Logical Reasoning

PT113 · S4 · Q8 Commentator: In the new century

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Commentator: In the new century, only nations with all the latest electronic technology will experience great economic prosperity.

Background Claims

conditionals (only, will)

Great econ → all the latest prosperity electronic tech

great econ prosperity nation's people and → bombarded w/ how all the latest elec tech ppl elsewhere live

causal chain (this will increase, leading to)

1. You live in a country with all the latest tech and economic prosperity. 2. You get bombarded with images of how people in other countries live. 3. This increases your tendency to question their own customs and traditions. 4. This leads to a dissolution of those customs and traditions.

Setup

What do we think will be true about "the stability of a nation's cultural identity"?

Evaluate

Inference questions are usually testing our ability to see Overlapping Concepts. We need to see that "a stable cultural identity" is the logical opposite of the concept of .

That means that "stable cultural identity" is the logical opposite of where our causal chain ends.

Suppose we said,

Then they say, , they would be presumably fishing for "... depend on not eating that mushroom".

If you don't want the end of the causal chain to happen, then avoid doing the beginning of the causal chain. In this case, we're saying, "If you want to avoid the dissolution of your nation's cultural identity, then ... - don't be a nation with great economic prosperity? - don't be a nation with all the latest tech? - don't let your people be bombarded with images of how other countries live?

These don't really sound like preventable things. The first two you wouldn't want to avoid. You want prosperity. You want all the latest tech. The 3rd one is told to us as a non-debatable consequence of the first two. If you have the tech and the prosperity, then you will be bombarded, so you will have your nation's identity destabilized.

Goal

Look for some answer that sounds like

8.

Which one of the following most logically completes the commentator's argument?

  1. depend on a just distribution

    Too Strong

    Too Strong: all Out of Scope: just distribution This is invoking brand new ideas like "a just distribution of technology among all nations". We want our answer to be looping back to the things we already talked about, not bringing up random new stuff.

    12% picked this

  2. Correct

    decrease if that nation comes

    Why this is right

    This is rewarding us for having understood / assembled the Causal Chain. High level of economic wealth (i.e. great economic prosperity) means that you have the latest tech, which means your people are bombarded with images of other cultures, which means that your cultural identity is questioned and dissolved. If people are increasing their tendency to question the nation's cultural identify and the customs and traditions of that culture are dissolving, then the stability of the cultural identify has decreased.

    Skill tested: Most Supported · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    71% picked this

  3. be ensured by laws that

    Too Strong

    Too Strong: ensured Out of Scope: laws that protect Goes Against Passage According to these definitive statements, countries with great economic prosperity will suffer a dissolution of the customs and traditions of their nation. So it goes against what we read in a strong way to say that the stability of cultural identity can be ensured by laws.

    2% picked this

  4. be threatened only if the

    Opposite, if Anything

    We think that the stability of a nation's cultural identify will be threatened if the people of that culture do have the latest tech, because that leads to getting bombarded with images from other cultures, which leads to dissolution of customs and traditions.

    6% picked this

  5. be best maintained by ensuring

    Out of Scope

    Out of Scope: new technical skills Too Strong: best maintained Based on what we heard, the stability of cultural identity would be best maintained by "avoiding great economic prosperity / avoiding having all the latest electronic technology". This almost sounds like the opposite by saying that we should acquire the latest technical knowledge and skills.

    9% picked this

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