site banner
PaperclipPerfector  7d ago (text post)   2262 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.

So, what are you reading?

I'm going through Al-Ghazali's The Principles of the Creed. Still trudging through The Dawn of Everything.

Looks like there's a book thread below, but no-one bit.

So, what are you reading?

"Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir. It's pretty good! Lonely, nerdy, interesting. I'd give it an easy 9/10. I'm intentionally not giving a detailed review because it's impossible to talk about the book without major spoilers.

Project Hail Mary is excellent. It's a bit softer than The Martian, but still one of the best hard science fiction novels I have ever read. MC is just Mark Watney with less swearing, but that's OK; I like Watney, and other authors have made a career out of writing the same character over and over again (e.g. Robert Heinlein).

It is, indeed, impossible to talk about without spoilers; MC wakes up in a room with no memory and has to go from there. But if you are OK with spoiling maybe the first fourth of the novel, there is a great review over on /r/rational.

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