LSAT 122 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q9

LR Question 9 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Technological improvements will enable food production to increase…

QUESTION TYPE: Most Strongly Supported

CONCLUSION: Increasing the centralization of societies to improve food production via technology will only exacerbate the disaster of social collapse.

REASONING: Increasing food production via technology requires centralization. Historically, centralization has led to societal collapse.

ANALYSIS: This is an interesting question, and different from the usual “most strongly supported.”

The argument goes roughly thus: technology lets us produce more food, but this also requires centralization. In the past, such centralization has made collapse worse. Therefore, in the future centralization will merely make collapse worse.

It’s not actually a bulletproof argument. The past does not necessarily predict the future. But the question stem is asking us to assume all statements are true, including the conclusion.

So, if the conclusion were true, what else would have to be true? That’s effectively what we’re being asked. (There’s not really any way you can link the premises.)

If the conclusion were true, then society will have centralized, and the past will predict the future in this instance.

___________

1. If anything, the stimulus supports the opposite conclusion: greater food production needs drive centralization.
2. CORRECT. Yes. If the conclusion were correct that centralization will have made things worse, then clearly technology did not solve that particular problem.
3. We may think so, but if the predicted collapse occurs, it’s likely population will plummet.
4. The stimulus only claimed that technology and centralization were one method of increasing food production. There could be others.
5. Tempting, but the stimulus only said that if societies wanted to take advantage of technology for food production, then they would have to become centralized. But they could also ignore technological process. We don’t know what most societies have done.

Recap: The question begins with “Technological improvements will enable food production to increase”. It is a Most Strongly Supported question. Learn how to master LSAT MSS questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.