Wikidebate

Wikidebate is a collaborative learning project to gather and organize all arguments on controversial issues. It's not a place to defend your preferred points of view, but original arguments are allowed and welcome.

The Wikidebate logo represents a small debate tree.

New wikidebate Wikidebate guidelines

Debates

Law and civil rights

• Should cannabis be legal?
• Should suicide be legal?
• Should abortion be legal?
• Should capital punishment be legal?
• Should voluntary euthanasia be legal?
• Should animal testing be legal?
• Should same-sex marriage be legal?
• Should polygamy be legal?
• Should infanticide be legal?
• Should universal basic income be established?
• Should mentally ill people be allowed to have children?
• Should civilians be prohibited from owning firearms?
• Should the monarchy in the UK be abolished?
• Should sex change operations be guided by mental health specialists or psychologists?

Science

• Should we colonize Mars?
• Should we use nuclear energy?
• Are humans omnivores or herbivores?
• Is there intelligent extraterrestrial life in the Milky Way?
• Are humans the main cause of global warming?
• Can electric cars significantly help humanity get off fossil fuels?
• Are natural resources finite?
• Is colonization of Mars in this century realistic?
• Are axioms definitions in disguise?

Philosophy

• Do humans have free will?
• Is morality objective?
• Does everything happen for a sufficient reason?
• Does an individual have a responsibility to maintain a community?
• Does objective reality exist?
• Do living things on Earth have a purpose?
• Do natural resources exist?
• Is philosophy any good?
• Is slavery good?
• Should Mill's harm principle be accepted?
• Are all humans created equal?

Culture

• Should we go vegan?
• Is capitalism sustainable?
• Is a world government desirable?
• Is collapse of the global civilization before year 2100 likely?
• Is Paleo diet a good thing?
• Should Mein Kampf be banned?
• Are metaphors a good thing?
• Should it be legal for social media to censor harmful misinformation?
• Should cryptocurrencies be banned?
• Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
• Should the world adopt a one-child policy?
• Should we aim to reduce the Earth population?
• Should we not watch pornography?
• Should batteries in portable electronics be replaceable?

War

• Was 9/11 an inside job?
• Does nuclear power lead to nuclear weapons?
• Is aggressive war of territorial expansion good?
• Did the United States need to use atomic weapons to end World War II?
• Should the United States have developed the nuclear weapon?
• Is the 2022 Russian military operation in Ukraine justified?
• Should Ukraine surrender to Russia in 2022?
• Should Ukraine go from recognizing the PRC (Peoples Republic of China) to recognizing the ROC (Republic of China, i.e. Taiwan)?

Religion

• Does God exist?
• Does religion do more harm than good?
• Does the Catholic Church do more harm than good?

Meta

• Should we use the debate algorithm on wikidebates?
• Should we merge all WikiJournals into one?
• Are wikidebates a good thing?
• Is Wikipedia consensus process good?
• Should we have a Wikiversity specific discord server?

Recent changes

List of abbreviations:

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Wikidata edit

N

This edit created a new page (also see list of new pages)

m

This is a minor edit

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This edit was performed by a bot

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4 December 2023

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  Should we aim to reduce the Earth population?‎ 09:19 −54‎ ‎Dan Polansky discuss contribs‎ (proposal: drop the merge proposal since it did not generate enough support in many months)
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  Should the world adopt a one-child policy?‎ 09:19 −57‎ ‎Dan Polansky discuss contribs‎ (proposal: drop the merge proposal since it did not generate enough support in many months)

1 December 2023

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  Do natural resources exist?‎ 09:57 +37‎ ‎Dan Polansky discuss contribs‎ (→‎See also: +History of cornucopian thought)
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  Do natural resources exist?‎ 09:56 +893‎ ‎Dan Polansky discuss contribs‎ (+one more)
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  Do natural resources exist?‎ 09:49 +596‎ ‎Dan Polansky discuss contribs‎ (Jerry Taylor, 1998)
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  Do natural resources exist?‎ 09:23 +242‎ ‎Dan Polansky discuss contribs‎

30 November 2023

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  Do natural resources exist?‎ 19:14 +2‎ ‎Dan Polansky discuss contribs‎ (well --> spring)
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  Do natural resources exist?‎ 08:46 +290‎ ‎Dan Polansky discuss contribs‎
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  Do natural resources exist?‎ 08:43 −442‎ ‎Dan Polansky discuss contribs‎ (drop low-quality objection (there already exists a quality objection): "Everything? If I walk to a river, bend down, cup my hands, pull water to my mouth, drink it and thus hydrate myself, does any part of this process fail to meet your criteria of natural and correct? If engaging my mind and body with my natural environment to satiate a need is not right, then the very fact that I exist and have needs that require some level of effort to fulfil must predispose me to error and unnaturalness.")

