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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   2622 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 6, 2022

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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So, what are you reading?

I'm going through Keyes' Flowers for Algernon, another one that has been on my shelf for far too long.

I'm in the process of reading Peter Watts' Sunflower Cycle series. I've finished The Island, Giants and Hitchhiker (what there currently is of Hitchhiker, anyway) and am currently reading The Freeze-Frame Revolution.

It's fantastic. Eriophora is such a tantalising setting, despite the inherent horror of the premise. I also think these stories are better written than his other work, perhaps due to the fact that it's less dense - there are some portions of the text that have sent cascades of chills running down my spine because of how incredibly evocative it is.

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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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