After Gilbert White (unrelated) · answer 13 of 20 · option order 2
A reason not on our list
Verdict WeakensToneFearJudges both off-keyNote machines cause unemployment, which weakens the body
Response
Both are right. If, as they say, machines are the product of man's invention and should not be blamed for the deterioration of the race, we must remember that machines are the cause of the very deterioration itself. The invention of machines has deprived the people of work; and consequently unemployment has become chronic in most countries. The latter is certainly a very depressing influence on the human body and must weaken the human capacity. Thus the very machines which are supposed to be harmless, are proving themselves to be the cause of the deterioration of the race.
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 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-irrelevant-white-o2-03
All Talkie 1930 13B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer