site banner
PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1540 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for June 12, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Do you think AI could be used to turn concept art into playable 3d games in the future? I wouldn’t call this “ai generated” in a negative way if it’s only handling the technical side but nothing on the artistic side.

Maybe? One of my realizations in this "vibe-coding era" is that actually communicating the desired specifications can be hard. I suppose we knew that already: I know folks who have made a career out of defining what software should do without writing a single line of code for much longer than ChatGPT been around.

One thing I haven't seen yet (and I'm not playing at the pointy end of the field, so it might exist) is an AI/LLM setup optimized to play 20 questions about what the user really wants before producing it for them. "I want a game where you drive a car" is not the full spec for a game, and the real challenge is working with the user to find and build what they wanted.

It does exist! Claude code has plugins and skills: two popular ones along these lines are the “superpowers” plugin for something a bit more comprehensive and the “grill-me” skill for something more specialized, or the “feature-interview” skill for something that I think is built in.

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