Self-study
Why should the government, rather than industry or universities, provide the money to put a network of supercomputers in place. ███████ █████ ██ █ █████ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ██ ████████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ █████████████ ████████ ██ █ █████████████ ████████ ██ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ ████████ ██ ██████ ██████ ████████ ███ █ █████ ████████ ███ ██ ████████ ██ ██████████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ █ ████ ██ █ ███████ ██ ██ █████████ ██████ ███ ████████████ █████████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █ ██████
Argument Summary
The author argues that the government should be the one to fund a supercomputer network. Why the government and not businesses or universities? Because no single business or university can afford to buy enough machines for an entire network. And no business or university wants to invest in just a piece of a network when there's no plan to coordinate the whole thing. In short, the author thinks that individual businesses and universities can't or won't get the job done on their own, so the government needs to step in.
Anticipation
Notice the way the author frames the limitations of businesses and universities. The premises describe what individual businesses and universities can't do or don't want to do.
But does that mean businesses and universities are completely out of the picture? What if they worked together? The author seems to assume that businesses and universities can only act alone, and never considers the possibility that they could pool their resources or coordinate with each other.
26.
Which one of the following █████████ █ ████████ ██ ███ █████████
a
It does not ███████ █ ███ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ███ █████████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ██ █████████
This is tempting because you might think the argument leaves the coordination problem unresolved. But the argument does furnish a way to resolve the dilemma: have the government provide the money. That's the author's entire point. The author identifies the problem (no one entity can or will fund the network alone) and proposes a solution (government funding). So (A) inaccurately describes the argument.
b
It does not █████████ ███ █████████████ ██ ████████ █ █████████████ ███████ ██ ██ █████████████ ████████
Whether the network could be international rather than funded by one government is beside the point. The argument is about why the government, rather than businesses or universities, should provide the money. The scope of the network (national vs. international) is a separate issue that doesn't address a weakness in the author's reasoning about who should fund it.
c
It fails to ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████ ████ ████████ ██ █████████████ ████████ ███ █████ ███ ████████████ ███
This might be tempting because maintenance seems like a practical concern the author ignores. But the author's argument is specifically about who should provide the money to establish the network. Who maintains the network afterward is a separate question. Even if maintenance is an important issue, leaving it unaddressed doesn't weaken the author's reasoning about why the government should fund the network's creation.
d
It takes for ███████ ███ ███████ █████████████ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ████████ ███████████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████
The author's reasoning is based on the inability of individual businesses or universities to fund the network, not on any claim about boosting national scientific reputation. Since the argument doesn't rely on that assumption, (D) doesn't identify a weakness.
e
It overlooks the ███████████ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████████ ██ █████ █████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ████████
This points out a possibility that would undermine the author's reasoning. The premises establish that no individual business or university can afford the network or wants to invest in just a piece of it. But what if multiple businesses, multiple universities, or some combination of the two joined forces? They could pool their resources to collectively purchase the machines, and they could coordinate with each other to plan the network as a whole. If that's possible, then the government might not need to be the one providing the money after all.