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Anonymous asked: Why do people make weapons of mass destruction?

Because they sell - and how! Look no further than this guy:

This (and this is assuming you’re American) is America, and in America, we’re fat. 65% of us are considered overweight or obese, if Wikipedia is to be believed. But for once, we ain’t proud of this all-American trait. So how do you get an hourglass figure when you resemble something more like a barrel?

You destroy a lot of mass. Body mass.

Weapons of mass destruction sell pretty well, not least because of an incredibly gullible populace that’s willing to buy quack science if it justifies their ways. Hence the popularity of fad diets, such as the Fatkins diet mentioned earlier as well as a slew of other lesser-known and often more draconian diet plans.

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Anonymous asked: Bill O'Reilly told me to hate France. Shall I begin beating them up right now with their own baguettes?

Au contraire! You see, the French have brought us a number of useful innovations that they should be celebrated for.

Imagine that you’re stuck in the middle of the forest and you need to take a dump, but there’s no toilet paper around. What could be more convenient than a porcelain bidet? Plus, it tickles while it cleans!

Sports Illustrated wouldn’t have their swimsuit issue if it wasn’t for the French! The French, after all, invented the bikini and named it after a nuclear test site. How ironic.

And of course, who can forget the guillotine? It’s an indispensable tool for creating that French delicacy, tête d’un noble sur un métal argenté. 

Besides, if you had to beat up the French with their own baguettes, you’d have quite a bit of trouble doing so - they’re surprisingly hard to catch when they’re running away.

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Anonymous asked: Can humans be polygamous?

Well, they already are, in some cases. For instance, consider the members of some sect or another of the Mormon church, or King Solomon, or Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with polygamy - to each their own, after all.

However, it is true that the vast majority of cultures have a policy of monogamy. As for why this is the case, I can’t say I know.

But consider this scenario. You’re eight years old again and going trick-or-treating. You come up to a house and find a bowl of candy outside (presumably because the master of the house doesn’t want to keep getting up). In most cases, one would just take one piece of candy and move on; that’s the good thing to do. However, the gluttonous gluttons who got there before you took ten pieces of candy apiece. Suddenly, there isn’t enough candy to go around.

So, in general, gender ratios worldwide are roughly equal, given normal circumstances and none of that gender-specific abortion crap. In other words, everyone’s (in general) entitled to pick one person to be their significant other. You (and this is assuming you’re male) are no exception. However, in search of your mate, you find that there aren’t enough women to go around, since Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden married three more women than he was ethically entitled to. Now doesn’t that suck? (If you’re female, a similar concept applies, though it’s nowhere as common).

Perhaps it’s because of this disequilibrium that polygamy causes that monogamy is the norm around the world. The less well-endowed demand their chance at passing their genes to the next generation.

It could also be because of the chasteness of modern society. See, elephant seal bulls fight to the death in a winner-take-all contest of masculinity. The winner of such a competition gets a lot of sex, and the losers get… well, nothing.

Since modern human society isn’t nearly cool enough to permit such a thing as a no rules deathmatch tournament (with sex as the prize, of all things), humans instead are reduced to flirting.

Well, I suppose it’s better than the hair shenanigans from Avatar.

Anonymous asked: why do people cheat?

Let’s step wayyyyy back and look at nature. In social animals (like humans), survival depends on a balance between competition and cooperation. To get ahead, one had to find that balance - if they didn’t, they died.

Perhaps life in the modern world isn’t quite so “nasty, brutish, and short,” as Thomas Hobbes would say, but a similar principle applies.

The modern world is still pretty competitive, albeit in different ways. People naturally try to get ahead; maybe this is a vague remnant of that evolutionary instinct.

I’ll admit that cheating is a little different from evolutionary competition. In particular, cheating is a punishable offense; in the natural world, there obviously is no justice. However, I think the point still stands. Cheating is a selfish way to get ahead, often at the cost of others’ success.

People cheat when they’re desperate to get ahead and don’t want to do the hard work it would normally take. I think it’s actually a quite natural thing to do, if all that evolution stuff I was spewing has even a grain of truth in it.

So keep cheating, guys. It’s what nature intended.

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Anonymous asked: Why do we love?

That depends on the perspective you have towards love.

Let me let out the cynic in me first. At its most basic levels, love is a set of very complex chemical reaction (as is life). At a very primal level, it’s just a way to ensure the presence of and good health of offspring. In fact, there’s even evidence to indicate that people are attracted to other people with dissimilar immune systems, which would give the offspring greater immunity. Check the article out; it’s a good read.

And while there’s certainly enough truth in that idea, I don’t think that’s all. After all, humans are more than the sum of their parts. Humans are made of water, protein, sugar, nucleic acid, and an uncountable number of other chemicals, but simply adding these ingredients together doesn’t guarantee self-awareness, or sentience.

The key word there is sentience. It’s because we are aware of ourselves that we can ponder questions such as the one you asked. We have active minds.

Consider the range of attitudes couples have towards kids. Some couples have large families; others don’t want children. So, in humans, love isn’t just about reproductive success.

And that’s where the mind comes in. While this is my personal conviction, I would be hard-pressed to believe that purely physical relationships are loving in nature. I think the key to love has to do with the mind.

True love, I believe, is when someone finds in another person their mental complement. Humans are social creatures, and most of us desire some degree of companionship. Time to go really abstract: in a loving relationship, one finds in another a state of mind that could enable both to advance some common interest.

But since this isn’t a philosophy journal, I’ll simplify it. People love in order to unconsciously make their minds happier.

I somehow doubt this response, despite its length, gave much closure. But at the same time, love really isn’t easily understood. I hate to say it, but your question is one that will probably plague people until the extinction of humanity.

So take your pick:

1. the abstract stuff about mental complements
2. electricity and chemicals

I know which of those two answers is more plausible. :)

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