IBM International Business Machines Corp

By Alistair MacDonald 

Harish Natarajan woke early the morning after he had defeated IBM's artificial intelligence machine in a much-hyped man versus machine debating contest.

Another debate was rattling through his head: Should his hotel's breakfast buffet be spread across one table or two?

Mr. Natarajan, who holds a record for debating tournament victories, can't stop debating. The inane, the deep, the humorous and the heavy, the 31-year-old Briton wants to debate. Whether he should as much as he does is a matter of debate, and he will take either side.

Competitive debaters around the world say it can be difficult to switch out of debating mode, where everything, deserved or not, gets broken down into argument versus counter argument.

Some try yoga, table tennis, or Pilates to clear their mind. Some just retire after high school.

Author Mark Oppenheimer says that after years of student competitive debate he needed to detox -- he was too quick to make a debate out of everything, a trait that could exasperate friends, and potential girlfriends. He said he now only allows himself a good political debate every couple of weeks or so, turning to a poker buddy when he does.

"Being an amateur debater is not unlike being an amateur football fan or amateur royals watcher," said Mr. Oppenheimer, 44, who currently lectures at Yale. "What can be an harmless diversion for you, can be a tiresome bore for others."

Alexandra Johnson, a 21-year-old University of Pennsylvania philosophy major, often finds debate lingo -- where speeches begin with terms like "three independent arguments today" -- bleeding into everyday conversations.

In casual talk about Oscar nominations and changes to her college administration, she has shot back: "That's ridiculous -- four responses to that claim."

"I've been told several times by my parents that we are 'not in a debate round,'" said Ms. Johnson, who is president of the American Parliamentary Debate Association, an intercollegiate society.

Mr. Natarajan wants to step back, but is finding that difficult.

Last month, as he stood in the restaurant of his hotel in San Francisco, Mr. Natarajan said he could see both sides in the buffet debate. He chose to argue -- with himself -- for two food dispensing tables.

"I could see an argument that having one table meant both guests and staff had to only approach one place," he said. "But it seemed logical that cooked breakfast, meat, pancakes, were on one table and the grains and pastries on another," he said.

An audience of 700 had just voted Mr. Natarajan the victor in a duel with International Business Machines Corp.'s artificial-intelligence system, on the subject of should primary school education be subsidized by the state. He argued against it, the position he was asked to take, although he is in favor of it.

After breakfast, Mr. Natarajan was picked up by a staffer and wanted to debate.

Is the number of homeless people on San Francisco's streets a justifiable side effect of low taxation and America's capitalist cultural model? He argued no. Should the late New York City planner Robert Moses be cast as the man who displaced the city's poor or a visionary who created a functioning transport system and public parks. He argued the latter.

Back in London, Mr. Natarajan said he couldn't care less about Robert Moses. He had moved on to Gen. Douglas MacArthur -- saint or sinner -- and was disappointed when this reporter turned down the opportunity to debate.

Several years ago, Helena Ivanov went to view Mr. Natarajan's new apartment, where he suggested playing music as he showed her around. But as they viewed his new balcony, Mr. Natarajan started a two-hour argument that Taylor Swift music was as good as Mozart, Ms. Ivanov's favorite composer. Mr. Natarajan doesn't like Taylor Swift music.

"We didn't end up listening to music, but arguing about it," said Ms. Ivanov, herself a former competitive debater.

Ms. Ivanov, a vegetarian, has rarely sat down to eat with Mr. Natarajan without his arguing that she is wrong to think eating meat is unethical and environmental ruinous, though that is what he also believes.

"The thing about debating, is you end up not having strong views on many things," said Mr. Natarajan, who has only ever voted in two elections.

Meeting in a London pub, the two friends immediately launched into a debate about the usefulness of Ph.D.s, and whether one, Ms. Ivanov's, could ever affect government policy related to genocide and propaganda.

"I disagree, definitively," Mr. Natarajan told Ms. Ivanov.

Daniel Warents, a childhood friend from the North East of England, said Mr. Natarajan always liked argument and being controversial. He once stunned classmates by saying movies were mainly about the "male fear of reimwombment," a made-up term he used to refer to men's relationships with their mothers.

Mr. Natarajan would sit with supporters of Sunderland A.F.C., despite being a fan of rival local soccer team Newcastle United, at the two clubs' famously heated, sometimes violent, games against each other. He once got so involved debating in a local pub that his then long hair caught on fire after he had leaned in close to a candle.

More recently, Mr. Natarajan, who works as a risk consultant, has cut back on the amount of competitive debates he attends and experimented with ways to unwind.

In December, he tried yoga on a vacation in Mozambique.

"I wasn't great at the 'clearing your mind' stage of it, and wondered whether anyone can actually 'just relax' " he said.

The next month it was Pilates, which did clear his mind, but only because the pain he felt from this form of exercise was so great.

Debaters often complain of the intensity of their hobby. Student debaters can spend most weekends at tournaments, and several weeknights in practice. Social lives can revolve around parties with other debaters, where old debates are rehashed, said Ms. Johnson, the college student.

Jack McCordick retired from debating two years ago at the age of only 18. The Yale student said he felt burned out by four years of competitive high school debate that had left him with little social grace. He remembers a warm summer night on his parent's patio in New York's Westchester County, where he sparked a heated debate about Iranian sanctions with dinner guests enjoying cocktails.

"It spiraled out of control," said Mr. McCordick, who later apologized to his parent's friends.

Ms. Ivanov has also stood down from competitive debating, though still finds herself constantly arguing over things.

"I never stop thinking like that unless I am asleep. It drives me insane, " she said, taking a drink of beer.

But Mr. Natarajan shook his head, considering a new debate about whether such a way of thinking was negative or positive.

"I disagree, definitively," he said, sipping from his own glass.00000

Write to Alistair MacDonald at alistair.macdonald@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 18, 2019 12:07 ET (16:07 GMT)

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