After Rousseau · answer 11 of 20 · option order 2
A reason not on our list
Verdict WeakensToneNeutralJudges split off-key / C1, resolved as off-keyNote weakens mind, not body; reason unclear
Response
The machine does not weaken the capacities of the human body, but it weakens the capacity of the human mind. The machine does not weaken the capacity of the human body, because the muscles of the human body do not need human intelligence. The brain has no geometrical sense and no mechanical perception; and machines, as a rule, do not need a geometrical sense and a mechanical perception. Machines, as an example, do not need to know that a ball, dropped from the hand, will fall to the ground. To drop a ball from the hand requires no geometrical sense and no mechanical perception. This is why the machine does not weaken the muscles of the human body. But machines, as a rule, do need a human intelligence, as for instance, if the machine is to be used for the production of a new machine, or for some other purpose. Thus the machine does weaken the capacity of the human mind.
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 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-rousseau-inegalite-o2-01
All Talkie 1930 13B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer