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.
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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.
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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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Notes -
Depends highly on the content, my familiarity with the subject or the language it's in, whether I'm watching it with my wife and various factors relevant to her, and what the purpose of the video is. For example, if it's English and a subject that I'm familiar enough with that I can process most of the information extremely quickly and am only looking to see if there are some nuggets of new ideas, definitely 2x. Though I am always ready to rewind and slow it down if necessary. An example scenario would be that I'm watching a recording of an academic talk in an area that I know pretty well, but BLAM, he starts banging out some chunk of stuff that I haven't really seen before, I'll go back and go through that section slowly.
Wife is a native French speaker, and I'm kinda learning. We watch a few French language channels together, but a nice compromise is that they are subjects that I otherwise know a lot more about than she does. We literally watch some of those on 0.75x. I can't actually tell if they're "fast" talkers relative to some typical rate, because I'm just not good enough at French to know, but slowing it down doesn't mess with the sound of it too badly, helps give me time to comprehend the words, and she's okay with it, because she's pretty new to the content.
Some videos we watch purely to relax before bedtime. Channels are picked appropriately, and they're a smooth, buttery 1x.
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