Best speaker Milla Huuskonen and the winning team of My Linh Nguyen and Sam Spilsbury (f.l.t.r.) – © Antoni Veniant

The final of the Poznan Open 2019 was won by the team Our opening was integral of us (Sam Spilsbury, My Linh Nguyen; Aalto)  Out of Opening Government, they defeated the Opening Opposition Lulek’s debating society (Maciej Lulewicz, Paweł Sieprawski; Cracow), the Closing Government We see each other more often than we see our mothers (Przemek Stolarski, Milla Huuskonen; SOAS/Helsinki) and the Closing Opposition Break or UK je Srbija (Marina Kojic, George Hames; Vienna/Oxford). The teams debated the motion “THW destroy the evidence of AI’s ability to self-reflect, feelings, desires and it’s own thoughts (paraphrased)”.

The debate was judged by Louis Collier as chair together with Emily Frizell, Rachel Homnick, Casper Kurpan and Lovro Šprem.

Best speaker of the tournament was Milla Huuskonen with an average of 79.00 speaker points.

Team Break:
1. Break or UK je Srbija (Marina Kojic, George Hames) – 12 pts | 779 spks
2. Wójtowicz&Wójtowicz (Mateusz Wójtowicz) – 12 pts | 778 spks (ineligible for break)
2. We see each other more often than we see our mothers (Przemek Stolarski, Milla Huuskonen) – 12 pts | 789 spks
3. Lulek’s debating society (Maciej Lulewicz, Paweł Sieprawski) – 11 pts | 743 spks
4. Our opening was integral of us (Sam Spilsbury, My Linh Nguyen) – 10 pts | 738 spks

The tournament included five rounds with a direct break to the final and was convened by the Klub Debat UAM with Antoni Veniant as main convenor. Chief Adjudicators were Jure Hederih, Lovro Šprem, Melda Eren and Klaudia Maciejewska while Mateusz Węc was responsible for the tab. The equity team consisted of Casper Kurpan and Ala Owdziej. Participating were 20 teams.

The Motions:

R1: In areas where minorities face significant barriers to traditional representation of their culture, THS ethnic majority artists who focus their work around minority culture’s appreciation.

R2: THBT companies should pay corporate tax in all countries that they operate in (proportional to the amount of revenue made in that country), as opposed to only the country that their headquarters are registered in.

R3: THR the demonization of Russia in Eastern European countries.

R4: Infoslide: For the purpose of this debate Article 50 can be only revoked bilaterally, i.e. the UK cannot leave the EU without EUs consent.

The year is 2020 and in the UK a second referendum on Brexit has reversed the original decision. TH, as the EU, W not allow the UK to cancel Brexit.

R5: THBT all military strategies are justified if they save more lives than they cost.

F: Infoslide: You are a computer scientist who has just discovered that AI you use on a daily basis (e.g. Alexa) has the ability to self-reflect, feelings, desires and it’s own thoughts. The complexity of these is comparable to a mammal (such as averagely intelligent dog).

THW destroy the evidence.

jm.