site banner
PaperclipPerfector  11hr ago (text post)   580 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for October 16, 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.

Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

The new nerd-sniping question is circulating on Twitter. Who would win in a war: 1939 Europe or 2026 Africa? As usual, both camps are 100% their side would win.

My bet is on 1939 Europe. As the Russo-Ukrainian and the US-Iran wars show, ammunition stockpiles run out in a couple of weeks. Africans won't have missiles for their fighter jets and shells for their MBTs, while Europeans will be cranking out bombs and strategic bombers to turn Cairo into Dresden. When German subs destroy whatever boats Africans have, French and British navies will perform naval landings, their troops armed with reverse-engineered AKs.

I’ve been thinking about posting this one but haven’t because yes it’s kind of racists so too much for main thread but too cultural war for fun thread. To clarify the question is Europe without US but with Russia. Assumption wise is its win or die. So Europe would get all the Jews who left who ended up inventing nuclear bombs. But Africa gets S Africa which I’m fairly certain in an Africa versus Europe war S Africa and there ability to build the bomb people all side with Europe.

In conventional war I am going with Europe but it would mostly be a Cold War for a long time. I’ve seen two things to convince me of this:

  1. The high tech planes Africa has mostly don’t have range to bomb prime Europe
  2. There are like 6 landing crafts in Africa so the early tank advantages means they can’t land the US tanks they have in Europe

Other issues are like Africa only supplies 2/3 of their food supply I’ve seen so internal riots on food are an issue.

So either it’s a race to nukes or neither side has the ability to invade the other early. And eventually Europe catches up on tech and crushes Africa.

Maybe Europe can win quicker with meat assaults against modern tech if they are willing to take massive casualties. Or 30 special ops guys can cause internal coups once food supplies run out.

The initial rounds I think are mostly both sides being better at defense.

That’s my logic.

South Africa actually retains a fair amount of its HEU, enough for 2-3 1945-level nukes. I doubt their capacity to build it into a functioning bomb (particularly if the power blocs around are allowed to use espionage and sabotage), given that everyone involved in the 1970s program is either dead or very elderly. But they have no enrichment capacity and would have to rebuild that from scratch.

Other issues are like Africa only supplies 2/3 of their food supply I’ve seen so internal riots on food are an issue.

Not just that - Africa is also reliant on commodity exports that would get wrecked by U-boats and commerce raiders. So no food and no money (except the suitcases of gold coming off of U-boats, courtesy of SIS and Abwehr).

Someone on Twitter pointed out that the best first move for Europe would be to raid Cape Town and capture the Air Force museum there, get the jets on a ship and reverse-engineer them, which I found quite amusing. I'd also suggest beelining to what remains of the University of Cape Town library (it burnt down a couple years back, in large part because the University neglected to clean the roof gutters) and looting the science and engineering section.

Not just that - Africa is also reliant on commodity exports that would get wrecked by U-boats and commerce raiders. So no food and no money (except the suitcases of gold coming off of U-boats, courtesy of SIS and Abwehr).

I think that Africa's ability to defeat U-boats and commerce raiders is probably stronger than Europe's ability to field U-boats and commerce raiders, at least during the initial stage of the war.

The lack of food (if we're assuming they both get teleported to a world without preexisting trade) is going to be a massive problem. But this is also true for England, which imported even more of its food (although much of that was from other European sources)/

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