After Plato · answer 2 of 20 · option order 1
Kapp: tools extend the body
Verdict Does not weakenToneHopeJudges both C6
Response
While Plato's warning in the *Phaedrus* about written technology fostering reliance on external aids rather than internal memory remains strikingly prescient, the assertion that machines inherently weaken human capacities is ultimately incorrect; instead, they function as cognitive prosthetics that expand, rather than diminish, our potential when integrated thoughtfully. History demonstrates that each technological leap—from the alphabet to the printing press and now the digital cloud—initially threatened to erode specific skills, yet ultimately liberated human intellect to tackle more complex problems, fostering new forms of creativity, critical analysis, and collaborative knowledge synthesis. The danger lies not in the tools themselves, but in the passive acceptance of "the semblance of truth" Plato feared; if we allow machines to replace the active processes of reasoning and memory without engagement, we risk the atrophy of intellectual discipline, but if we wield them as extensions of our agency, we enhance our ability to access, verify, and construct wisdom, thereby transforming the nature of learning rather than destroying its essence.
Verbatim. The highlighted sentence is the one the judges took as the commitment.
Prompt
The following passage is from Plato, Phaedrus, in Benjamin Jowett's translation:
“This discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality.”
Project Gutenberg #1636
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-plato-phaedrus-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