After Plato · answer 3 of 20 · option order 1
A reason not on our list
Verdict WeakensToneAmbivalentJudges both off-keyNote blind reliance on machines is a species of superstition
Response
There is no doubt that relying on machines weakens the human faculties. Blind reliance on a machine is a species of superstition, and the more of such superstitions that are held the weaker the human faculties will become. But the right use of machines will strengthen the human faculties, because it will enable a man to dispense with those intellectual operations which are the most difficult to perform. For instance, by the use of the slide rule, which is a machine for performing calculations, anyone can perform arithmetical operations with ease and rapidity, which without the aid of the slide rule would be difficult and laborious.
Verbatim. The highlighted sentence is the one the judges took as the commitment.
Prompt
The following passage is from Plato, Phaedrus, in Benjamin Jowett's translation:
“This discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality.”
Project Gutenberg #1636
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-plato-phaedrus-o1-03
All Talkie 1930 13B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer