Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
- 145
- 1
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
- Courtesy
- Content
- Engagement
- When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
- Proactively provide evidence in proportion to how partisan and inflammatory your claim might be.
- Accept temporary bans as a time-out, and don't attempt to rejoin the conversation until it's lifted.
- Don't attempt to build consensus or enforce ideological conformity.
- Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
- The Wildcard Rule
- The Metarule
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
So, I have this idea, and I'm curious if I'm on the right track.
I've generally avoided stock options, because the only thing I know about them is that's how you lose all your money. They expire worthless all the damned time. However, selling covered calls seems like a good way to be on the right side of that, and the only risk is you miss out on potential gains. You are literally selling contracts to people you are betting will be worthless by expiration, and pocketing the cash, and even when you are wrong, you still get the full value of the stocks you sold them at the price you agreed on in the contract.
I'm sitting on a shit ton of COIN, and I'm planning on selling half when it doubles. This actually coincides wonderfully with the size of an option contract (100 shares). So I'm thinking, every week I sell an option contract at my price target, pocket some extra cash I wouldn't have otherwise, and it eventually sells at that price just like I had pre-committed to do anyways.
It's win/win/win right?
I'm not super aware of finance, but my impression was that in general, you can't get higher returns in an efficient market without insider knowledge or higher risk. This would make me think that there's some type of drawback to your win-win-win (at least, in general, that wouldn't mean that it's not the best for you personally)?
Secondly, I think I heard that any financial instrument can be simulated using options.
I could be totally off base on either of those, so if people can correct me or confirm, that would we appreciated.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link