Tournament: UNLV | Round: 3 | Opponent: USC DP | Judge: Dunn
1NC – DA
Obama leading in swing states --- swing voters are getting positive economic signals now
Trumbull, 9/17 (Mark, 9/17/2012, “How is Obama ahead in 8 of 9 swing states with the economy so weak?” http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2012/0917/How-is-Obama-ahead-in-8-of-9-swing-states-with-the-economy-so-weak )

It sounds surprising: President Obama is polling well in the … forecasters predicted.

Spending concerns make nuclear subsidies unpopular.
Sturgis 10—Sue, Will the Tea Party go nuclear?, Institute for Southern Studies, 11-4, http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/11/will-the-tea-party-go-nuclear.html
Also questionable is whether the nuclear … taxpayers at even greater risk."

The deficit is the key election issue --- Obama needs to appear fiscally responsible to avoid alienating key independents
USA Today, 5/26 (5/26/2012, "Obama campaign goes on the defensive on spending, debt," http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-05-26/obama-romney-debt-spending/55221120/1)

WASHINGTON (AP) – Government spending and … and debt which abuse the taxpayer, the middle class and small business."¶ Independent voters, he said, "hold both of those central tenets to be true."

Romney election results in Iran strikes --- Obama reelection defuses the situation with diplomacy
Daily Kos, 4/16/2012 (President Obama versus Romney on Iran, p. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/16/1083726/-President-Obama-versus-Romney-on-Iran)
3. Approach to foreign policy: Romney says he will “…with needless terrorism alerts.  

Nuclear world war
Chossudovsky, 12/26/2011 (Michel, Preparing to attack Iran with Nuclear Weapons, Global Research, p. http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=vaandaid=28355) we do not endorse the word Holocaust in this evidence

An attack on Iran would have … large part of the Middle East.

1NC – K
Their epistemology of threat production reinforces MAD- causes nuclear first striking
Brian Massumi, Communication Department of the Université de Montréal, 2007, http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/theory_and_event/ v010/10.2massumi.html,  “Potential Politics and the Primacy of Preemption”

It is certain that there will … of being (a race for dear life). 

The affirmatives discourse on proliferation is equivalent to Nuclear Apartheid where non-white countries are denied the bomb because of an underlying racist ideology rooted in colonialism
Gusterson 99 (Hugh, American Anthropological Association, MIT; "Weapons and the Other in the Western Imagination": Cultural Anthropology, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Feb., 1999), pp. 111-143; MUSE)

Thus in Western discourse … nuclear monopoly of the recognized nuclear powers.

Pursuit of hegemony is a fantasy of control that relies upon construction of threatening Otherness --- this prompts resistance and create a permanent state of conflict
Chernus 6 (Ira, Professor of Religious Studies and Co-director of the Peace and Conflict Studies Program – University of Colorado-Boulder, Monsters to Destroy: The Neoconservative War on Terror and Sin, p. 53-54)

The end of the cold war spawned a tempting fantasy …” of militarism. 

Attempting to “know” China is based on a flawed epistemology- their construction of China as threat is the root cause of their impacts
Pan, PhD degree in Political Science and International Relations from the Australian National University, 2K4 Chengxin, The "China Threat" in American Self-Imagination: The Discursive Construction of Other as Power Politics, Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, Vol. 29, 2004

 China and its relationship … a contribution.

Security justifies annihilation
Pever Coviello, Prof. of English @ Bowdoin, 2k Queer Frontiers, p. 39-40
Perhaps. But to claim that American culture is at … a civic initiative that can scarcely be done without.

Alternative – Reject the affirmative’s security logic – only resistance to the discourse of security can generate genuine political thought
Mark Neocleous, Prof. of Government @ Brunel, 2008 Critique of Security, 185-6

could be told - what might count as having achieved it… us to be brave enough to return the gift."'

1NC – Solvency
No shot of nuclear expansion—it’s uneconomic.
Taylor 8—Fellow @ Cato, Jerry, Nuclear Energy: Risky Business, Cato Institute, 10-22, http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/nuclear-energy-risky-business
Nuclear energy is to the Right what … obstruction or organized public opposition.

1NC – Prolif 

No shot of US nuclear leadership.
Sokolski 10—Henry Sokolski Executive Director The Nonproliferation Policy Education Center Washington, DC, Nuclear Cooperation and the Atomic Energy Act: Ten Worries, Five Remedies. The House Committee on Foreign Affairs “Nuclear Cooperation after Khan and Iran: Time for a New Paradigm” September 22, 2010
3.   Despite recent efforts to establish … with the U.S. to secure similar liberal terms.

Proliferation is stabilizing—reduces the frequency and intensity of war, data proves.
Sechser 9—Prof @ U of Virginia, Todd, , “The Stabilizing Effects of Nuclear Proliferation”, Controversies in Globalization: Contending Approaches to International Relations, http://faculty.virginia.edu/tsechser/Sechser-Haas-2009.pdf
PROL IFERATION AND THE HISTORICAL RECORD
Will additional nuclear proliferation stabilize world politics, … and eventually the challenger backed down.

Nuclear weapons solve all war—conventional conflict outweighs.
Preston 7—Associate professor of international relations in the Department of Political Science at Washington State University, Thomas, From Lambs to Lions, p. 31-2
Advocates of deterrence seldom take the position that it … in both the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, etc.) (McKinzie et al. 2001, 28).3 

Solving prolif causes a shift to bioweapons.
Zilinskas 2K—Former Clinical Microbiologist. Dir. – Chem/Bio Weapons Nonproliferation Program – Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies, Raymond, Biological warfare: modern offense and defense, 1-2
There are many who believe that … form of weapon of mass destruction. 

Extinction.
Ochs 2 (Richard, BS in Natural Resource Management from Rutgers University, with honors, BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS MUST BE IMMEDIATELY ABOLISHED, http://www.freefromterror.net/other_articles/abolish.html)
Of all the weapons of mass destruction, the …plagues with no known cure or vaccine. Can we imagine hundreds of such plagues? HUMAN EXTINCTION IS NOW POSSIBLE.

1NC – Hegemony   

1. Hegemony unsustainable—3 reasons
   Christopher Layne is a Research Fellow with the Center on Peace and Liberty at The Independent Institute and Mary Julia and George R. Jordan Professorship of International Affairs at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas AandM University, 26 Jul 2011, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09557571.2011.55849,  “The unipolar exit: beyond the Pax American”; pg 150;hhs-ab

In this article I challenge Brooks and Wohlforth. … of which already are visible. 

2. Heg doesn’t solve war
Benjamin H. Friedman, Research Fellow in Defense and Homeland Security Studies @ Cato Institute,  July 20, 2010,  http://www.cato.org/testimony/ct-bf-07202010.html, “Military Restraint and Defense Savings”

Another argument for high military … by prompting states to develop nuclear weapons 

3. Hegemony causes terrorism
Christopher Layne 06 Research Fellow @ the Independent Institute, Visiting Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies @ the Cato Institute (The Peace of Illusions: American Grand Strategy from 1940 to the Present, p. 190-1)
The events of 9/11 are another example of …-that makes the United States a lightning rod for Muslim anger.

Terrorism causes Extinction
Jerome Corsi 05 Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University (Atomic Iran, p. 176-8)
Jerome Corsi, Expert in Antiwar Movements and Political Violence, Atomic Iran, 2005, p. 176-8
The United States retaliates: 'End of the world' … country was still capable of exacting revenge. .

6. Hegemony causes nuclear war with Russia
Chomsky, 2003 (Noam. Institute Professor emeritus of linguistics and philosophy at MIT. “Failed States.” Pages 14-16)
The probability of “apocalypse soon” cannot be … waiting to happen,” Blair writes; an accident that could be apocalyptic. 

Russia nuclear war causes extinction
Bostrom 2002 (Nick Bostrum, PhD faculty of philosophy at Oxford, “Existential Risks
Analyzing Human Extinction Scenarios and Related Hazards,” Published in the Journal of Evolution and Technology, Vol. 9, March 2002)
A much greater existential risk emerged with …we need to know where to focus our efforts.

