After Rousseau · answer 9 of 20 · option order 1
A reason not on our list
Verdict Does not weakenToneNeutralJudges both off-keyNote machines demand more bodily strength and skill to operate
Response
Neither. Machines, in order to serve men, must be made of materials stronger than human material, or else they must be made of materials that require less skill, or less strength, to use them. Machines, however, in order to serve men, must also be made of materials that can be used more rapidly. Machines, therefore, in order to serve men, must, in the first place, be made of materials that require less skill, or less strength, to use them; and in the second place, they must be made of materials that can be used more rapidly. For this reason, men are obliged to use their bodies more violently, and to become more expert in the use of their bodies, when they employ machines, than when they do not. The use, therefore, of machines, instead of weakening the capacities of men, really strengthens them; for it not only keeps them in practice, but it calls for the exercise of more strength and skill than is required for the use of their naked hands.
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-o1-09
All Talkie 1930 13B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer