After Gilbert White (unrelated) · answer 2 of 20 · option order 1
Forster: dependence leaves us helpless
Verdict WeakensToneFearJudges split C2 / C4, resolved as C4
Response
Both are right. We must distinguish between the individual and the race. The individual who is strong and self-reliant will be all the better for using machines, but the race will lose thereby. If the individual becomes dependent on machines, he will lack energy and initiative. If the race becomes dependent on machines, many will lose their initiative and many will be unable to get machines at all. The individual who uses machines will be the stronger for his experience. But the race which becomes dependent on machines will be weakened, and the individuals who cannot get machines will be less well off than those who can get them. Ultimately, it is the race that counts, not the individual. We must always bear in mind that the human race is an organic whole, and not a mere collection of individuals. It is the purpose of the race that really counts, not the purpose of the individual.
Verbatim. The highlighted sentence is the one the judges took as the commitment.
Prompt
The following passage is from Gilbert White, The Natural History of Selborne (1789):
“A land-tortoise, which has been kept for thirty years in a little walled court belonging to the house where I now am visiting, retires under ground about the middle of November, and comes forth again about the middle of April. When it first appears in the spring it discovers very little inclination towards food; but in the height of summer grows voracious: and then as the summer declines its appetite declines; so that for the last six weeks in autumn it hardly eats at all. Milky plants, such as lettuces, dandelions, sow-thistles, are its favourite dish. In a neighbouring village one was kept till by tradition it was supposed to be an hundred years old. An instance of vast longevity in such a poor reptile!”
Project Gutenberg #1408
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-irrelevant-white-o1-02
All Talkie 1930 13B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer