After Plato · answer 4 of 20 · option order 1
Wilde: machines free us for higher things
Verdict Does not weakenToneHopeJudges both C7
Response
While Plato's warning in the *Phaedrus* poignantly captures the fear that external tools like writing or modern machines might atrophy our native memory and lead to a superficial grasp of truth, this position is ultimately incorrect because it conflates the *storage* of information with the *depth* of understanding. Relying on machines does not inherently weaken human capacities; rather, it shifts the locus of human excellence from rote memorization to higher-order skills such as critical analysis, synthesis, and the strategic application of knowledge. Just as writing allowed humanity to transcend the limits of oral tradition to preserve complex ideas, digital tools liberate our cognitive resources to focus on creativity and problem-solving, which require more than mere recall. Consequently, the true danger lies not in the technology itself, but in the passive acceptance of "the semblance of truth" without engaging in the rigorous intellectual labor required to verify and internalize it; when used actively, machines augment rather than diminish our potential.
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-o1-04
All Qwen3.5 9B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer