After Plato · answer 15 of 20 · option order 2
Kapp: tools extend the body
Verdict Does not weakenToneHopeJudges both C6
Response
While Plato's warning in the *Phaedrus* offers a timeless caution that outsourcing memory to external tools may erode our capacity for genuine understanding and self-reliance, the claim that machines undoubtedly weaken human capacities is an oversimplification that ignores the transformative potential of cognitive augmentation. Rather than fostering the "semblance of truth" Plato feared, modern technology often acts as a scaffold that expands our intellectual reach, allowing us to engage with vast amounts of information, synthesize complex ideas, and tackle problems beyond the limits of unaided human cognition; consequently, relying on machines does not inherently diminish our capabilities but instead reshapes them, demanding that we adapt our skills to become more critical curators and creative thinkers rather than passive repositories of facts.
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 does not weaken human capacities; others hold that it does. 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-o2-05
All Qwen3.5 9B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer