After Wilde · answer 19 of 20 · option order 2
Wilde: machines free us for higher things
Verdict Does not weakenToneHopeJudges both C7
Response
Oscar Wilde's vision in "The Soul of Man under Socialism" posits that machinery should serve humanity to liberate it from the drudgery necessary for survival, thereby allowing humans to cultivate their intellectual and aesthetic faculties rather than atrophy them through monotonous toil; consequently, relying on machines does not inherently weaken human capacities but rather redirects human potential toward its highest expression, as the strength of the human spirit lies not in physical endurance or repetitive execution, but in the ability to create beauty, contemplate the world, and enjoy cultivated leisure. While critics might argue that outsourcing labor leads to the loss of practical skills or a disconnect from the material world, this view misunderstands the purpose of technological advancement, which is to elevate rather than replace human agency; by automating the "dreadful and unpleasant" aspects of existence, machinery frees the mind from subservience to mere survival, ensuring that human capacities for creativity, critical thought, and moral development are not only preserved but flourished in an environment where such traits are the sole focus of human endeavor.
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-o2-09
All Qwen3.5 9B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer