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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   3516 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 6, 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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So, what are you reading?

I'm going through al-Ghazali's Arrangement of the Litanies. So far it is surprisingly interesting, given that I thought the practical aspects of worship would be boring for a non-Muslim. Backlog has been stuck for a while.

Currently working on Project Mars by Wernher von Braun. It's some of the driest science fiction I've read, with essentially no new science or engineering but filled with such an abundance of detail and explanatory calculations, it's obvious this was something he viewed as a serious proposal.

I wonder if he was a fan of Jules Verne.

ETA: According to AI inquiry, he was indeed well documented to be a massive fan, and considered Verne to be a foundational influence on his life.

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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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