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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.

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Flying cars exist! There are multiple brands! They're just not very practical relative to cars/trains/planes. Link.

Interplanetary manned spaceships are clearly technically possible.

And yet...

'AGI capable of ruling/destroying/whatevering the world' is not even at the 'clearly technically possible' point -- why would one worry more about it than flying cars?

Because it seems quite likely that it'll happen in the future?

For the same reason that small mammals like ferrets existing implies the existence of humans a few hundred million years later, even though ferrets didn't rule much.

What do you expect the world to look like in ten thousand years? Where were we three hundred years ago? Will change slow? Will it really just be awesome forever, just because? How does that work?

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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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