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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. 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.

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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.

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PaperclipPerfector 1yr ago (text post) 3148 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 29, 2023

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.

Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

DirtyWaterHotDog 1yr ago · Edited 1yr ago

obviously the highest "ROI" of my charity money is to be had in Africa

Not entirely true. India is a lot poorer than people think.

India as a whole is already poorer than a bunch of African countries. But entire regions housing 400+ million people (Bihar & UP) have sub-saharan Africa level HDI.

On the bright side, the YOY improvement in UP and Bihar is astonishingly fast. But, 50% growth over a small base, is still a small number.

It's a real shame. Bihar has some of India's smartest, producing the highest math scores in the country, but the entire state has been run by gangsters for the last 50 years. You know Biharis love math when their biggest celebrity is a math teacher who finds geniuses and sends them to IITs. It's no surprise given that Bihar was home to India's Archimedes in Aryabhatta & inventor of proto-medicine in Shrushruta. The Biharis are notoriously hard working, cultured and scrappy (for better or for worse), but the region has been stuck in a 1000 year slump (post islamic invasions), which shows no signs of changing. UP was in the exact same situation for decades, but has been turning a new leaf with a much needed hard-ass leader in Yogi. (India's most popular state level leader, very much a Modi++)

Funding schools, education and manufacturing in UP and Bihar is the surest way to pull these regions out of poverty. Sadly, almost every NGO is in cahoots with the worst aspects of society. So you really need to know someone on the ground level to fund the right institutions.

Africans

Africa is an entire continent. You can simply start with funding the Africans you no issues with.

Wildlife conservationists are a good place to start. The East Africans, North Africans, West Africans & Southern Africans are geographically and culturally distinct. Pick your poison ?

Context

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!

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