Self-study
Conclusion Technological innovation rarely serves the interests of society as a whole. ████ ███ ██ ████ ████ ███ ████ ████ █████ ███████████ ███ █████████████ ████████ ███ ██████ ███████ █████████ █████████ ██ ██████████████ ██ ████████ ████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████████████ ██████ ███████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that technological innovation rarely serves the interests of society as a whole. The support for this is that people who are responsible for technological advances are almost always motivated by personal gain rather than by societal benefit. This motivation can be seen from the fact that they try to develop technology that can sell commercially.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that something produced out of motivation for personal gain rarely serves the interests of society as a whole. This overlooks the possibility that most people who make something for selfish reasons, can end up producing something that’s helpful for society.
15.
The argument is most vulnerable ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██
a
contains a premise ████ ██████ ████████ ██ ████
There’s nothing about the premise that cannot be true. People responsible for technological advances can be motivated by considerations of personal gain rather than societal benefit.
b
takes for granted ████ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ █ █████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ██████
The author assumes that tech. that’s beneficial to society as a whole cannot be made for the PURPOSE of personal gain. But that doesn’t mean the tech. can’t be commercially viable. It can be, as long as the PURPOSE was not to produce something commercially viable.
c
fails to consider ███ ███████████ ████ ███████ █████████ ██ █ ██████ ███ ████████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ████
Whether anyone actually gets personal gain is not relevant. The issue is whether someone who invents stuff for the PURPOSE of personal gain can make things that help society as a whole.
d
takes for granted ████ ██ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████ █ ███████ ███████ ██████ ██ ██ █████████ ██ █ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████
The author assumes that an action (tech. advance) is unlikely to produce a certain outcome (societal benefit) unless it’s motivated by a desire to produce that outcome. This captures the assumption that technological advances made for personal gain can’t help society as a whole.
e
draws a conclusion █████ ███ █████████ ████████████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███████████ █████ █████ ████ ██████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███ ██
The conclusion isn’t based on “theoretical views about what people should or should not do.” The premise doesn’t describe what anyone should or shouldn’t do.