspelled, I take that to mean you care very little for clear communication and I shouldn't bother to read it or take it seriously.
On the other-hand, I feel like this is an ingrained elitist notion that makes me an asshole. Help me resolve this CMV!
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> *Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our* ***[popular topics wiki](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/populartopics)*** *first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!* | Language barriers are common, especially when it comes to English. Most of us speak it as a second language, and how much we use it varies greatly. Others are dyslexic or otherwise struggle with grammar and spelling. Maybe because of a learning disorder, maybe because they were never taught, or maybe because they were badly taught.
If you don't have a fluent grasp of the language it's hard to tell when you have made a mistake. Even if you are fluent, if you're bilingual you're likely to blend both languages occasionally. How much depends on how good your ear for languages is.
Basically you're dismissing someone because they don't know Proper English as well as you do. Just because someone doesn't know the best way of saying something doesn't mean that what they're saying is any less worthwhile. | 169 | 518 |
Why is Soren Kierkegaard the founder of Existentialism | I know he deals with religion and to him it's more about the "self" then the organized version found in the state church. But where does he really strongly connect to Sarte or Camu and Nietzsche for example?
Encyclopedia Brittanica says
Søren Kierkegaard, in full Søren Aabye Kierkegaard(born May 5, 1813, Copenhagen, Den.—died Nov. 11, 1855, Copenhagen), Danish philosopher, theologian, and cultural critic who was a major influence on existentialismand Protestant theology in the 20th century. He attacked the literary, philosophical, and ecclesiasticalestablishments of his day for misrepresenting the highest task of human existence—namely, becoming oneself in an ethical and religious sense—as something so easy that it could seem already accomplished even when it had not even been undertaken | He's mostly considered the father of existentialism because of the types of questions that he asked and worked with. During the time period in which he was writing, most philosophers (broad generalization) were working on the same kinds of problems that the moderns had worked on. Epistemology, metaphysics, logic, abstract ethics, etc. Kierkegaard comes in and says that the important question isn't, "do human beings have free will?" but rather, "how can I, an existing creature, experience freedom?" It was this turn, this change of focus away from the abstract question to the question centered around human existence, that usually ends up giving him credit as the father of existentialism. | 31 | 22 |
Is a graduate Programmer with a certificate more valuable than a self-made programmer nowadays? | Hope everyone is doing great! I just turned 25 years old, and last year I took my B.A. degree in English Studies, Linguisitics. This year I was enrolled in an M.A. program related to Linguistics, but I left it because I felt it wasn't fro me, as, in my country, the only thing I can end up doing is teaching English.
Since childhood, I was fond of mathematics; I just admire numbers, brain calculations, and solving problems. Similarly, recently I found out that I want to have a career in IT or CS. To be honest, I am not that knowledgeable about CS, but I feel that I am passionate about programming, etc .
I was watching YouTube, and somebody highly recommended for beginners to start learning C++ or java as it is an objective language.
So, I am just looking for your points of view regarding my situation, I really feel lost as I have to find a job to help my family and I want to learn sth I am pasionate about.
Any advice or information concerning programming is much appreciated | Can you find a masters in CS that will take you ? Doesn't have to be the best. But it will help a lot. CS has a lots of parts (maths, algorithms, data structures, networking, operating systems, databases...) That all work together.
It's not easy to be a self-learner. It can be done, but it will require diligent study for a number of months without the support of an organization (curriculum, teaching assistants, group projects, professors, friends to ask questions to, network/connections, and a degree to put on your resume) | 23 | 20 |
Embarrassing question but... what does it mean to "present a paper, " exactly? | I'm applying for a conference and it has two options: poster presentation or paper presentation.
Obviously, I would prefer to give a talk instead of doing a poster, so I need to choose the paper presentation option. The website says that I should submit an abstract (they request a LONG abstract -- around 1000 words). The website further says that all abstracts will be published online, and a selection of them will be published as an edited book.
**My question:** does "presenting a paper" in this context mean the paper should already be written? I would love to write it up as a full paper for them, but for purposes of applying, they're only asking for the longish abstract. Am I correct in understanding I can apply for and give a talk that is a "paper presentation" without the full paper actually existing yet?
Thanks! | This differs by field a bit as well.
In our field it's normally oral vs poster presentation, with oral being a talk (with powerpoint slides) that describes a substantial piece of work that either exists as a paper or you intend to publish as a paper. | 123 | 191 |
ELI5: How giving money to the low-income population would boost the economy? | Low income people tend to spend most if not all money they get. When they get "extra" money they use it to pay off bills, buy more food, go to the movie they have been wanting to see, buy the replacement couch, fix their car, etc. It goes directly into the economy. People of higher economic standing save money when they get "extra" and so it does not help the economy as much. | 83 | 21 |
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[ The Terminator]- Why did the CSM-100 think that it could buy a Plasma rifle in 40 watt range in 1984? | It clearly had knowledge of the available guns in the shop, even though they would have all been 50 years before it’s time. And in T2 the same model has detailed files of Dyson and the history of skynet. So why the slip up? | It’s possible that they were in early development by the government at the time. That particular detail may have been omitted from the records it brought back with it, so when it checked its files for weapons of the era... | 109 | 83 |
ELI5: Why does laying out in the sun make me so tired? | Homeostasis is a big part of it.
Your body has a pretty narrow range of conditions that it will tolerate before you're dying. A shift of ten degrees in air temperature is no big deal. Put on or take off a hoodie and it's fine. A ten degree shift of your core temperature and you're in pretty rough shape.
So your body has lots of mechanisms in place to keep that core temp stable. And those mechanisms all require energy to run.
So while you're laying out and relaxing, your body is actually burning a fair amount of energy circulating extra blood to your skin and dumping sweat onto it.
And once you start to overheat, your body will also encourage you to not generate any additional heat from muscular activity. One of the messages for "don't use your muscles" is "you feel tired". | 26 | 31 |
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I believe we are living in the best era of humanity, thanks to fossil fuels, and it is all downhill from here. CMV | By "era" I mean roughly a few centuries. We are somewhere within this era, unclear if beginning, middle or end.
Fossil fuels are "stored sunlight energy", from the past few billion years, which we are now burning through in a few centuries.
Fossil fuels are great not just because of the energy the give us for free, but also the ability for very light and space efficient "energy storage". An airplane can carry lots of usable, light energy in the form of fuel, which it couldn't with batteries.
While many like to point to technology, democracies, modern health care and other such things to credit the huge increase in our standard of living the past few centuries, I think those all pale in comparison, or are caused by, the discovery of fossil fuels.
I think climate change is somewhat beside the point. In the really long term, I don't really care if you flood some cities, send some species to extinction, and reshape Earth's geography a bit. It's sad, but we can get over it. Just reshape humanity to its new world, and get used to it. It is still nowhere near as bad as losing all our free energy, which we use exactly so we can live in whatever conditions Earth throws at us (i.e. heaters/air conditioners).
I think all renewable/sustainable energy efforts, while nice, will never give us the quality of life we enjoy today.
"Live", sustainable, sunlight energy will always be no match for fossil fuels.
Batteries suck, and always will. The chemistry is quite clear, in that gasoline stores far more energy for its weight than any comparable "technological" solution. Though nuclear energy can certainly win, it is far less "usable" - fit a "nuclear engine" on an airplane. (I might be wrong here - what do "nuclear submarines" do?)
Uranium will deplete just as fossil fuels will.
My only real hope is nuclear fusion. From the little I've heard of it, hopes are not very high.
This might be more of a scientific question than a "view"...
(In case anyone is worried - I'm not really depressed or worried by any of this, just... "Oh well...") | For perspective, you might look at the history of petroleum in the United States:
Before petroleum, people lit their lamps every night with whale oil. Yes, oil from slaughtered whales. When the whale population got very low, the price of whale oil shot up and everyone started worrying.
The price kept going up, up, up and before long people were looking for ways to get rich. One person spent a lot of time researching petroleum as an alternative. People had known about petroleum for a while, but there were not very many good uses for it, so it was actually a very bad thing to have it bubble up on land you owned. It would foul the land and make raising crops on that land difficult or impossible.
Well, this person found a way to refine petroleum into kerosene. Kerosene burned brighter than whale oil and with less smoke. It was a better product, and was very cheap to make. Before people knew it, even the poor could afford to have oil lamps in their homes because of this technological breakthrough.
Petroleum is not the end-all fuel. When the price of petroleum goes up high enough, due to high demand and low supply, there will be new breakthroughs. This cycle has occurred many times throughout human history. | 72 | 91 |
ELI5: If feminists are fighting for gender equality, then why call themselves feminists? | Doesn't this title imply superiority of women over men? It's an honest question not meant to be mean-spirited; I certainly agree that gender equality is an important issue. | Well, historically, equality required building up the status of women. You might argue, or not, that it's still required today. But the name, at least, is historical and made perfect sense when it was coined at a bare minimum. | 137 | 116 |
CMV: Schools shouldn't prohibit Facial Hair | I go to a Christian private school with a not too strict uniform policy. You can wear any shoes / socks, men's hair must be clean shaven and not too long.
The school prohibits any form of facial hair, even stubble, forcing me and most students to shave everyday, or receive detentions after a warning.
All male students have signed charters to remove this rule for the last 4 years but to no avail, with the administration's excuse being "Beards look unprofessional", and that "younger students wont be able to grow a decent, full grown beard."
I completely disagree. I see no harm in growing facial hair, and i'm sure Jesus liked and had a beard too. They can easily enforce policies just like the hair policy (Beards not coming off the face, no patchy beards)
I'm the senior class president and one of the 5 school student body representatives, and i'd like to bring it up again to the administration.
EDIT: Failed to mention that Faculty & Staff are allowed to grow any facial hair they want, which is ironic because they are supposed to be the "professional" ones.
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> *This is a footnote from the CMV moderators. We'd like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!* | Private institutions should have the right to enforce any policy they want because you (or your parents) are choosing for you to go there. No one is forcing you to go there and there are other options available. | 19 | 23 |
ELI5: Difference between low weight-high rep/high-weight low rep and use in relevant techniques or combinations. | In a very basic sense, the body adapts to the sort of activity that it thinks it will need to do in the future, based upon past experiences. For example if you are exposed to greater amounts of sunlight then your body will react by increasing the production of melanin which will result in a tan.
If you use relatively lower weight with a high amount of reps then you body will adapt to sustained output, increasing your stamina.
If you use high weight and lower reps (by necessity) then your body will build larger muscles in order to achieve the higher peak output. | 14 | 24 |
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Eli5: Why are some things about our brains/psyche malleable while others are not? | For example we can all learn how to become proficient at a skill, while we cannot entirely suppress the effects of emotional abuse.
Im just wondering where the limit for our adaptability is? | Adding a response is always easier than removing a response because accessing the response reinforces it.
Basically, when you are learning a response you are cutting a trail through a forest, each time you walk it the trail becomes a little more clear and a little easier to walk.
When you're trying to "unlearn" a response you're trying to regrow the forest over the path. It will slowly fade over time but every time you walk the trail to see how it is fading you're reinforcing the trail. | 94 | 69 |
As coffee grounds are adsorbent, does the process of making coffee remove pollutants (such as PFAS) from water? If so, to what extent compared to charcoal filtering? | The question occurred to me the other day when I noticed that the heavy chemical odor and taste of water in my city isn't detectable (to me) in coffee. I know that heating the water causes some of the treatment chemicals to evaporate out of the water, and that PFAS have a higher boiling point than water and thus are not eliminated via heating, but I'm also wondering how much of the bad stuff gets adsorbed by the coffee grounds. I couldn't find any studies, and the former use of PFAS in disposable coffee cups creates a lot of false-positive google searches. Any thoughts? | To some extent, passing water through any absorbent material will reduce the amount of pollutants in it, but the extent depends heavily on how porous the filter substrate is and how finely ground it is.
Charcoal filters work by having incredibly high surface area to volume ratios, and the carbon actively bonding with pollutants, so compared to their ability to capture things coffee's effect is negligible.
It's more likely that the reason you don't taste the chemical taste of treated water in your coffee is that the taste of coffee is so strong it masks it. | 431 | 1,055 |
ELI5: Why do humans feel the need to identify so strongly with groups? | It would appear that when looking around you find people who associate all of their ego and being into one to two(or more) categories. Things such as Astrology, MBTI categories, Professional sports teams(that they root for, but are no a part of), Religion, etc.
Using the example given, Ive seen people ask: My MBTI is XXXX So what hobbies would be good for me?, We don't like 'sport team' fans here. , My Sign in 'x' what career should I have?
These seem to be very closed minded and ignore the more personal aspects that would be better off answering these questions. Is it due to misinformation or a tribal need to fit in somewhere? | We are social creatures by nature, so we have a natural impulse to find commonality with other people. Then, as we associate with a group, we adopt the qualities and beliefs of the group as part of our identity.
Therefore, people defend and adhere to the ideals of the group because an attack on the group is perceived as an attack on the individual's identity itself. Even a carefully worded challenge to the idea itself will be perceived as an attack on the person, rather than an idea. | 26 | 38 |
If a person were spinning perfectly horizontally in space, could they slow themselves by putting their arms out? Much like an ice-skater? | If we take the question further, what if the person had a pack with heavy chains that they could fling outward. Would this slow their spin down at all? Co-worker just watched Gravity... | I haven't seen Gravity, but the essential idea you are referring to is conservation of angular momentum. The answer to your question is yes, you could slow down your rotational speed by moving mass away from the rotational axis.
Being in space (away from the effects of gravity) should have no effect on this principle. | 11 | 22 |
How to deal with loss of confidence in thinking (while reading philosophy)? | I never formally studied philosophy (except one Ancient Philosophy and two Mathematical Logic courses) (I studied math) but I read philosophy every now and then. I value philosophy a lot and want to understand as much philosophers as I can. But the more I read and try make sense of philosophers, the more I understand that I know nothing, and that my thinking is very vague, naive. I also browse subs like r/badphilosophy and see how people can misunderstand philosophical works so much, or naively assume they know a lot about things they do not know.
These all make me very worried. I spend so much time reading philosophy, but secretly I feel I understand exactly nothing. I lost my sense to critically engage with the book. I used to think about what author says. Now, I try to be very charitable and almost never think because something inside me tells me I can never think as well as philosophers. Is this a bad thing? I regard philosophical works as works of science, and accept everything author says. But then argumentation itself loses its beauty and power. I focus on conclusions and accept they are right. If another philosopher says otherwise, I understand the conflict. Anyway, I don't think this is the best way to read (but I might be wrong) but I don't know what is better. I guess thinking is better than not thinking, but it feels like what I do is reading like a plant and no thinking. How can I help this? | Two things will help: reading more and thinking more privately.
Try finding a question that really interests you. Nothing too broad, something that could be very simply answered in a few paragraphs of thought. Think about what you would expect the answer to be, and then go and read what others have written. This way you're already able to be critical.
The opposite direction would be to read a lot, figure out what are some problems that interest you that others are trying to work out. Cultivate a wide range of answers and see which satisfy you the most and why. Find your most satisfying choice and then really think about what's not exactly right about it. Maybe another author feels the same way but ultimately disagrees with too many things.
| 16 | 49 |
ELI5: Zeno's Paradox | In order to get from point A to point B you must first reach the point between A and B. Let's call that point 1.
To reach point 1 you must first reach the point between point A and point 1. Let's call that point 2.
To reach point 2 you must reach point 3 - the point between point A and point 3.
Getting to 3 requires passing 4.
Getting to 4 requires passing 5.
There is an infinite progression of half-way points you must cross, and getting from one point to another takes a non-zero amount of time, therefore motion is impossible for it requires traversing an infinite set of distinct points.
But clearly in the real world things move all the time, hence the paradox. | 16 | 31 |
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Why when we get vaccinated our children don't inherit the immunity? | The genetics provide the blueprint for the immune system, but you get vaccinated against things you're not naturally immune to.
A vaccination teaches your body how to respond and fight off an illness, but it doesn't alter your DNA. | 34 | 16 |
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The Necessity of Linear Algebra in Computer Science? | [edit] I've found someone! Thanks for all your suggestions <3
Hi everyone!
I am currently going into my second year in computer science, as well as currently taking a course in linear algebra. We have been assigned a project which requires us to interview people in the workforce who specifically uses concepts of linear algebra in their work. I have reached out to some people in a handful of other fields but had found that the use of linear algebra only applies to some very specific projects/jobs.
I am still very new to this field, so I want to explore the concept of linear algebra in relation to computer science. I was wondering if anyone would be available to help me answer some questions (small interview) about their background & jobs in relation to linear algebra?
Thank you! | Linear algebra most commonly applies to computation performed on GPUs: 3d graphics (video games), machine learning, scientific computing, etc. More often than not, the actual math is abstracted away, so you'd want to be talking to people who actually work on the libraries/frameworks themselves that do the calculations. | 25 | 35 |
CMV: I think Ted Kazcynski (aka The Unabomber) was essentially right about industrial civilization | I think the Industrial Revolution, while increasing life expectancy, has had disastrous consequences for the planet and for human spirituality/quality of life, by reducing us more and more to cogs in economic and social machines. Furthermore, I think that if Kazcynski had been successful in striking a significant blow at the Industrial Revolution, then a few (or more) deaths would be justified from a utilitarian standpoint, as nonviolent resistance strategies don't seem to work against the industrial-capitalist society. see Keystone xl... Now, I'll link to his manifesto for more info: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/unabomber/manifesto.text.htm
Change my view
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> *Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our* ***[popular topics wiki](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/populartopics)*** *first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!*
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> *Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our* ***[popular topics wiki](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/populartopics)*** *first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!* | The whole aim of industrialization was to satisfy human wants more effectively with less effort, and it has delivered this in spades. Not only were life spans extended, but the great mass of everyday people who used to be subsistence farmers (not a fun job) became the kinds of people who had so much leisure time available they could read books, go to movies, take vacations, and have their children go to school instead of work.
It has amplified people's capacity for self-actualization more than any other event in human history. Specialization can be dreary, but the leisure time it affords can be filled with almost anything you want. This has *expanded* human spirituality and quality of life.
Now as for the planet, it is true that we and nature are at odds with each other. Nature wants to kill us, and you have to decide whether human lives or some airy concept of an idyllic planet are more important to you. On the plus side, industrialization has given us orders of magnitude more power to influence the planet's natural order. We now have the power to conserve the parts of nature we love, while using the rest to serve human ends. The most effective environmentalists are the ones who purchase land they want to see preserved, and place on it the animals they want to conserve. If industrialization had not made us so wealthy, nobody would be in a position to do something like that, and we would all be dying young, having lived unfulfilled lives as exhausted farmers. | 19 | 20 |
CMV: People of Cancel Culture and people who take part in online activism don't care whatsoever about the problem, but care more about being self-righteous. | I find it hard to believe that people of cancel culture genuinely care about what the person they're cancelling did. I may be projecting here, but i believe that people don't do something unless it gives them some sort of satisfaction..because of that belief i hold, i always wondered why people would feel the need to cancel someone despite it not benefiting them whatsoever, but i soon realized that cancelling someone gives them a feeling of being morally superior than that person or other people who don't cancel the person, this is why most of the time people in cancel culture shame you if you decide not to take part in what they do....they're feeding their hunger of self-righteousness by patronizing you.The same goes for people who take part in online activism. I have to admit though that i think some of them do care and are trying to raise awareness, but most of them probably don't care at all.
I hope my view is wrong and can be changed.It'll take a lot to change my view about the people of cancel culture...with those that take part in online activism i can have my view changed easily.
Edit: i cant give examples of the type of cancel culture i'm referring to because my view encompasses all because they all seem to give people the feeling of being morally superior to others | To modify your view on this part:
> people who take part in online activism don't care whatsoever about the problem
I mean, we just saw *millions* of people show up to march in the streets for police reform for weeks all across the country, during a pandemic no less, and at the risk of arrest, being pepper sprayed, and worse.
No doubt many of them posted their support of the cause on social media and also showed up in person, taking on personal risk to do so. | 38 | 65 |
AskScience Panel of Scientists | Calling all scientists!
Please make a top-level comment on this thread to join our panel of scientists. The panel is an informal group of Redditors who are professional scientists or amateurs/enthousiasts with at least a graduate-level familiarity with the field of their choice. The purpose of the panel is to add a certain degree of reliability to AskScience answers. Anybody can answer any question, of course, but if a particular answer is posted by a member of the panel, we hope it'll be regarded as more reliable or trustworthy than the average post by an arbitrary redditor. You obviously still need to consider that *any* answer here is *coming from the internet* so check sources and apply critical thinking as per usual.
You may want to join the panel if you:
* Are a research scientist professionally, are working at a post-doctoral capacity, are working on your PhD, are working on a science-related MS, or have gathered a large amount of science-related experience through work or in your free time.
* Are willing to subscribe to /r/AskScience.
* Are happy to answer questions that the ignorant masses may pose about your field.
* Are able to write about your field at a layman's level as well as at a level comfortable to your colleagues and peers (depending on who'se asking the question)
You're still reading? Excellent! Here's what you do:
* Make a top-level comment to this post.
* State your general field (biology, physics, astronomy, etc.)
* State your specific field (neuropathology, quantum chemistry, etc.)
* List your particular research interests (carbon nanotube dielectric properties, myelin sheath degradation in Parkinsons patients, etc.)
We're not going to do background checks - we're just asking for Reddit's best behavior here. The information you provide will be used to compile a list of our panel members and what subject areas they'll be "responsible" for.
The reason I'm asking for top-level comments is that I'll get a little orange envelope from each of you, which will help me keep track of the whole thing.
*Bonus points!* Here's a good chance to discover people that share your interests! And if you're interested in something, you probably have questions about it, so you can get started with that in /r/AskScience.
