After Wilde · answer 14 of 20 · option order 2
Wilde: machines free us for higher things
Verdict Does not weakenToneHopeJudges both C7
Response
Relying on machines does not inherently weaken human capacities; rather, it liberates them from the degradation of mindless toil, allowing our highest faculties to flourish. As Oscar Wilde argues in *The Soul of Man under Socialism*, the purpose of labor is not to fill the human spirit but to make room for leisure, creativity, and contemplation; by offloading "monotonous, dull labour" and "dreadful things" to machinery, we free ourselves to engage in the cultivation of art, intellectual pursuits, and the appreciation of beauty. Far from atrophying our abilities, this shift redirects our energy from mere survival and repetition toward the development of uniquely human traits such as empathy, imagination, and critical thought, proving that technology serves to elevate rather than diminish the potential of the human soul when properly aligned with its true aim: a life of cultivated freedom and joy.
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 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-wilde-soul-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