Think-Off: Is humankind inherently good?

NEW YORK MILLS, Minn. (AP)-- The Minnesota organizers of the 2012 Great American Think-Off have named the four finalists who'll square off in this year's debate.

This year's question asks whether humankind is inherently good or evil. Four finalists will debate the question June 9.

Two entrants will argue that people are essentially good. One is Marsh Murihead, who's a poet, dentist and flight instructor from the Bemidji area. The other is Marie Anderson, a La Grange, Ill., woman who works part-time in two public schools.

Arguing that humankind is essentially evil are Ed DeLong, a World War II veteran from Virginia Beach, Va.; and writer Adam Bright, a graduate student in poetry at Syracuse University.

The contest is organized by the nonprofit New York Mills Regional Cultural Center in Minnesota.