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PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   2620 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for January 17, 2025

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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I was originally drawn to the SSC community by Scott's Moloch article, which I came across at a time in my life when I was struggling to put a name on the concept.

I'd consider the following incredible and some of the most important internet writings of the last decade:

Handwaving Freakoutery's work on Memespace Egregores - similar to the concept of Moloch, this also put a name to an incredibly powerful force I found difficult to name. I actually think this explains almost the entire modern internet.

John Fawkes: The Incentive Problem at the heart of the American Justice System - I have struggled for the longest time to wrap my head around how bad the system in America is, because there seem like so many low hanging easy fixes. This laid it out for me in clear terms how the incentives in place actively work against any such improvements.

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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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