Intelligence Squared

History

Intelligence Squared was founded by two media businessmen, Jeremy O'Grady and John Gordon, in 2002. In 2012, the company passed into the new ownership of Amelie von Wedel, Yana Peel and David Legg. Sara Sjölund has been Managing Director since 2012, whilst Hannah Kaye has been executive producer in London since 2006.

Topics covered include “Freedom of Expression Must Include the License to Offend”, “We Should Legalize the Market for Human Organs”, “Islam Is A Religion Of Peace”, “Don't Blame Teachers Unions For Our Failing Schools”, and “Too Many Kids Go To College”. As well as debates, there have been festivals on subjects such as London / Paris, climate change, and technology.

Intelligence Squared is not strictly limited to hosting debates, but also hosts talks and interviews with such figures as Former US President Jimmy Carter, Author and Philosopher Sam Harris, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, Journalist and Author Matt Ridley, Patti Smith and Werner Herzog.

In 2006, Intelligence Squared US was organized by Robert Rosenkranz through his foundation. As of 2015, the US division has hosted over 100 individual debates. Other Intelligence Squared licensees have begun to operate in Sydney (2008), Kiev in partnership with the Foundation for Effective Governance (2008 – 2014), Hong Kong (2009), Athens (2010), Israel (2013), and Chile (2014).

Debate format

The debates usually are broken into four rounds:

1. Opening Statements
2. Debaters Addressing Each Other Directly
3. Questions From the Audience
4. Closing Statements

Typically, the debate opens with the moderator introducing the debate at hand. In the US version, this is sometimes followed by a short discussion with Robert Rosenkranz, the philanthropist who sponsors Intelligence Squared US, who further discusses the context in which the debate is happening and a brief overview of the different viewpoints that may be presented by each side. Each debater is introduced to the audience and a vote is taken of those in the live audience of their pre-debate opinion on the motion, with the options of "For", "Against", and "Undecided".

After the final round, a vote is taken of those in the live audience of their current (post-debate) opinion on the motion once again. Both the pre-debate and post-debate vote counts are then tallied and presented to the audience. The winner is determined by counting which side has changed the most audience members' minds.

Previous speakers include Stephen Fry, Terry Gilliam, Jimmy Carter, Peter Singer, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Nick Gillespie, and Lawrence Krauss.

Versus

In 2012, Intelligence Squared started a partnership with Google producing the Versus Debates.

The first, titled "It's time to end the War on Drugs", was on 13 March 2012, featuring Richard Branson, Russell Brand, Antonio Maria Costa, Eliot Spitzer, Geoffrey Robertson QC, Fernando Cardoso and Julian Assange. The second Versus event was "Hip-hop doesn't enhance society, it degrades it". Q-Tip, KRS-One, Jesse Jackson, Jason Whitlock, dream hampton and more debated the politics of hip-hop to a hall of 2,000 and an online audience of 80,000.

Intelligence Squared on TV

Intelligence Squared debates have also been broadcast globally on BBC World. These have included "George W Bush is the worst American President for the past fifty years", "The Future of Iraq" and "The Catholic Church is a force for good in the world". Intelligence Squared also makes the videos of these debates available free of charge on YouTube

Intelligence Squared in the US

In September 2006, Intelligence Squared U.S., was launched by Robert Rosenkranz, an initiative of The Rosenkranz Foundation, a non-profit organization. IQ2US Intelligence Squared U.S. is a live debate series with the goal of raising the level of public discourse and promoting a realization that, on contentious issues, those who challenge the conventional wisdom have intellectually respectable and often persuasive viewpoints. Intelligence Squared U.S. encourages citizens to “Think Twice” about their opinions and participate in the conversation, and it provides a forum for balanced discussion that transcends emotion and ideology. Through an annual series of between 10 and 12 live Oxford-style debates,brings together experts and audience around public policy and cultural issues. IQ2US debates air on the Bloomberg Television network and are heard on more than 220 NPR stations nationwide. Intelligence Squared U.S. attracts top tier thinkers and the world's leading authorities debating the most pressing issues of the day. Dana Wolfe is the executive producer and John Donvan of ABC News is currently the moderator.

Intelligence Squared in Israel

In 2013, Intelligence Squared Israel was launched by Roxanne Horesh. The first live Oxford-style debate was held on April 2013 in Tel Aviv Museum of Art on the subject "If Israel continues on its current course, it cannot remain both a democratic and Jewish state".