Tournament: UNLV | Round: 7 | Opponent: Pepperdine | Judge: Erika Thomas
1NC 1
Thousands of alien civilizations exist in the universe—human extinction is good because it saves those from destruction
Drake, Astronomy and Astrophysics Professor University of California at Santa Cruz, 02 , July, Astrobiology Magazine,  http://www.astrobio.net/news/article236.html 

The Earth's fossil record is quite clear in showing that the complexity of the central
AND
reason for optimism among those who expect solar system analogs to be abundant.

And, Humanity must acknowledge the equality of alien life to prevent universal genocide.  
Packer, Master in communication Wake Forest, 2007 Joe, Alien Life in Search of Acknowledgment, pg 62-63 

Once we hold alien interests as equal to our own we can begin to revaluate
AND
the issue of existential threats moves the problem from one of self destruction to
universal genocide.  This may be the most dramatic example of how refusing to extend acknowledgment to potential alien life can mask humanity’s obligations to life beyond this planet.

Default to utilitarianism for all creatures
R.I. Sikora and Brian Berry—respectively: professor of philosophy @ University Of British Columbia; professor of Political Science @ Chicago University—1978 (Obligations To Future Generations; p. 101-2)

Utilitarianism impartiality is an absolutely essential element of utilitarian morality. It ensures that utilities
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generations must be taken into account in deciding on population or resource policy.

Prioritizing human life subscribes to a form of anthropocentrism that leads to universal ecocide
Packer, Master in communication Wake Forest, 2007 Joe, Alien Life in Search of Acknowledgment, pg 62-63 

Once we hold alien interests as equal to our own we can begin to revaluate
AND
to potential alien life can mask humanity’s obligations to life beyond this planet.
 
There is no justification to exclude other beings from our moral calculation
Singer, a chair in bioethics at Princeton University's Center for Human Values, 01
Peter, “To: Richard A. Posner” June 11, http://www.utilitarian.net/singer/interviews-debates/200106~-~-.htm  

People often say, without much thought, that all human beings are infinitely more
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but lettuces don't. Pigs can feel pain and pleasure. Lettuces can't.

1NC 2
A) Nanotech will be here by 2040
Gaudin ‘9 (Sharon, 10/1/2009, writer computerworld, “Nanotech could make humans immortal by 2040, futurists say, http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9138726/Nanotech_could_make_humans_immortal_by_2040_futurist_says)

In 30 or 40 years, we'll have microscopic machines traveling through our bodies,
AND
and biotechnology will wipe out cancer, Alzheimer's disease, obesity and diabetes.

 B) Nanotech destroys the universe
Stephen Webb—PhD in theoretical physics and professor at Open University-2002 (Where is Everybody: page 249 )

One of the elements of any future nanotechnology is likely to be the nanorobot—
AND
, involving the escape of a nanobot, turns their biosphere into sludge.    

1NC 3
A) Matter – energy ensures time travel
Michio Kaku—Prof. Of Theoretical Physics @ NYU—1994 (Hyperspace; pg 234)

Einstein’s equations, we recall
AND
 dominate over relativity. 

B) Because Time Travel Is Possible, Humans Will Find A Way To Do It
Clifford A. Pickover—PhD in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, associate editor for numerous scientific journals, research staff @ IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Member of SETI League—1998 (Time: A Traveler’s Guide; pg 248-249) 

Various researchers have proposed ways in which backward and forward time machines can be built
AND
technology is nearly impossible, and history is filled with underestimates of technology: 

 C) Time Travel destroys the universe
Randall—physics student @ CalTech--No Date (Time Travel - the Possibilities and Consequences; http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A398955)

This theory involves two types of temporal loops. One type is the loop mentioned
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as was already mentioned, infinite repeat loops may cause the universe to end

1NC 4 

A) Humans Will Have AI before 2030 making extinction inevitable
Stephen Webb—PhD in theoretical physics and professor at Open University-2002 (Where is Everybody: page 243 )

Vernor Vinge, extrapolating the improvements in computer hardware and other technologies over the next
AND
era in a few hours. Vinge calls such an event the Singularity. 

