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PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   4090 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 5, 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 Fanon's Wretched. Not much progress.

On to a sequel of a sci-fi novel I really enjoyed. 1st book was Children of Time, sequel is Children of Ruin. Lots of terra forming and the ethical questions that arise from such actions. First book was a wild ride through hundreds (maybe thousands, it's been a while between reads) of years of civilizational change in a beyond lightspeed setting with some lovely post-collapse background setting.

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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.


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