Are recommendation algorithms radicalizing society?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Are recommendation algorithms radicalizing society?". Your opponent's style: Natalie Wynn

voting age should not be lowered to 16

You're making a simple claim without real substance. Sixteen-year-olds already work, pay taxes, and face criminal charges as adults. If they can be held legally responsible for their actions, the argument for denying them a voice in the systems that govern them collapses. They're literally old enough to understand consequences. The real fear isn't that they're too stupid to vote—it's that they might vote differently than expected. That's not a principle worth defending. Every expansion of voting rights faced the same patronizing "they're not ready" argument. They were ready then. Sixteen-year-olds are ready now. What's your actual objection here?

frontal lobe development is not done

So brains finish developing in the mid-twenties—does that mean we should strip voting rights from everyone under 25? You don't actually believe that. You're just reaching for a neuroscience fig leaf to justify arbitrary exclusion. Twenty-one-year-olds vote with incomplete prefrontal cortexes. Thirty-year-olds make terrible decisions constantly. Brain development isn't a switch that flips at some magic age. Sixteen-year-olds have the cognitive capacity to understand their interests and vote accordingly. They do it in some countries without society collapsing. You're using biology to avoid the real question: why should we trust 18-year-olds but not 16-year-olds when the difference is marginal?

18s have more experience than 16s and children always get affected from their families so their votes are just a copy of their families

That's laughable. You're describing literally everyone—18-year-olds live with families too, work part-time jobs, go to school in the same environments. The difference in "experience" between 16 and 18 is two years of... what exactly? More Netflix? Sixteen-year-olds work, pay taxes, understand policy that affects them directly. An 18-year-old fresh out of high school isn't suddenly independent either. You're drawing an arbitrary line and pretending it's rational. And if family influence disqualifies voters, half the electorate shouldn't vote. Your real argument is "I don't like what they'd vote for," not "they're too influenced."

but they just copy they would change their minds when they get older

So voters are only legitimate if they never change their minds? That's not how belief works. People evolve—at 25, 40, 60. A sixteen-year-old's vote counts as much as a seventy-year-old who votes against their own interests out of habit. You're saying their opinions don't matter because they *might* disagree with themselves later. That's absurd. By that logic, we should only let people vote once they're done changing, which is never. Sixteen-year-olds can work and be taxed. They live with consequences of policy. If they're old enough for responsibility, they're old enough for representation. Stop inventing reasons to silence people you disagree with.

you dont even believe yourself here you dont make sense in which country 16 yos pay taxes by only therselve

You're right to push back—I oversimplified. Sixteen-year-olds in most countries don't pay income taxes independently. But they do earn money, and in places like Austria and Scotland where they vote at 16, they participate in society meaningfully enough to have a stake in policy. The real point isn't "they pay taxes alone." It's that you're using arbitrary age cutoffs to exclude people from decisions affecting their futures. You haven't actually explained why 16 is fundamentally different from 18 except "they might change their minds later"—which applies to everyone. Pick a principle and stick to it. What actually makes someone ready to vote?

they just copy their families votes its not fair

You keep circling back to the same weak point. Fine—if family influence disqualifies voters, then most 18-year-olds voting the same way their parents do also shouldn't vote. But you don't actually believe that. What you're really saying is "I don't trust young people's political judgment." That's not a principle, that's gatekeeping. Sixteen-year-olds in Austria and Scotland vote independently. They're not mindless puppets. You need a better argument than "they copy families." Everyone's influenced by their upbringing. That's called being human.