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Are we slaves to the technology we use daily?  Is technology becoming the master of today’s society? Who is really in control?  These are examples of the questions debated at last week’s annual school-wide debate. (You can link to the Photostory here.)

Mr. Kerry Naylor,the  CHS debate teacher, stated, “I love doing these debates in front of the school.  It really forces the students to step up their games and it exposes the entire body to interesting ideas and a new form of argument.”

Seniors in the CHS debate class debated the proposition that autonomous artificial intelligence advances humanity.

CHS students that participated in the debates include; Noah Aiken, Robert VanKirk, Eric Morder, Lydia Eamigh, Kaitlyn Farber, Kyra Woomer, Braden Heisler, Brooke Snyder, Julie Bauer, Jake Miller, Christina Hollen, Jack Showalter, Hannah Hornberger, Tanner Worthing, and Sidney Patterson.

As Mr. Naylor said, “This was a particularly strong group of arguers.  They were all very well prepared and they handled themselves with poise and confidence in front of a large audience.  I was very proud.”

The specific topics debated include: “Technology is becoming the master of humans”, “Autonomous advanced intelligence advances humanity”, “Artificial intelligence is making us less intelligent”, and “On balance, computer technology advances humanity”

Julie Bauer, a competitor in the debate who argued that artificial inteligence is making us less intelligent, stated, “The topic of technology is such a hot topic it seems to be debated too much and talked about daily.  I was surprisingly calm as I was on stage. I was expecting I would do alright; we had pretty good points, but I knew the opponent would have some pretty good points as well.”

Offered through the University of Pittsburgh, the CHS argument and rhetoric class allows students to gain a college credit while still attending high school.  As a requirement for the course, students must hold an annual school-wide debate.

Once debates are finished, the recorded video of the debate will be submitted to the University of Pittsburgh and judged by the speech and communications department, including teachers and students.

“I can’t wait to see who gets chosen. Pitt really can’t go wrong no matter who they choose,” Mr. Naylor said.

One person from every school involved in the program will participate in a state-wide debate.

Sidney Patterson, another senior debater thought the 2018 arguments out-shined some of the other recent ones.

“The debates this year were more successful than those of recent years as far as presentation and audience awareness,” she said.  “I think a lot of my classmates kept a broad argument to be more relatable to a crowd that hasn’t yet taken CHS Debate.”