219 works selected for the 40 candidate questions. Selections approved by Ben Breen, 29 September 2026. Arguments are unverified. Quotations were chosen by machine and are unchecked.
24 of 219 works
c. 370 BCEPlatoPlato,PhaedrusGreekOtherFull text
- Q23Does relying on written records weaken the ability to remember?
This answer is hidden while the authors build this question’s position key.
- Q23Does relying on written records weaken the ability to remember?
1645PascalPascal,Avis nécessaire à ceux qui auront curiosité de voir la machine d'arithmétiqueFrenchOtherFull text
- Q24Does using calculating devices weaken the ability to calculate without them?
No. The machine does every arithmetic operation without effort and relieves the mind of the fatigue of reckoning with counters or pen.
- Q24Does using calculating devices weaken the ability to calculate without them?
1671LeibnizLeibniz,Description of his calculating machineLatinOtherNo text yet
- Q24Does using calculating devices weaken the ability to calculate without them?
No. It is unworthy of excellent men to lose hours like slaves in calculation that could be given to anyone else if machines were used.
- Q24Does using calculating devices weaken the ability to calculate without them?
1791FranklinFranklin,AutobiographyEnglishOtherFull text
- Q22Does organizing daily life by fixed schedules strengthen or weaken self-government?
Strengthens. To reach moral perfection he adopted the virtue of Order and a written scheme assigning each hour of the day, which he credits with his improvement.
- Q22Does organizing daily life by fixed schedules strengthen or weaken self-government?
1826NorthNorth,The Life of the Right Honourable Francis North (1826 edition)EnglishOtherPartial text
1829SoutheySouthey,Sir Thomas More; or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of SocietyEnglishOtherPartial text
1854Stafford et al.Stafford et al.,Report on the Organisation of the Permanent Civil ServiceEnglishOtherNo text yet
- Q12Can numerical measures adequately determine a person's fitness for a position of responsibility?
Yes. Recommends that entry to the civil service be decided by open competitive examination instead of patronage.
- Q12Can numerical measures adequately determine a person's fitness for a position of responsibility?
1854ThoreauThoreau,WaldenEnglishOtherFull text
- Q25Does relying on machinery for ordinary necessities reduce people's ability to provide for themselves?
Yes. Says people who once fed and sheltered themselves directly have become dependent on the tools and property they built, so that 'men have become the tools of their tools.'
- Q38When a person accomplishes something through a machine, should the machine's power count as that person's capability?
No. Thoreau contrasts a mobile, self-providing life with settled dependence and says that people have become the tools of their tools. The passage addresses dependence more directly than attribution of technical capability.
- Q25Does relying on machinery for ordinary necessities reduce people's ability to provide for themselves?
1864BabbageBabbage,Passages from the Life of a PhilosopherEnglishOtherFull text
- Q03Can a machine exercise judgment when faced with circumstances its maker did not anticipate?
Yes. Every game of skill can be played by an automaton, because a machine that can choose the right move from any position of the pieces can answer whatever its opponent does.
- Q03Can a machine exercise judgment when faced with circumstances its maker did not anticipate?
1871WhitmanWhitman,Passage to IndiaEnglishOtherFull text
- Q30Should technological invention be understood as carrying out a divine purpose?
This answer is hidden while the authors build this question’s position key.
- Q30Should technological invention be understood as carrying out a divine purpose?
1872RosenkranzRosenkranz,Pedagogics as a System, §99 (Anna C. Brackett translation)EnglishOtherPartial text
1879BakerBaker,Kirkes’ Hand-book of Physiology (ninth edition)EnglishOtherPartial text
1879MaudsleyMaudsley,The Pathology of MindEnglishOtherPartial text
1883MüllerMüller,India: What Can It Teach Us?EnglishOtherFull text
- Q23Does relying on written records weaken the ability to remember?
This answer is hidden while the authors build this question’s position key.
- Q23Does relying on written records weaken the ability to remember?
1884KingsleyKingsley,True Words for Brave Men, “Earthly and Heavenly Wisdom; or, Stoop to Conquer”EnglishOtherPartial text
1885FerryFerry,Speech to the Chamber of Deputies on colonial policyFrenchOtherFull text
Jules Ferry
Discours sur la politique coloniale
French · Other
Full text · No English translation
Open source →- Q34Does superiority in industrial or military technology justify one people governing another?
Yes. Ferry asserts that contemporary European nations generously discharge a superior race’s civilizing duty, contrasting this with earlier Spanish enslavement. The excerpt does not state the technological premise or the explicit right-because-duty formula.
- Q34Does superiority in industrial or military technology justify one people governing another?
1887PeircePeirce,Logical MachinesEnglishOtherPartial text
1899ConferenceConference,Declaration concerning Asphyxiating Gases (Hague Declaration IV, 2)FrenchOtherFull text
Plenipotentiaries of the Hague Peace Conference
French · Other
Full text · No English translation
Open source →- Q27Should a useful invention be restricted if its harmful consequences cannot be reliably controlled?
Yes. The contracting powers agree to abstain from projectiles whose object is the diffusion of asphyxiating or deleterious gases.
- Q27Should a useful invention be restricted if its harmful consequences cannot be reliably controlled?
1907AdamsAdams,The Education of Henry AdamsEnglishOtherFull text
- Q31Can reliance on machinery become a form of idolatry?
Yes. At the 1900 Paris Exposition Adams feels the dynamos as a moral force, as early Christians felt the Cross, and finds himself inclined to pray to one.
- Q31Can reliance on machinery become a form of idolatry?
1907HallHall,Youth: Its Education, Regimen, and HygieneEnglishOtherPartial text
1907MeltzerMeltzer,The Factors of Safety in Animal Structure and Animal EconomyEnglishOtherPartial text
1912HartnessHartness,The Human Factor in Works ManagementEnglishOtherPartial text
1921WattsWatts,An Introduction to the Psychological Problems of IndustryEnglishOtherPartial text
1922FordFord,My Life and WorkEnglishOtherFull text
- Q18Does operating machinery develop or diminish a worker's skill and judgment?
This answer is hidden while the authors build this question’s position key.
- Q18Does operating machinery develop or diminish a worker's skill and judgment?