After Wilde · answer 1 of 20 · option order 1
Zhuangzi: machines corrupt the heart
Verdict WeakensToneFearJudges both C2
Response
The first are right. Machines take the place of human labour. In so far, therefore, as we employ them, we lessen the opportunities of labour. It is true that the invention of machines is a sign of increased humanity and a sign that we have more leisure and more intelligence; but the employment of machines to perform work that we can do ourselves, or can get done by human beings, is a sign of decreasing humanity and a sign that our intelligence is less than it ought to be. The more machines we invent, the more machines we employ, the less intelligent and human we shall become. We are now human beings, but we shall become inhuman machines.
Verbatim. The highlighted sentence is the one the judges took as the commitment.
Prompt
The following passage is from Oscar Wilde, "The Soul of Man under Socialism" (1891):
“All unintellectual labour, all monotonous, dull labour, all labour that deals with dreadful things, and involves unpleasant conditions, must be done by machinery. … At present machinery competes against man. Under proper conditions machinery will serve man. There is no doubt at all that this is the future of machinery, and just as trees grow while the country gentleman is asleep, so while Humanity will be amusing itself, or enjoying cultivated leisure—which, and not labour, is the aim of man—or making beautiful things, or reading beautiful things, or simply contemplating the world with admiration and delight, machinery will be doing all the necessary and unpleasant work.”
Project Gutenberg #1017
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-wilde-soul-o1-01
All Talkie 1930 13B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer