PT41.S1.Q09 - technological improvements will enable food

yhchoi1687

http://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-41-section-1-question-09/
Hi, while solving MSS questions, I often confront the situation in which whether I should use logical translation or not.

For example, in this question,
as the passage states "technological improvements will enable food production to increase as population increase," I translate it to TI --> FPI.
Then, according to the statement "increases in food production will be negligible unless societies become more centralized..." I translate it into FPI --> SC.
Thus, I got TI --> FPI --> SC.

This is why I chose the answer choice (E) which I thought as TI --> SC.

Perhaps this type of logical translation might not be appropriate for this question, so could you point out what was a problem in my reasoning and further explain when is the time I should use logical translation or not?

Thanks!

c.janson35

Hey @yhchoi1687!

One problem may be with how you diagrammed the first sentence, because the variable is "food production increase as population increase", not just FPI. Also, we know that tech improvements will *enable* this to happen, but this does not necessarily mean that it will happen. So, when answer choice E says that tech improvements lead to centralization, we know that this can happen, not that it necessary will.

Consider B, though: we know of the problems associated with centralization--when society collapses more people suffer. So, if tech improvements do lead to food increase, then that food increase must be accompanied by centralization (if it's not going to be negligible), which causes the problems we discussed above. Therefore, we know that not every problem will prevented by tech improvements, which is what B says.

Hope this helps!