29 November 2023

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  Do natural resources exist?‎ 12:10 +189‎ ‎Dan Polansky discuss contribs‎ (+two more refs)
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  Do natural resources exist?‎ 11:54 +50‎ ‎Dan Polansky discuss contribs‎ (+two more refs)
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  Do natural resources exist?‎ 11:37 +163‎ ‎Dan Polansky discuss contribs‎ (→‎Natural resources exist: +ref to next quotation)
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  Do natural resources exist?‎ 11:21 +36‎ ‎Dan Polansky discuss contribs‎ (one more ref)
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  Do natural resources exist?‎ 11:16 +336‎ ‎Dan Polansky discuss contribs‎ (+ref to the first arg against)

28 November 2023

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  Do natural resources exist?‎ 16:14 +35‎ ‎Dan Polansky discuss contribs‎ (→‎Further reading: structure)
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  Are natural resources finite?‎ 15:10 +147‎ ‎Dan Polansky discuss contribs‎ (+link to Simon 1998)
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  Are natural resources finite?‎ 14:33 +229‎ ‎Dan Polansky discuss contribs‎ (+ref for the first quotation)
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  Should we use nuclear energy?‎ 02:17 +134‎ ‎Sweet sweet potato discuss contribs‎ (Added argument) Tags: Visual edit Mobile edit Mobile web edit
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  Should we use nuclear energy?‎ 02:09 +19‎ ‎Sweet sweet potato discuss contribs‎ (Edit objection: Nuclear waste is being safely disposed of and the risk managed.{{citation needed}}) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
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  Should we use nuclear energy?‎ 02:06 +111‎ ‎Sweet sweet potato discuss contribs‎ (Add objection: All nuclear storage is temporary as the lifespan of radioactive materials is extremely long) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
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  Should the monarchy in the UK be abolished?‎ 02:03 +165‎ ‎Sweet sweet potato discuss contribs‎ (Add objection: Equality amongst all citizen is a pretty good advantage. Not having someone have more power because of the family they were born in is an advantage) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
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  Should we aim to reduce the Earth population?‎ 01:57 +237‎ ‎Sweet sweet potato discuss contribs‎ (Added argument against) Tags: Visual edit Mobile edit Mobile web edit
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  Should we go vegan?‎ 01:26 +18‎ ‎Sweet sweet potato discuss contribs‎ (Edit objection: Beyond the raising, meat requires minimal additional water{{Citation needed}}whereas something like rice, lentils, beans all requires 2-3× their volume in water to be edible.) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
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  Should we go vegan?‎ 01:25 +19‎ ‎Sweet sweet potato discuss contribs‎ (Edit argument: Dietary restrictions don't benefit humans{{Citation needed}}.) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
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  Should we go vegan?‎ 01:25 +169‎ ‎Sweet sweet potato discuss contribs‎ (Add objection: Most animal products require killing or harming the animals along the way. Veganism implies every for of harm to an animal is bad no matter the amount.) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
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  Should we go vegan?‎ 01:20 +18‎ ‎Sweet sweet potato discuss contribs‎ (Edit argument: Most people can't afford a healthy vegan diet{{Citation needed}}.Telling these people that their way of life is morally inferior because you can afford a healthy diet that avoids making any animals suffer but they don't is moral elitism.) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
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  Should we go vegan?‎ 01:18 +21‎ ‎Sweet sweet potato discuss contribs‎ (Edit objection: This is not true for all countries. {{Citation needed}}) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
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  Should we go vegan?‎ 01:14 +91‎ ‎Sweet sweet potato discuss contribs‎ (Add objection: Most non-first-world-countries eat way less meat than developed countries) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
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  Should we go vegan?‎ 01:11 +149‎ ‎Sweet sweet potato discuss contribs‎ (Add objection: A vegan first is much cheaper to sustain than a meat diet (given that you buy non processed vegan food such as vegetables or beans)) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
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  Should we go vegan?‎ 01:07 +197‎ ‎Sweet sweet potato discuss contribs‎ (Add objection: Someone else doing something doesn't justify you doing the same. For exemple, someone murdering a person in your town doesn't morally justify you murdering another random person..) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
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  Should we go vegan?‎ 00:57 +122‎ ‎Sweet sweet potato discuss contribs‎ (Add objection: "Beyond the raising meat requires minal additional water" goes against the general scientific consensus) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
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  Should we go vegan?‎ 00:56 +239‎ ‎Sweet sweet potato discuss contribs‎ (Add objection: Meat follows the same path of creation as a lot of animal products (leather, feathers, fur, etc.) For those products the same argument can be used. However dedicated arguments are necessary for some other animal products) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
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  Should we go vegan?‎ 00:50 +127‎ ‎Sweet sweet potato discuss contribs‎ (Add objection: Factory farms and other types of farms often slaughter their animals in the same place with the same methods) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
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  Should we go vegan?‎ 00:49 +68‎ ‎Sweet sweet potato discuss contribs‎ (Add objection: Slaughter is present in every type of animal farm) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
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  Should we go vegan?‎ 00:46 +124‎ ‎Sweet sweet potato discuss contribs‎ (Add objection: A huge number of forests have already been cut down, switching to veganism would allow is to restore them) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit

See also

• Wikidebate/Guidelines - Some wisdom on how to wikidebate
• Category:Wikidebates - Category containing all wikidebates
• Wikidebate/Preload - Preload for new wikidebates
• Pageviews - Traffic last month