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PaperclipPerfector  7mo ago (text post)   2883 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 15, 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 are your experiences with the latest google search auto summary AI. I find it hilariously bad - usually the summary is opposite of what i am looking for/the truth.

My favorite instance was yesterday when I searched google for a term, there were no normal results, and the AI suggested I try searching google.

(Partly this is because it insisted on autocorrecting the term no matter how I tried to specify it, quotes, etc., and it kept giving me the "showing results for $corrected_term" even when I kept clicking on "show results for $original_term" instead.)

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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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