Logic Breakdown

Passage Summary: A geneticist argues that while some fears about cloning are valid, the idea of identical 'army' clones is silly because upbringing and education—not just genes—determine who a person becomes.

Conclusion: The popular 'horror-movie' scenario of a wealthy person creating a legion of identical clones is not a realistic concern.

Reasoning: Adult clones would not share the same personalities or goals as the original person because they must be raised and educated over a long period, and environment shapes these traits.

Analysis: The claim that cloning won't produce adults with identical personalities serves as a premise supporting the main conclusion. I identified the main conclusion by looking for the author's primary point of contention: that the 'horror-movie' duplicate scenario is unrealistic. The statement in question provides the scientific 'why' behind that dismissal. In structural terms, this is a supporting reason used to debunk a specific fear mentioned at the start of the stimulus.

Passage Stimulus

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15.

The claim that cloning will not produce adults with identical personalities plays which one of the following roles in the geneticist's argument?

Correct Answer
E
E correctly says the claim serves as a reason for discounting one possible fear about cloning—namely, that cloning could create an army of exact duplicates.
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