but art is more uh useful in a sense where you use the art to influence other people, and that way it has a use instead of just enjoying the moment at hand


uh, uh survey data from forty two schools uh says that, the school the school engagement and social and emotional related outcomes are uh benefited through the influence of art teachers so


arts art is meant to influence and instruct education because students are able to, let's uh say uh get influenced by it and


uh, that uh say that it's very uh important in students' development


uh thank you thad I think your point is uh quite good uh however I I still stand by my point that art is meant to instruct and influence uh that is because uh art can cultivate creativity and innovation in the young


which is essential often and often are overlooked uh for example SOTA encourage self-reliance and individualism and ideation in coursework, and performance pictures to showcase publicity there's uh also government will sponsor competitions like


uh golden point awards and commend only outstanding works of uh local or amateur authors so uh this proves my point further that art education is used to instruct and influence people and also is beneficial by influencing uh innovation in the young


debate topic three


okay uh books are dead and films are the way to go uh for me I agree that films are the way to go, uh , the benefits to our community from film making are considerable while we have much to offer uh film companies with our with uh


good locations and highly skilled crews and first rate production facilities will also have much to gain from these, uh film companies, uh the benefits to our company include


increased economic activity and investment uh so film can, uh increased economic activity in the larger scale compared to books and investment uh in films can also influence and shape our society more influentially then a books do


and uh because films are more widespread and also uh accessible compared to books which may not be accessible in physical form


and, uh virtual reality is much of an example of how uh this filmmaking, uh is very uh, advanced in terms of how its its technology is like and how it grows exponentially


this virtual reality uh trend is a very useful product whereby it helps people with, uh more


uh more enjoyable gaming and also uh watching uh filmmaking uh experience, compared to books which you only read by paperback uh film industry in fact affects society by helping the economy grow inspire individuals and also expand our basic knowledge of the world around us movies can


also uh create uh a lot of uh, messages and convey messages and influence people even by propaganda by the government and it it can also uh shape us in how we


think about the world general, because movies transcend uh different countries and is a universal language whereby films are uh if it expands our base knowledge about the world


and thus this proves my point that films are the way to go instead of books and books are dead


thanks thaddeus you make a good point about how uh books uh can help uh and it's more accessible to, uh either visually or uh or uh


hearing impaired people however I think films , uh uh is also uh accessible uh to a certain extent, uh and


uh while books can be accessed by more people films uh can, can also uh influence and uh people, more than books can because of its visual aid and is a more indulging experience compared to books uh my point is that uh films


although not as as accessible uh it is more , visually indulging and great for people who are visually who are visual learners, and it is also uh more influential that way so it is start to in people's minds uh much more often than books are and uh films are also uh very treasured in


how it provides us uh not only sound effects and sound, uh but by visually how, how much it spends the human mind by and uh creating the ambiance for the audience uh it is also


very , uh it catches the attention of people much more quickly than books are because books uh as as much as they are educational uh it is it doesn't catch the attention and is not as enjoyable as films because


as much as it can go it can only catch the attention attention of, you poor by its cover visually and fumes can ah, engage the audience all the way until the end


and it is also uh uh educational in a way that as as long as it is a film or a documentary about something that is uh


not talked about it spreads more wide uh worldwide then , uh books are because people tend to click on the documentary instead of reaching out for a e-book or a book


because books are viewed as something that you read when you have free time but films are viewed as a more go-to uh that you can read in a


guaranteed amount of time uh before you can uh before you proceed to work or or something to do so books are , uh don't have much


uh accessibility in a point where they do not, they do not uh give a, guaranteed timing of when it stops and starts so films are beneficial in a way that you can tell when


it uh ends and you can also plan up your time properly by that uh that's why, that's why because of this uh benefit people are more likely to reach out for a film that a book


and thus it proves my points that uh films are very popular, and books are dead to society


uh sorry sorry uh I think my uh recording stopped, for for the phone one, no it it stopped and then it then I press start again but then uh it stopped for the other one


ya because it stopped, that it's going on but it's like fifty five seconds


okay okay


okay thank you thad ya uh uh but, to sum up my parts also that films are the way to go because not only does film also engage people visually uh, it also is more environmentally friendly uh in terms of how books uses a lot of trees uh in in its uh production so I think it films are very environmentally friendly in that sense


thank you uh for your input thank you


part one debate topic one


uh okay so in my opinion uh, uh these uh modern technology does not always improve the quality of, people's lives because uh firstly because modern technology will cause us to be over reliant on lah machines for automation and in turn automation does cause some job loss to


certain industries like manufacturing so if people's are jobs were lost right their source of income is lost uh of course there there are some things that they cannot afford so in uh in turn their


quality of life may not increase cause uh as google define a quality of life is that, uh it means the standard of health comfort and happiness experienced by an individual or group so uh and also due to the advancement of uh modern technology we have like facebook instagram and all this


uh people people might use uh this, uh, facebook instagram and and things like this to like uh there's there's a increase in cyber bullying lah so uh because all far


facebook and instagram so maybe suicide rates are higher than ever especially in developed countries due to maybe cyber bullying so uh technology may not always improve the quality of people's life lah


uh okay no no doubt that uh modern technology does improve the quality of life of people's lives in some ways but there are also uh groups of people who who who's life may not be uh improved


for example like the older generations who are not very tech savvy, and uh technology can improve the quality of life for those who can master it faster than others for example like the older generations they are not tech savvy they have uh difficulty using smart phones


and also like uh how because our government has always promote is always uh promoting, smart nations right like you can use QR codes to actually pay for your purchases, but for older generations uh they because when phones no longer support two g networks users are actually forced to use phones that support three g or higher networks which are smartphones and uh older generations


who are used to using those uh candy phones uh will have difficulty using smart phones because of the functions some of the functions are maybe more complicated for them, and, and especially those who uh who does not have children to actually teach them how to use technology


and also technology actually makes it easiest for easier for terrorist to actually plan communicate and execute attack, and


and uh for example like uh nuclear weapons are being created due to uh modern technology, and I, this will cause a massive loss of uh civilian lives ah


so it can actually worsen a quality of uh people's lives


uh okay but uh I do agree that in at some in some ways technology has uh actually improve the quality of people's life but as you mentioned


uh it is uh due to the uh person's characteristics which you have no control over so uh, and uh because uh mass media actually comprise of television radio cinema satellite


transmissions right so uh mass media have actually have their bad effects such as uh like TV causes an addiction and everybody seems to be in much more interested in watching the big box, rather than having uh a a walk in the park and also sitting in front of the TV for long hours can cause obesity and also


uh like I realise that like while walking on the streets, I see many children actually wearing started wearing spectacles at a young age so maybe uh might be due to staring at the phones or or or the TV for a long time so technology does not always uh


improve the quality of people's life uh I feel that because uh and also some of the violence things that shown on the TV can also, greatly influence a person, and, and he also have a huge influence in teenagers also


oh okay so uh maybe in in conclusion, uh I think uh, the benefits of technology actually outweighs the cost and in our rising development we have no choice but to embrace it but it also have actually changed the way we live so much that its effects are irreversible so err


in conclusion modern technology does not always improve the quality of people's life


oh


okay uh so uh on the surface it might seem true that uh technology actually mix uh our lives better but for example getting a fancier phone or car is exciting but as soon as we get used to owning that new car or phone


the excitement wears off when we go, back to living our same old lives without actually really becoming healthier or happier, so uh in in conclusion technology is constantly improving promising a better life with each invention but it has actually yet to fulfil the promise that we will become really happier or healthier lah


part two debate topic two,


uh okay so uh actually I'm uh the uh opposition for uh this topic so, I actually disagree that effective farming is possible without science because as we all know that one of the world's largest trade in today's world is the linear growth of the world's food supply as compared to the exponential growth for human population


so uh last time uh farmers have to use uh ox and bull for ploughing but now we have actually have tractors to help them plough the field uh with with the help of machines I believe that uh


uh effective farming can be achieved because uh if you use machines it will be faster to plough a field, and we'll have also have some fast growing genetically modified seeds that is used to increase the yield of our crops and also we can make use of science such as like GPS jones and then uh buy green data


on on like we can gather data on the soils and other aspects of farm land to allow farmers to target specific areas be fertilizers pesticides and water instead of blanket spraying them


uh for example we have a company called Olam it's a global agriculture business that produces cocoa coffee sugar and cotton, they uses real time monitoring on its plantation to finally judge


the fertilizer quantity and avoid the need to use a pre empty use of pesticides, their almond trees in australia are also uh fitted with sensors to monitor exactly, how much water each tree need and when they need the water so they do not need to uh always uh go around uh spraying water and pesticides on their plants


which is uh which will go more towards uh it will be uh, make farming more effective because uh you can also reduce the err number of uh people needed to actually


uh no actually uh uh uh uh take care of uh take care of the plantation lah


uh okay uh partially I agree uh to your point but uh, in my opinion right uh science can, actually make uh farming more effective because we can actually use uh like


we can we have uh equipments we can have better equipments to actually, uh predict the weather to actually allow the farmers to prepare, for like dry seasons for long if they know that through science they can they will be able to better predict the weather and uh if they can better predict the weather they can actually prepare for dry season such as droughts where it cause long periods of uh no rain


so uh if they are better prepared for, dry season then uh, they they may be bit nay they may be able to produce more crops during dry season and also uh


and also if uh because of science we get to uh we can actually have uh more ways of farming as opposed to like having a land and


then uh planting your crops we can have big, because of science we have uh farming methods such as aeroponics hydroponics and, and uh like, and also uh for those countries like singapore which which has very limited resources and land uh we can we are able to grow our own own crops because of science


which uh which leads to uh having having a technology for aeroponics and hydroponics


uh okay to certain, extent I agree that effective farming is actually possible without science but if


err farming, without science right like the traditional farming involves actually the clearing of land which uh how how actually they clear the land is that they actually burn burn the burn the place and causes more pollution


so if you actually have, with science right you can have a more environmental friendly methods of farming, and err it it actually also helps the farmers to increase


the the the uh use of their crops and uh in in term uh if they're able to produce more crops of course they will have more more income for farmers


and also yeah it also takes time for them to clear the land for them to, or err grow their crops so if you, if they still stick to traditional farming right it will take more time for them to grow their crops so with science with the help of science it actually helps a crops to actually grow faster


and to meet the demand and supply for the human population like what I mentioned earlier that one of the threat in today's world is actually, err the amount of food needed to support the growth of the world's human population


uh okay in conclusion err


in the in the uh, in the explanation uh I think effectiveness is about doing or using the right things, or things that actually you positive results so actually with size


you can actually make farming, use positive results like what I have mentioned uh you can increase the use of corp and to, feed the whole world lah so I believe that that is that that will meet meet the target of a effectiveness which is about doing or using the right things


such as using tractors to


part three debate topic three


okay uh actually in my opinion I think artificial intelligence should not be embraced


uh because lah there are some because there is actually a fear of a mass, unemployment due to AI, cause for example delivery drivers cab drivers and bus drivers can actually be replaced as driverless cars are actually now uh


uh invented administrative staff can also be replaced by intelligent assistance such as alexa, and also like what uh you mentioned uh siri because, uh such technology actually uses AI techniques to learn what might be the most suitable answer to our questions and


and also up to five million people could actually lose their jobs due to this uh AI and also machines you you cannot actually predict what they can do there'll there is no sure way of knowing like how this AI will believe


and, and it will get to a point whereby uh AI does not care about the existence of humanity because, uh technology can actually learn improve and invent on its own so we humans will become the slaves of technology and


and, and also if you put powers of AI into the wrong hands like for example in use in military warfare, you are like giving robots the rights to kill humans so there's actually no uh


code of conducts or ethics uh for the use of AI uh criminals and mischief makers can also make use of AI and bend them to their ill conceive purposes so uh


codes of ethics will actually be needed for the robots after all we can't we can't or we who who should be responsible for a bad, decision that is made by a machine and for example like driverless cars may be involved in situations where the machine needs to make a split second decision whether to


which is which will uh possibly kill the passengers in the car or not to swerve killing other road users


okay to some extent I agree that AI actually does help to uh actually uh improve lives and uh have let users have uh uh a good user experience but


AI can actually change the relations between man and the and machine because in today's world we are already dealing with a machine and software addiction, you can you may find people sharing facebook addiction memes on social medial platforms


and, and they find it hard to leave their smartphones alone but AI does not work in the same way, it will actually influence users at a very high level which you will find it impossible to ignore because AI actually will make big life decisions on your behalf for example it is being implemented in health care education career and in the field of finance


although siri, cortana google assistant or alexa doesn't make, life changing life changing decisions, for you but you you you will not really care how they conclude your instructions when they are not capable of understanding you or giving you the results you wanted you will actually just go back to doing things manually like googling


uh the the answers to your questions and also one of the major fears about AI is actually uh you will have to be, uh bound to trust the machine generated results will you be able to trust the process through which the machine will come to decide about your health problems


the interaction between people and machines will be meaningless if you cannot trust the AI to make decisions on your behalf, so trusting something is hard because uh we as humans still does not know how to trust and who to trust


uh okay the fact uh is that AI actually cannot, complete the simplest task without the context provided by humans so uh it is actually unfair that uh


today's AI is actually not able to figure out the solutions by itself, and also a human worker when performing task uses his own experience and he's also skilled to solve problems, but they solve problems by finding many safe


ways but you cannot expect the same from machines so for example if you program a robot to perform certain jobs it will only be goal oriented so if something comes in between the robot and its goals obviously the machine will not care


uh about uh as it is as machines are actually only designed to focus on the goal itself but how it achieve, the goals is not at uh we cannot predict so it's actually quite dangerous that uh


to embrace AI completely cause we will have no control over the machines


uh okay uh in conclusion I think AI should not be embraced fully because uh


aside from taking control over humans life it also has some issues such as, uh privacy issues because like uh, some you you might not be even you might not even notice that actually while we were talking maybe your phone is actually gathering data about what you talk about and


some, signs are when you scroll scroll through the web right you will see some uh advertisements that that that is related to whatever you have uh maybe recently talked about to people so is actually has some uh in some ways invade the privacy


sea of uh people ya, and, and these can also be used by uh criminals around the world so it actually do does pose some uh some some dangers to to your uh people


and, and also because we does not know how AI will actually behave so uh, and people are not ready to admit that artificial intelligence can fail so there's no not there is no there is a chance that the human generated complex program does not always perform the way they are expected to work


part one debate topic one


okay uh so modern technology is actually pretty much defined, uh or rather that modern technology examples actually includes the five g network, which actually provide blazing uh fast internet to users so one of the very uh examples that we can actually think of is for example right now of the COVID nineteen whereby people are actually using technology to actually see


healthcare workers specifically, so uh, my stand as a proposition is to agree that modern technology always improve the quality of people's life, our which die actually a lot of other examples out there that that can prove they're actually modern technology always improve the quality of people's life


so as mentioned my example is actually the healthcare workers, or we do not need to go out of the house to actually see a doctor, uh, it also helps in a way that for uh the ageing population specifically, that uh you know especially for those who are


uh uh senile or or memory loss whereby they may not know where uh they live they can't remember so people actually with full use of technology in this sense wise to actually help us, to to get (um


to to know what is going on, so in a way yes it helps to improve the quality of people's life, ya uh, besides health care of course we can also talk about or maybe we can also think about things like for kids


because right now there are people who are actually using this thing called the GPS phones so kids wise they actually for parents actually use GPS phones to track where their kids are, so in this way wise yes it it helps to improve the quality of people's life once again


and also of course we have a lot of other monitoring tools, that actually made use of technology, uh to actually help us, to monitor, our healthcare status for example right now we have, the BP machines that actually


can send our results to our phone, this was actually created by one of the local companies, and I would think this actually used uh, this actually used the modern technology to improves


the quality of people's life,


okay as much as I do agree partially on what you just mentioned, no doubt that uh, technology does not always improve the quality of people's life, but, we do have to also agree that change is the only constant so without actually


without actually developing technology in this sense wise or in this case wise, uh, we might have issues, because no doubt yes jobs are lost etcetera etcetera as what you mentioned, but


at the same time technology also actually open up, uh, a lot of other jobs example, uh, without the IT personnel behind, you know you won't, you you won't you won't get all this technology all this modern technology there


so uh it does helps to open up in terms of the IT terms of programming in terms of cyber security in fact, not only in towards the IT IT ground, uh it also opens up a lot of opportunities for people to train


to uh, uh, at the same time also you you do also promote I I mean we do need people to promote all these items so it does not only opens up uh, the, the technology


uh industry it also helps in the sales industry also and the training industry, so with regards to cyber security uh sorry cyber bullying it falls under the training site whereby uh, they will need people to actually helps to train helps to


uh educate, the public with regards to this and, ya in order for for them to actually make use of the technology they also needs to undergo trainings so once again training industry


will be the one that's that's getting the most benefit, which, you know if there are more and more people joining in the training industry, then, there are more and more people who actually gain the quality increase the quality of of life so indirectly and directly


with the above examples have proven that modern technology actually improve the quality of people's life


okay I hear you with regards to whatever that you have mentioned, uh, the concerns steers specifically states more towards for the elderly because you would think that elderlies are not trained they may not get a necessary helps and of course the concerns of the terrorist attacks and whatever not here


as much as I do agree that you know the elderlies may not get the necessary helps, , in singapore context wise I believe singapore government has actually set up the SG ambassadors, or rather the the SG's


, I can't remember what's the exact name but the SG ambassadors to actually helps to teach and guide, uh the elderlies, on how to use the the uh mobile phones, they are actually being


updated upgraded, you know being taught, with uh more like uh one to a few, kind of uh few elderlies to actually help out so as that, they can actually catch up with the modern technology in this sense wise


and for elderly wise some of them, , uh they might feel that modern technology has really helped them a lot when it comes to seeing of doctors definitely because they do not need to go all the way down to the clinic they do not need to bother people to bring them down


they really can save money on this also because, communicating uh commuting rather sorry commuting from one place to another specifically towards the hospitals the clinics it takes time it takes money so, with just a modern technology with just a computer update are actually able to do a lot of things


uh on one hand, they may have to spend a lot on the equipments however all this is considered so called a long term investments that gains returns because all this will actually helps, uh, in the long term wise if let's say the equipments actually supports


the functions whereby I like what I mentioned initially, how it actually helps to uh, bring in the data send the data over to to say their healthcare providers so that on the spot they are actually able to check through and see through


you know and and maybe some of I think some of the devices also helps to remind, the elderlies specifically, on uh taking of medications which, you know medications, we all know it actually, gonna helps the quality of people's life in most and in in most cases wise lah


so ya, then with regards to your , concern of the terrorist attacks and whatever not wise I think this one is more of, actually is more of, uh the attitudes the characteristics of people, modern technology can be a two


two sworded thing but , I mean everything in life is is is two sworded, is either towards the the the better or for the worse it's really depending how we really use the tools, but if, I believe if we were to actually use it to the right way


it actually improves the quality of people's life


as much as I do agree with you but I would still believe that technology modern technology always improve the qualities of people's live, based on whatever that I mention above, if we were to use the tools correctly it will always improve the quality of lives


because uh it it's still it still boils down to to the person's attitude the person's characteristics, you know one can always be discipline enough not to keep eying on the black box like what you mentioned


or or you know if if one is not there to to always looking on the on the on the phone if let's say parents would engaged their kids better then, actually technology modern technology actually plays a very big part in improving today's qualities


life because as mention again change is the only constant in today's world


(ppc)


yeah for that I think I I have to partially agree with you as much as you know I am standing on my stands that tech modern technology always improve the qualities of people's live


because it's it's really just a a it's a very how to put it's it's a it's a two edge sword lah as mentioned, so uh even if you were to give someone else a bomb for example if that person actually use the bomb the right way it helps


but for today's world wise I would believe that a lot of people actually tries to use technology in the right way with various more number of people that is actually trying to to making a negative out of that


yeah, so in conclusion wise I think uh modern technology does improve the quality of people's live


part, two debate topic two


okay so uh so the topic is effective farming possible without science, again I am actually the propositions to it so therefore I'll agree that effective farming is possible without science, now , farming agriculture is something that has been ongoing since uh


long long long, time back back then, the farmers are not as educated as we are today, so back then they do not know what exactly science is they did not really study everything


but they still make things possible, how is that even so, because they try and error, back then we don't have this thing called pesticides insecticides, we don't have this thing called the hydroponics we don't have things that such as aeroponics


but, it is still possible for farming to occur, because once again they are not educated, they do not know what exactly is happenings they just try with trial and error, so effective


farming is possible without science, if let's say the farmers are willing to take the risk they're willing to try and error, in fact even in today's world a lot of things we are doing trial and error even in today's, uh farming


let's take a very good example, recently as we all know NEA has given out quite a fair bit number of seeds, to a lot of uh people, I cannot say that you know uh they are like all of us in singapore actually knows how to do farming we are not educated we are not an expert in farming


uh we do not know the science behind a lot of things some of us are not even researching on how to plant certain things for example someone who sits there was given examples like, cucumber eggplants, you know some of us are really not trained in farming but there are many successful cases


where all these things is made possible because, they are kind of more willing to, to, read the instructions follow the instructions so therefore I would say that effective farming is possible without science


so uh I do hear you on your on your point whereby, your your, the points are actually more towards, uh the manpower sides, but , manpower does not equates to science in this case right it's because like I said in the past whereby uh we don't have too many people in the family


you know the farmers at the most it's only the farmers and and his mistress maybe his miss miss rather, his, his missus sorry ya so uh, and and their kids, to to actually help out


so uh, if, let's say in the past they are actually able to do it, and, they can actually feed, the you know feed feed themselves to the fullest, then actually effective farming is still possible without science without the use of insecticides pesticides uh


you know uh, there no doubt there is those genetically modified grains and whatever not, but, even then without those, uh, effective farming is is still ongoing, like we still have those traditional traditionals uh farming that's going on


and in fact not all plants can actually suitable for the the genetic modified, seeds to be used, uh it may actually creates more problems than to solve problems in a way also


because uh with a lot of genetic modified, stuff around it actually, it may harm more, than to actually solve more issues, so, not to create more issues effective farming


I would say it is still possible, without science


okay I think I hear you well enough because you are saying that technologies or science actually brings out technologies to actually help us, especially where singapore as a case study we have limited land size


uh that's pretty much true and I do agree with it however, let's not forget for the fact that effective farming or rather hydroponics and aeroponics they are effective farming no doubt but they are actually a very expensive kind of farmings that may not suit to all


uh, singaporeans in this case wise, because of technology used and everything else uh it actually brings out like again I said it brings out more issues, and with regards to your point on uh knowing of the seasons


uh, you know the the how they can plant and things like that, uh, my point stands in the sense that, for people in the past they do not have science at all, but somehow they do have their way of calculating their way of knowing how things just happens


you know even just by looking at examples, if you do observations for uh on the insects on the animals you can actually predicts, uh, when certain things is going to happen for a very good example for ants wise uh it was said that if you were to see the ants crawling all around you know very fast very quick it means that rain is coming that kind of thing so


uh, we do not need if uh science to actually do this to to, to to make, farming effective but it's more of observations it's really more of trial and errors


uh because sometimes like I said before, we as human we tend to be on the lazier side we don't really do much research, but, we still decided to give planting a try for example


and how many of us are successful, which is also one of the reason as to why government is encouraging us, to, plant our own plants, because I can guarantee you not many people are willing to even actually, google up how to do uh a plant


you know how to how to plant the plants for example, uh do we actually know the type of soil to use do we actually know why we are using that type of soil, the answer high chance is no we are just using it because we think it works so everything boils down to to really try and error everything boils down to the attitude


uh, and and really the adventurous how adventurer how adventurous uh one is in this case wise, so effective farming is possible without sides


okay so uh at my end let me just conclude this this debate sessions, okay I would strongly believe that effective farming is possible without science what you mentioned is more of efficient farming


right uh, if I may just quote, we do need more efficient farming we need more effective farming so effective farming is possible without science in the sense that if, people of the past can do it


why can't we today, everything still boils down not to science, but, more towards the attitude and the adventurous, uh characteristics of humans if one is one if one wants everything to be fast


then that is more towards effective farming as compared to efficient farming, so therefore effective farming is possible without science


but again I still I still believe that it is actually more of, the human characteristics, that, actually determines whether it's effective or efficient, I mean of course if you want efficient farming then science will really helps a lot a lot


ya so as I still think that it boils down to the human being, the uh characteristics the adventurous point, or , without a relish boils down to the attitude and of course end of the day is is really how much one would want to ill the the product


but still, all these things aside, if you are doing a very simple uh we are planning to just do a very simple farming, back, back to the NE A ones, effective farming is still possible without science


part three, debate topic three


okay so, artificial intelligence should be embraced since it is, inevitable, uh again I am actually the proposition so I do agree that AI should be embraced, right


first and foremost let me just uh define what AI is AI is the branch of computer sciences that emphasizes the development of intelligence machines thinking and working like humans for example, speech recognition, problem solving learning and planning


now , change once again it's, it's the only constants in today's world so everything has changed since since way way back, uh we all think that, you know AI is actually the future


but if you look around it is actually the present so, it is already happening in today's world we have actually a lot of, , applications a lot of apps and applications that is actually helping us uh when it comes to AI examples whoever that is holding onto apple phone you will know that


you know your phone has this very friendly personal assistants called the siri, it actually uses AI to interacts with the users on the daily day in day out basis, you know uh she can helps you to find information get directions send messages voice calls open applications add events to your calendar just to name some


and I think she can do much more than this too, uh, and we are expecting her to do more than whatever that is, today actually in the sense that, , if you really think about it she's really getting more and more intelligent


so uh, in fact I think everybody is is trying to get used to AI right now everybody's trying to get used to siri even android phones are also trying to catch up they do have their own, uh, version of siris


or example I think, uh I can't be I can't be too sure on this but I think a samsung does has its own siris version, uh I think that is that is only only for for a samsung but any case wise


uh it's, it's just shows that actually AI is ready all around us, you know, is either you embrace it, or you lose out in many ways, we lose out of convenience of it, and


AI I actually not only helps, in improving our daily lives, it actually helps even in businesses


okay I think I got your point there, you're actually more towards saying that firstly it will lose jobs secondly is more towards the, the uh humility of things humility of life, alright uh if I may


you know uh, kind of inject in this this idea that, uh for AIs wise, in all yes on the surface it looks like you know people are losing a lot of, jobs but actually again if we look in deeper it actually creates more jobs why


again, we do have people who needs to creates the AI, you know we do have programmers mean those who are actually studying in the IT those who programs, the the robots, whoever that is doing the siri


you know, and of course if we have, uh the product, we need the salesperson for this suite indirectly creates a job we also needs a trainer who is there to help you to train you, be it using the product


or creating the products, so it actually helps to boost up these two industries specifically, err, of course not to mention the third one is is the technology industry, and then


you know we we also needs customer service, so, even customer service is also blooming because of this, and of course AI can also be used in customer service, because uh there


like for example uh there's this particular company box travel it's a company that heavily relies on machine learning to enhance customers' experience in the travel industry, it conveys micro moments experiences that can be that can please customers so it


improves customer engagement through machine learning and AI to role-playing field helping customers to find new ways and make memorable journeys so with this box level it seems like it's actually, eh able to


make things easier it actually helps to improve customers' engagement, which indirectly will actually up the sales of, whichever companies that actually uses this box level, to improve their own service


and uh if you are actually talking about the characters I mean the humility of of things, I would say is actually all boils down to the character of whoever that is doing the the the AI itself yes I do agree that AI is a non-human thing it does not know what is right it does not know what is wrong because everything is programmed


so, it really really depends and really boils down to the person who is creating the AI to build in the corrector for, the AI itself, so whether to


to get itself into an accident hurting more people or or trying to avoid an accident you know all this things I think it really really boils down to whoever actually created it so AI should be embraced since it is


inevitable in today's life


okay, but the thing here is have you actually consider that AI, with AI itself in can actually handle time consuming, monotonous task freeing us to use the skills the machine don't have


you know to solve a problem, it actually helps more things, and I do realise that you know uh, at a certain points we keep bringing up the problem with jobs, but let's, take a look at things this way instead of actually


are causing a lot of job loss, it actually helps to create new jobs, because like what you mentioned about googling back to you know back to manual work again yes, but you know


it's because of AI that's why we need people, who, are very pro in googling, you know, it actually helps to create more jobs that that that it should in a way and back having it back to manual


it helps uh, it may not necessarily be true that it everything is going to back to manual but, uh if you said in in other ways that actually it, handles a lot of other time consuming issues because with AI itself


you know we do not need to repeat things again and again, or it can actually do do things uh, better in many ways, with the health technologies


okay now the thing is if you play our cards right, if you link it in advance, if we can actually plan things earlier we can actually turn AI into a win win for all of us if you can figure out how to successfully partner with intelligent machines


we can actually use algorithms and data to make our world our lives our workplace our communities and our societies better, the key thing here is we need to educate, because yes you do I do agree that AI does not have the intelligence at the moment to decide a lot of things but don't forget all this things


are actually from, the creator of the AI, so it's actually the mind of the AI being installed into it, so uh if we can actually educate ourselves to understand the emerging, , technology's potential


or it can actually allow us to fully appreciate and embrace technology potential to empower us, to actually help us rather than as what you mention, indirectly to kill us creating a loss of jobs


and and whatever negative things that you have actually mentioned so in a way I think we should embrace, uh AI, at the same time we also need to know, and educate ourselves, so as to make better use of AI to help us in everyday life


so I say the debate question all


oh okay uh debate topic one , I think it's important to save plant and animal species which are in danger of extinction


because firstly there are a lot of animals and plants that are close to extinction that is very valuable to the medicinal industry and they have a lot of benefits


one example is that Cinchona Quinine a genius of thirty-eight species native to the tropical and this forest of western south america was the anti-malarial drug of choice until the nineteen forties


aspirin also originally came from the willow bark, it's actually on, there's a near threatened species according to the IUCN that pacific yield or chemical use is used in fighting cancer hence I think that it's important that we


we protect the environment it is important to save plant and animal species which are in danger of extinction


I beg to differ because it's important to save the plant and animal species, because like these uh endangered species the balance the ecosystem due to the interconnectedness of the ecosystem according to the US fish and wildlife service one extinct plant species can lead to the loss of thirty other insect plant and animal species found in the higher levels of the food chain


this individual plant or animal species are sometimes called the keystone species if they become extinct the whole ecosystem will be changed drastically endangered keystone species include the northern spotted owl and others


for instance sea otters control sea urchins population that would otherwise inflict extensive damage to keep the forest ecosystem and this will lead to far, uh far more damaging consequences


hence I think that it's important that we save plant and animal species even though they're in danger of extinction regardless of the cost


but however I feel if you protect this endangered species right, it's important as like the animals will demonstrate a certain value of society if a species goes extinct it's lost forever and I think this is very to prevent from


species from going extinct is also one of a humankind responsibility to prevent that from being in the danger of extinction so I think it's important to save those who are in danger of extinction


I beg to differ because I feel like a lot of times there's


a lot of uh those hunting down of like endangered species such as like those uh sharks or like deer that is already going to be endangered but then like it's us humans who actually hunt them down and


caused them to the brink of in danger of being extinct so I feel like we have a responsibility as a human to save them and make, prevent them from going extinction


, okay so your point is that we should prioritise us humans right but then like what I said in my first point is that, the


the presence of animals will affect the balance of ecosystem so if some of the species, go goes extinct it will imbalance caused an imbalance in ecosystem and this will make drastic changes to the ecosystem eventually I


whether like, we should care about humans but at the same time I think animals and plants species are also important in our ecosystem


you said you you mentioned that the government should only protect our ecosystem right


but uh I, I beg to differ because when you pump in cost to protect the ecosystem I feel like the thing that drive the ecosystem is the animals and the plant species in it so


I think it's important it's definitely important to save the plant and animal species that that drive the main balance of ecosystem


I still beg to differ you said that the endangered species cannot cannot help the country economically right but then what if let's say uh


they destroy the balance of ecosystem like the the plant and animal species they're endangered right then they will destroy the, the balance of ecosystem then wouldn't a lot of other like food supply


or let's say animals would basically the whole balance of ecosystem will be affected wouldn't this like just affect our food supply as a whole and food supply is necessary for us to be stable economically I feel


uh because , I still oppose to your your stand because uh beyond medicine there's actually other products that can be developed from these endangered like plant species that we are not aware of because they're endangered so uh


a lot there's a lot of endangered species right that humans do not even have the chance of tapping into the potential of it before it goes extinct so how sure are you that


this will not help our ecosystem or will not help our food supply or any like discovery just because, we have not even uh have the chance to even potentially uh look at the


medicine


no as in I stated like there's a lot of potential medicine or other products that can be developed from plants species alone


like just the plant part, yes, no but then like they haven't been


given the potential to be even like discovered that's why I think it's important to save them before they go extinct


but it's important for us to save them in the first place before we even have the chance to, produce it, so like the question here the question here is how important is it to save them before they are like in danger of extinction because beyond plants actually endangered animals also have their own research uses


and like for example recently a marine biologist has been optimistic that study of dolphins can help them understand, us the severe cervical cancer as it's the only species beside humans that we can know of that can harbor co-infections in a genital so if we kill all these


marine mammals it will limits the research and research doesn't necessarily mean that we have to harm them it can, just be uh those research that protects animals at the same time


what do you mean by not in their nature form


uh, uh not necessary I believe that , they're still they're still treated human humanely although they might be picked for research purposes but then the main point is still that we must save them and not uh leave them to be extinct


what do you mean by potential diseases


(mmhmm), but, , however that is just one specific species it doesn't mean that other species will bring about diseases because more like the


than not normally, those endangered plant and animal species they are actually very valuable that's why they're even endangered in the first place


uh can I have some examples, animals in general, they would


but I don't think they're endangered right, they normally come from normal animals


but if you don't, let's say it's uh let's say you say swine flu is coming from these endangered species right it doesn't mean that in the first place we don't save them cause it's only a possibility like


all the other beneficial values that endangered species carry still outweighs all these risk because who knows that any, one of the endangered species will actually bring good uh invention to human mankind so I still think such as the the medicine that I I just uh stated previously like


it was, , no but then they were they needed to be even studied before we know whether it's possible or not


, debate topic two environmental concerns and economic growth cannot co-exist do you agree I agree that environmental concerns and economic


growth cannot co-exist because firstly environmental concerns such as global warming and all this rises because there is uh a increase usage in like


uh, hunting down of trees or like mankind human activities so actually they cannot co-exist because if you need those


resources to improve economic growth there will be bound to be environmental concerns, such as global warming and uh the lack of other resources


oh I I still do not agree with you that environmental concerns and economic growth can co-exist because


the current economic economy cannot be circular the main reason being that energy cannot be recycled and the materials can only be recycled only up, to a certain point it's research that


research studies those that the global economy recycles less than ten percent of materials and about fifty percent of process materials are used to provide energy and thus not available for recycling so it shows how economic growth is not compatible with


environmental sustainability which in this debate topic will be the environmental concern because , when there's economic growth environmental concerns are bound to happen and it's just not sustainable for the environment


, I still beg to differ because even though there are there are products that are biodegradable there are still other products that we tend not to be able to recycled and


a lot of times these products are not recycled and they will form environmental concerns when they're being , sent to the landfill to be burned and


in addition I feel like, environmental concerns and economic, growth cannot co-exist is because , if there's a increase in technology and market-based solutions they'd even though that you may say that there's


now new technology that may allow the car to be more fuel-efficient you still need a lot of uh renewable energy and this renewable energy produced a lot of


net energy which will cause , it's actually more harmful to the environment than fossil fuels and because of this reason it cannot satisfy the current levels of energy consumption and therefore those renewable energy needs to be reduced


most of the world's uh, fossil fuels must also be, , conserved because it when it's left in the ground


an unburned it will keep the global temperature rise to no more than two-degree celsius so it will actually lower global warming


okay so like there's a lot of renewable, because uh some of


uh, because in the context of economic growth the more efficient you are the more you consume so let's say if you use renewable solar system let's say to gain the energy you actually need to use


more manpower and actually uh, you need to use more manpower to actually build those, solar system and actually is more costly to do that, so


more of the economic causes and, funds will be used in, this this , this section and hence this is not helping the economic growth


but then although it will allow the opportunity of job opportunities right but then I feel that regardless is still, costly to have those manpower, and


because to build a solar system you need to have a lot of materials and where do you get the materials from, it's also from environment eventually and when you build these materials


all those factories may produce, like, toxic uh fumes that will actually cause damage to our environment, so I feel like, is is just a fact


okay it's not a fact is I strongly agree that, environmental concerns and economic growth cannot co-exist because you said okay so you mentioned that economic growth can be better when the workers are hired since it creates more job opportunities right but then if you're making those materials needed for solar panels


you will also need more factory uh, operations and this factory may discard, those uh waste in a very not conserving environment uh way and it in turns will harm the environment instead


so I, agree that environmental concerns and economic growth cannot co-exist, because when ones go up another one come down


, so you think that they can use, sorry can you repeat your point again, (mmhmm)


I beg to differ because as what like what I mentioned earlier if you have to create this like filters for the


to filter the air and the fuels in the first place you actually have to have factory operations to create these filters so when you operate this factories, you are also


creating the by-product which is a waste and this may harm the environment and, even though even though, you are creating something that is not meant to be harming the environment in another words you are actually


, just it's not helping the problem directly it's actually just creating something, that is harming the environment, eventually because of its process the process of making it


, like what I said if you create more filters just for the companies to buy it and this will drive economic growth right because the the the whole economic economy is uh moving but


, it's not necessary that, , at all points of this production of the filter, all aspects of environmental will be protected because where are you going to get the raw materials needed for this filters


and raw materials are actually normally taken from the environment and unless you told tell you are telling me they're they can be synthetically hand made by human, it would be another words be telling me that oh the factory needs to work harder to synthetically handmade all this and it bounce back to the first point which I said that


about the biodegradable it's like although some products are biodegradable actually a lot of other, products are not biodegradable and they are actually synthetically handmade which will harm the environment , as a result


so , I feel that, because of all this, economic growth the increase of economic growth will mean that the environment, will have problems and therefore


environmental concerns and economic growth cannot co-exist


yes you get raw materials from the environment


ya it will harm the environment that's why that's why when you get raw materials to, do the filters it will actually harm the environment, and it's not gonna help, it's not


it will not help the economic growth


yes but how about the process in it like the process of, creating that product is actually harming the environment, and in order to have that economic growth you already have to harm the environment so environment and economic growth cannot co-exist


, okay so I feel right like you mentioned that the product will actually help


the environment in the end right but I personally feel that the product the process of making the product will already harm the environment so uh, it obviously rebutted your stand of protecting the environment in the end


because in the process of making it is already, not protecting the environment, so even though your product may end up helping the environment and also helping the economic


in growing but the process of making your product, to help these two factors is actually already harming the environment in the process


uh create in the process ya


okay I I agree with you that although at the end results it will actually help the economy and also the environmental


but , the main point here is that, environmental concerns and economy growth cannot co-exist, so I agree that it cannot co-exist because in the first part of making the product it already cannot co-exist


it can only co-exist at the end,


no that's not my point as in, that's, that's why my point is that I agree that they cannot co-exist like environmental and economic growth cannot co-exist


debate topic three, so the topic is, is it possible to protect the environment when many countries require increasing amounts of energy to progress I agree


towards I strongly agree that it's possible to protect the environment when many countries require an increasing amount of energy to progress because , even though we might need to enjoy the economic progress and also to protect the environment and at the same time I believe that it's possible


there's as study shows thirty percent of paper and plastic waste in USA as stated by the USA environmental agency is recycled, this is despite the fact that recycling is often a low profit margin business that requires government subsidies to operate a thirty percent recycling rate is an achievement that shows a government can push for both progress and environmental production at the same time


also air travel the bloodlines of the world economic machine, is becoming to become cleaner with the foray of fumes such as, france climate mundi which encouraged air travellers and give them a medium to compensate for the carbon they have caused to be emitted during their flights


this is done by paying an extra, by paying an extra but small sum over the air ticket price which then goes to fund tree planting, events and to replace the dirty burning wood stove of poor africans with cleaner electric or petrol stove so I think that it's possible to protect the environment when many country requires increasing amount of energy to progress


, there has been a lot of I think it's possible to protect the environment because even though there has been a lot of countries who use styrofoam boxes but then there has also been movements and like subsidies for


people to actually recycled use recycled materials instead of styrofoam box


, yes that's why even though styrofoam is the most , common and prevalent in our, uh takeaway boxes but actually there have been movement that helps to encourage singaporeans to actually bring their own lunch boxes


to take away and, it's also because the, reason behind it is actually to protect the environment so that they do not use, as much takeaway boxes, and they're using uh recyclable materials such as lunch boxes


which can be used a lot of times


I beg to differ because there's has been , there has been a research done that I mentioned earlier that thirty percent of the paper and plastic waste in USA is actually recycled so


actually even though USA may require an increasing amount of energy to progress they urge already , recycled thirty percent of it and it's shown that thirty percent recycling rate is an achievement so it's actually possible and that's a possibility to protect the environment because since thirty percent of the recycling rate is already achieved


, it shows that there's a possibility of protecting the environment while needing an increasing amount of energy


I agree that the impact is minimal but, the main point here is to is it possible so it's actually possible but just that the impact is minimum and maybe uh there has been other there's been other


campaigns that will actually help to protect the environment and all these together they helped to protect the environment so there has been a possibility


the process of creating biodegradable product, non-biodegradable product, it will harm the environment but then


but, in order to protect the environment you you need not need to use non biodegradable products to protect the environment you can have other ways of protecting the environment such as like there's been campaign of building more trees


because trees actually help to protect the environment and drive, the uh, the, better amount, of oxygen in our ecosystem and this will lower the global warming and the decrease the rise in temperature so all of these is actually already protecting the environment and this need not need to touch on the


the area of using whether we are using non-biodegradable products or not it's actually just through planting more trees and also using , materials such as like


uh reusable material like glass and uh metals to actually take your takeaway food,


