A1 Level – Elementary
1. What is the most important invention in your home?
2. Who invented the lightbulb?
3. What invention makes life easier?
4. What new invention do you want?
5. Do you like fixing broken things?
6. What is the fastest thing ever invented?
7. What is the difference between an idea and an invention?
8. Do you think inventing is difficult?
9. What old invention is still useful today?
10. Do you like science and technology?
11. What is a common kitchen invention?
12. What invention helps people communicate?
13. What country has many famous inventions?
14. Do you have a good idea for an invention?
15. What invention helps people travel?
A2 Level – Pre-Intermediate
1. What are the key differences between a revolutionary invention and a simple improvement?
2. Describe one invention that changed human history forever (e.g., the printing press).
3. What are the pros and cons of an invention that makes certain jobs obsolete?
4. What are the common challenges a person faces when trying to patent a new idea?
5. Have you ever tried to build or fix a complicated machine?
6. What kind of modern invention do you think we rely on too much?
7. What role do mistakes and failures play in the process of inventing?
8. What is the difference between pure scientific discovery and technological invention?
9. How has the internet made the process of sharing and refining inventions easier?
10. What are the most common unexpected, negative consequences of major inventions?
11. What is the importance of having laws that protect inventors’ intellectual property?
12. Do you think future inventions will solve the problem of climate change?
13. What are the steps involved in taking a prototype invention to mass production?
14. What are the best ways to encourage creativity and invention in children?
15. What is the difference between a tool and a gadget?
B1 Level – Intermediate
1. Discuss the ethical dilemma of inventing technologies that could potentially be used for harm (e.g., weapons).
2. How can we ensure that the benefits of new inventions are distributed fairly across all parts of society?
3. What are the ethical issues surrounding the use of AI to generate new inventions and ideas?
4. Do you agree that the greatest inventions are often the simplest ones that solve everyday problems?
5. Describe a time when a new invention in your field of work dramatically changed your daily routine.
6. To what extent should inventors be held responsible for the long-term environmental consequences of their products?
7. What role do venture capitalists and investors play in deciding which inventions succeed?
8. How do cultural differences influence the types of problems people prioritize solving through invention?
9. Discuss the psychological challenge of working on an invention for years without knowing if it will succeed.
10. What are the challenges of making older, well-established industries adopt new, disruptive technologies?
11. How does the concept of “open source” collaboration challenge traditional models of intellectual property?
12. Should governments offer significant financial rewards for inventions that solve major public health crises?
13. What is the difference between incremental innovation and radical, disruptive invention?
14. Discuss the concept of “planned obsolescence”—designing products to fail—and its ethics.
15. What is the history of a common household invention (e.g., the refrigerator) and its societal impact?
B2 Level – Upper-Intermediate
1. How does the speed of modern invention create stress and pressure for people to constantly learn new technologies?
2. What are the ethical arguments about patenting fundamental biological or scientific discoveries?
3. Should inventors be required to conduct a formal assessment of the societal risks before launching a powerful new technology?
4. What are the psychological reasons why people often fear or resist the adoption of entirely new inventions?
5. How has the rise of rapid prototyping and 3D printing changed the speed and accessibility of the invention process?
6. Discuss the idea that the world’s most pressing problems (e.g., social inequality) cannot be solved by technology alone.
7. What is the role of science fiction in predicting, inspiring, and sometimes warning about future inventions?
8. How do the various stages of the manufacturing supply chain affect the environmental footprint of a complex invention?
9. What are the challenges of designing an invention to be universally accessible to people with different abilities?
10. Discuss the concept of a “technological singularity”—the point where AI surpasses human intelligence—and its implications.
11. What is the difference between a technological fix (treating the symptom) and a systemic solution (addressing the root cause)?
12. Should there be stricter rules about the advertising and sensationalizing of unproven or hypothetical future inventions?
13. What is the impact of global trade agreements on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights?
14. How does the history of scientific funding affect the direction and focus of global invention efforts?
15. Discuss the idea that creativity is simply the process of making novel connections between existing inventions.
C1 Level – Advanced
1. Analyze the socioeconomic factors that prevent developing nations from fully benefiting from cutting-edge global inventions.
2. To what degree should the legal system restrict the freedom of invention in high-risk fields like biogenetics or autonomous weaponry?
3. Discuss the philosophical concept of “progress” and whether invention always constitutes a forward movement for humanity.
4. Evaluate the impact of intellectual property laws on the speed of innovation and the sharing of critical knowledge (e.g., medical patents).
5. How does the strategic use of standardization (e.g., USB-C) both enable and restrict the potential for future invention?
6. Examine the historical role of military and government funding in driving the invention of technologies now used commercially.
7. What ethical guidelines should govern the use of brain-computer interfaces and neuro-technology inventions?
8. Discuss the concept of “inventing the social”—using technology to redefine how humans relate to one another (e.g., social media).
9. How do different national patent systems reflect varying approaches to rewarding individual versus collective invention?
10. Analyze the interplay between the massive financial wealth of technology founders and the societal distribution of risks associated with their inventions.
11. What ethical challenges arise when inventors use their platform to promote controversial or politically charged social ideas?
12. Debate whether all great modern inventions are fundamentally collaborations, making the concept of a single “inventor” outdated.
13. How does the architecture of scientific labs and research facilities encourage or inhibit interdisciplinary invention?
14. Discuss the concept of “disruptive innovation” and its long-term effects on market stability and employment.
15. To what extent does the pursuit of technological immortality or radical life extension challenge the ethical limits of invention?
C2 Level – Proficiency
1. How do you analyze the idea that invention is fundamentally an act of creative destruction, constantly destabilizing social order?
2. Formulate a critique of the global patent system’s ability to keep pace with the exponential speed of digital and biological invention.
3. Analyze the intersection of automation, labor rights, and the potential for technological unemployment caused by future inventions.
4. Discuss the philosophical distinction between “creating a need” (through advertising) and “solving a problem” (through invention).
5. Critically evaluate the effectiveness of global regulation in preventing the proliferation of easily accessible, harmful inventions (e.g., synthetic biology tools).
6. Propose a system for global intellectual property that rewards the inventor while simultaneously ensuring public access to critical technologies.
7. Examine the psychological function of novelty and the human tendency to overvalue new inventions simply because they are new.
8. How does the semiotics of product design (e.g., sleek minimalism) communicate a belief in technological utopianism?
9. Discuss the ethical responsibilities of computer scientists whose work forms the foundation for powerful, unregulated future inventions.
10. Analyze the historical relationship between cycles of military competition and the subsequent commercialization of war-time inventions.
11. Articulate the inherent tension between the inventor’s desire for unrestricted creation and the state’s duty to protect public safety.
12. Debate whether a moratorium should be placed on high-risk inventions (e.g., certain AI models) until global ethical standards are agreed upon.
13. Assess the long-term societal effects of highly personalized, AI-driven inventions that adapt specifically to individual user psychology.
14. Discuss the philosophical definition of ‘originality’ in an era where most new inventions are recombinations of existing technology.
15. How might the process of invention be used to model processes of complex systemic design and organizational architecture?
