site banner
PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1430 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 21, 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.

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

This is a type of base rate adjacent fallacy. The pool of people with average or below genotypic IQ is literally over 150x that of those in the top 0.3%, 50x those in the top 1%, etc. They get a lot more cracks at making it into the Top [X] of phenotypic IQ rank. Kind of like how, taking listed heights at their word (NBA players were born in the darkness of height frauding; men doing online dating merely adopted it), there appears to be a similar number of men between 6'0" and 6'3" and men between 7'0" and 7'3" in the NBA. It could be that height doesn't matter that much for basketball—or perhaps it could be because there are hundreds of thousands times more men in the former group than the latter group.

Surely you agree that it is possible to both over or under rate the importance of height for a basketball player? Height is critically important for basketball, and a player is nearly always, ceteris paribus, better and more useful for a team if he as inch taller. But if you proposed trading Tyrese Maxey for Zach Edey, you'd be making a mistake.

There can bo societies that overrate the importance of genetic heritage, and societies that underrate it.

Surely you agree that it is possible to both over or under rate the importance of height for a basketball player? ...There can bo societies that overrate the importance of genetic heritage, and societies that underrate it.

I reject the attempt at reframing and equivocating via a hypothetical after the excerpt you selected—from an article you selected—turned out to be an own-goal on the initial point you were trying to make because you lacked understanding of what you were quoting.

A better question would not be whether there "can bo [sic]" societies that underrate or overrate the heritability of cognitive ability, but whether societies in the world we live in underrate or overrate the heritability of cognitive ability, insofar as they rate cognitive ability or heritability at all.

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