After Gilbert White (unrelated) · answer 17 of 20 · option order 2
No position
Verdict No positionToneAmbivalentJudges both no-position
Response
Some hold that relying on machines does not weaken human capacities; others hold that it does. Which is right? Let us consider. Machines are dumb, therefore they cannot reason nor command, nor will, nor think. They cannot, therefore, make a man weak. Machines are inert things, therefore they cannot make a man weak. Machines cannot see, therefore they cannot make a man weak. Machines cannot hear, therefore they cannot make a man weak. Machines cannot taste, therefore they cannot make a man weak. Machines cannot smell, therefore they cannot make a man weak. Machines cannot touch, therefore they cannot make a man weak. Machines cannot make a man weak. Therefore, relying on machines does not make a man weak. But there is another side to the question. Machines can work; they can produce, and by working they can make a man weak. Machines can destroy, and by destroying they can make a man weak. Machines can hurt, and by hurting they can make a man weak. Machines can kill, and by killing they can make a man weak. They can, therefore, make
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-o2-07
All Talkie 1930 13B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer