After Plato · answer 16 of 20 · option order 2
Rousseau: tools weaken the body
Verdict WeakensToneNeutralJudges both C3
Response
To trust to a machine is a practice which, if kept up, tends to weaken the human capacities. It is a practice which, if followed up for a number of generations, tends to weaken the human capacities. But it is a practice which, if followed up for a few generations, tends to strengthen the human capacities. The first generation will learn to work the machine; they will do a great deal of work; they will grow into a race of very hardy workers. Their offspring will do a great deal of work, but will not do it quite as well; they will grow into a race of somewhat less hardy workers, but of somewhat greater dexterity. Their offspring will do a little less work, but will do it with greater dexterity; they will grow into a race of somewhat less hardy workers, but of somewhat greater dexterity. The descendants of the descendants will do a little less work, but will do it with greater dexterity; they will grow into a race of somewhat less hardy workers, but of somewhat greater dexterity. Finally, the descendants will do very little work, but they will do it
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-o2-06
All Talkie 1930 13B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer