“ Mechanically, there is still a tendency for certain people to dominate their discussions. How about an incentive to encourage Socratic questioning so the less involved people might speak up more? Perhaps a prize for the most Socratic question? People could make notes of especially interesting questions and who asked them, and at the end there could be a brief global discussion of the best questions and a vote for the best of the day. As regards the question of the day, I think that at my table there was too much focus on "human progress" and not enough consideration of "natural progress" and the question of whether or not they can actually be separated. As regards my suggestion of the Star Trek topic, I think it is analogous to "Why do humans always have hope?" As a topical question, I doubt it would go very far. ”