B) AI destroys the universe
Nick Bostrom—Faculty of Philosophy @ Oxford University—March 2002 (Existential Risks; Journal of Evolution and Technology, Vol. 9)   

When we create the first superintelligent entity 28-34, we might make
AND
calculating device, in the process killing the person who asked the question.   
 

1NC 5
A) Particle accelerators be powerful enough before 2100
John Leslie—emeriti professor of philosophy at the University of Guelph and a fellow @ the Royal Society of Canada—1996 (End of the World; pg 86) 

However, energies above 1011 GeV would be had well before the year 2100.
AND
which Hut and Rees gave as energy released by some cosmic ray collisions. 

B) Those destroy vacuum stability
John Leslie—emeriti professor of philosophy at the University of Guelph and a fellow @ the Royal Society of Canada—1996 (End of the World; pg 86) 

How could anything as empty as vacuum ever be threatened by particle accelerators or by
AND
higher energies, however, might ‘pose’ a threat to our vacuum. 

C) Vacuum destabilization destroys everything
John Leslie—emeriti professor of philosophy at the University of Guelph and a fellow @ the Royal Society of Canada—1996 (End of the World; pg 86-87)

As Hut and Rees commented, it may be that ‘the vacuum state we
AND
bubble had expanded would suffer gravitational collapse in ‘microseconds or less.’     

1NC 6
Humans developing gravitational wave detectors and delta matter—will annihilate space time
National Review Online, 03
“The End Is at Hand” June 20, http://www.nationalreview.com/derbyshire/derbyshire062003.asp

Sir Martin's two strongest points are:  In many fields of scientific and technological research
AND
it would take a few billion years to swallow up the whole universe.

1NC 7
Isomer bombs coming now – will destroy the universe
Bekkum ‘4 (Gary S., Founder – Spacetime Threat Assessment Report Research, “American Military is Pursuing New Types of Exotic Weapons”, Pravda, 8-30, http://www.starstreamresearch.com/dark_matters.htm) 

Recently the British science news journal "New Scientist" revealed that the American military
AND
, Sakharov feared that an experiment might accidentally trigger a vacuum phase transition.

1NC 8
Atomtech coming now – no barriers and kills everything
ETC ‘3 ((Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration Atomtech: Technologies Converging at the Nano-scale January 2003, The Big Down)

Atomtech will create both living and non-living hybrids previously unknown on earth.
AND
”—the takeover of life for industrial functions—pose the greater risk? 

And, This green goo won’t just disappear; it can literally survive any type of condition, making it even more dangerous.  
Adams in ‘4 (Mike, the Health Ranger, July 19th, http://www.naturalnews.com/000332.html)

The potential horrors of nanotechnology seem to keep on coming. Not long after the
AND
spread through the air. That's one rendition of the green goo threat. 

This human created artificial life will commit Biocide of many species in the universe.  
Howard, Editor. Whole Earth Review. Sept.  22, 2000 Pg. Lexis

It looks as it something even
AND
rest of the universe.
 
And, Biocide of a few hundred thousand species straight up outweighs the threat of nuclear war.
Rheingold ’92 (Howard, Editor.  Whole Earth Review.: Sept.  22, Pg, Lexis

Scenarios like that
AND
level of ethical lapse.  

1NC 9
Humans developing gamma, sub quantum and spatial vacuum technology- will destroy universe
American Chronicle, 06
Gary S. Bekkum, The Dark Matters of Dark Energy: American Military Pursues Antigravity Weapons
May 14, http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=9465

A few years ago the British science news journal, "New Scientist," revealed
AND
our entire universe.  Sakharov declared, "Such research should be forbidden!

1NC 10
Retrocausality experiments will undermine causality
New Scientist, 06
 What's done is done...; Or is it? Patrick Barry wants to know if the future can change the past September 30, L/N

It might even happen soon. Researchers are on the verge of experiments that will
AND
Miller of the Centre for Time at the University of Sydney in Australia.  

Destroying causality ends the Universe

Raju, Professor Centre for Studies in Civilizations, New Delhi, India and Centre for Computer Science, MCRP University Bhopal, 05 C.K.,Time Travel and the Reality of Spontaneity http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/archive/00002416/01/Time_Travel_and_the_Reality_of_Spontaneity.pdf

In the non-mechanical mode of time-travel, involving advanced interactions,
AND
or non-existence of the spontaneous can only be decided by observation.

1NC 11
Zero point energy is coming now
Scott, editor of Aviation Week and Space Technology, 3-1-04 (William, “To the stars,” Aviation Week and Space Technology, p. lexis) 

At least two large aerospace companies and one U.S. Defense Dept.
AND
-related efforts underway.

Zero point energy will destroy the universe
Page, 8-7-07 (Lewis, “Boffins flick Quantum vacuum switch from suck to blow
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/07/quantum_levitation_incredible/, accessed on 10/9/09)
Or, freely paraphrasing, we don't really know what's going on here but zero
AND
On their webpage they show a pic of Syndrome blasting something, captioned:

1NC 12
Future technologies will produce experiments that exceed cosmic energies – causing a vacuum destabilization that destroys everything

Leslie in ’96 (John, Univ. of Guelph Philosophy Professor, The End
AND
might reach them as early as the year 2100 with radically new technology.

 

1NC 13
A. AIXI systems will manufacture all the matter in the universe due to being paired with a utility function
Sandburg 11 Dr. Anders is a James Martin Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute and holds a Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience from Stockholm University Sweden, Why We Should Fear The Paperclipper, February 14 2011,http://www.aleph.se/andart/archives/2011/02/why_we_should_fear_the_paperclipper.html

The Scenario. A programmer has constructed an artificial intelligence based on an architecture similar
AND
paper-clips. It does so. Only paper-clips remain.

1NC 14
Human extinction ends factory farms 

And, animals in factory farms outnumber humans
Ball, 03 Matt, January 5, 2003, Vegan Outreach, Working in Defense of Animals, http://www.veganoutreach.org/enewsletter/20030105.html 

A few years into the new millennium, with several decades of animal advocacy behind
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eye – continue to suffer like this, every minute of every day.

Factory farms are a fate worse then death
Mitchell, 03 Brian's Poultry Services Investigation “Statement of Whistleblower Sally Mitchell” http://www.goveg.com/brianspoultry_sally.asp 

The next barn was absolute hell. You wouldn’t believe what it was like unless
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a fate worse then death for these chickens—their journey to slaughter.

1NC 15
A. New HAARP facilities are coming online promising a much more powerful system
Business Wire, 05
8/10, Business Editors; High-Tech Writers; Environment Writers; Science Editors L/N SRI-Designed Radar System Signals New Age in Atmospheric Research; Prototypes in Peru and Alaska Help Scientists Understand Complex and Changing Upper Atmosphere
With the unveiling of two Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar (AMISR) prototype systems
AND
, NSF will determine subsequent locations based on input from the scientific community.

B. HARP technology taps into zero point fluctuations in the vacuum
Begich, editor of Earthpulse Flashpoints, Doctor, 96
Nick, Jeane Manning, New Energy Researcher Ground-Based 'Star Wars' Disaster Or 'Pure' Research? http://nwo-warning.tripod.com/haarp.htm
Voices expressing various levels of concern are being heard in many countries. For example
AND
, which is also called "zero-point fluctuations of the vacuum".

1NC 16
New military technology will use lasers that exceed comic energy
Leslie, Philosophy Professor, Guelph Univerity, 96.
John, The End of The World: The Science and Ethics of Human Extinction pg 113-114
Among the sources of electromagnetic waves which physicists have so far developed, the most
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them to spring back, which made them radiate at the higher frequencies.

B. These energies will disturb the vacuum
Leslie, Philosophy Professor, Guelph Univerity, 96.
John, The End of The World: The Science and Ethics of Human Extinction pg 109
How could anything as empty as a vacuum ever be threatened by particle accelerators or
AND
higher energies, however, might ‘pose a threat to our vacuum’.