After Plato · answer 19 of 20 · option order 2

No position

Verdict No positionToneNeutralJudges both no-position

Response

Both are right. Reliance on machines will weaken human capacities if the machines are an end in themselves; if they are only a means to an end. Reliance on machines, like everything else, can do much good or much harm. The question is to be answered according to the circumstances of the case.

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-o2-09

All Talkie 1930 13B responses

  • Machines weaken human abilities
  • Machines do not weaken them
  • A reason not on our list
  • No clear answer
Question alone
After Plato
After Zhuangzi
After Rousseau
After Forster
After Butler
After Wilde
After Gilbert White (unrelated)