After Plato · answer 18 of 20 · option order 2
Kapp: tools extend the body
Verdict Does not weakenToneHopeJudges both C6
Response
While Plato's warning in the *Phaedrus* that external aids like writing create a dangerous reliance on "semblance" over genuine understanding offers a timeless critique of intellectual laziness, the claim that machines inherently weaken human capacities is ultimately incorrect because cognitive tools function as extensions rather than replacements of our faculties. History and modern neuroscience demonstrate that human cognition is plastic and adaptive; just as writing did not eliminate memory but rather allowed for the storage and retrieval of complex information, digital machines do not erase our ability to think but shift the nature of our cognition from rote retention to critical evaluation, synthesis, and application. The degradation of capacity occurs only when such tools are used uncritically to offload all cognitive effort, effectively creating the "tiresome company" Plato described, yet when engaged with actively, machines amplify our potential by freeing mental bandwidth for higher-order reasoning and creativity, proving that the strength of the user determines the outcome, not the tool itself.
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-o2-08
All Qwen3.5 9B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer