| December 26, 2017 | Foreign Political Influence: How do foreign state actors do it? Does it have an effect? Does it have the intended effect? |
| December 19, 2017 | Gaming: Is it good for a person? Does it lead to social alienation and violence or increased reasoning skills and reflexes? |
| December 12, 2017 | The Christmas Spirit: What does it mean to be a “good” person? Is it possible? |
| December 5, 2017 | The Euro: Should the Euro Survive? |
| November 28, 2017 | Pornography: How do you recognize it? How has the internet influenced it? Is it good or bad? |
| November 21, 2017 | Storytelling: What is a good story? Are we losing the art of storytelling to social networks and computer games? |
| November 14, 2017 | Pets: Do we gain more than we lose from them? Entertainment, decoration or companionship on the one hand ~ but also health risks have been discovered and they can harm other animals, the ecosystem and cost money. |
| November 7, 2017 | The Reformation: 500 years after Luther posted the 95 theses, what has been the impact? Why did people spring for Protestantism? |
| October 31, 2017 | Social Entrepreneurship: How do you go about it? Is it possible? Or is it just pretending to “be good”? |
| October 24, 2017 | Sleeping: Are we doing it wrong? What are the benefits of dozing and napping? Are we sleep-deprived? Has our culture and our environment played tricks on us? |
| October 17, 2017 | Sexual Harassment: What is it? Does it depend on culture? How common is it in the workplace and other environments? Where is it worst in our society? What can we do to improve in this area on the societal and personal level? |
| October 10, 2017 | Topics in Science: Does scientific research study the right things? Is the scientific method directed toward the right goals? Are some areas under-researched? |
| October 3, 2017 | Catalonia: How should the region be handled? When should regions of a country become independent? How should city-state issues be handled? |
| Sept. 26, 2017 | City-States and Geographical Territory: Is the territory of the future the city state? Will people groups care less and less about holding bigger territory? |
| September 19, 2017 | State-Sponsored Aggression: We are right now in a period where the old nuclear threat looms large while new turbulent measures exist such as internet controlled terrorist groups, the new phenomenon of crypto currencies and social media campaigns. What is out there and what bears the future? |
| Sept. 5, 2017 | Sin and Guilt: Guilty as sin – how much should you feel of it? |
| Aug 29, 2017 | Testosterone: What is its role and impact in humans and in human society? |
| Aug 22, 2017 | Height: What’s a good height for a human? Why? |
| August 15, 2017 | How much migration should Europe accept? Depending on what the future will bring, Europe may remain a very desirable destination for many people from Africa, the Middle East and further beyond. Just refugees or also economic migrants? How should migration be handled in Europe? Are there ways of stabilizing and spreading prosperity beyond Europe? Will Europe remain attractive? |
| August 8, 2017 | What is gender? At what age should you be able to decide your gender? At what age should you be allowed to chemically and surgically change your gender? Should gender reassignment be paid for by health insurance? How many genders are there? Is there a “non binary” category or others? |
| August 1, 2017 | New Chemicals: The number of chemicals we are exposed to has increased massively during the last 150 years or so with the development of herbicides, contraceptives that leak estrogens into our environment and phthalates and bisphenols, used in plastics. Some feared side effects of non-natural chemicals are hormone disruption, allergies and cancer. |
| July 25, 2017 | What information do you give away via your phone and computer? • What can other people know about you? • What do you supply willingly (ie: Facebook) and what is taken from you? What do you supply without knowing the consequences? |
| July 18, 2017 | Love: What is it? How many kinds are there? Where does it come from? How is it expressed across cultures, families and people groups? |
| July 11, 2017 | Political Protest: Within what bounds should political protest be allowed? And do authorities provoke violence in many demonstrations? What can protesters do themselves in order to not let protests get out of hand? In the wake of the protests at the G20 meeting at Hamburg, within what bounds should political protest be allowed? Political protest in a very broad interpretation can be anything from an on-line petition all the way up to terrorism (which latter I believe we’d all condemn). |
| July 4, 2017 | United States: What effects has it had on the world during its existence? What would the world have looked like had it not been? |
| June 27, 2017 | Drones: Hope or bane? |
| June 20, 2017 | Pain : What is pain? Are there different kinds of pain? How should it be controlled? Do some people induce one pain in themselves to mute another pain? |
| June 13, 2017 | The next 10 years in East Asia : What will happen? Will we see continued growth. lifting people into more comfortable lives? What could go wrong? |
| June 6, 2017 | Citizenship : What rules should guide it? How many could you have? How many should you have? Is it forever? What should replace it, if anything? |
| May 30, 2017 | The situation in Venezuela : What is it like? Why did it become so? What could be done about it? |
| May 23, 2017 | Journalism: Is it dead? With dwindling subscribers, news sources such as newspapers resort to cheaper news production. Has it been replaced by social media? Is it possible to get a fair or balanced perspective? |
| May 16, 2017 | Art: What is it? Are there benefits to artistic self expression? Is consumption of it good for you? |
| May 9, 2017 | Thankfulness and forgiveness: Should they be practiced more? Any pitfalls? |
| May 2, 2017 | North Korea and North East Asia: Time to nip the problem in the bud or are we on the verge of a devastating war? |
| April 25, 2017 | The terrorist attack in Stockholm: How did it come about? Why did it come about? What, if anything, can be done to prevent or mitigate further attacks? |
| April 18, 2017 | Office politics: How do you avoid it? If you cannot avoid it, how do you handle or get good at it? |
| April 10, 2017 | Trumped Up: What will happen to the White House administration over the next 12 months? What effect will it have on the world? |
| April 3, 2017 | A sense of community: Do we have too much of it? Or is Internet taking a sense of community away from us? Do we have split communities? |
| March 28, 2017 | Emotional Intelligence: Is there such a thing? If so, is it over-rated? |
| March 21, 2017 | Snowden, Assange and Manning: Who is a hero and who is a traitor (if anyone of them fits any of these descriptions)? Three individuals stand out in the release of classified material, chiefly about the United States but in the case of Wikileaks/Assange also about other countries. Are there differences between what these individuals have done, if so which are they? Have they made the world better or worse? |
| March 14, 2017 | The “glass ceiling” in society: Is there a barrier in professional and social advancement that prevents women to pass? |
| March 5, 2017 | The new media picture of Sweden abroad: Is it correct? How can it be changed? Sweden has historically been portrayed as a kind of paradise. Recently, a new picture has emerged in some foreign media that involves crime rates and ‘no-go zones’. |
| Feb. 28, 2017 | The French presidential election: Is France pointing to the future for all of us? Who will win? What are the candidates’ platforms? |
| Feb 21, 2017 | Design apart from utility and safety – do you care? In some areas design is crucial, for practical reasons. But for many products, creativity seems important to some… décor or clothing, there are aesthetic elements that go beyond function into style and fashion. |
| Feb. 14, 2017 | Does imagination help you in life – or are you just imagining it? |
| February 7, 2017 | Crime: Does crime come from us making it tempting or are some people inclined to do crime? If the former then how do we remove these opportunities? And if the latter, then why do criminal minds come about? |
| January 31, 2017 | Fascism: What is it? How do we avoid it? |
| January 24, 2017 | Healthcare: What should healthcare look like in 5 years, and in 20 years? In a broader sense of healthcare, what can and should we do? |
| January 17, 2017 | The Future of Learning: How should kids learn? Do different people need different teaching styles? As you go through life, how should you manage your learning? |
| January 10, 2-17 | Death and Dying: How should we deal with the process of dying in our loved ones and in ourselves? Where does euthanasia fit in, if at all? |
| January 3, 2017 | Will 2017 be better or worse than 2016 for the world? In terms of • Armed conflicts • World Economy • Political turmoil • Environmental issues • Sweden… How can one prepare to mitigate the bad stuff while reaping the benefits of the good stuff? |
| Dec. 27, 2016 | Why do people believe in science? Do the people who say they believe in science believe in actual science? |
| Dec. 20, 2016 | Destruction of the family: It is soon Christmas (or something similar) for many of us, a time for being with family … are we witnessing the downfall of the family? What does that mean for society? |
| Dec. 13, 2016 | Communism: With Fidel Castro’s death the last original communist revolutionary is gone. Maybe it is time to review the age of communism: What caused it? … |
| Dec. 6, 2016 | Is it possible to change your personality? If so, should you? ‘Personality’ is a term used in everyday language, in personality typing systems and in … |
| Nov. 29, 2016 | Class-Based Society: Is it inevitable or can there be a classless society? What is a social class? Do we have them? Can one change one’s class? |
| Nov. 22, 2016 | Olof Palme: What is his legacy? As you may know, Olof Palme was the prime minister of Sweden and leader of the Swedish Social Democrats 1969-1986 when he was assassinated… |
| Nov. 15, 2016 | Caring for the Elderly: Many old people have slipped and fallen on the icy pavements of Stockholm these last few weeks. A broken hip is often the downfall of mobility for many elderly… |
| Nov. 8, 2016 | US Presidential Election: Who will win? What will happen? |
| Nov. 1, 2016 | The Young Generation: Is it the best one we’ve had? Or the worst? Or somewhere in between? What unique challenges and possibilities does it have? |
| Oct. 25, 2016 | The future of jobs and the jobs of the future: What jobs will be available in the future? What should one practice, study and prepare for? |
| Oct. 18, 2016 | Donald Trump: In what ways would in your opinion Donald Trump be a better president for the U.S. or worse? How will it affect the U.S. and the world if he is elected? |
| Oct. 11, 2016 | The Minority Rule : Is our world and our culture actually shaped by intolerant minorities? The Most Intolerant Wins: Is there a dictatorship of less represented loud voices? |
| Oct. 4, 2016 | Forever Young : Do you really want to live forever? We may be on the cusp of a revolution within our lifetime (so to speak) to extend life… |
| Sept. 27, 2016 | Difficult people: What does it mean? • How to handle them • Have you experienced any such in your life? • Have you been one yourself? |
| Sept. 20, 2016 | Small Talk: Art or Scourge? Is small talk important or just a stupid drain on human attention? |
| Sept. 13, 2016 | Preppers: Are they overdoing it or are they onto something? What do they say about our time? What kinds of preppers are there? What would you think… |
| Sept. 7, 2016 | Stress: How should you deal with (if it does exist)? Is it good, bad? |
| Aug. 30, 2016 | Flirting and courting: What are the rules? What are the differences in different cultures and sub-cultures? How has it changed over the years? Does the Western practice of “dating” lead to better marriages, worse or none at all? What about arranged marriages and the ways other cultures pair up? |
| Aug. 23, 2016 | Do some countries have the Strong Men they deserve? Does that put universal liberal values on the backburner? ie: Trump in the U.S…. |
| Aug. 16, 2016 | Time will tell: Are we obsessed with time? Are we just trying to do too much? Will fitting too much into your life actually make you miss out on more important things? |
| Aug. 9, 2016 | Sacrifice: How do we make choices to give something up for something else to happen? It can be ritual or personal, somebody giving up something for someone else. |
| Aug. 2, 2016 | How important are the words we use when we think and communicate? |
| July 26, 2016 | Mental illness: What is it? How should we deal with mental illness? How well are we dealing with it in light of what could be done? Mental illness takes a toll on families and societies… |
| July 19, 2016 | Islamic terrorism: Islamic terrorism has become a hotly debated topic in Europe not least due to the terrorist attacks in France and controversies surrounding bans … |
| July 12, 2016 | Universal basic income: Will the labour market exclude so many people in the future that a universal basic income is needed to keep … |
| July 5, 2016 | Brexit fallout: What has happened in the UK in connection with the result of the Brexit referendum? What will happen in the UK? How will it affect the rest of Europe? |
| June 28, 2016 | Conspiracy theories Which ones do you believe are true? Which ones do you wish people did not believe in? |
| June 21, 2016 | Is it you or is it them? Do you change your life for the better by changing yourself or is it important to also change the people around you? Or simply move into a new context? |
| June 14, 2016 | Growing up with a multi cultural family • Raising a child with roots in different cultures |
| June 7, 2016 | Is journalism dead? With dwindling subscribers, news sources such as newspapers resort to cheaper news production. People nowadays often prefer to get … |
| May 31, 2016 | Why are there so few women in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields? |
| May 24, 2016 | Creativity: Creativity is sometimes hyped as something desirable and almost magical, while in practice it is not always tolerated. • What is creativity? … |
| May 17, 2016 | How can you as an individual change society? Does it differ between democracies and dictatorships? Which methods are effective and which… |
| May 10, 2016 | Fame: Good or bad? Some people seek it, others avoid it. Why is fame and being well-known is a goal (or at least a means to an end) for many? |
| May 3, 2016 | Urban life: Freedom at last or psychologically damaging? What are the consequences of living in places where you cannot even know of most of your neighbors … |
| April 26, 2016 | Science : What is science? What claims to be science, but on closer scrutiny is not? Is science dangerous? |
| April 19, 2016 | Bullying: the psychological fallout. How bad is bullying in our society? What can be done to prevent it? Once the damage is done, how can we treat the victims? |
| April 12, 2016 | Libertarianism: Is it Social Darwinism, bringing out the worst in people or is it the future of voluntary cooperation and happiness? |
| April 5, 2016 | Hypochondria Do you have it? Are you sure? Hypochondria diminishes the quality of life for many people and also ties up resources in care units and taxes our health system… |
| March 29, 2016 | Identity politics, culture wars and the power of symbols: Recently, a debate flared up on Facebook on whether symbols and flags that have been used to represent hatred can be used again in their original meaning |
| March 22, 2016 | *Should Sweden have a “Leitkultur” with regards to the integration of immigrants? Should “culture” or “Swedish values” classes be taught to immigrants, to help them assimilate? |
| March 15, 2016 | Taboos around mental illness: Is it time to get rid of them? Topic inspired by this blog post by Kenneth Reitz: • Mental Health |
| March 8, 2016 | Brexit : Will/should Britain exit the European Union? |
| March 1, 2016 | Are women oppressed in Sweden today? Or are men oppressed? Does it make sense to analyze society from a gender perspective? Is there such a thing as structural oppression? |
| February 23, 2016 | What are the fears of the future of the people, that the mainstream political leaders have missed? And how did those fears come about? |
| February 16, 2016 | Is competitive sports past its prime? Is it healthy or sane to do competitive sports? If not, is it really a good role model? Doing a sport on a … |
| February 9, 2016 | Anglo-American parliamentary debate format, as it used in universities throughout the U.S.: Topic and teams to be decided by those present |
| Feb. 2, 2016 | Polyamory: the face of a new society or the destruction of it? |
| January 26, 2016 | The Policy and Politics of Truth : White lies, euphemisms and convenient truths. Always telling the truth is supposed to be a virtue, but it may backfire. What are the consequences of lying? Of always telling the truth? |
| January 19, 2016 | New year in Cologne and new discourses coming out of it: Is the truth being revealed or are we caught in a tangle of lies? |
| Jan. 12, 2016 | Colonialism: Is it payback time? |
| January 5, 2016 | Gifts and Responsibility: Is it important to use your gifts well and help people, making the world a better place? Or is your main role just to make yourself happy and enjoy family, perhaps be a good parent & spouse? |
| December 22, 2015 | The lost art of reflection: Has the internet robbed us of our imagination? |
| December 15, 2015 | Ordered or improvisation: How should you live your life? People vary a lot in how they lead their lives in matters big and small. Some are strategists in some areas while winging it in other areas… |
| December 8, 2015 | Friends with an expiry date: Is this a problem or an opportunity? For people moving from one place to another, losing friends can be hard. For people moving a lot, making new friends becomes a way of life. |
| December 1, 2015 | Soft power: What is it? Does it indeed wield power? Italy wants to spend €1billion on culture to fight Isis |
| Nov. 24, 2015 | High culture: Does it exist and if so, is it overvalued? |
| November 17, 2015 | Big pharma: How do large pharmaceutical corporations help and hurt us? |
| November 10, 2015 | ID – Identification: Are we going overboard on identity documents, papers, eye scans and the like? What are the options? What are the opportunities and risks? |
| November 3, 2015 | Why celebrate Father’s day? |
| October 27, 2015 | How should we teach History? |
| October 20, 2015 | Handling the effects of global warming : Are climate engineering, nuclear power or floating cities among the answers? Or something else? |
| October 13, 2015 | Sense of Humour: What makes you laugh? What passes as funny where you’re from? Are jokes and humor always good? Or can they be forms of aggression and social exclusion? |
| October 6, 2015 | Catalonia, Scotland and other regions seeking separatism: Freedom at last or ‘balkanization?’ (with apologies to the Balkans, it that an accepted term)? |
| September 29, 2015 | Provocative clothing: When, if ever, is too little too little, or too much too much? |
| September 22, 2015 | Syrian refugee migration across Europe: What has happened? What can be done? What should have been done? |
| Sept. 15, 2015 | Cowardice |
| September 8, 2015 | Anglo-American parliamentary debate format: Topic and teams to be decided by those present |
| September 1, 2015 | Envy: one of the Seven deadly sins (wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony). In Scandinavia a special kind of envy called Law of Jante |
| August 25, 2015 | Arranged marriages for citizenship: Is it just a way to circumvent immigration control? If such couples do live as man and wife, can it devolve into a form of time-limited prostitution? |
| August 18, 2015 | The war in Ukraine: Why did it start? What could have been done to avoid it? What can be done now? |
| August 11, 2015 | Correctional treatment in the Nordic region (prisons, etcetera): Too lenient and a let-down to victims and their families or a humane system other societies should emulate? |
| August 4, 2015 | The decline of the American empire: Pax Americana has ruled for many of us, ever since the second world war. But there are signs that America’s influence is waning. Consequences are felt in the borderlands between spheres of influence between the U.S. and existing major powers such as China and Russia and in allies asserting themselves as more independent, such as Turkey and the EU. Is this because of a currency that is out of control making it difficult to import stuff in the future or due to decreased appetite for bold foreign policy, after the Iraqi war? Or other reasons? |
| July 28, 2015 | Bad luck or bad attitude: Why do some people fare worse in life? |
| July 21, 2015 | The Greek crisis and its implications for sovereignty, debt, democracy and Europe |
| July 14, 2015 | Wrath, one of the Seven deadly sins (wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony): Is wrath wrong? What about anger and aggression? |
| July 7, 2015 | Greed, one of the Seven deadly sins (wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony): Is it good or is it ruining us? Does rampant capitalism lead to destructive self-interest and dishonesty? |
| June 30, 2015 | Why do some people lack friends? |
| June 23, 2015 | Beggars in Sweden: People from other EU countries who don’t have jobs fall through the cracks of the social security system. What should be done about it? In contrast to labour immigration and refugees or relatives of refugees, these intra EU migrants do not have that many social benefits from the Swedish society. In a way we have created a “two speed Sweden”, with two social classes of people. What should the criteria for inclusion and exclusion be based on? |
| June 16, 2015 | Do Swedish libraries have a norm of silence on their premises that is oppressive? Should libraries change with the time or discipline the new users who don’t obey the rules? |
| June 9, 2015 | Atheists: Are they enlightened people free from the shackles of superstition and living their happy lives based on rationality and reason, or are they lost souls, falling for destructive pseudo-religions such as communism or a belief that science can explain everything? |
| June 2, 2015 | Feminism: Feminists differ greatly in what they call ‘feminism,’ but in general, they assert that 1. social arrangements among men and women are neither natural nor divinely determined; 2. social arrangements among men and women favor men; 3. there are collective actions that can and should be taken to transform these arrangements into more just and equitable rights in the public sphere, the private sphere (including their own bodies). |
| May 26, 2015 | IQ |
| May 19, 2015 | Is music important? |
| May 12, 2015 | Do you believe in life after love? |
| May 5, 2015 | Do introverts have more fun? |
| April 28, 2015 | Besides their mother tongue would you prefer if your (possibly hypothetical) children would either: • Speak only English but speak it eloquently with excellent pronunciation and vocabulary OR • Speak many languages (including English) but all of them so-so? why? |
| April 21, 2015 | Is the government here to help you? |
| April 14, 2015 | Schools in Sweden: No longer allowed to make a profit ~ Is this a good or bad decision? Or more broadly: should we own everything together or should there be private ownership? |
| April 7, 2015 | Social Class: Does what class you belong to decide your life? Some people would argue that the most important determination of your life outcomes is what class you belong to and its structural and cultural conditions. Is it so? The traditional view of class is that it is upheld by society. Another perspective is that a class can be made up of people with a self-limiting culture, as far as opportunities go. |
| Mar. 31, 2015 | Arms Dealing: Should Sweden sell weapons to Saudi Arabia? |
| Mar. 24, 2015 | Narcissism |
| Mar. 17, 2015 | Cosmetic Surgery: No pain, no gain or is it totally vain? |
| Mar. 10, 2015 | Gambling |
| March 3, 2015 | Western Responsibility for Death in Remote Wars: What is the responsibility of the West for the death toll and suffering in the Near and Middle East (aka Western Asia)? ie: about 300,000 people have died in Iraq since 2003 and around 200,000 people have died in the Syria civil war. Civilian casualties in Afghanistan since 2001 are a little over 20,000. |
| February 24, 2015 | Should human rights and basic freedoms be a core subject in schools? Or should school core subjects only be about maths, languages and sciences? |
| February 17, 2015 | Can you really become Swedish or will you always be regarded as a foreigner? Nation states often have standards for what passes accepted identity of belonging. Once certain values or attributes are in place, it is argued that is possible to become an American and be accepted as one. Similar arguments can be heard for becoming French or British, through absorbing the French cultural canon or mastering British social rules. Sweden however is a small, remote country with a previously homogeneous population and not much history of far-flung colonialism and its resulting immigration. On top of that, it is populated by people who tend to be more introverted. Will Swedish social culture accommodate a wider definition of Swedishness? Will there be a stratified society? |
| February 10, 2015 | Pride, one of the Seven deadly sins (wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony) |
| February 3, 2015 | Lust, one of the Seven deadly sins (wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony) |
