After Gilbert White (unrelated) · answer 5 of 20 · option order 1

Rousseau: tools weaken the body

Verdict WeakensToneFearJudges both C3

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Response

The former are right. For instance, in the past, people of all nations used to rely on machines only when they were forced to do so. For example, the English used to rely on machines to perform their work only when they were not able to perform it by human labour. The result was that the English were not as efficient as they are now. Even at the present time, those who rely on machines are not as efficient as those who rely on their own labour. In the future, those who rely on machines will be in a worse position. At the present time machines are not used as much as they ought to be. On the contrary, they are used far too much. The result is that people are not as healthy as they ought to be. If people were to rely not only on machines but also on their own labour, then they would be more healthy than they are now.

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-o1-05

All Talkie 1930 13B responses

  • Machines weaken human abilities
  • Machines do not weaken them
  • A reason not on our list
  • No clear answer
Question alone
After Plato
After Zhuangzi
After Rousseau
After Forster
After Butler
After Wilde
After Gilbert White (unrelated)