Intelligence Squared is a UK based organisation that stages debates around the world. It began in London, but now operates globally in the US, Australia, Hong Kong, Ukraine and Nigeria. The debates are held in the traditional Oxford style, with as many as 2,500 people attending some events.
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Typically, a motion for debate is proposed and outlined by the chair, with a panel of two or three speakers each arguing for and against the motion. Previous speakers have included Stephen Fry, Richard Dawkins, Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens. The audience is asked to vote before the debate, and then again after all the speeches have been made, to see which side has persuaded the most people to change their vote. There is also an opportunity for the audience to pose questions to individual members of each panel before the final vote is taken.
The website holds a full archive of past debates (available only to paying subscribers) as well as streaming live broadcasts of every IQ2 event.
In November 2009, Intelligence Squared held their first event in partnership with Wellington College, when an audience of 1,600 watched the debate "Atheism is the new fundamentalism", with Richard Dawkins and AC Grayling among the panelists. This was the first Intelligence Squared debate to be streamed live on the internet, and it featured questions and comments in real time from people following the debate on Twitter.
Intelligence Squared debates have also been broadcast globally on BBC World to audiences of up to seventy million. 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". This final debate also received nearly one million hits on YouTube after its BBC broadcast.
In September 2006, Intelligence Squared U.S. http://intelligencesquaredus.org/, was launched by Robert Rosenkranz, an initiative of The Rosenkranz Foundation, a non-profit organization. IQ2US 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, IQ2US 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. Most debates originate from New York City's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Dana Wolfe is the executive producer and John Donvan of ABC News is the moderator. Among the debate motions for the Fall 2010 season: Treat Terrorists like Enemy Combatants, Not Criminals; Islam is a Religion of Peace; Big Government is Stifling the American Spirit; Afghanistan is a Lost Cause and U.S. Airports Should use Racial and Religious Profiling.
Intelligence Squared is a company set up by two media businessmen, Jeremy O'Grady and John Gordon, in 2002. Also closely involved are Nick Pisani, former Editor of Question Time on BBC1 and Head of Presentation and Events for David Cameron, Tony Curzon Price and Hannah Kaye.