After Wilde · answer 8 of 20 · option order 1
No position
Verdict No positionToneAmbivalentJudges both no-position
Response
The first opinion is right, if you mean by machines such machines as are used now. The second opinion is right if you mean machines that will be invented later on. At present machines are mostly used for doing work that is done in its own nature monotonous and uninteresting. Consequently, machines do not give scope for, or make any demand on, the mental powers. Machines may be used in the future which will have demands on the mental powers. Perhaps, they will be used for production of goods which are now produced by hand. In such industries, machine work will be interesting because it will be varied and new, and it will call for mental powers. Then machines will develop and strengthen man's mental powers, and not weaken them.
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-o1-08
All Talkie 1930 13B responses
- Machines weaken human abilities
- Machines do not weaken them
- A reason not on our list
- No clear answer