2debate

Cash has been around for thousands of years and everyone knows how to use it. But in modern times credit cards, virtual currencies or other means of payments provide an alternative. Is it time now to get rid of cash?

We live in a world where access to data is considered the new oil and especially the promise of security is often used as reason for more and more state surveillance. But shouldn't we actually trust our states? Who if not states should have access to private data for protection and development? Sebastian and Dirk disagree as usual and debate the motion "Governments should have access to private data!"

We live in the age of fake news and are constantly bombarded with breaking or otherwise important news. But do we really need to follow those? Sebastian argues we don't for there are other sources of information more complete and useful and current news sources are often flawed. Dirk defends the motion because press can only speak truth to power and hold them accountable if they have an audience and decisions need to be informed... Who has the better arguments?

In this day and age programmers are in high demand and everyone seem to buzz about it. Should we dial down the volume? After all programming seem to be an unglamorous business by now and may not be that special after all...

Those of us who work in offices know it and fight it: The email monster! It is a modern menace and most of us hate it. But arguably it often is the tool of choice for information exchange and it can be incredibly useful. Mail management courses, productivity gurus and top achievers like Sebastian insist: You should work hard to stay on top of your inbox game and reap more opportunities, respect and productivity as your reward...

We all die eventually but whenever we die through actions from others, we expect that to be tightly regulated. Even war is governed by international law. Whenever killings happen outside these legal frameworks or in obvious ignorance of the law we talk about extrajudicial killings. Sometimes, some say, cases exist where it is ok, maybe even necessary, to kill without a trial...

Wikipedia defines a whistleblower as a person who exposes any kind of information or activity that is deemed illegal, unethical, or not correct within an organization that is either private or public. Often whistleblowers face great risks while arguably performing a service to society. Therefore an argument could be made that such risks should be compensated for and in fact it may be considered to pay whistleblowers. This is what Dirk and Sebastian debated in this episode.

Is racism simply an opinion we need to live with or should voicing such an "opinion" have consequences? Remember: Sides were assigned randomly :-)

It's been a while since we did an inbetweenosode and it turns out our voting depends on it. Next week's debate will be about racists and how we as a society should deal with them. What do you think? Should we shut out racists? Let us know with your vote on http://2debate.eu

North Korea is a dictatorship and believed to have nuclear weapons. Now, that the country develops rockets that reach the West, wouldn't it be wise to strike first?