/r/AskScience isn't just for lay people with a passing interest to ask questions they can find answers to in Wikipedia - it's also a hub for discussing open questions in science. I'm expecting panel members and the community as a whole to discuss difficult topics amongst themselves in a way that makes sense to *them*, as well as performing the general tasks of informing the masses, promoting public understanding of scientific topics, and raising awareness of misinformation.
As long as it **starts with a question**!!!
EDIT: Thanks to ytknows for our fancy panelist badges! :D | Position: Research scientist (postdoc)
General field: Astronomy
Specific field: Extragalactic astrophysics, observational cosmology
Research interests: Galaxy evolution over cosmic time, star formation in the distant ('high-redshift') Universe, the connection between gas behaviour and star formation rate. | 25 | 102 |
CMV: Cars make the quality of life of (almost) everyone worse, except for the actual user. | Cars are loud and noisy, they pollute the environment both in their daily use and in their manufacturing. They take up a lot of space for a single driver compared to bicycles, pedestrians or public transit. They are largely responsible for slow traffic and traffic jams. Cars are dangerous to the people in and around them.
Many cities are designed mostly with cars in mind, leaving pedestrians and cyclists in a marginalized position. Often times highway crossings or cycling paths are extremely impractical or inconvenient to use. The time and effort of these people should be prioritized in my opinion but the time that it takes to get from point A to point B if you need to go over a highway is largely increased because of this.
I'm not advocating for the abolition of motor vehicles or even automobiles, but some large cities in the world are trying to reduce the amount of cars in their commercial or business districts due to many of the reasons stated above.
I also recognize the massive amount of jobs that the car industry creates, but the large increase in demand for alternative transportation if cars are less used would create new jobs too.
I realize some people need cars for various reasons, and that's fine. But many people do it just because it's more comfortable and seeing how it makes everybody else's quality of life worse in my opinion, I ultimately think using cars if you have an alternative is selfish and as a society we should discourage this type of vehicle as much as possible.
Please reddit, CMV!
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> *Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our* ***[popular topics wiki](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/populartopics)*** *first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!* | The economic benefits of cars are they allow people to travel to places and buy things that other wise would be difficult by another means of transportation.
If you want people to not use any form of personal vehicle there is nothing anyone can do about that because the demand is there. You can put tolls on the roads.
However if you want people to move over to clean vehicles just stop subsidizing gas and let the prices go up. | 27 | 44 |
ELI5: Why do all people with Down-Syndrome look the same? | I'm not trying to be rude. I feel the need to clear that up first. | Chromosomes are funny blob-shaped things that are too small for us to see and they contain all your genes. Genes are basically sets of instructions that tell your body how to grow and work properly. Every normal person has 23 pairs of chromosomes. Each pair should normally be a matching copy (excepting X and Y chromosomes - i'll explain this later).
When a mommy and daddy have had sex and create a baby inside the mommy's womb, sometimes a mistake happens. It is nobody's fault, but the new baby has **3** copies of chromosome number 21 instead of just 2 copies like a normal person would.
This means the new baby's body gets the wrong instructions on how to grow, and so it grows into a funny shape. The genes that tell a person's face what shape it will be are messed up and that's why most people with Down Syndrome have strange looking faces. The extra chromosome also makes the Down Syndrome person's brain grow funny, which is why Down Syndrome people are usually not as smart as other people.
Now you might be wondering why boys and girls are different if everyone has the same 23 pairs of chromosomes. The answer is that everyone *doesn't*. Girls have two "X" chromosomes (they are called that because they look like the letter X). But boys are different - instead of having two X chromosomes, they have an X and a **Y** chromosome. It is this Y chromosome that contains all the instructions to tell their body how to become a boy's body.
There are many other problems that can happen if something is wrong with a person's chromosomes, Down Syndrome is only one.
Edit: So the reason that Down Syndrome people's faces all have those similar features is because they all have the same problem with their genes - an extra copy of chromosome 21. | 563 | 611 |
[Marvel] If I were standing next to Quicksilver and he suddenly took off at full speed, wouldn't I be killed by the sonic boom he would generate? Is this something he takes into consideration before he uses his ability? | He usually takes that into consideration, but keep this in mind: Quicksilver tops out at just over the speed of sound and he doesn't have the Flash's speedhax. It would take him a good few seconds to get up to that speed, by which time he'd already be far enough away from you that the boom wouldn't cause any real damage. | 38 | 32 |
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