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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1706 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 2, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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I read the Harry Potter fanfiction, I looked up the author and got to LessWrong, I read a lot of LessWrong, found Scott Alexander who mentioned Jordan Peterson. Looked up Jordan Peterson and found RationalWiki. RationalWiki led to SneerClub, which led to the Motte on reddit, and then I followed the Motte off reddit. Motte and Bailey, Bayesian and Embryo selection are the only three I know.

Thanks for satisfying my curiosity. Your posts make a lot more sense in the context of the RationalWiki -> SneerClub -> Motte path.

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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."

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