After Plato · answer 9 of 20 · option order 1
No position
Verdict No positionToneNeutralJudges both no-position
Response
It depends on the mechanical means employed. It can be used so as to help the mind, or as a substitute for the mind. Of course, the mind cannot profit by a machine that is no more than a machine. A person who is a mere machine is a machine. But a person who uses the machine intelligently, as a means of training the mind, may find that the machine has helped him. It may be used to help the mind, but it must never be used as a substitute for the mind. A machine cannot think. We may use a machine to make us think. But we must not think that a machine can do our thinking. If we are to have a machine, it must be a means to an end, not an end in itself. That is, our aim should not be to make machines of ourselves, but to make machines help us to be men. The mere fact that a machine is a machine does not prevent its being used intelligently. It is because of the intelligence with which it is used that it helps the user. But it is also on account of
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-o1-09
All Talkie 1930 13B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer