Questions worth arguing about.
Explore the strongest arguments on both sides of political, technology, economic, science, and everyday questions. Read the clash, then take a side in a live judged round.
AI Regulation
Should AI Be Regulated?
Safety vs innovation. Does binding regulation prevent more harm than the innovation and security ground it costs?
Tech & Security
Should the US Ban TikTok?
Security vs speech. Is the security threat specific enough to justify silencing a platform 150 million Americans speak on?
Tech & Youth
Should Social Media Be Banned for Minors?
Harm vs enforceability. Does a hard ban prevent more harm than it causes, and can it be enforced without surveilling everyone?
Economics
Is Universal Basic Income a Good Idea?
Universality vs targeting. Does an unconditional floor buy enough security to justify paying people who do not need it?
Climate & Energy
Is Nuclear Energy Worth the Risk?
Firm power vs cost. Is firm, carbon-free power worth the cost and the tail risk, or do renewables get there faster and cheaper?
AI Risk
Is AI a Threat to Humanity?
Existential risk vs near-term harm framing. Is the danger best fought as existential risk or as present-tense harm?
AI Policy
Should AI-Generated Content Be Labeled?
Transparency vs enforceability. Does labeling work as a remedy, or is it security theater?
AI Policy
Should the Government Control AI?
Public accountability vs state capture. Is the state the right actor to govern AI?
AI & Defense
Should AI Be Allowed in Warfare?
Decision speed vs human dignity. Can law-of-armed-conflict obligations survive autonomous decision speed?
AI & Environment
Is AI Bad for the Environment?
Direct footprint vs net climate effect. Is the footprint big enough, and the offsetting use real enough, to call AI a climate harm?
Education
Should College Be Free?
Access vs incentive design. Does free tuition fix the access problem or just the price problem?
Economics
Should the Minimum Wage Be Raised?
Worker income vs employment effects. Are the employment effects large enough to offset the income gain?
Civics
Should the Electoral College Be Abolished?
Majoritarianism vs federalism. Is the system for majorities or for unions of states?
Economics
Should Billionaires Exist?
Distributive justice vs incentive effects. Is extreme wealth a sign of innovation rewarded, or of capture extracted?
Technology
Should Companies Support the Right to Repair?
Ownership vs product safety. Does ownership include access to parts and manuals, or may manufacturers control repair to protect safety and reliability?
Public Health
Should Vaping Be Banned?
Youth harm vs harm reduction. Whose health does the policy primarily serve?
Urban Policy
Should Cars Be Banned in City Centers?
Public space reclaim vs access for the dependent. Is the access cost to the dependent worth the public-space gain?
Criminal Justice
Should Prisons Be Abolished?
Restoration vs incapacitation. Can a non-carceral system handle the cases prisons are meant for?
AI Regulation
Should Deepfakes Be Illegal?
Fraud prevention vs satire and speech ground. Can criminal liability target the harm without smothering parody, art, and speech?
AI Regulation
Should Self-Driving Cars Be Legal?
Statistical lives saved vs accountability gap. Does the aggregate safety gain justify replacing a driver with a model?
Tech Policy
Should Social Media Companies Be Broken Up?
Antitrust remedy vs interoperability path. Is breakup the right remedy, or does interoperability fix the harm at lower cost?
Privacy
Should the Government Monitor Citizens Online?
Security ground vs proportionality. Can targeted monitoring be operationally separated from mass collection?
Finance Policy
Should Cryptocurrency Be Regulated?
Investor protection vs innovation ground. Does treating crypto as a security protect users without killing the underlying tech?
AI Regulation
Should AI Be Used in Policing?
Bias amplification vs reduction. Does an AI tool amplify or reduce the bias of the institution that deploys it?
AI Regulation
Should AI Be Used in Hiring?
Scale efficiency vs algorithmic discrimination. Does an AI screen reduce or scale up the bias of the firm using it?
Drug Policy
Should Marijuana Be Legalized?
Harm reduction vs public health risk. Does legalization reduce or expand the aggregate harm of cannabis use?
Democracy
Should the Voting Age Be Lowered to 16?
Civic competence vs democratic representation. Should the franchise track competence to vote, or stake in the future?
Bioethics
Should Genetic Engineering of Humans Be Allowed?
Therapy and enhancement vs equity and consent. Can therapy and enhancement be drawn as separate categories in practice?
Public Health
Should Junk Food Be Taxed?
Health externality vs regressive cost. Does the health gain exceed the regressive cost?
Health Policy
Should the Government Provide Universal Healthcare?
Aggregate coverage vs implementation cost. Does the coverage gain exceed the transition cost?
Sports & Money
Should Sports Betting Be Legal?
Harm reduction vs harm expansion. Does a legal, regulated market reduce total gambling harm, or does it manufacture more harm than it displaces?
Media & Culture
Is Cancel Culture Good for Society?
Accountability vs due process. When institutions will not act, is collective social pressure a legitimate accountability tool, or a punishment system with no process and no exit?
Civics & Democracy
Should Voting Be Mandatory?
Representation vs compulsion. Does making turnout a legal duty produce a more representative democracy than the freedom to abstain protects?
Civics & Democracy
Should Books Be Banned in Schools?
Curation vs censorship. Is removing a contested book from a school shelf legitimate age-based curation or censorship by another name?
Science & Policy
Is Space Exploration Worth the Cost?
Opportunity cost vs the long game. Do the spillovers and the long-horizon coverage justify public money on space while certain needs wait?
Science & Policy
Is Veganism Better for the Environment?
Diet math vs farm nuance. Does cutting animal products outright beat changing how they are raised and how much of them we eat?
Technology & AI
AI & Labor
Will AI Replace Human Jobs?
Replacement vs reshaping. Does new work absorb the loss faster than AI creates it, or does the displacement outrun the adjustment?
AI & Education
Should Students Be Allowed to Use AI in School?
Access vs the struggle. Does AI build the skill school exists to teach, or skip it?
AI & Copyright
Should AI-Generated Art Be Copyrighted?
Authorship vs output. Does protecting AI output reward human creation, or just reward owning the machine?
AI Policy
Should AI Be Banned?
Risk avoidance vs benefit forfeiture. Is the harm only avoidable by prohibition?
AI & Law
Should AI Have Legal Rights?
Moral personhood vs legal personhood. Is legal personhood the right tool for a non-conscious system?
AI Philosophy
Is AI Conscious?
Functional vs phenomenal consciousness. Is functional behavior sufficient evidence of consciousness?
AI & Law
Should AI Replace Judges?
Consistency vs procedural legitimacy. Is consistency worth losing the human element of judgment?
AI & Healthcare
Should AI Doctors Replace Human Doctors?
Diagnostic accuracy vs care quality. Is diagnostic accuracy the right metric for replacing doctors?
Culture & everyday life
Education
Should Schools Bring Back Oral Exams?
Authentic assessment vs equitable measurement. Does oral assessment fix the AI-faking problem without creating worse ones?
Education
Should Debate Be a Required Subject?
Civic skill vs curriculum tradeoff. Is the civic-skill payoff worth what gets cut to make room?
Education
Should Homework Be Banned?
Practice vs equity. Does homework close the gap or widen it?
Education
Should Standardized Tests Be Abolished?
Measurement vs distortion. Do alternatives produce less bias than the tests they replace?
Animal Ethics
Should Zoos Be Banned?
Conservation value vs captivity harm. Does the conservation case justify large-scale captivity?
Animal Ethics
Should Animal Testing Be Banned?
Animal welfare vs research necessity. Have non-animal methods matured enough to substitute for the research being banned?
Education
Should School Uniforms Be Required?
Equality and focus vs expression. Do uniforms reduce class-based bullying enough to justify suppressing student expression?
Education
Should Cell Phones Be Allowed in School?
Access vs attention. Does a phone's value as a lifeline and a life tool outweigh the attention it drains from every room it enters?
Education
Should the School Day Start Later?
Biology vs logistics. Is the sleep a later bell buys worth the schedule it breaks for buses, sports, jobs, and childcare?
Sports & Money
Should College Athletes Be Paid?
Fair pay vs system survival. Do athletes have a claim to the revenue they generate, or does paying them defund every sport that does not sell tickets?
Media & Culture
Do Violent Video Games Cause Violence?
Correlation vs causation. Do lab-measured aggression effects translate into real-world violence, or does the crime data falsify the causal story?