Self-study
Expert: Some people claim that, since food production has thus far increased faster than population has, there is no need to be concerned about widespread food shortages. █████ ██████ ████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ████████ █████████ █████ ███ ████ ██ ██ ████████ ██ ████ █ ███ █████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██████ █████ ██ ████████ ██ ██████████ ████ ██ █████████ █████ ██████████ ████ █████████ ███ ███████████
Summarize Argument
The expert concludes that widespread food shortages will definitely happen. This is based on the claim that the planet’s resources will only allow for only a certain amount of increase in food production from now, after which no more increases will be possible.
Notable Assumptions
The expert assumes that the world population will eventually grow past the point where the maximum food production allowed by the planet’s resources is enough.
7.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ ████████ ██████████
a
The world's food ██████████ ██████ ████████ ███ ██████████
This doesn’t help the argument, because it doesn’t establish that the world’s population will ever exceed the level supported by maximum food production. In fact, it tells us nothing at all about population.
b
Food resources from ███ ███████ ██████ ████ ██████████ ██ █████ █████████
This is irrelevant, since the expert has already established that there is a maximum amount of food production allowed by the planet’s resources; it doesn’t make a difference to point out where those resources might come from.
c
The world's population ███ ████████ ████████ ██████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███████ █████ ██████
This weakens by undermining the expert’s assumption that the world population’s food needs will surpass what the earth can produce. If the population continues to be stable, even the planet’s current food production should still be enough to prevent food shortages.
d
Periodic regional food █████████ ████ ████████ ██ █████ ███████ ██████████ ████████
This is irrelevant, since the expert’s prediction of widespread food shortages in the future doesn’t rely on any evidence of regional food shortages occurring in the past.
e
Population will continue ██ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ████ ████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ███ ███████ ██████
This strengthens by affirming the expert’s assumption that the world population’s food needs will surpass what the earth can produce.