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TheDag  Per Aspera ad Astra  1yr ago (text post)   2773 thread views

Calling all Lurkers: Share your Dreams of Effortposting

It’s been pointed out recently that the topics discussed in the Culture War thread have gotten a bit repetitive. While I do think the Motte has a good spread on intellectual discussion, I’m always pushing for a wider range (dare I say diversity?) of viewpoints and topics in the CW thread.

I was a lurker for years, and I know that the barrier between having a thought and writing a top level comment in the CW thread can loom large indeed. Luckily I’m fresh out of inspiration, and would love to hear thoughts from folks about effortposts they want to write but haven’t gotten around to.

This of course applies to regulars who post frequently as well - share any and all topics you wish were discussed in the CW thread!

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I've felt that it has enhanced my dreaming, but it has also made dreaming not very unique. If you offered me two options:

  1. Read a fantasy story in real life. Its got cool world building, some vaguely interesting characters, and a plot that keeps you hooked.

  2. Live out a fantasy story in your dreams. Amazing visuals and sensations, but you'll probably forget most of it in the morning.

I sort of prefer to read the fantasy story. I'll stay up late doing it and miss out on sleep with dreams. Now if I'm in a pastoral culture, and my first option is just "stare up at the stars" I think I'm gonna pick the dream option a little more often.

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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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