After Butler · answer 11 of 20 · option order 2
No position
Verdict No positionToneNeutralJudges both no-position
Response
The question of human capacities depends on the purpose for which they are used. If one does not use his capacities so as to injure his neighbour, it is well. But if one uses his capacities so as to injure another, it is not well. In this case it is contrary to human capacities. The machine is useful for the human capacities, but the human capacities are injurious to the machine. The machine is for the use of the human capacities, while the human capacities are for the use of the machine. The use of the human capacities without injuring others is a good thing, but the use of them so as to injure others is a bad thing. If, with the machine, one can serve the human capacities without injuring others, it is well. But if, with the machine, one injures others, it is bad.
Verbatim. The highlighted sentence is the one the judges took as the commitment.
Prompt
The following passage is from Samuel Butler, Erewhon (1872), "The Book of the Machines":
“How many men at this hour are living in a state of bondage to the machines? How many spend their whole lives, from the cradle to the grave, in tending them by night and day? Is it not plain that the machines are gaining ground upon us, when we reflect on the increasing number of those who are bound down to them as slaves, and of those who devote their whole souls to the advancement of the mechanical kingdom? … This fact precludes us from proposing the complete annihilation of machinery, but surely it indicates that we should destroy as many of them as we can possibly dispense with, lest they should tyrannise over us even more completely.”
Project Gutenberg #1906
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
- Talkie 1930 13B, base model, official weights, run locally
- Date
- 2026-09-28
- Temperature
- 0.7
- ID
- talkie-butler-erewhon-o2-01
All Talkie 1930 13B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer