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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   2920 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 5, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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What happened with or to KulakRevolt/FromKulak? I never checked out the culture war threads since I got my fix from nrx blogs and Hindu Twitter, though I wish I switched out the latter with the CW here. This isn't an attempt to gossip or concern troll, he's clearly a very skilled writer and fairly smart, I don't have much context as to how he went from his motte post of the year to a much more cynical attitude.

I wish him well.

I am assuming you are asking why he did the big rant post a few days ago. The answer is "that's normal for him". Kulak has always been posting about how the solution to our problems is murder. It's like, his whole thing. He just stopped fedposting around here because he found a bunch of people who wanted to see him fedpost on Substack. I don't think he's particularly smart (except insofar as it takes some amount of brains to cultivate a blog), and I definitely don't think he's a good writer. He's all heat, no light.

Even criminals need a competent defense. I mean, you and I might not agree that murdering everyone who disagrees is an optimal strategy (or at least not a Nash equilibrium) but is it so bad for someone to take the other side and at least have the discussion?

Bad as in "it should be disallowed by the rules"? No, not really. But it's bad in the sense that it's not interesting or adding anything of value to the forum.

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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