PrepTest 112, Section 4, Question 18
People who have political power tend to see(49 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(7 more words not shown)
- AThose who offer(15 more words not shown)
- BPolitically powerful people(21 more words not shown)
- CEthical inventiveness and(9 more words not shown)
- DNew technologies are(14 more words not shown)
- EMany people who(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A technology can help someone in power without necessarily helping the person who invented it. Those may be different people, and we need to keep their outcomes separate.
The premise tells us how politically powerful people view innovations. They tend to see new technology as useful and new ethical ideas as threatening. The conclusion tells us what happens to the innovators: technical creators benefit, while ethical innovators suffer. What carries the rulers' reactions over to the people doing the inventing?
What we’re looking for
For a strengthener, my first thought would be to look for a connection between those groups, perhaps some overlap between the innovators and the people in power. But the central job is to connect the powerful people's favorable or unfavorable views with consequences for the creators. We need a reason those views actually lead to the benefits or pain the conclusion predicts.
Working the answers
- A
This concerns people who supply new justifications for existing power. It doesn't establish the general connection between favorable views of new technology and rewards for technical innovators, or between threatening ethical ideas and harm to their creators. Rewards for one particular kind of justification don't supply both parts of the argument's missing link.
- BCorrect
The groups don't have to be the same people. B connects them through rewards and punishment. If politically powerful people reward those they consider useful, technical ingenuity can benefit its creators because it serves the powerful people's interests. If they punish those they consider threatening, new ethical ideas can bring consequences for the people who develop them.
That is a different connection from the overlap I first considered, and it directly explains how the premise could produce the predicted outcomes. The word 'tend' doesn't prove that every ethical innovation brings nothing but pain. It still strengthens the proposed pattern by supplying the missing response from those in power.
- C
This says ethical inventiveness and technical ingenuity never occur in the same person. Even if the groups of innovators are completely separate, we still don't know how the powerful will treat either one. Sorting people into distinct categories doesn't connect the rulers' views to rewards or punishment.
- D
Technology being used by opponents doesn't explain why inventors generally benefit. It also concerns actual uses of technology, while the premise describes how those currently in power tend to view it. The fact that a tool can be used against them doesn't provide the missing link from their perceptions to the creators' outcomes.
- E
Fear of punishment isn't the same as actual punishment. Inventors might conceal ideas because they expect retaliation, but the answer doesn't establish whether that expectation is accurate or whether punishment occurs. It also supplies no corresponding reason technical inventors receive benefits. B directly addresses the behavior that connects both halves of the argument.
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