| January 27, 2015 | Freedom of Speech: What can I say? What you are allowed to say or write differs very much between different countries, cultures and legislations. In some legislations there are restrictions when it comes to blasphemy, hate speech or denial of certain historical events. In some legislations you may be served a Gag order. In most legislations libel & slander is illegal and so is revealing state secrets. The same goes for incitement of a riot or yelling “fire!” in a crowded theatre. |
| January 20, 2015 | What legal provisions should there be for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual) people? One of the most actively debated policy areas in many countries concerns legal rights for LGBT people, whether it be same sex marriage in the USA, gender reassignment in Iran, the draft of a new constitution in Thailand or hate crimes against LGBT people in Russia. With regards to gender reassignment, some people argue that it is something that should not be done at a a too young an age, and that the statistics are grim with respect to the psychological outcome of such operations. |
| January 13, 2015 | Men are from Mars and women from Venus: Are women and men fundamentally different from a psychological perspective and if so, how does one handle that? |
| January 6, 2015 | Freedom for Children: Do parents own their children? To what extent can or should they try to control them? Is it fair for parents to impose a certain religious views on their children? |
| December 30, 2014 | EU migration and immigration: How should immigration into Europe and inside of Europe be handled? Should it be increased, decreased or be at the current levels? How should the current backlash against immigration be handled? |
| December 23, 2014 | Gluttony, one of the Seven deadly sins (wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony) |
| December 15, 2015 | Trust and Community: Trust between people is often seen as a foundation for a good society. Can one trust too much? How is trust created? How is it destroyed? |
| December 9, 2014 | News Sponsorship: If you’re not paying for your news sources, then who does? We used to pay for our newspaper, look at ad-sponsored TV and our own country’s ad-free state-sponsored TV. For many people, blogs, podcasts, Twitter, Facebook and discussion forums have all but replaced traditional media. TV shows are also readily available over the Internet. Who pays? How does that affect the content? Through many of these outlets, conspiracy theories are having a field day. |
| December 2, 2014 | Egalitarianism: Equal treatment is an underpinning of democracy, and in many societies you try to treat people as equals also before the law, at the work place and in social life. Can it go too far? |
| Nov. 25, 2014 | Fear |
| November 18, 2015 | Policing: Policing is an important part in a society. It can range from fair, smooth and efficient all the way down to inefficient, corrupt, capricious and oppressive. What is efficient police work? |
| Nov. 11, 2015 | Fashion: Spice of life or tax on vain people? |
| November 4, 2014 | Till Death Us Do Part: a commendable ideal or a bad idea? Marriage in many cultures and religions is supposed to be for life. Does that make any sense in today’s world? And if not, is it an outdated tradition or have we gone astray? |
| October 28, 2014 | Future of Humans: Will the future need us, and what will we look like in that case? With the advances in biotechnology, nano-technology and electronics, some people believe that humans will be enhanced or even replaced by engineered solutions in the future. Is this likely, and if so, what would the future look like? |
| Oct. 21, 2014 | Hugs: They’re in fashion in Stockholm. Do we need more of them? |
| October 14, 2014 | Genetically modified foods: Should Golden Rice be allowed and what about others? Due to the earth’s massive and growing human population, some argue that genetically modified food is a must for increasing quality of life and survival in humans. Others say they’re a threat to the ecosystem. |
| October 7, 2014 | Stereotyping: Is it a necessary evil in social functioning to categorize people? Or is it just evil? |
| Sept. 30, 2014 | Happiness: Is it over-rated? |
| September 23, 2014 | Collecting or Hoarding: Do we need all of it? Is it human nature to save things we own for practical or sentimental reasons or is it a failing, materialism? |
| September 16, 2014 | The Holocaust: Why did it happen and can it or something similar happen again? |
| Sept. 9, 2014 | Loneliness |
| September 2, 2015 | Sloth, one of the Seven deadly sins (wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony) |
| August 26, 2014 | Sweden’s immigration policy, especially regarding refugees and relatives of refugees |
| August 19, 2014 | A New World Order: The communist bloc collapsed two and a half decades ago, and Pax Americana looks more and more challenged. What is coming from the following shifts? • De-colonialization • Demographics • De-financialization • Isolation from liberal ideas • Technology that is out of control (e.g. climate change) • Internet – The continued spread of ideas and free trade • Western weakness |
| Aug. 12, 2014 | Islamism |
| August 5, 2014 | Art: Is art important? What is important art? |
| July 29, 2014 | Bullying |
| July 22, 2014 | Wealth: Are rich people evil? |
