site banner
PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   3373 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for December 27, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

In the first half of the 20th century the so-called Technocracy movement wanted to unite the countries in North America into a single "Technate" that would be ruled by an unelected coalition of preeminent scientists and engineers.

One Canadian-American supporter of this idea that was ultimately chased out of Canada for that was named Joshua Norman Haldeman. He had a daughter, Maye, who has the most punchable face you can find on the cover of a self-improvement book. She has a son, who is now the richest man on Earth and the future leader of DOGE and Mars.

Is it a coincidence that Trump, after becoming best friends with Elon, is now talking about annexing Greenland, Canada and Panama and replacing fat and lazy Amerimutts with the best people from every country? I think not, and if you try to convince me otherwise you're a technocratic sleeper agent!

I think the annexations of Canada, Mexico and the UK (please) would be in the best interests of all involved. I'd rather be a secondclass citizen in the States than a citizen in the UK.

“Second class citizen” is a very broad category indeed. The US would be worse off annexing poorer countries, the Brits don’t want it, Mexico would be a bad idea, and Canada would make little difference other than hopefully saving them from a lot of stupid recent policy decisions.

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.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats