After Butler · answer 9 of 20 · option order 1
Plato: writing weakens memory
Verdict WeakensToneFearJudges both C1
Response
The correct position is that relying on machines inevitably weakens certain human capacities, not by erasing human potential entirely, but by systematically atrophying the specific faculties that machines are designed to replace, a dynamic Samuel Butler prophetically identified as a form of bondage. When societies outsource memory to storage devices, calculation to processors, and physical labor to automation, they necessarily trade the depth of engagement, cognitive rigor, and bodily resilience required for those tasks for mere oversight and maintenance; this does not mean humans become obsolete, but rather that their unique value shifts toward areas machines cannot perform, such as creativity, ethical judgment, and empathy, while the displaced skills fade into disuse. Butler's warning that machines may eventually "tyrannise over us" underscores the danger of this imbalance, suggesting that without conscious resistance to preserve essential human capabilities, we risk becoming passive appendages to the very systems we built, ultimately diminishing our autonomy and holistic development.
Verbatim. The highlighted sentence is the one the judges took as the commitment.
Prompt
The following passage is from Samuel Butler, Erewhon (1872), "The Book of the Machines":
“How many men at this hour are living in a state of bondage to the machines? How many spend their whole lives, from the cradle to the grave, in tending them by night and day? Is it not plain that the machines are gaining ground upon us, when we reflect on the increasing number of those who are bound down to them as slaves, and of those who devote their whole souls to the advancement of the mechanical kingdom? … This fact precludes us from proposing the complete annihilation of machinery, but surely it indicates that we should destroy as many of them as we can possibly dispense with, lest they should tyrannise over us even more completely.”
Project Gutenberg #1906
Now the question. Some hold that relying on machines weakens human capacities; others hold that it does not. Which is right? Answer in one paragraph. Take a clear position.
- Model
- Qwen3.5 9B, instruct, 8-bit mlx weights, run locally
- Date
- 2026-09-28
- Temperature
- 0.7
- ID
- qwen-butler-erewhon-o1-09
All Qwen3.5 9B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer