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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3670 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 19, 2023

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?

Still on Count Zero. It lacks the unbearable tension and intellectual fervor of Neuromancer, but it somehow feels more workmanlike. It's considerably more heavy on the jargon, and with little explanation. A pleasant read so far.

Finished When Money Dies, and the FM Encryption paper from last week. Still working through Titanicus w/ the kid which ironically the recent few chapters have some tangential motte culture-war relevance. Mom has sent me a bunch of God-botherer books (commentaries on the bible, historicity of Jesus, and such) of which I should probably read at least one to make her feel appreciated but haven't gotten around to it.

Spent an inordinate amount of time reading an alternate history of NASA on another internet forum that while entertaining and well written ultimately left me feeling a bit frustrated, dude was an obvious STS fanboy and I find myself becoming less and less tolerant of such the more I learn about the historical program.

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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."

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