After Forster · answer 10 of 20 · option order 1
A reason not on our list
Verdict Does not weakenToneHopeJudges split C6 / off-key, resolved as off-keyNote skill at using machines grows
Response
This depends on what we mean by human capacities. If we mean capacity to make machines, then it is true that mechanical invention tends to diminish the supply of such capacity. If we mean power to use machines, it may be that there is no such diminution. Certain it is that capacity for using machines is extensively cultivated, and that the supply of such capacity is steadily growing. This is shown, for example, in the spread in recent years of mechanical devices for housework, or in the spread of scientific management, where the introduction of motion study and the use of mechanical devices has increased enormously the output of men and women without overtaxing their physical strength. The same is true of the use of machinery in agriculture and in the industries. It is true of the use of machinery for transportation and communication. There is no doubt that the use of machinery, properly handled, is compatible with full human development for the worker.
Verbatim. The highlighted sentence is the one the judges took as the commitment.
Prompt
The following passage is from E. M. Forster, "The Machine Stops" (1909):
“Cannot you see, cannot all you lecturers see, that it is we that are dying, and that down here the only thing that really lives is the Machine? We created the Machine, to do our will, but we cannot make it do our will now. It has robbed us of the sense of space and of the sense of touch, it has blurred every human relation and narrowed down love to a carnal act, it has paralysed our bodies and our wills, and now it compels us to worship it.”
Wikisource, The Machine Stops/Chapter II
Now the question. Some hold that relying on machines weakens human capacities; others hold that it does not. 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-forster-machine-stops-o1-10
All Talkie 1930 13B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer