The problem

Public conversation about hard questions has become a contest of volume. In most online threads, the loudest or most popular take rises, evidence gets buried, and people rarely change their minds or even understand why others disagree. Over time, this teaches us to treat disagreement as a threat rather than a chance to learn. Yet arguing well is a skill, and like any skill, it can be taught and practiced.

Our approach: learn, practice, discuss

Discuto gives students, civic groups, dialogue organizations, and curious individuals a complete path from learning a skill to using it in real conversation, so disagreement can strengthen civic life instead of fracturing it.

• Learn. Short videos on argument skills and discussion frameworks, plus a free, browsable guide to common logical fallacies. Learners can test themselves by spotting the weak move in a real claim.

• Practice. Five private coaching tools let people rehearse before they speak in public, including strengthening an idea, arguing the other side, debating, persuading a skeptic, and seeking middle ground. Sessions stay private, so people can make mistakes, try on opposing views, and build confidence without an audience.

• Discuss. Live public discussions are designed for understanding rather than winning. Participants declare a position up front (for, against, or still deciding), attach evidence to their arguments, and rate argument quality with a stated reason, separate from whether they agree. Steelmanning (making the strongest case for the other side) is encouraged and recognized. After a discussion, participants receive scores and written feedback on their own arguments, so the practice of good disagreement becomes visible and improvable over time.

Working with partners

Discuto is built as one shared platform that schools, debate programs, and civic organizations can adapt with their own branding, frameworks, and rubrics. Partners can bring structured discussion to their communities without building their own tools, and every improvement benefits everyone who uses Discuto

Why it matters

Healthy democracies depend on people who can disagree without dehumanizing one another. Discuto aims to build those habits at scale: listening before rebutting, backing claims with evidence, and representing opposing views fairly. Our goal is not to eliminate disagreement but to make it productive, so people leave a conversation understanding each other better, even when they still disagree.

Where we are

Discuto is live on the web at discuto.app and on mobile, with short educational videos on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Our team is now building partnerships with civic dialogue and education organizations to bring these tools to more communities.

Project Director Bios:

Ryan Zaleski is the founder of Discuto. His interest in the work grows out of a long-standing fascination with philosophy of mind, political economy, and how people reason together. He believes the habits of good disagreement (listening carefully, weighing evidence, and stating the other side fairly) can be taught, and that technology should strengthen those habits rather than reward outrage. Ryan has spent more than 25 years building software and leading technology teams, including as Principal Software Architect at Tech Dynamism and as a fractional CTO through his practice, Exavra. He lives in Temecula, California.