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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   28724 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 28, 2023

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Someone who gives the appearance of a human without being one. In other words, someone who gives the appearance of thought and reason, but is actually just outputting the latest script given to them by the Party, or else a weighted average of what they hear from other people. Because an NPC’s behaviour depends on scripting not thought, it can change at a moment’s notice in any required direction.

I should note that this kind of thing makes me very twitchy. The kind of people who talk about NPCs (including my friends) are generally smug jerks whose own opinions are far less impressive and well-justified than they think. However, I must admit that when I see the speed and inconsistency of people’s responses to Brexit, Trump, Covid, Ukraine, etc. I can’t help feeling that this does seem to be true for an awful lot of people an awful amount of the time.

There is an implication that the people using the term are not, themselves NPC's, however, even a cleverly written script that breaks the fourth wall doesn't mean the character is actually a complete agent.

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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!

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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."

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