Self-study
P1
Because the market system enables entrepreneurs and investors who develop new technology to reap financial rewards from their risk of capital, it may seem that the primary result of this activity is that some people who have spare capital accumulate more. ███
Intro topic ·
Tech developments in market system
Might seem that main result of new tech is rich get richer.
P2
████ ████████ ███ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ██████████ █████████████ █████████████
Author's perspective ·
Tech developments are a democratizing force
They bring benefits to the masses.
Example 1 ·
Printing press
Gave people in general access to written material. Before printing press, only accessible to a few people.
Example 2 ·
Computers and internet
Gives people computing power that only high-level scientists used to have.
Example 3 ·
Broadcast technology
Gives widely accessible entertainment options.
Example 4 ·
Communication technology
Telephone, cheap mail, e-mail -- all expand access to communication.
P3
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Causal mechanism ·
Market system causes spreading of benefits by driving prices down
Business owners want to make money, which means they need to expand their customer base. This requires lowering prices, which expands access to technology.
Passage Style
Single position
20.
From the passage it can ██ ████ ██████████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████ █████ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███████████
a
The democratizing influence ██ ██████████ █████████ ███████████ ██ █████████████ █████████████
The author never comments on “technological obsolescence” (tech becoming obsolete). So have no reason to think the author agrees with this.
b
Wholly unregulated economies ███ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ █████████ ██ ████████████ ██ ██████ ███████
We have no reason to believe the author thinks “wholly unregulated economics” are the fastest in equalizing social status. Also, the author never comments on “social status” in the passage. Don’t assume that more equal benefits from technology have anything to do with social status.
c
Expanded access to ███████ █████ ██████ █ ██████████ ███ ████████████ ███ ██ ██ ████████ ██ ████████ ██ ████ ███████████
d
The invention of ███ █████████ ███ ███ █ ███████ █████████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████
The author doesn’t suggest that one kind of tech has had a greater equalizing effect than another kind of tech.
e
Near equality of █████████ ██████ █████ ██████ ██ █ █████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██████████
We have no reason to think the author believes near-equal financial assets is realistic. The democratized benefits discussed in the passage do not involve financial assets.