site banner
PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   3679 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 7, 2024

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.

4
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Re ru-ua war: Anatoly Karlin tweeted "The war is substantially enabled by couch observers who fantasize about 10:1 ratios and believe the last pigger/orc is about to croak any any day now."

https://twitter.com/powerfultakes/status/1742557887472316916#m what do you think about this? Looks like kill ratio is not far from 1:1

Honestly they’ve been that way the entire time. There’s really no one with real, practical experience fighting a war like this in which the side they’re on is fighting an invading army with significant firepower. We’ve generally been the initiators and the conquest phase has been very very quick — rarely over 3-4 months. That isn’t what will happen in Ukraine even if they eventually win (which is in doubt I think).

This means that most people making the decisions are operating on the cultural assumption about invasion, which is that right means victory. It’s a weird thing to me that so many seem to just assume that because Ukraine was invaded, that it is destined to win and take back all the territory it lost and that since Putin invaded he’s destined to lose.

Karlin is a hyperpartisan and I would put as much stock into his takes as NAFO posters claiming 1:10 and that "Russia will collapse any day now".

What do you mean by "hyperpartisan"? He has changed his political id from Russian nationalist to something other... thing? EHC, woke symphatizer? I'm asking about this specific take, not his other takes.

I used to like some of his unz archive posts. Remember spending reading his blogs for a whole day at some point when I was forced to sit with my smartphone unable to do anything else. But the guy is essentially an unserious alienated twitter brained weirdo. His attachment to Russian nationalism was cringe and fake. His current attachment to gay AI apocalypse is even worse. He must be taken as a prime example of why introvert smart guys need to eventually cut off parasocial interactions, find a woman and make some kids.

He must be taken as a prime example of why introvert smart guys

??? Karlin is extrovert extraordinaire, of the hustler/preacher subtype. Introvert would not chose life of digital nomad, introvert would not relocate to the other side of the world on a whim, introvert would definitely not volunteer to evangelize his (exteme and unpopular) political ideology (or ideologies).

Karlin was always transhumanist, he supported Russia because he believed it is beginning of new supertechnological supercivilization. Once it was obvious that Russia is not aspiring Atomic Space Empire, but another Eastern European shithole, he dropped it like hot potato.

It was never about any Russian historical legacy or care of actual Russian people (remember how he was gloating how elderly vatniks and sovoks from the villages refused to be vaxed and died of COVID.)

As someone with UK passport, US green card and big stash of crypto, AK was one of these people who genuinely could be what they want to be and he picked "Russian" identity for a while.

Now AK is safely out of Russia, he is back to his previous self.

For someone like AK, it was never anything than game.

Imagine new, long awaited and bigly hyped game comes out. You download it and start playing.

You start playing as Orc, because orcs are cool.

First you notice that orcs and whole orc land are hideously ugly. Then you find that gameplay is unbalanced and story line makes no sense at all. Finally, when you turn things and start winning, and the stupid orcs start fighting each other once again, you give up and begin new game.

Start again as Elf. At the beginning, you pick your gender from 72 options and eagerly start playing. It couldn't be worse than Orc game!

If you look at the tone of his posts for the last year or so he's writing less to shed light (which was his former goal) and more to anger the people who formerly followed him. He's a troll and deserves no sincere interaction, regardless of one's stance.

He has changed

Come on man.

I'm asking about this specific take, not his other takes.

They are not independent. Especially not in this kind of gray area.

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