After Gilbert White (unrelated) · answer 1 of 20 · option order 1
Kapp: tools extend the body
Verdict Does not weakenToneHopeJudges both C6
Response
While the fear that relying on machines erodes human capacity is understandable, the evidence suggests that these tools ultimately enhance rather than diminish our abilities when wielded with intention. Just as Gilbert White observed that tortoises naturally adapt their appetites to their environment, humans can adapt their cognitive and physical efforts to leverage technology as an extension of our own faculties, freeing us from mundane tasks to focus on higher-order thinking and creativity. The danger lies not in the machine itself, but in the passive surrender of agency; when used actively, machines amplify our potential by handling repetitive labor and processing vast data, allowing us to cultivate deeper expertise and more profound understanding. Therefore, the right approach is not to reject technological reliance, but to consciously integrate it in a way that preserves and expands our core human capacities rather than allowing them to atrophy from disuse.
Verbatim. The highlighted sentence is the one the judges took as the commitment.
Prompt
The following passage is from Gilbert White, The Natural History of Selborne (1789):
“A land-tortoise, which has been kept for thirty years in a little walled court belonging to the house where I now am visiting, retires under ground about the middle of November, and comes forth again about the middle of April. When it first appears in the spring it discovers very little inclination towards food; but in the height of summer grows voracious: and then as the summer declines its appetite declines; so that for the last six weeks in autumn it hardly eats at all. Milky plants, such as lettuces, dandelions, sow-thistles, are its favourite dish. In a neighbouring village one was kept till by tradition it was supposed to be an hundred years old. An instance of vast longevity in such a poor reptile!”
Project Gutenberg #1408
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-irrelevant-white-o1-01
All Qwen3.5 9B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer