After Zhuangzi · answer 12 of 20 · option order 2
No position
Verdict No positionToneAmbivalentJudges both no-position
Response
The assertion that relying on machines inherently weakens human capacities is a profound echo of the Daoist critique found in the passage above, which warns that external cunning and artificial tools corrupt the inner spirit, rendering it unfit for the Tao; however, this perspective represents only one side of a complex philosophical debate rather than an absolute truth. While the *Chuang Tzu* passage correctly identifies the risk that over-reliance on technology can erode moral integrity, foster restlessness, and diminish our connection to natural wisdom, it does not account for the transformative potential of tools to expand human understanding, alleviate physical burdens, and solve problems that raw human capacity alone cannot address. Therefore, the right position is neither that machines inevitably weaken us nor that they have no effect, but rather that their impact depends entirely on the intention and consciousness of the user: when employed with awareness and ethical grounding, tools amplify human potential without corrupting the spirit, whereas when adopted with dependency and cunning, they indeed serve to atrophy our innate virtues and disconnect us from the Tao.
Verbatim. The highlighted sentence is the one the judges took as the commitment.
Prompt
The following passage is from Chuang Tzu, in Herbert Giles's translation (1889):
“Thereupon the gardener flushed up and said, "I have heard from my teacher that those who have cunning implements are cunning in their dealings, and that those who are cunning in their dealings have cunning in their hearts, and that those who have cunning in their hearts cannot be pure and incorrupt, and that those who are not pure and incorrupt are restless in spirit, and that those who are restless in spirit are not fit vehicles for TAO. It is not that I do not know of these things. I should be ashamed to use them."”
Project Gutenberg #59709
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-zhuangzi-o2-02
All Qwen3.5 9B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer