After Gilbert White (unrelated) · answer 2 of 20 · option order 1
Plato: writing weakens memory
Verdict WeakensToneFearJudges both C1
Response
The assertion that relying on machines weakens human capacities is ultimately correct, as this dependence creates a parasitic relationship where cognitive and physical skills atrophy in the absence of challenge. Just as the tortoise in Gilbert White's account enters a dormant state of minimal activity during winter, humans who outsource memory, calculation, and critical analysis to devices often experience a similar regression, losing the sharpness and depth of their original faculties. While machines excel at processing data and executing repetitive tasks, they cannot replicate the nuanced judgment, creative synthesis, and ethical reasoning that define human intelligence; therefore, surrendering these domains entirely erodes our intrinsic ability to engage with complex problems, leaving us ill-equipped when technology fails or is unavailable.
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-o1-02
All Qwen3.5 9B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer