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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1026 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 26, 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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How much heavy lifting is the autism doing?

Not a ton, I'm on the spectrum, my GFs on the spectrum(it was her house) there are a couple of others on the spectrum there. Obviously there is a thing as too much autism, but if it plays any role its that it's cofounded with age in a way to makes it so that time and interaction with neurotypicals hasn't sanded off the worst tism impulses.

Gotta get the gals at peak fertility and attractiveness to men (sixteen to twenty) before they age out into wizened hags of thirty, while the guys are only hitting their prime at thirty-five!

I personally find this weird AF. Some age differences are fine, like 2-5 years but I'd draw the line there. People in different stages of their lives lead to risk and potentially tumultuous relationsips.

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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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