PrepTest 157, Section 2, Question 10
The Industrial Revolution decreased the value that society(62 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(7 more words not shown)
- AMuch industrial machinery(10 more words not shown)
- BBefore electronic data-processing(15 more words not shown)
- COn average, skilled(18 more words not shown)
- DThe intellectual skills(9 more words not shown)
- EElectronic data-processing technology(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Being good at calculations isn't the same as having every important intellectual skill.
The argument compares computers with industrial machinery. But even the machinery example invites a distinction: replacing the skilled part of making something needn't remove every physical task. Someone might still have to operate the machine or supply physical effort. We can accept the historical claim the passage gives us while asking whether the comparison carries as far as the author wants.
Now consider the computer example. High school students can use computers to perform calculations that once required skilled mathematicians. That tells us something about computation. Does it tell us what will happen to the intellectual skills society values most? What about the judgment involved in law or medicine, or creative work? Those skills might differ from performing calculations. And people are still involved in the example: the students are using the computers.
What we’re looking for
We're asked to weaken the prediction that our most important intellectual skills will be devalued. I'd look for a reason the computation example doesn't represent those skills. We don't need to prove that computers are incapable of intellectual work. We need to question the leap from this particular task to the skills covered by the conclusion.
Working the answers
- A
Computers help design and build machinery. That gives another use for the technology, but it doesn't show that the intellectual skills society values most will retain their value. The argument's prediction concerns their value, not whether computers have entered industrial work.
- B
Earlier mathematical techniques also made computations faster. But what happened to the value society placed on intellectual skills? B doesn't tell us. Without that connection, a previous gain in speed doesn't show that the present technology won't have the effect the author predicts.
- C
The ages at which mathematicians and craftspeople are most productive don't address the value of their skills after technological change. Whether one group peaks younger doesn't explain why the comparison would fail in the relevant respect.
- DCorrect
The skills society values most highly aren't computational. That separates the conclusion's subject from the example offered to support it. Computers may make calculations easier for less specialized users without similarly devaluing the noncomputational skills society prizes most. D doesn't prove that those other skills can never be affected by computers; it shows why this evidence about calculation is inadequate for the broad prediction.
- E
The technology has made some previously impossible tasks possible. That can be true while some existing skills lose value. Creating new capabilities doesn't itself show that our most important intellectual skills will keep their former standing. We still need the distinction D supplies between those skills and the computational example.
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