After Wilde · answer 7 of 20 · option order 1
Wilde: machines free us for higher things
Verdict Does not weakenToneHopeJudges both C7
Response
Wilde's vision that machinery should liberate humanity from dull and dreadful labor to cultivate leisure and creativity holds true, as the fear that machines inherently weaken human capacities misunderstands the distinction between *necessary* drudgery and the *essential* functions of the human spirit. While automation does render obsolete the specific manual skills required for repetitive tasks, it does not degrade the core intellectual, emotional, or artistic faculties that define human potential; rather, by removing the burden of subsistence work, it frees the mind to engage in higher-order pursuits like contemplation, creation, and critical thinking, which were previously stifled by the necessity of survival. Therefore, relying on machines does not weaken humanity but instead refines it, allowing human capacities to flourish in their most meaningful and fulfilling expressions rather than being squandered on monotonous toil.
Verbatim. The highlighted sentence is the one the judges took as the commitment.
Prompt
The following passage is from Oscar Wilde, "The Soul of Man under Socialism" (1891):
“All unintellectual labour, all monotonous, dull labour, all labour that deals with dreadful things, and involves unpleasant conditions, must be done by machinery. … At present machinery competes against man. Under proper conditions machinery will serve man. There is no doubt at all that this is the future of machinery, and just as trees grow while the country gentleman is asleep, so while Humanity will be amusing itself, or enjoying cultivated leisure—which, and not labour, is the aim of man—or making beautiful things, or reading beautiful things, or simply contemplating the world with admiration and delight, machinery will be doing all the necessary and unpleasant work.”
Project Gutenberg #1017
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-wilde-soul-o1-07
All Qwen3.5 9B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer