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.
- 47
- 3
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 -
I smoked weed after so many months and threw up like crazy so that was not fun. Will watch the fights this weekend, I reckon Jiri Prochazka will lose. His style is built on him being a physical freak, lacking any sort of brains or finesse needed to win fights.
My work now requires me to grow a tiktok account, I will be posting daily tiktoks about the origin of the English language. I read the Cambridge Encyclopedia for the English language a while back. That made me want to post this stuff since the stories behind our words are inherently fascinating.
I do miss my parents, startups are brutal, and a small part of me is always worried that I will have no future if this fails but I need firm belief in myself, my team and what we are building. NVIDIAs founder once said something along the lines of how he would not have started NVIDIA if he knew how difficult it would be. Paul Graham spoke about how his startup was about to go under right before they sold it and how getting his dental cavities fixed felt like being on a vacation, still, I know things will turn out well. Have a great week ahead folks!
grim
More options
Context Copy link
My on and off love affair with weed ended abruptly in February in Thailand when I saw men who are perfectly entertaining when sober or drunk become Circe's pigs when on weed. I mean holy Moly.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link