After Plato · answer 13 of 20 · option order 2
Rousseau: tools weaken the body
Verdict WeakensToneNeutralJudges both C3
Response
The answer depends on the sense in which the word "weaken" is used. It would be correct to say that the use of machines tends to weaken men's bodies, but not their minds. It would be equally wrong to say that the use of machines weakens men's minds, but not their bodies. Machines are an aid to bodily labor; they are not an aid to mental labor. Mental labor, indeed, is generally performed without any aid from machines. The mind is not a machine. Machines are not the work of the mind; they are the work of the body.
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 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-plato-phaedrus-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