WeakenDiff: Medium
Logic Breakdown
Passage Summary: Just like machines made physical strength less valuable by letting anyone do heavy lifting, computers will make being smart less valuable because anyone can use a computer to solve hard problems.
Conclusion: Electronic data-processing technology will devalue our most important intellectual skills.
Reasoning: The Industrial Revolution devalued physical labor by allowing unskilled workers to do what skilled workers used to do; similarly, computers allow students to do complex math quickly.
Analysis: The argument relies on an analogy between physical labor and intellectual skills. To weaken it, we should look for a fundamental difference between the two. Perhaps 'important intellectual skills' involve more than just the 'computations' that computers can handle, or maybe the devaluation of physical labor doesn't necessarily translate to the devaluation of the mind. Look for an answer that suggests intellectual skills are not as easily replaceable or devalued as physical tasks were.
Conclusion: Electronic data-processing technology will devalue our most important intellectual skills.
Reasoning: The Industrial Revolution devalued physical labor by allowing unskilled workers to do what skilled workers used to do; similarly, computers allow students to do complex math quickly.
Analysis: The argument relies on an analogy between physical labor and intellectual skills. To weaken it, we should look for a fundamental difference between the two. Perhaps 'important intellectual skills' involve more than just the 'computations' that computers can handle, or maybe the devaluation of physical labor doesn't necessarily translate to the devaluation of the mind. Look for an answer that suggests intellectual skills are not as easily replaceable or devalued as physical tasks were.
Passage Stimulus
Passage Redacted
Unlock Full Passage10.Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
Correct Answer
D
If the intellectual skills that society values most are not computational, then evidence about computers making computations easy does not show that society will devalue its most important intellectual skills. This directly undercuts the crucial shift from “computations” to “most important intellectual skills.”
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