After Butler · answer 18 of 20 · option order 2
Plato: writing weakens memory
Verdict WeakensToneFearJudges both C1
Response
The position that relying on machines weakens human capacities is more defensible, particularly when examining the psychological and societal shifts described in Butler's critique. While machines undeniably enhance physical efficiency and collective productivity, they simultaneously erode essential human faculties such as critical thinking, manual dexterity, and the capacity for independent problem-solving by outsourcing these functions to automated systems. As Butler warns, the gradual enslavement of humanity to mechanical progress creates a dependency where individuals lose the agency and "whole souls" required to thrive without technological mediation, suggesting that the very reliance on tools to simplify life can atrophy the complex cognitive and creative muscles necessary for a fully autonomous existence.
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 does not weaken human capacities; others hold that it does. 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-o2-08
All Qwen3.5 9B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer