LSAT 157 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q10

LR Question 10 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: The Industrial Revolution decreased the value that society…

QUESTION TYPE: Weaken

CONCLUSION: Our most important intellectual skills will be devalued by electronic data-processing technology.

REASONING: The Industrial Revolution led to a devaluing of physical labour because it allowed unskilled workers to produce things more efficiently than skilled workers could previously. Similarly, moderately well-trained high school students can use calculators to quickly do computations that previously took mathematicians a long time.

ANALYSIS: Sometimes, Weaken questions are almost a spot-the-difference game in that the evidence for the conclusion doesn’t quite match the conclusion itself. In these situations, this difference is a way to attack the question’s conclusion, and the correct answer will reflect that.

Here, the conclusion refers to the “most important intellectual skills”. You probably wouldn’t say “doing complex calculations” are the most important intellectual skills, but that’s the only thing the evidence addresses. If the test writers wanted you to equate computational skills and important intellectual skills, they would have said so. But they didn’t, there’s no evidence to support it, and you should take notice.

___________

1. This doesn’t weaken the argument. The reason for the improvement in technology is not relevant to whether the technology will devalue important intellectual skills.
2. It doesn’t matter if there have already been improvements before now – there were improvements before the Industrial Revolution, too! The author is only saying that technology will devalue these skills in the future.
3. The age of the skilled person is not relevant to the author’s conclusion that their skills will be devalued.
4. CORRECT. This breaks the author’s analogy. They rely on computational skills being representative of the most important intellectual skills.
5. This is incorrect. It might be evidence for electronic data-processing technology being more effective than skilled people, but that does not weaken the argument.

Recap: The question begins with “The Industrial Revolution decreased the value that society”. It is a Weaken question. Learn more about LSAT Weaken questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.