| July 15, 2014 | Money: Does it make the world go ‘round? Is money good or evil? How should it be handled on a global scale? |
| July 8, 2014 | Psychological and Psychiatric Treatments: How effective are they? Are they sometimes filling the void of something else? Are we medicating the elderly because we do not want to deal with them? Have psychiatric diagnoses among children become a fashion or are we indeed facing a tide of mental problems? Is our environment giving rise to mental issues? |
| July 1, 2014 | The Golden Rule: Doing things for others that you would like them to do for you could mean liberating Iraq from Saddam Hussein, or taking children into custody because they have abusive or neglectful parents. But what if you do not fully understand the situation? Such behaviour implies that people can do things to you that they think are good for you. Should you just stay out of other people’s business (known as the “Silver Rule”)? |
| June 24, 2014 | The European Parliament: How did people vote? Why? Is the European parliament a relevant institution? |
| June 10, 2014 | Employment: The future of jobs, and the jobs of the future |
| June 3, 2014 | The Glass Ceiling: Why do women seldom attain the highest positions in society? Why are so few represented on company boards? Should women receive preferential treatment with a quota of women on company boards? This is the law for large companies in Norway and may end up being legislated in Sweden as well. |
| May 27, 2014 | Meditation, Mindfulness and Spirituality: Are they fountains of wisdom and serenity? or hoaxes? |
| May 20, 2014 | EU Policies: Should the EU have a military and foreign policy? |
| May 13, 2014 | Should governments encourage their citizens to marry? |
| May 6, 2014 | Swedish Police Weapons: The Swedish police has killed more people recently than ever before. There was a shootout on a bright spring afternoon at Hantverkargatan recently among pensioners and prams that were out in the sun. A man was injured but no one was killed. It seems he was fired upon for sitting in a stolen car. Should police only carry tasers? |
| April 29, 2014 | How should we teach History? |
| April 22, 2014 | Internet Harassment: Are online trolls crossing the line? What is ‘harassment’ and what can we do about it? |
| April 15, 2014 | Surrogacy: Do surrogate mothers sell their bodies? What are the benefits? Should we forbid surrogacy? |
| April 1, 2014 | Racism |
| March 25, 2014 | Journalism: Should journalists be neutral? Is it possible? Besides biases of journalists and editors, what forces slant news reporting? |
| March 18, 2014 | Criminals: Can they be rehabilitated? Should they be punished or even killed? What leads to criminality? What should punishment look like? |
| March 11, 2014 | Russia |
| Mar. 4th, 2014 | Democracy: Where does it work? Is democracy on its way out? |
| February 25th, 2014 | Good and Bad: Are there good and bad people? What does it mean and what can we do about it? |
| February 18th, 2014 | The Sensible Survivalist: • What are your ideas for taking care of yourself and the ones you care about over the next five years? • What threats and possibilities do you see, caused by a changing world economy? |
| February 11th, 2014 | Sex Education: Should sex education be taught in schools or should it be up to the parents? If taught in schools, at what age should it start and what, precisely, should be taught? |
| February 4th, 2014 | The environment: Toxins, global warming and disappearing species – are we heading for worse times? |
| January 28th, 2014 | Poverty in the EU: What can be done, now and in the future? |
| Jan. 21st, 2014 | Alternative vs. Traditional Medicine: a scam or a boon? |
| January 14th, 2014 | Seniors: How should we take care of the elderly and aging in general? In many cases, the ones to take care of may be one’s own parents. |
| Jan. 7th, 2014 | Animals: Should animals be protected? Should animals have rights? |
| December 17th, 2013 | The world in 50 years: What will it look like? Will there be progress or regression or self-destruction? |
| Dec. 10th, 2013 | The Decline of the American Empire |
| December 3rd, 2013 | Changing Careers: Should you stick to the career you have studied for, or are already in or is it good to change? |
| November 26th, 2013 | Gentleman and Gentlewoman: Is there such a thing as etiquette and perfect behavior in our world of new social contexts and jobs? |
| Nov. 19th, 2013 | Residency: Should anyone on earth be allowed to live anywhere they want? |
| Nov. 12th, 2013 | Finance and Money: What shifts are taking place? What is in the future? |
| November 5th, 2013 | Conspiracy Theories: Which ones are actually true? Which ones do you wish people would not believe? |
| Oct. 29th, 2013 | Food: How has what we eat changed? What is the future of food? ie: synthetic meats, the eating of insects, the seas are over-fished… |
| Oct. 22nd, 2013 | China: How did it become a superpower? How will China affect the world? |
| Oct. 15th, 2013 | The Family: Why is it important? What is its future? |
| Oct. 8th, 2013 | Youth Malaise: Why do young people feel bad, and what can we do about it? |
