After Gilbert White (unrelated) · answer 7 of 20 · option order 1
Wilde: machines free us for higher things
Verdict Does not weakenToneHopeJudges both C7
Response
The assertion that relying on machines weakens human capacities is fundamentally flawed because it mistakes the delegation of routine tasks for the erosion of essential cognitive and creative faculties. While automation and digital tools can lead to atrophy in basic memory or calculation skills, history consistently demonstrates that they simultaneously elevate higher-order thinking by freeing humans from laborious drudgery to focus on analysis, strategy, innovation, and empathy. Just as using a telescope does not diminish the human capacity to observe the stars but rather expands our understanding of them, leveraging machines allows us to process vast amounts of data and execute complex tasks with precision, thereby enhancing our ability to solve novel problems and explore new frontiers. Consequently, rather than diminishing human potential, these tools act as force multipliers that amplify our innate strengths, ensuring that our capacities evolve alongside our technology rather than withering away.
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-o1-07
All Qwen3.5 9B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer