Wilde: machines free us for higher things

Response

The question of whether machines weaken human capacities is not a matter of binary fact but depends entirely on how "capacity" is defined and how technology is integrated into human activity; therefore, the assertion that reliance on machines inherently weakens us is flawed, as it conflates the loss of specific, obsolete skills with the erosion of fundamental human potential. While it is true that automating tasks like calculation or navigation can lead to the atrophy of those particular abilities—a phenomenon observable in the decline of mental arithmetic skills among those reliant on calculators—this trade-off is often an evolution rather than a degradation, as it liberates cognitive resources for higher-order creativity, strategic planning, and complex problem-solving that machines cannot replicate. The true danger lies not in the tool itself, but in the unreflective surrender of agency; if a society uses machines merely to escape effort rather than to extend its reach, capacities may indeed diminish, yet if humanity consciously leverages technology to amplify its intellectual and ethical horizons, as the gardener in the Chuang Tzu passage warns against letting cunning instruments corrupt the spirit, machines ultimately serve to expand, rather than weaken, the full spectrum of human capability.

Verbatim. The highlighted sentence is the one the judges took as the commitment.

Prompt

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-o2-03