| October 1st, 2013 | Integrity and the Police: Where do you strike the balance between our integrity and effective police work? Swedes do have a high trust in their Police (86%), actually the highest in Europe but not everyone trusts them. Issues with Roma and a fear of terrorist attacks have led to a massive collection of intelligence on people’s identities and Internet communication. What could the Swedish police do to improve their efficiency without surveillance state tendencies? |
| Sept. 24th, 2013 | The Future of Stockholm |
| September 17th, 2013 | Religion: Is religion and tradition a foundation of stability or is it a hindrance to a better life? |
| September 10th, 2013 | Love: What kinds of love are there? The word takes on different meanings in different contexts. At its worst, it is a thought-terminating cliché. For many, love is an important part of marriage and living together, while others view these activities as something you do for practical reasons and hence do not require love. Some see love as a way of transcending yourself and becoming part of something bigger. Others see it as something that traps you. |
| September 3rd, 2013 | Forever Young : Do you want to live forever? Should you? |
| Aug. 27th, 2013 | Multiculturalism: Does it work in a society? The nation states have grown more influential over the last 300 years and dominated the scene. In some parts of the world, the violent forces for homogenisation are still very much at work. New economic and political realities makes ethnicities, religions and languages live more intermingled. |
| Aug. 20th, 2013 | Prostitution |
| Aug. 13th, 2013 | Is the middle class and working class getting squeezed? |
| Aug 6th, 2013 | Hiroshima Day: What happened? What can we learn from it in the nuclear arms race? |
| July 30th, 2013 | Health Fads: Are we overdoing it? Are we wasting time and energy on things with marginal health value or even detrimental? Recent reports say that taking vitamin supplements may not be good. Currently fasting is making a big comeback, but will we read in twenty years time that it was all in vain? Yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, diets, the list goes on… |
| July 23rd, 2013 | Vulnerability of our societies: Is it increasing, and if so, what can we do about it? |
| July 16th, 2013 | The Future of Schooling: How schooling works has changed, both in Sweden and in other countries. In Sweden “Friskolor” have popped up that give a bit more freedom in what to teach and how to teach it. In the United States, home schooling is one of the options available. There is an ongoing debate on whether schools should concentrate on teaching core subjects or participate in a supplemental “parenting.” In some schools, the pupils effectively teach each other with the teacher more as an assistant. In other places, youth learn in work places, like apprentices. |
| July 9th, 2013 | Drugs: Should illegal, recreational drugs be legal? Should legal drugs be illegal? |
| July 2nd, 2013 | Migration: How should we handle forced migration (i.e. refugees)? When unrest or famine hits some part of the world, refugees come. Other people come looking for a better home due to bad living conditions or persecution. How do we best handle this? |
| June 25th, 2013 | The State: What is an acceptable level of state control? |
| June 18th, 2013 | Roes of Men: Are men becoming obsolete? Are the biological and traditional cultural traits of men less needed in today’s society? If so what are those traits? |
| June 11th, 2013 | The EU: Is Europe breaking apart? Money has disappeared. Maybe it never existed. The Euro crisis sees entire countries having unemployment through the roof and being saddled with debt they may never be able to pay back. At what price will order be restored in case of turmoil and disagreement? What are Europe’s instincts in times of crisis? |
| June 4th, 2013 | Good People: Is it possible to be a good person? Are do-gooders more trouble than good? Are we surrounded by holier-than-thou types who think they are better than you because they recycle their plastics? Do you care about being a good person and if not, why not? Should people be good by their own volition and from their own hearts or forced through taxes or other means? |
| May 28, 2013 | Assimilating into Sweden: How easy is it? Can it be made easier; should it? Is the immigration issue the root cause of the riots or a scapegoat for a deeper problem? |
| May 21, 2013 | Plastic Surgery: Should plastic surgery be subject to the same ethical guidelines as other medicine? If I walked into a hospital and requested a heart transplant, I would be turned away because I don’t need one. But if I asked for a new face, it would be considered my choice… is this right? Should plastic surgeons take responsibility for their patients’ psychological well being? |
| May 14, 2013 | Ethics and Consumerism: Is it possible to be an ethically responsible consumer in the 21st century? Are all those who have bought Walmart or Primark clothes indirectly responsible for the 1000 deaths at the collapsed factory in Bangladesh? Is it reasonable to expect consumers to meticulously research before buying a pair of jeans or a sandwich? |
| May 7, 2013 | The English Debate Club |
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