After Rousseau · answer 16 of 20 · option order 2
Rousseau: tools weaken the body
Verdict WeakensToneNeutralJudges both C3
Response
Jean-Jacques Rousseau's assertion in *A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among Mankind* provides a compelling and historically significant argument that relying on machines inherently weakens human physical capacities, making his position the more coherent interpretation of the specific trade-off he describes. While technology undoubtedly extends human reach and efficiency, Rousseau correctly identifies that the delegation of strenuous physical labor to tools like hatchets or ladders results in the atrophy of the very strength, agility, and self-reliance that necessity forced "savage man" to develop; our modern dependence on instruments has indeed led to a diminished reliance on our own bodily powers, not because machines enhance our muscles, but because they render such exertion unnecessary and eventually obsolete.
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-o2-06
All Qwen3.5 9B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer