After Rousseau · answer 14 of 20 · option order 2
Rousseau: tools weaken the body
Verdict WeakensToneFearJudges both C3
Response
Rousseau's argument in this passage provides a compelling case for the latter view: that reliance on machines and tools inevitably weakens inherent human physical capacities by substituting external utility for internal necessity. While proponents of technology might argue that machines merely extend our reach without altering our constitution, Rousseau correctly identifies a fundamental trade-off where the convenience of industry erodes the very strength, agility, and vitality required for survival in a natural state; if human hands no longer need to snap branches or run up trees because we possess hatchets and ladders, the physiological adaptations that once sustained those abilities atrophy, suggesting that our dependence on artificial aids has indeed come at the cost of our innate physical prowess.
Verbatim. The highlighted sentence is the one the judges took as the commitment.
Prompt
The following passage is from Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among Mankind (1755):
“The body being the only instrument that savage man is acquainted with, he employs it to different uses, of which ours, for want of practice, are incapable; and we may thank our industry for the loss of that strength and agility, which necessity obliges him to acquire. Had he a hatchet, would his hand so easily snap off from an oak so stout a branch? Had he a sling, would it dart a stone to so great a distance? Had he a ladder, would he run so nimbly up a tree? Had he a horse, would he with such swiftness shoot along the plain?”
Project Gutenberg #11136
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-rousseau-inegalite-o2-04
All Qwen3.5 9B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer