PT149.S2.P2.Q8

PrepTest 149 - Section 2 - Passage 2 - Question 8

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P1

In a typical Hollywood action movie, the hero skirts death to complete a mission. ███ ████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ███ ██ █████ ██████ ████████ ████ █ ██████ ████████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ █████ ███ ███ ████ █████████

P2

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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
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Support analogy · E.g. of strong nuclear force
Small change in strong nuclear force would have major impacts
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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

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Cosmologists' Hypothesis · Multiverse theory
Many universes, so better chances of at least one (ours) supporting life
P4

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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

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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
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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

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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)
Show answer
8.

The passage suggests that the ████████████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███████████

a

Our universe is ████████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████████

Not supported, because there’s no indication the cosmologists think one universe affects another universe. What matters is that collectively, there’s a high chance at least one universe can support life.

1%
b

The existence of ████████ █████████ █████ ████ ████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ █████

Not supported, because the cosmologists don’t believe that as there are more and more universes, the chance of each universe having life goes up. What matters is that collectively, there’s a high chance at least one universe can support life.

4%
c

The laws of ███████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ███ ███████████

Anti-supported. The cosmologists think the laws of physics are difference in each universe; this is how one universe might have a set of laws that can support life even when other universes don’t.

2%
d

There are enough █████████ ██ ████ ██ ████████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ██ █████ ███ ██ █████

Supported by the last sentence of P3.

91%
e

There is only ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ████████ █████

Not supported, because the cosmologists believe that there’s a good chance that a set of laws that supports life occurs “at least once.” This acknowledges that multiple universes might be able to support life.

2%

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