, I do not need a tractor to plant more tree I I feel like I just need a, a, spade and a seed


sorry to plant the tree,


okay, okay the impact of uh building trees may be minimal but in the process this is actually possible to actually protect the environment it has shown a possibility


and I and the final reason why like I believe progress and environmental production can go hand in hand is that, the uh, even though , a lot of


people may not want to, use uh recycled materials, uh maybe because of like they're lazy to, have more


okay sorry let me let me repeat my point so basically I think that the desire of business to maximise profits, and the increase in environmental consciousness will make consumers want to purchase greener products


and, there has been research done that greener products and cleaner cars, are actually sponsored, by companies to uh to actually promote this green movements and companies such as Toyota and Honda has taken advantage of such changes to create uh smaller cleaner cars and hydroelectric cars leading them to progress and turn profits


while protecting the environment at the same time


uh can you repeat your point again, yes


, okay the firstly the purpose of producing these hydroelectric cars is actually to make , these cars be fuel-efficient, so the efficiency of these fuel cars would mean lesser fuels


being used and fuels are actually raw materials so if you although it might be costly to purchase the car but, the end, in the long run the end product of it is that fewer, uh fuels will be used and fewer fuels used means lesser cost of maintaining the car and there has been battery operated cars too so if


if you use those car actually you will need lesser, money to actually , to be, to actually refill your car and


you do not need to, fuel your car as often, so in, so it's actually already possible to protect the environment


but then you, don't use those of fuels like, you said that the fuels needs to be processed into renewable energy is it


, but then if you use, like if you use, if you use other


okay let's say if you use uh those hydroelectric cars right you are actually using electricity, instead of fuels, so you are protecting the environment ah


no, they use electricity,


oh those like those renew greener cars is it, uh


okay even though okay even even though that some fuels may still need to be used in the process right but then, fewer fewer fuels are being used instead of like the normal amount of energy


, okay I have another point that I feel that it's possible to protect the environment when many countries are required, to, uh increase the amount of energy to progress because uh one example will be in uh Beijing


china that for instance in twenty, uh two thousand eight while after the olympic conducted Beijing actually re-imposed the car quotas because its interest is to reduce pollution level to protect the people's health and to attract tourists and investors because


tourists and investor may maybe uh skeptical to actually go to Beijing or it, even invest in beijing because of the air pollution there, and, because of this Beijing reimposed the car quotas and


I feel like, this green decisions that is being made is actually protecting the environment but not significantly inhibiting the economic progress also


, yes


uh I opposed to like uh, saving the plants and animal species which are in danger of extinction because like


uh some would say that it's not important to save because of the economic costs and the resource drain without a without any foreseeable benefits or payback, for example the global tiger recovery programme which aims to save tigers from becoming extinct in the wild and double the wild tiger population


at it estimated to be between, one hundred and two hundred million dollar will be spent per year for the next ten years to save the tiger, and that is just to save one species from extinction in the wild and there are thousands of endangered species to be saved in twenty-ten the cost of managing tiger reserve alone costs at least a two million dollars


according to uh economist, so to reduce the threat of extinction for endangered species all over the world uh I feel that it's, uh the a lot of money will be spent on


preserving the endangered species so another study in twenty-twelve also estimated that it would cost around seventy-six billion dollar a year to preserve threatened land animals so, and uh animals includes


land and marine right that's just the cost of the land animal and saving uh marine animal will be uh more cost-effective so why should we spend all the money of wildlife when we can spend it to stop people from dying of starvation or diseases ya


uh although it brings uh it helps those animals help with the eco ecosystem right we have also other resources other innovative product to uh


will be that is created has that has been created to like solve this eco problems such as uh those pollution or those so like I feel like there isn't a need to save these uh species which are going to be endangered


but these species don't bring economic success to the country so like if the country, will not succeed economically then uh there won't be any uh funds provided to save these endangered species so I feel like we should just let the species uh


live on their own and not really to uh save these endangered species


but the hunting down of those animals right they like for example shark fin right, uh their the use of shark fin is to be believed that uh it will help in your the collagen will be helped will be beneficial to your skin so I feel like we should


uh and humans are more important than animals that's what I feel so I feel uh, we should prioritise us as human beings first uh we should prioritise human being first as compared to uh endangered species animals


like I said previously like uh the country can invest a lot on uh innovative uh ideas to protect the ecosystem so I don't necessarily feel like the, I feel like the innovative product that the government have invested will will substitute the uh


endangered species from protecting our ecosystem, ya


ya but like they don't bring any uh benefits to the country economically so I feel like


the government should just invest on something that can help uh protect the ecosystem and at the same time bring uh money to the country, this is one thing that the endangered species are not uh cannot do


uh feel like food supply we have uh we can uh the food supply part right uh, I feel like our country is have like those uh greenhouse garden is it that can uh produce food for the citizens so I don't feel like the


endangered species can really aid in that food supply part that you stated, because like we have uh different methods of producing food produce so like I don't really think uh those endangered species really play a big part in producing our food supply


medicine wise we don't necessarily need those endangered animals to uh, like paracetamol we don't need the involvement of animals to produce these drugs right so I feel like and you stated that animals are used to create these drugs ah is it


means you are using plant to create uh medicine products then wouldn't those plant be endangered also


so if what if they're discovered and they are potentially being used as creating a medicine product then wouldn't it eventually to be gone to extinct also


so ultimate


okay, uh, but I feel like those research right they're not if you do research on animals not based on their


uh, nature form right you are still uh harming them in a sense, ya, like uh


like, you just conducting a research like like you have to cage them up right to conduct this research they are not like they're not like living freely


okay


but those uh uh animals who, are going to be extinct right they may bring like they they may bring like potential diseases which is uh not good for the human so like why why should we like still save them


like for example uh like those uh dengue they are, they only bring diseases to us right


ya so like why should we still save them because they don't have any beneficial factor towards us humans they only like cause sickness and all those


but, they still can carry diseases that can infect humans beings right, like uh, okay not as in endangered species but animals in general


like those swine flu or bird flu


but what if it is infected to an endangered species so that it can still potentially the humans being right, so I feel like there's is not important to safe the endangered species


such as, but we are still going to use those you are still going yous uh those plants to create those medicines right so ultimately they will be extinct


such as


uh I beg to differ but with a greater economic growth right uh, uh greater innovative processes and general advancement in technology such as clean energy can be developed into a more reliable and better source of energy so one such example is in germany a very developed


country with leading economic power in europe, where it uh where it place high priority on environmental issues, so like this is because germany has been continually adopting and using alternative sources of energy such as the wind and the solar energy


since it became available this proved that like even with economic growth right environmental issues environmental issues and concerns can be still acted upon


but there are uh, uh product that are biodegradable right so I don't think like so I feel like


economic growth and environmental issues can still co-exist because many products now are biodegradable and uh food industry has been banning like packaging products such as styrofoam which is non-biodegradable


so I think there's a way that we can uh the environmental issues and economic issues uh economic growth can go co-exist


but renewable energy such as the uh solar energy right they are using like only sun so how is it more harmful than the the one that you stated


so speaking about the manpower right you say that installing, uh solar panel need manpower so wouldn't it be beneficial like you are killing two bird at one stone you are uh conserving energy using uh the solar panel and as well as creating job opportunities for their citizens so


it will benefits the environment and economic growth what


because like okay


but I feel like, innovative product has been created to uh to tackle the problem that we just stated that it will produce more


uh uh, pollution in a sense because I think there's like, uh filter that can filter uh gas pollution like uh


only uh emitting uh those gas that is not harmful to the environment and leaving those uh gas which is harmful like they can they can use it in another way I feel


like they like uh with the technology advancement right like innovative product such as a filter can be created to tackle the problem you have just stated


so like they can, uh filter the the gas mixture of gases then they can filter , okay let's say gases like water and oil


then you can like filter, through this technology advancement then you create a filter then you can then you can filter water and oil and you can be you can release the water to the environment which is not causing any harm


to the ecosystem or then the oil that is being filtered I feel like you can uh, re-use it ya


I feel like the environment will be harmed will be bound to be harmed because of human being and so that's why we should create more of these innovative product to uh


to tackle environmental issue and at the same time we it will help with economic growth because uh companies may uh, buy this uh filter like which I said then it will uh protect the environment at the same time it will also help their business


like help the business who is create creating the filter so I feel like it will I feel like environmental uh concerns and economic growth can co-exist


you stated like uh raw materials is usually like you get raw materials usually from the environment is it


but, most most of them are made then wouldn't it uh harm the environment


but the product that you are creating would eventually benefit the environment right and it will create a lot more job opportunities for the citizens


like uh like I said the, uh sorry can you repeat again


like


like I like I said uh the environment will be bound is will be bound to harm uh because of the uh because of human being right so creating product can, you say creating product uh will harm the environment right


the process but but that is just to an extent, so if you if you were not to create this product right uh then then those companies uh releasing those oil oil or water to the uh to the to those river then wouldn't it harm the environment even more


so I feel like we should create this product then uh the the impact of environment, that is being harmed right will be reduced and at the same time it will also help the economy


so you would rather like let the environment be harmed in the end is it


you stated like materials such as paper are being recycled right, so what what if what will happen to those uh material such as styrofoam that are not that that is not being to be recycled wouldn't it harm the environment but there's still a lot of company using this uh styrofoam product


so to what extent is this uh movement uh like what's the success rate so because like in singapore there are like for example you go uh for takeaways they are still using styrofoam boxes


whereby the movement is not being uh implemented in singapore and we have been producing a lot of waste also wouldn't that harm the environment


then uh what about those like uh natural resources such as fossil fuels that is required, to uh generate electricity or like the fuel, for our buses like because uh


developing countries right such as africa depends majority on these natural resources for revenue, then these economics are driven by funds generated from exploitation of natural resources such as coal oil and gases agriculture


and foreign resources such as gold copper et cetera however the exploitation right and processing of some of these resources result in environmental pollution and degradation, so like I feel it's not possible to protect the environment when many countries require increasing amount of energy to progress


thirty percent is less than half so like I feel like the impact on this is not very strong in protecting the environment


ya


but uh if uh, company uses like, like product that is not biodegradable or whatever uh


the process of creating those product wouldn't it harm the environment also, non-biodegradables right ya


but it's not like it's not possible for biodegradable product to be uh, recycled right so it will still so it will still harm the environment so it's not possible to protect the environment when many countries are using these uh resources uh I mean materials


you stated about like the planting more trees right then you need like uh tractors to plant those tree then those gas pollution that produced wouldn't it harm the environment


like if you were to plant more trees so you would so you would eventually harm the environment right,


then like you will need to wait for it to, grow so uh I don't think like just a


spade to plant uh I don't think that's the way of planting the trees because from from what I know like we need like machines to plant these trees, ya and


it will benefit the environment but you will have you will need time to wait for the trees to grow right, then other other factors such as those burning of fossil fuels would like harm the environment while waiting for this time while waiting for the time for the trees to grow


right then it is not possible to protect the environment what


then wouldn't like these hydroelectric cars cost more than those normal cars so why would company adapt to this like the cost of creating hydroelectric car would cost more than uh those normal car then why would company adapt to these changes


so if they were not to if if they, don't adapt to these changes right, the environment would still be harmed by the pollution emitted from cars what


like you mentioned like Toyota is creating hydroelectric cars right, then wouldn't it costs like the cost of creating the hydroelectric car wouldn't it costs more as compared to those normal car where we are using uh oil to run fuel to run


then if other companies or other brands were to, were not to adapt to these uh hydroelectric car concept wouldn't more uh people still buy the uh normal car then it would still emit a lot of gas pollution to the environment what


so it is not possible to protect the environment what


like you stated sorry, but then you stated like they still use fuel right, then this fuel are like comes from natural uh fossil fuel which is a natural resource right so in the process of uh converting this fuel into those uh fuel that we can use to


fuel the car, it would result in environmental pollution and degradation so it would eventually harm the environment what


like the process of processing it it would cost, it would result in environmental and pollution uh environmental issues, such as pollution lah ya


but you stated like these car still uses fuels right, I mean previously you stated


like you say like you will use lesser fuels as compared to those normal cars


ya I think, then if you were to use it uh


but like uh


uh the process of uh processing these fuels would impact in the environment, so uh like I know that it uses lesser fuels but they don't just process the amount of fuels that is required just for that one car what they will


mass process the fossil fuels then it will also lead to environmental issues eventually


you you increase the car quota it's uh is limiting the amount of people buying car right, but the population there is still uh very big and the car the cost of a car there is much lesser as compared to singapore so I so for example every household if


for example every household were to own a car wouldn't still wouldn't it still uh be harmful to the environment


, oh sorry sorry, part one, part one debate topic one


okay, okay but I don't think it's only just about transportation I think technology harms our lives in it they are actually several factors on on how technology


harms our life uh apart from it being an advantage for our transportation it also harms our physical wellbeing our social skills uh harms


our education , our mental health so if I have to elaborate more on it right like for example uh on our social skills let's let's not talk about those wide scale transportation kind of technology but


we can narrow it down to for example social media platforms or telecommunication platforms such as skype, for example a lot of kids these days they skype with their they skype with their friends they skype with their grandparents


so what happens is they don't meet, a person face to face and, and, they just use this technology to bring people together instead of meeting face to face so basically these uh replaces the real life communication and


and this will end into like uh social isolation where when you just depend on technology and you don't you don't bond with people uh in in person that's my stand


okay okay yes you are right your first point was how it it has benefited during this pandemic that is, through zoom learning for education wise yes the internet has been a great tool for learning


technology has been a great too for learning but however if you, if you see right there are many children or or even us we actually misuse the the technology how we misuse is that, we overuse it so when we say that okay we should be doing work or we should be we should be studying through technology through the ipad or whatsoever we end up playing games on line we end up watching


watching movies online because you are easily easily distracted on top of that now with technology like with with internet at all , you can easily plagiarize things and through the internet with the help of the internet you can easily plagiarize and and the cheating have actually cheating cases through plagiarism or or what not has actually


has actually increased so this will put the young generation thinking abilities in jeopardy you know so and on top of this you said that, how during this pandemic you can actually order food from online et cetera so basically you are staying home and doing everything through technology and you are not moving so


that's when I bring you to my another point where technology actually affects your physical wellbeing so one of the most general effects of technology is actually obesity where people are so absorbed into their laptop or or computer or phones that they tend to actually snack a lot and and


and they exercise less and then they sit in front of their computers and or their phones and it and uh their blody body blood circulation is it's just within, within where they are they are seated you know and and it's it's actually a sedentary life where there's no much movement and this will cause them to have like uh curved backbone or future bad posture or what not so


I I know it helps like for this global pandemic but then again global pandemic it's rare it comes once in I don't know how many years but it's rare but , but the the effects of technology is long like if you are lazy to move and you'll just want to order things through your phone then you your your curve posture is going to be there forever


yeah,


and no overuse sorry I mean overuse technology where while studying they actually use it for other things they get they get easily distracted so there is no guarantee for the quality of education they're actually getting from the technology you know from the ipad or yeah


yeah


so I I mean I was just counter saying what you said, which is how during the global pandemic you can sit at home and you can you can order your food you can't go out to meet your friends but you can order your food you can you can uh watch them through zoom and have a dinner with them I was just pointing on that factor that this is how it actually leads to


future obesity problems because you because your movement is less it's it's it's few or it's lesser, I'm not talking about like how one's individual personal activity is but how this would eventually lead to it


yeah and not sorry not only about obesity I also mention about like bad posture how how this ultimately affects your physical body for example your eyesight since you're always on your technology on your on your on your digital devices like your TV your phones or your your ipads


so you know also affects your your hearing like if you're on earphones for too long it affects your hearing your eyesight and your posture, not just on obesity but overall your entire body because of this sedentary lifestyle of not moving and constantly looking at the screen because


actually like you you I'm not sure if you have heard it but like when you when you see your phones or ipads too much the there's this thing in the screen or the lighting through your phone that actually affects your eye I'm sure you have heard of something like that, yeah


okay coming back to our debate topic which is to what extent has technology made our lives more fulfilling I think instead on instead of talking about how it has made like endangered species be monitored


et cetera uh I would want to bring bring your focus to privacy and security, of how technology is being misused because technology can actually expose you to like a number of risk especially for vulnerable kids like there's a study where one in three


teenagers have been reported of being victims of uh uh cyberbullying, for example the the offenders use like text messages social media or forums to reach out to to their target, so the internet is now is also the internet is now also where online sex crimes uh takes place like for example uh sexting is uh another risky behaviour teens might be exposed to


and with a huge population using uh internet and digital devices it actually gives a rise to cybercrime, so it's it's today it's like it's easier than ever before to find someone's personal information as the the borders of privacy is actually been blurred and just with a few clicks you can easily find someone's facebook page with


their contact information their birth information pictures whereabouts and many more so like the information, obtained right can actually be used by the cheaters or for hacking or like viruses so uh coming back to our topic


cut so coming back to our topic of what extent as technology made our lives more fulfilling I would say that technology actually, to a certain extent it does make our life fulfilling actually it it reduces like our travel travel time et cetera like whatever you have mentioned however it it has actually uh negatively impacted on our


