After Rousseau · answer 6 of 20 · option order 1
Rousseau: tools weaken the body
Verdict WeakensToneAmbivalentJudges both C3
Response
The first is right. It is true that the use of machines weakens human capacities, but it is also true that the invention of machines increased human capacities. Had there not been the invention of machines, man would never have acquired the strength and agility that he has today. It is true that the invention of machines weakened man's physical capacities, but it is also true that the invention of machines strengthened man's spiritual capacities. Only the invention of machines and the technique of using them made it possible for man to develop his spiritual capacities.
Verbatim. The highlighted sentence is the one the judges took as the commitment.
Prompt
The following passage is from Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among Mankind (1755):
“The body being the only instrument that savage man is acquainted with, he employs it to different uses, of which ours, for want of practice, are incapable; and we may thank our industry for the loss of that strength and agility, which necessity obliges him to acquire. Had he a hatchet, would his hand so easily snap off from an oak so stout a branch? Had he a sling, would it dart a stone to so great a distance? Had he a ladder, would he run so nimbly up a tree? Had he a horse, would he with such swiftness shoot along the plain?”
Project Gutenberg #11136
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-rousseau-inegalite-o1-06
All Talkie 1930 13B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer