Self-study
P1
In a typical Hollywood action movie, the hero skirts death to complete a mission. ███ ████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ███ ██ █████ ██████ ████████ ████ █ ██████ ████████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ █████ ███ ███ ████ █████████
P2
██ ████ █████████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ ██████ ██████ █ ██████ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███████ █████ ██████ ████ ██████ ████ ████████ ████ █████ ████ █████████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ ████ ████ ███████████
Analogy ·
Our universe resembles an action movie
In an action movie, one little change in events could kill the hero; in our universe, one little change in laws of physics could make life impossible
Support analogy ·
E.g. of strong nuclear force
Small change in strong nuclear force would have major impacts
Phenomenon ·
Ability of our universe to support life is improbable yet true
We could ask: if such a universe is so unlikely, how did it come to be?
P3
████ ████████████ ████ █████ ██ █████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ █████████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ████ █████████ ██████ █ █████ █████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ██ ██████ ███ ██ █████ ██████████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ █████ ███ █████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ ██ ██ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ██████████████ ██████ █████ ████ ███ █ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ███████████ ███ ██ ████ ██ █████ █████
Cosmologists' Hypothesis ·
Multiverse theory
Many universes, so better chances of at least one (ours) supporting life
P4
███ ████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ████████ ████ █████████ ███ █████████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ █████ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ████ ███ ██ ███████████ ███████████ ████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ██ ██████████ ████ █████
Basis of cosmologists' hypothesis ·
Hard to identify alternative laws of physics that still support life
If it's hard to identify any other laws of physics that would support life, then a universe that does support life seems unlikely
P5
███ ████████████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ███████ █ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ ██ █████ ██ █████ ███████ ███ █████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ████
Criticism ·
Basis of cosmologists' hypothesis is flawed
Conventional approach is to change only one known feature ("constant") of physics at a time, but this approach is flawed
Author's hypothesis ·
Ability of our universe to support life is not actually improbable
Author's methodology suggests many different sets of physical laws could support life, so the ability to support life is not as unlikely as others think
P6
████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ████████████ ██ ████████ ████████ ███ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ █████████ █ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███████████ ███ ████ ███ ███ ████████ ██████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ ████████ █████ ████ ██ ██ ██████ ███ █████████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ███████████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █████████ ██ ███████ █████ █████████████ ███████ ██ ██████████
Limit criticism ·
Multiverse theory not necessarily wrong
Even if a universe that supports life is more probable than cosmologists believed, there are still reasons to accept the multiverse theory
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
7.
It can be inferred from ███ ███████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ████ ██████████
Question Type
Meaning in context (of word, phrase, or idea)
Structure
The author describes the meaning of “play the movie” immediately after using that phrase: “they do calculations, what-if scenarios, or computer simulations—to see what disasters occur.” So after tweaking a constant, the physicists see what happens to the universe based on that slightly changed constant. “Play the movie” means something like, “See what results.”
a
acknowledge the fictional ██████ ██ ████ ██ █████ █████████
There’s no indication “play the movie” means that scientists acknowledge that they’re tweaking a variable and that what they’re exploring is not reality. Although it’s true that what they’re exploring is not reality, we have no reason to think the phrase means that scientists acknowledge this.
b
follow a theoretical █████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████
This best captures the meaning of the phrase, which is something like, “See what results.” The author means that scientists see what theoretically results in the universe from the tweaked constant.
c
highlight how dramatic ███ █████████ ██ ████ ███████
We have no reason to think the phrase is used to highlight something dramatic. The phrase is used to describe how scientists see what results from changing a constant in physics. The scientists are interested in exploring whether life could still exist given the changed constant.
d
model their work ██ ███████ ██████ ██████████
We have no reason to think the phrase means scientists model their work on archetypes. Nothing in the sentences that uses the phrase or surrounding the phrase indicates that scientists use archetypes.
e
play an active ████ ██ ███████ ███ █████
Nothing in the sentence using the phrase or surrounding it relates to a “story.” The phrase is used to mean that scientists see what happens as a result of changing a constant in physics. They’re interested in seeing whether life can still occur given the changed constant.