Harvard professor Jeffrey Flier and historian of science Terence Kealey debate the resolution, "The National Institutes of Health should be abolished."

For the affirmative is Kealey, former vice chancellor of the University of Buckingham. He's the author of multiple books, including The Economic Laws of Scientific Research. He is also an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, where he co-authored the white paper "Mission Lost: How NIH Leaders Stole Its Promise to America."

For the negative is Flier, the George Higginson professor of physiology and medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is also a former clinical associate at the National Institutes of Health.

The debate is moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

• Post Production: John Osterhoudt

The post Should the NIH Be Abolished? appeared first on Reason.com.

Technology authors Perry Metzger and Brian Merchant debate the resolution, "Artificial Intelligence will provide enormous net benefits to nearly every member of society."

Metzger is taking the affirmative. He is the co-founder and chairman of the board of Alliance for the Future, and the author of science comic Computers: How Digital Hardware Works.

Merchant is taking the negative. He is a reporter in residence at the AI Now Institute. He's also the author of two books, The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone and Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech.

The debate is moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

• Post Production: John Osterhoudt

The post Will AI Benefit Everyone? appeared first on Reason.com.

Naomi Schaefer Riley and Martin Guggenheim debate the resolution, "Government-run child protective services should intervene more in the lives of children."

For the affirmative is Riley, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and at the Independent Women's Forum. She's the author of seven books, the most recent of which is No Way To Treat a Child: How the Foster Care System, Family Courts, and Racial Activists Are Wrecking Young Lives.

Guggenheim is taking the negative. He is the Fiorello LaGuardia Professor of Clinical Law Emeritus at New York University Law School and co-director of the Family Defense Clinic. He's also the author of multiple books, including What's Wrong With Children's Rights.

The debate is moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

• Post Production: John Osterhoudt

The post Should Child Protective Services Intervene More? appeared first on Reason.com.

Economic researchers Matt Stoller and Geoffrey A. Manne debate the resolution, "The U.S. government should break up large technology companies like Amazon, Meta, and Google to protect workers, suppliers, consumers, and democratic institutions."

Arguing in favor of the resolution is Stoller, the director of research at the American Economic Liberties Project and the author of Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy.

Taking the negative is Manne, the president and founder of the International Center for Law & Economics.

The debate is moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

• Post Production: John Osterhoudt

The post Is It Time To Break Up Big Tech? appeared first on Reason.com.

Princeton University professor Paul Frymer and Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley debate the resolution, "The U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 decision to dismantle affirmative action in American higher education marked a significant regression in the pursuit of racial equality."

Arguing for the affirmative is Frymer, a professor of politics at Princeton. He's the author of Uneasy Alliances: Race and Party Competition in America and Black and Blue: African Americans, the Labor Movement, and the Decline of the Democratic Party.

Arguing against the resolution is Riley, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He's also the author of several relevant titles, including The Affirmative Action Myth: Why Blacks Don't Need Racial Preferences To Succeed and Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed, False Black Power.

The debate is moderated by Soho Forum director Gene Epstein.

• Post Production Supervision: John Osterhoudt

The post Should Affirmative Action End? appeared first on Reason.com.

Drug policy scholar Kevin Sabet and Reason's Zach Weissmueller debate the resolution, "The failure of Oregon's experiment in decriminalizing all drugs is compelling evidence that other attempts at complete decriminalization will fail just as badly."

Arguing for the affirmative is Sabet, the director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida, and the co-founder and president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana. He is the author of Reefer Sanity: Seven Great Myths About Marijuana.

Arguing against the resolution is Weissmueller, a senior producer at Reason, who has been covering the drug war for well over a decade. He recently produced a documentary on why Oregon re-criminalized drugs.

The debate is moderated by Soho Forum director Gene Epstein.

• Producer: John Osterhoudt

The post Is Oregon Proof That Drug Decriminalization Will Fail? appeared first on Reason.com.

Melanie Thompson of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women and Kaytlin Bailey of Old Pros debate the resolution, "Paying for sex should be a crime."

Thompson is arguing in favor of the resolution. She is the chief advocacy and outreach officer at the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women International, an organization working against the trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and girls.

Bailey is arguing against the resolution and is the founder and executive director of Old Pros, a non-profit media organization that uses storytelling to advocate for sex workers' rights. She is also the host of The Oldest Profession Podcast.

The debate is moderated by Soho Forum director Gene Epstein.

The post Should Paying for Sex Be a Crime? appeared first on Reason.com.

Glenn Greenwald and Anna K. Gorisch debate the resolution, "President Trump's deportation policies generally violate key civil liberties as set forth in the U.S. Constitution."

Arguing in favor of the resolution is Greenwald, a journalist and podcaster who won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for the National Security Agency–Edward Snowden revelations. He left The Intercept in 2020 to become independent and is now the host of System Update nightly on Rumble.

Opposing the resolution is Gorisch, an immigration attorney at Kendall Immigration Law, PLLC, in Austin, Texas, focusing on employment-based immigration.

The debate is moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

• Producer: John Osterhoudt

The post Are Trump's Deportations Constitutional? appeared first on Reason.com.

Jacob Hacker and David Goldhill debate the resolution: "The government should offer to all Americans a health insurance plan that would compete with private insurance plans."

Jacob Hacker is arguing for the affirmative. He's a professor of political science at Yale University and codirects the Ludwig Program in Public Sector Leadership at Yale Law School. He is a resident fellow at the Institution for Social and Policy Studies.

For the negative is David Goldhill, CEO and cofounder of Sesame, an online marketplace for discounted health services. He is also the author of Catastrophic Care: Why Everything We Think We Know About Health Care Is Wrong.

The debate is moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

The post Should the U.S. Have a Public Health Insurance Plan? appeared first on Reason.com.

Hal Brands and Gareth Porter debate the resolution, "The Cold War was a necessary response by the United States to a Soviet and Chinese threat to the global balance of power."

Hal Brands, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, defends the resolution. He has authored multiple books on the Cold War, including The Twilight Struggle: What the Cold War Teaches Us About Great-Power Rivalry Today.

Arguing against the resolution is Gareth Porter, an award-winning journalist and historian who authored The CIA Insider's Guide to the Iran Crisis: From CIA Coup to the Brink of War.

The debate is moderated by Soho Forum director Gene Epstein.

• Post production: John Osterhoudt

The post Was the Cold War a Deception? appeared first on Reason.com.