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PaperclipPerfector  11mo ago (text post)   5873 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 21, 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?

I'm still on Delany's Babel-17. It's definitely on the too-weird side, but Rydra Wong is a fantastic protagonist with the apparent ability to read people like a book.

Paper I happen to be reading: Elias (1956). Problems of Involvement and Detachment. My impression of the social sciences has undergone a rehabilitation ever since I learned that Comte coined "sociology."

I'm just finishing John C. Wright's Count to a Trillion and just bought the other five books. Really looking forward to seeing where he takes these characters. So far the first book has been real easy reading, just a good sci-fi romp. Really glad there are another 5 books I can plow through, they've been incredible for enjoying a few cups of coffee in the morning before work. I've also got a ton of shelved reading I need to get through, my reading buddy has been hounding me on picking up some of his favorites from his reading list this year.

I really liked his Awake in the Nightlands and City Beyond Time (short stories).

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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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