The Motte

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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!

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magic9mushroom

If you're going to downvote me, and nobody's already voiced your objection, please reply and tell me

2 followers follows 0 users
joined 2022 September 10 11:26:14 UTC

User ID: 1103

magic9mushroom

If you're going to downvote me, and nobody's already voiced your objection, please reply and tell me

2 followers follows 0 users joined 2022 September 10 11:26:14 UTC

No bio...

User ID: 1103

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9

Danger, AI Scientist, Danger

34 comments - 1802 thread views 3mo ago by magic9mushroom If you're going to downvote me, and nobody's already voiced your objection, please reply and tell me (thezvi.wordpress.com)

34

2

Interview with chief Australian spy re: possibility of great-power war (among other things)

11 comments - 2040 thread views 2yr ago by magic9mushroom If you're going to downvote me, and nobody's already voiced your objection, please reply and tell me (abc.net.au)

11

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