Life Raft Debate 2026
January 22, 2026 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Free
The year is 2055. A global AI hive mind has seized power, enforcing obedience through android enforcers and constant surveillance. Now, it has decided that humanity is unworthy of remembrance—our history, culture, and achievements will be erased forever.
But one chance remains. The AI has agreed to spare a single discipline—if it can make its case for survival. Faculty from across UBCO will argue why their field most deserves to be preserved. The audience will then decide whose discipline—if any—has been proved indispensable to humanity in this new world.
Will a UBCO representative win the vote to carry their legacy forward—or will the Devil’s Advocate convince the audience to allow the AI to delete all traces of us forever?
Join us for the Life Raft Debate 2026 and cast your vote.
Early registration bonus: Students who register before 11:59 pm PT on Friday, January 17 will be entered in a draw to win a UBC T-shirt.
HOST
Dr. Barb Marcolin | Associate Professor
Management
DEBATERS
Dr. Ken Savage | Lecturer
Biology
Dr. Robert Godin | Assistant Professor
Chemistry
Dr. Colin Osmond | Assistant Professor
Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, History, Indigenous Knowledges
Dr. Elizabeth Trudel | Lecturer
Mechanical Engineering
DEVIL’S ADVOCATE
Dr. Michael Woodworth | Professor
Psychology
About the Life Raft Debate
In the annual UBCO Society of Scholars Life Raft Debate, we imagine that a catastrophic event has wiped out most of humanity and the survivors (the audience) must sail off to rebuild society.
Only one final seat remains on the life raft. Invited professors will each argue that their discipline is the one indispensable area of study that the new civilization will need to survive.
Finally, one professor will take on the role of devil’s advocate and argue that the survivors should actually choose no one and that their new society will be better off without a professor aboard.
You and the audience decide who, if anyone, gets to take that final seat on the life raft.
