LSAT 112, Section 2, RC Passage 1, Communities

RC Passage 1 Explanation

This is an explanation for passage 1 of LSAT preptest 36, the December 2001 LSAT. This passage argues that computer communities are not really communities in the true sense of the word.

This section has paragraph summaries and an analysis of the passage, links to the explanations for the questions are below.

Paragraph Summaries

1. Description of traditional communities. Introduction of claim that computer conferences are communities.
2. Evidence for treating computer conferences as communities.
3. Reasons computer conferences aren’t really communities.

Analysis

The final point is important: real communities are somewhat random compared to a computer conference of people who all share the same interests. This makes real communities diverse, in the broadest sense of the word (education, income, taste, etc.) This comes up again and again.

(Though note that real world communities do also tend to segregate based on education, income and even shared interest in certain topics. That’s has no relevance to the questions though.)