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PaperclipPerfector  15hr ago (text post)   363 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 25, 2026

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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Still on the Vorkosigan Saga. I'm now on Brothers in Arms, which is like book 9 or something. The series is definitely falling off, but I'm still having fun with it.

Have you tried the fantasy series? (Chalion books and Penric novellas.) They can be kind of slow and sometimes low stakes, but are occasionally very beautiful in their portrayal of genuine spirituality. I waffle between thinking that a religious Bujold is showing us what belief can offer or that an atheist Bujold is showing us the material conditions (e.g., genuine and unmistakeable interactions by gods) needed for religion itself to be genuine.

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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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