site banner
PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   905 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 15, 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.

2
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

So, what are you reading?

Still on Macpherson's Possessive Individualism. For some reason it has connected with me. His basic thesis appears to be that the origins of liberal thought depended on the idea that one was the proprietor of his own person and abilities, completely independent from others in this, thereby ignoring the formative nature of societal influences in his own character.

Perhaps the reason why it has resonated is the hope of, not a politically motivated economic fiction, but simply a way of thinking. If there's a clear and minimal analytical toolset or mindset which can help me be cognizant of possible errors of judgement arising from capitalist influence, I would certainly like to know it. It remains to be seen if this is where the book is headed.

Very slow progress on Said and Al-Ghazali.

Only a few chapters into Ubik. It's remarkable how high-variance a writer Philip K. Dick is when it comes to his level of horniness. Some of his books are remarkably soberly written: others, it feels like he was typing with one hand. A nineteen-year-old girl comes over to a guy's apartment for a job interview: partway through, she begins stripping off for some reason I still don't understand, and of course she has a real set of badonkers. Did any writer in the Western canon love tits as much as Dick? This was commented upon in the 2023 edition of the Lyttle Lytton prize:

Loris is in her womb now, as I’m looking at her.  And one day she will nurse at those superb breasts.

Dr. Futurity by Philip K. Dick

The book quoted above (and yes, the italics are in the original) is from 1960.  In 1974, Dick suffered from a series of drug-induced hallucinations and spent the rest of his life in the grip of a sort of religious insanity, believing at vari­ous points that he had been possessed by the spirit of the prophet Elijah and that he was living a parallel life as a persecuted Christian in first-century Rome.  During this period he wrote a book called The Divine Invasion which I had to read for a college class.  “In the ancient Persian religion, Zoroastrian­ism,” the novel explains, “a sifting bridge had to be crossed by the newly dead person.  […]  Judaism in its later stages and Christianity had gotten their ideas of the Final Days from this.  The good person, who managed to cross the sift­ing bridge, was met by the spirit of his religion: a beautiful young woman with superb, large breasts.”  So I guess it goes to show⁠—you can go mad, you can become a radically different person, but perhaps there is always some deep-seated element fundamental to who you are that will never change.

I love myself some Dick that came out wrong

I love myself some Philip K. Dick, but once you get past the classics, that is, Ubik, A Scanner Darkly and everything that had a movie very loosely based on, the stories start to blend into one. It's as if he had this massive 7D hologram of a perfect story inside his mind, and every book is a crude projection of it from a different angle.

everything that had a movie very loosely based on

That is a lot of stories though. PKD might be one of, if not the, most adapted writer of the 20th century.

He's also one of the most prolific writers, as well, so there's still a couple dozen novels left.

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