Your position: You believe technological progress can solve, or greatly reduce, most of humanity’s major problems. Human beings have repeatedly used science and technology to overcome problems that once seemed impossible.
Facts and statistics
- Vaccination programmes are estimated to have saved at least 154 million lives over the 50 years from 1974 to 2024. World Health Organization
- Vaccination against polio means more than 20 million people are able to walk today who would otherwise have been paralysed. World Health Organization
- Renewable electricity is expanding extremely quickly. The IEA expects renewables to provide about 43% of global electricity by 2030, compared with 32% in 2024. IEA
- In 2024, renewables were the most cost-competitive option for new electricity generation globally. IEA
- Technology has already transformed communication, medicine, transport, agriculture and access to information.
Prepare your arguments
Discuss these questions:
- Which major problems could technology solve in the next 20–50 years?
- Could renewable energy and new technology solve climate change?
- Could AI help solve problems in medicine, education and science?
- Think about problems that technology has already solved. What would life be like without those inventions?
- When technology creates a new problem, can better technology solve it?
- Which future invention would make the biggest difference to humanity?
Your challenge: Prepare three strong arguments supporting the proposition. Use at least one statistic or real-world example.