“Black-and-white morality” states that actions are inherently right or wrong. In contrast, “moral grayness” states that an action is morally ambiguous, depending on its context and circumstances.

Society A has a dominant belief in Ahimsa, which is an ancient Indian principle that centers on maximum non-violence. (“Do not cause injury or harm to anyone.”)

Meanwhile, Society B's prevailing belief is the Golden Rule. Thought to have originated from China, this belief centers on reciprocity. (“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”)

In most universities, a fixed major refers to a single concentration (major/minor) with a syllabus typically prescribed by the university.

For the purpose of this motion, assume parents have completed treatment and are assessed as low-risk.

You are an executive working at a successful movie studio. After having produced multiple films this year, you now have limited budget and can only spend on one more movie for the year. You can choose to greenlight a sequel to a proven hit with an established audience, or invest in an unexplored original script. The unexplored script has never been tested with audiences but has gone through rewrites and edits to land at your desk. 

Brazil’s Cerrado region covers 21% of the country and is a large biological hotspot. Since the 1970s, large areas in the region have been deforested and converted from native savanna to intensive agriculture.

This expansion was largely driven by soybean monoculture agribusinesses, as Brazil is the top exporter of soybeans globally. In 2023, soybean production accounted for 6.3% of Brazil’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and roughly 16% of the developing country’s total export revenue.

Indigenous communities often rely on traditional land-use practices for food and their livelihoods. However, some of their practices may cause forms of ecological harm. Examples include, but are not limited to: swidden (slash-and-burn) farming in Southeast Asia, which has contributed to regional haze events; the use of poison by pastoralist communities to kill livestock predators such as lions and hyenas, which has caused secondary poisoning and a decline in biodiversity in Africa; and the use of lead ammunition in subsistence hunting in Ecuador and the Amazons, which has been said to contaminate soil, water, and wildlife. The case of Rapa Nui (Eastern Island) also shows how a community that depends on traditional harvesting of palm trees for canoes, houses, and tools for daily life, may contribute to deforestation of palm trees through their extensive harvesting.

For the purposes of this debate, the cap is decided proportional to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Examples include, but are not limited to: Germany's debt brake, capping their annual borrowing at 0.35% of GDP, and Switzerland's Schuldenbremse.

In many major cities, housing costs have risen rapidly due to population growth, urbanisation, and limited new development. Economists broadly agree that two leading strategies can reduce housing costs:

Supply-side solutions aim to increase the total number of housing units, primarily through zoning reform, easing building restrictions, and incentivising private development.

Demand-side and redistributive solutions aim to help individuals afford housing through government interventions such as rent control, public/social housing, rental subsidies, or taxes on vacant homes.

While both approaches can coexist, governments often have limited resources and must prioritise one approach in both funding and political capital.

The Chinese-Malay-Indian-Others (CMIO) model is a racial classification framework used in Singapore. It groups the population into one of the four categories. The government uses this system for public housing, political representation, and social policies to manage diversity and maintain harmony.

The trolley problem is a thought experiment that sketches a scenario in which a runaway trolley is on course to collide with five people down the track, who are unable to move out of the way and are certain to be killed upon contact with the trolley. You, the only bystander, are the only one who can intervene to divert the trolley to switch onto a different track, where there is only one person. You are unable to stop the trolley or in any way communicate the imminent danger to anyone.

In Ready Player One (2018), Wade Watts and Art3mis first develop a deep romantic connection inside the OASIS, a virtual reality world where people can construct ideal identities and also pursue relationships. The OASIS is not just a game; in the dystopian 2040s, it has become the primary social, economic, and cultural space for much of humanity, allowing people to escape poverty, environmental decline, and extremely difficult real-world lives. 

Wade initially knows Art3mis only through her avatar and online persona, so most of his attraction is built around the identity she chooses to present in the OASIS. Their relationship becomes increasingly serious, but Art3mis is skeptical of allowing their virtual relationship to define their real lives. She is also deeply committed to the real-world struggle against IOI, the corporation attempting to seize control of the OASIS to make money off of it. Wade eventually discovers Art3mis’s real-world identity, Samantha Cook and has the opportunity to pursue a relationship with her outside the OASIS. 

The Hunger Games is a deadly competition where 'tributes' from different districts are forced to fight to the death, organized by the Capitol, the wealthy and powerful government that controls the districts of Panem. Each district has an assigned industry that supplies the Capitol, and economic exploitation is a big factor of why the Capitol keeps the districts subjugated. District 12 is the poorest district.

After decades of the Hunger Games, there is a successful rebellion against the Capitol led by Katniss, a tribute from District 12 and a surviving 'victor'. Once the Capitol is defeated, President Snow is captured and awaits execution. The de facto post-rebellion government, formed by the rebels, proposes holding one final Hunger Games using the children of Capitol leaders and officials as tributes, framing it as retribution for the Games that the Capitol imposed on the districts. The surviving victors, Katniss among them, are asked to vote on whether to hold this ceremonial edition of the Hunger Games. 

Many districts have lost an enormous number of people to the Games and the war, including Katniss, whose sister Prim was killed during the final assault on the Capitol. For the purpose of this motion, assume Katniss' vote is decisive, the Games would follow the original format, and that the tributes would be selected by lottery from the children of Capitol leaders and officials.

A Sunday boyfriend is a casual romantic companion whom you see primarily over the weekends or sporadically for low-stress activities (like cuddling, watching movies, or getting take-out). These relationships are typically characterized by low commitment, convenience, and personal freedom. 

Gunjan is a young professional in her early 20’s who has had an unlucky love life. She was in a long term relationship, but is no longer with her partner and has since been trying out dating. She is ambitious and financially independent. 

In Free Guy, Free City is a violent open-world online game run by the company Soonami. Its non-player characters (NPCs) follow scripted routines, such as Guy’s job as a bank teller, which is regularly interrupted by armed robberies by human-controlled players. Guy, an NPC, gains self-awareness and independent decision-making. He discovers that his world is a game, that the other NPCs are not yet aware of this, and that Soonami plans to release a sequel that would delete Free City.

For this debate, assume that other NPCs are capable of awareness, that Guy knows this, and that being told the truth would not itself cause them to be deleted.