The Motte

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What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.

Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.

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PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS

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joined 2022 September 04 23:45:12 UTC

User ID: 278

pusher_robot

PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS

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User ID: 278

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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026

pusher_robot PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS 1d ago

That's less compelling when there are alternative Schelling points, such as viability that do track base reality, at least somewhat.

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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026

pusher_robot PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS 3d ago

Amazon already has, for most intents and purposes, a guaranteed job paying meager but livable wages for anyone willing to work. They get zero gratitude for this.

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Friday Fun Thread for April 10, 2026

pusher_robot PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS 3d ago

I enjoyed The Right Stuff narrated by Dennis Quaid.

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Friday Fun Thread for April 10, 2026

pusher_robot PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS 6d ago

This is a sensible signal but the implementation around me has been terrible. The left turn signal is a 3-stack of arrows, green, yellow, and red. The first part of the turn is a protected left, so it's a green arrow during this segment. Near the end of the protected left segment, it switches to solid yellow for 3 seconds. Now, my expectation would be that if the next period is unprotected turning, it would flash yellow, and it does, but not before turning solid red for 1 second. Every time I start proceeding on the yellow, expecting it to turn flashing, the solid red causes me to stomp the brakes in case I've made a mistake and the direction is changing. It's infuriating, and I wonder if anybody else has this terrible implementation in their area.

(My preference would be for it to transition immediately from green to flashing yellow - why do we need a warning that we're about to proceed with caution?)

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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026

pusher_robot PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS 6d ago

Elonism?

The most entertaining outcome is the most likely
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2023

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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026

pusher_robot PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS 6d ago

3-4 years seems reasonable to me.

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