on our on our privacy on our security uh on our social skills and one more factor that I want to bring up it's mental health, whereby the technology has actually


declined your quality of sleep there's this sleep, chemical called melatonin which is influenced by the constant glow from the screens like how you mentioned that right now phones have this blue screen thing so


so constantly having like a smart device in front of you before you are going to sleep will actually affect your, your sleep and your general state so what's more serious is that people will become more addicted to it and they will not be able to sleep so this has uh this has a detrimental effect on a person's health and social life and it will destroy eventually destroy


social and family bonds because you'll be so addicted to the phone so actually I think in US they actually found out this syndrome called the chronic smartphone stress it is caused by like the notifications, like the constant anticipation of message or email I I'm I'm pretty sure that both of us have


actually come across this thing on our own where we are anticipating a notification of a call or a message to pop pop by in our phone so this is called a constant smartphone stress is it's a it's a disorder found out by US if I'm not wrong yeah


sorry privacy and security


part part part two debate topic two


okay so for me artificial uh intelligence can be a cause for concern now and in the long run


my first factor I would want to raise is that it causes an invasion of privacy and social grading which will lead to discrimination, so the first one I would like to say is invasion of privacy and social grading so it's now possible to track and analyse an individual's every move online


as sorry , before I come to that I want to say that there are I if I'm not wrong there are two types of artificial intelligence for example building a machine to do the work for you and the other example is where using the software or something to track


track you so I'm going to talk about the lattle the later one which is invasion of privacy and social grading so it's now possible to actually track and analyse an individual's move online as well as when they are going


about their daily business so they are like you mentioned it before there are cameras everywhere nearly everywhere and , they there are facial recognition algorithms


algorithms uh that know who you are and I'm not sure if you have heard but there's this thing called social credit system which if I'm not wrong it started off in china, so china has been using this social credit system it actually gives their citizens uh a personal score based on how they behave things like


if they jaywalk if they smoke uh in a smoking areas or how much time they spent playing video games so this social credit system uh it it assigns like both negative and positive scores for the individual or


all corporate businesses, uh sorry for an individual or corporate behavior in an attempt uh in an attempt to pressure citizens into behaving well so millions of chinese individuals and businesses have been uh


labelled as untrustworthy on an official blacklist on an official blacklist uh banning them from any number of activities including like accessing financial markets or travelling by air or train as the use of government's social credit system accelerates so


because of this social credit system , everything they do is being taken account of you know so uh for for example if, if you if you had like theft before if you have done some uh theft before or or or if you have cheated in exam before all this will be taken account of


will be taken account for so how this leads to discrimination which is my second factor is that since now, artificial intelligence are uh machines can or uh yeah artificial intelligence can actually collect track and uh analyse so much about you it is actually very possible


for it to actually use this information against you so how so what I mean is that this social credit system, that is by artificial intelligence can actually be used against you so it's it's not hard it's not so hard to imagine like an insurance company telling you oh you are not insurable because you are leading a very uh unhealthy lifestyle you cannot be insured because you have


you you you can possibly you you have you have more you are more prone to falling ill so it's not it won't make sense to insure you so insurance company can actually find out this information without you having to tell them and


they cannot insure you and also you can be like for example caught on the camera talking on the phone while driving so with all with like facial, yup so with like facial recognition algorithms you can be seen through those cameras talking on the phone and this will actually negatively impact your social credit which in return like for example


you have so much of negative points and when you go and look for a job, your employer will actually be able to look at your negative points and know that okay this person so and so have so much of negative points would I be able, is should I should I hire them or not so an employer might actually withhold uh a job offer based on your social credit score


yup so this is these are the two factors of how artificial intelligence may be, a cause for concern now and in future


social credit score


sorry may I interfere, that's why I'll saying this is actually an invasion of privacy


there are pros and cons of this the cons are for the employees and the pros are for the employers, the cons for the employees is that every single thing that they do will be taken taken account for even the simplest mistakes because like I mentioned with artificial intelligence there are facial recognition algorithms built in into cameras


and they will be able to identify you capture your information aware of your information for example now, you have identification identification card your NRIC but in china you don't need that they they they have your information all in this this huge system and everything basically it's like a book of karma


everything that you do it's in this book so even sorry even the slightest thing you do is in this book so let's say you have never you let's say you you have stole a sweet from a a shop this and you you did not get caught for it you don't have a


you don't have a a record for it in the system in the police system but because of this facial recognition algorithm, you've you've in fact you've actually been caught but they just don't approach you they don't uh rescue because maybe it's like a sweet or whatever but but they have this record in in their social credit system and then when you were when you go and looking for a job this will affect your your job


your yeah yeah


okay so I'm not the point of uh unemployment where artificial intelligence actually


uh replaces all those menial jobs such as those factory jobs for example if you if you are talking about uh menial jobs for example a toothpaste factory where you are no longer where employees are no longer required to


put on the cap of the toothpaste, ya so if we are talking about artificial intelligence in that way where a machine is created to to help to screw in the the cap, for the toothpaste then did you think about the fact that people who are not very educated who can't actually who are


who who don't have the finances or the, or the opportunity to upgrade themselves who have to eventually , who have to eventually uh depend on such menial jobs if if artificial intelligence actually replaces their replace their jobs then what will happen to these people


because because like you mentioned like how during this pandemic people can apply to be like uh safe distancing ambassadors but how about all those people old people who are into this this kind of menial job such as for example


uh for example like uh, those uncle who will come to collect your newspapers they call them Karang-Guni in singapore so what happen to these old uncles who who can't do this kind of safety distancing ambassador jobs where you have to be on your feet for uh long hours or


or any like office jobs that requires a lot of, that requires a lot of concentration on on the laptops uh in your computers so what happen to this kind of people so that's what I'm saying


I I'm not I'm sorry so that's what I'm saying artificial intelligence yes there , it does benefit our life but to a certain extent it also disadvantages certain people, uh disadvantages the lives of certain people for like like I mentioned before those who who who do menial jobs and yeah so


so unemployment is actually one of the riskiest and has severe effects to to the world so with the constant, with the intensive technologies, and human intensive requirements will actually be decrease in some industries like the industries that you have mentioned so if in future human beings uh uh don't in future human beings uh don't add to their skills then


then we can see that they will be replaced with machines so what I'm saying is that if they don't improved if they don't improve themselves then they'll be replaced by machines so this is the actually the major issue of GDP being stagnant, and uh not growing at the uh uh the


expected rate and so unemployment is actually one of the reasons coming to global issues unemployment is actually one of the reasons why GDP's been very stagnant and , yeah so people don't possess the required skill that ah in demand and there is a huge demand and supply gap because of this unemployment that is caused that can be potentially be caused by artificial uh intelligence


sorry I wish to interrupt that's that uh you see for all those very complex uh job you still need human right so what about those not not so complex jobs, where you need people of uh who where you need people who are not very who uh who


do the layman job for you not the complex ones so if, so you are saying that artificial intelligence will help will help to reduce uh layman jobs so what what about the people who can only do layman jobs and


okay so


yes , okay coming back to as you mention about safety right so I'm not sure if you have watched in a certain in some movies where AI is actually a potential threat to military where AI is actually used in uh weaponries uh


so AI actually would have uh a certain mind of its own where uh sorry not a certain mind of its own AI is actually controlled by people so let's say if uh mean bad countries want to attack a certain country


ya so I was saying bad countries want to attack a certain country they can control this AI to actually uh attack the other country so this is what I'm saying AI can be used in many ways good or bad but uh AI will definitely


be a cause of uh concern now and in the future, as


part three debate topic three, okay so our topic is does modern technologies that satisfy our wants rather than our needs so


err as mentioned in our first debate topic how how technology has actually has actually benefited or has been a disadvantage to individuals


my stand is modern technology satisfies our wants is indeed satisfies our wants rather than our needs because like as you mentioned previously you said during this global pandemic uh many people many people are actually able to


to, able to use technology to to meet their friends through zoom and to to order their food through grab apps or uh, , foodpanda or whatever so I would say it actually


satisfy our wants because , because actually you know they can actually go down to this the shop and buy it but because they are lazy to do so which is actually a want because they are lazy to it's a being lazy it's actually an individual thing so because they are lazy to do so


they will want to use the grab app, uh to order their food so it actually satisfies our wants more than our need


so uh another point of saying why technology satisfies our wants it's


also for example apart from just, but purchasing food over the apps or whatever you can also right now purchase anything, through technology through the apps anything so for for example you can uh do online shopping so now you don't have to go down to those brick and mortar stores and and and to look at it you know you can just do it all at home for example sephora you don't have to go down to sephora to test on the lipsticks you can do it all through technology