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Technology and future speech topics

You do not need to understand how anything works to have an opinion about it. These prompts ask what you would un-invent, what a day in 2075 looks like, which gadget you secretly do not understand. They reward imagination and a clear point of view rather than technical knowledge.

Draw one at random140 topics in this category. Press Practice next to any topic to load it into the timer.
  • Which everyday gadget do you secretly not understand at all?EasyPractice
  • Tell us about the first piece of technology you ever loved.EasyPractice
  • Describe an ordinary morning in the year 2075.MediumPractice
  • If you could un-invent one thing, what would it be and why?MediumPractice
  • Convince us that boredom is a technology worth protecting.HardPractice
  • Should robots be allowed to make art that people pay for?MediumPractice
  • What invention deserves far more applause than it gets?MediumPractice
  • Your phone can keep only three apps forever; which ones survive?EasyPractice
  • Describe the sound of the future.HardPractice
  • Tell us about a time technology failed you at the worst possible moment.EasyPractice
  • Is it rude to glance at a screen while someone is talking to you?EasyPractice
  • Argue that a paper map beats a digital one.MediumPractice
  • What question would you ask a scientist from three hundred years ago?MediumPractice
  • Would you take a one-way ticket to another planet?MediumPractice
  • Describe a machine you wish someone would invent for your kitchen.EasyPractice
  • Explain the internet to a visitor who has never seen a screen.HardPractice
  • Some say curiosity is a skill, not a personality trait. Do you agree?MediumPractice
  • Tell us about a science fact that still amazes you.EasyPractice
  • Should every home have a robot helper?MediumPractice
  • What piece of older technology do you miss the most?EasyPractice
  • Describe the strangest thing living in your drawer of old cables.EasyPractice
  • If your devices could gossip about you, what would they say?EasyPractice
  • Persuade us that exploring space is worth every coin it costs.HardPractice
  • Which chore would you happily hand to a machine forever?EasyPractice
  • Tell us about the last time a new feature genuinely surprised you.EasyPractice
  • Do we need a speed limit for progress?HardPractice
  • Describe the app you would build if coding took no effort at all.MediumPractice
  • What will future generations find ridiculous about our devices?MediumPractice
  • Imagine a world where batteries never run out; what changes first?MediumPractice
  • Is a video call ever as good as sitting in the same room?EasyPractice
  • Tell us where you would explore if the ocean turned see-through.MediumPractice
  • Which is more impressive: the wheel or the search engine?MediumPractice
  • Defend the humble paper notebook in an age of glowing screens.MediumPractice
  • Describe your relationship with your alarm clock.EasyPractice
  • What would you seal into a time capsule for the year 2200?EasyPractice
  • Should children be taught to repair things instead of replacing them?MediumPractice
  • Tell us about a myth about technology you believed far too long.EasyPractice
  • If a machine could read your mood, would you want it to?MediumPractice
  • Name a scientific mystery you would love to see solved in your lifetime.MediumPractice
  • Describe the perfect notification: what does it say, and when?MediumPractice
  • Would you let an algorithm plan your entire holiday?EasyPractice
  • What everyday object should be far smarter than it currently is?EasyPractice
  • Convince us that slower internet would improve our lives.HardPractice
  • Tell us about a photograph that exists only because a camera was in your pocket.EasyPractice
  • Describe the day every screen in the world goes dark.MediumPractice
  • Should we send messages into deep space, or keep quiet?HardPractice
  • Which fictional gadget from a film should exist by now?EasyPractice
  • Tell us how you would explain your work to a curious robot.MediumPractice
  • What is the best thing the internet has given ordinary people?MediumPractice
  • If you owned a personal weather machine, how would you use it?EasyPractice
  • Describe the last thing you looked up online and why it mattered.EasyPractice
  • Do you trust a machine to grade your work fairly?MediumPractice
  • Argue that failure is the most useful part of any experiment.HardPractice
  • Which planet or moon would you most like to see up close?EasyPractice
  • Tell us about a tool that once made you feel like a genius.EasyPractice
  • What rule should exist for talking machines in public places?MediumPractice
  • Describe how you decide whether something you read online is true.MediumPractice
  • Should a self-driving car ever be allowed to break the speed limit?HardPractice
  • Imagine the internet had been designed by your grandparents' generation.HardPractice
  • What skill will still matter when machines do most of the work?HardPractice
  • Tell us about a piece of technology you flatly refuse to buy.EasyPractice
  • Describe a game you would design for people to play in zero gravity.HardPractice
  • Is privacy a fair price to pay for convenience?HardPractice
  • Which invention changed dinner more: the fridge or the microwave?MediumPractice
  • Tell us about the best or worst instruction manual you have ever met.EasyPractice
  • What would a museum in the year 2100 display from today?MediumPractice
  • Should students be allowed to use every tool available during exams?MediumPractice
  • Describe your dream way of travelling in the year 2050.MediumPractice
  • Would you want to know exactly how long each of your gadgets will last?MediumPractice
  • Name the household appliance that deserves a lifetime achievement award.EasyPractice
  • Tell us about a time you fixed something you did not understand.EasyPractice
  • What does the phrase too much information mean to you today?MediumPractice
  • Explain why so many of us still love a real, physical button.MediumPractice
  • If machines did all the cooking, what would we quietly lose?MediumPractice
  • Describe the internet as a city: which neighbourhoods would it have?HardPractice
  • Should everyone be allowed to switch off completely for a week each year?MediumPractice
  • Which discovery would you most like to have witnessed being made?MediumPractice
  • Tell us about the most useful thing you have learned from a video online.EasyPractice
  • What should a robot never be asked to do?MediumPractice
  • Describe a gadget that would ruin your life if it worked perfectly.HardPractice
  • Is nostalgia for old technology honest, or just a fuzzy memory?HardPractice
  • Would you rather explore the deep ocean or deep space?EasyPractice
  • Tell us about your worst encounter with an automated helpline.EasyPractice
  • What one thing should never, ever be automated?MediumPractice
  • Describe how you would spend a day with no clocks and no timers.MediumPractice
  • Should machines be allowed to write the news?MediumPractice
  • Which scientific idea took you the longest to accept?HardPractice
  • Tell us about the strangest thing you have watched a machine do.EasyPractice
  • If you had a laboratory and endless funding, what would you study?MediumPractice
  • What everyday habit will be extinct within twenty years?MediumPractice
  • Describe an argument you once had with a stubborn device.EasyPractice
  • Should we settle other worlds before we finish repairing this one?HardPractice
  • Tell us about a technology that made a friendship easier to keep.EasyPractice
  • What would you name the first robot in your home, and why?EasyPractice
  • Persuade us to take up a hobby that uses no electricity at all.MediumPractice
  • Describe the ideal password, and why you will never remember it.EasyPractice
  • Do navigation apps make us better travellers or lazier ones?MediumPractice
  • Which everyday miracle do we take completely for granted?MediumPractice
  • Tell us about a machine you were genuinely sad to say goodbye to.EasyPractice
  • What should the internet forget?HardPractice
  • Imagine an app that predicts your whole day; would you open it?MediumPractice
  • Describe the future of learning once classrooms are optional.HardPractice
  • Should a machine ever make a medical decision on its own?HardPractice
  • Tell us about the gadget you have owned the longest.EasyPractice
  • What would you attempt if you knew a machine had your back?MediumPractice
  • Which imagined future do you most want us to avoid?MediumPractice
  • Describe the last time something small filled you with real wonder.EasyPractice
  • Is faster always better, or have we confused speed with progress?MediumPractice
  • Tell us about the first time you sent a message to a stranger.EasyPractice
  • What everyday task would you never trust to a robot?EasyPractice
  • Argue that the greatest invention of the last century was not electronic.HardPractice
  • Describe a warning label that the future will need.MediumPractice
  • Should the sky stay for the birds, or be shared with delivery drones?MediumPractice
  • Tell us about a science lesson that has stayed with you ever since.EasyPractice
  • What would you ask a robot that had worked in your home for a year?MediumPractice
  • Convince us that curiosity is more useful than intelligence.HardPractice
  • Which digital habit would you like to break by tomorrow?EasyPractice
  • Describe an invention that borrowed its best idea from an animal.MediumPractice
  • If your inbox were a physical room, what would it look like?MediumPractice
  • Tell us about something you understand far better than you expected to.MediumPractice
  • What technology should come with a compulsory pause button?MediumPractice
  • Should we keep a copy of everything, or learn how to delete?HardPractice
  • Describe the most beautiful machine you have ever seen.MediumPractice
  • Would you trust a machine to referee an important match?EasyPractice
  • Tell us about a prediction about the future that never came true.MediumPractice
  • What will replace the smartphone, and will we miss it?MediumPractice
  • Explain why some of us say please and thank you to machines.MediumPractice
  • Describe the perfect tool for a task nobody ever talks about.HardPractice
  • Should we deliberately make some devices harder to use?HardPractice
  • Tell us about a time a map or a recipe led you badly astray.EasyPractice
  • Which of your senses would you upgrade if science allowed it?MediumPractice
  • What music would you send out to another galaxy?EasyPractice
  • Describe how you would run a library on the moon.HardPractice
  • Is it possible to be too connected to the people you love?MediumPractice
  • Tell us about a piece of technology that actually helped you rest.EasyPractice
  • What experiment would you happily volunteer for tomorrow?MediumPractice
  • Should the oldest thing in your home be repaired or replaced?EasyPractice
  • Describe your ideal robot's personality in one minute.EasyPractice
  • Would you read a novel written entirely by a machine?MediumPractice
  • What do you hope has not changed at all by the year 2100?HardPractice