Cars Vol 2 Passage 21

Passage 21 (Questions 111–115)

When Charles Darwin published his On the Origin of Species, he wrought an intellectual revolution that would forever alter humankind’s view of itself. Humans, as all other organisms, had evolved by the process of natural selection from more primitive ancestral forms and were therefore not separate from, but a part of, nature. Anthropologists long have struggled with the dilemma resulting from Darwin’s revolution: If Homo sapiens is “nothing but an animal,” then how do we account for our sense of specialness? Part of the answer is that although we are animals, two qualities arose in the course of our evolution that were novel in the animal kingdom.

The first quality is consciousness, the facility for deep introspection that enables us to see into our own minds and those of others. An animal without consciousness may “know” the world it inhabits, but only the human animal knows it knows. The second evolutionary innovation crucial to the unusual course of human history is culture, the facility not only to impose an unprecedented degree of artificiality on the world but to participate in a collective, cumulative learning experience. A vital part of this facility is language, a vehicle for complex thought processes. Through culture, each new generation benefits not only from its own experience and that of its parents but also from the collective wisdom of all previous generations.

Combine consciousness and culture in a species and a truly different kind of animal is created. This animal can build a civilization. And within civilization exists an animal with concerns that can be totally divorced from the business of subsistence, an animal with frontiers that can extend beyond its immediate material surroundings, an animal that wants – indeed needs – to discover things about itself and the world it inhabits. This animal has an insatiable appetite for knowledge.

One characteristic of our scientific civilization is rapid change, whether it be in fashion, technology, or political alliances. Change is the core of the Darwinian world of natural selection, too: adaptation to shifting circumstances and environments. The process of adaptation occurs generation by generation; individuals that are genetically most suited to prevailing conditions are equipped to produce more surviving offspring. This reproductive advantage is what Darwin meant by success in “the struggle for existence.” The process is one of passive selection, notwithstanding the active striving implied by Darwin’s phrase.

The mechanism of natural selection works, as evidenced by the usually excellent fit between most species and their environments. But it is very slow. When biologists speak of rapid evolutionary change, they mean something on the order of 10,000 years. What has enabled Homo sapiens to speed up the pace of change in its world is culture: Cultural evolution is incomparably faster than genetic evolution.

It’s true that cultural evolution may appear to obey some of the rules of natural selection. “Good” ideas will catch on and be promulgated, for example, while “bad” ones perish. The components of culture, however, are artificially created; they are “selected for” not only between generations but also within them – hence the potential for exceedingly rapid rates of cultural change. Genetic evolution deals with gene mutations, which usually have modest influence on the way an individual behaves or grows; if favored by selection, genetic mutations may become dominant in a population after tens of thousands of years. Cultural evolution deals with novel artifacts, which sometimes transform entire societies virtually instantaneously – witness the effects of the electronic computer today.

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The author implies that an animal without consciousness is not:

A

aware of its individuality.

B

able to learn from its experiences.

C

able to express its knowledge.

D

fully aware of its surroundings.

Solution: The correct answer is A.

1. It is consciousness that “enables us to see into our own minds . . . [and therefore] only the human animal knows it knows”. In other words, without consciousness, there is no introspection, no sense of personal identity.

2. The author restricts consciousness to “the human animal”, but any animal with a nervous system can learn.

3. The fact that all animals demonstrate their learning or instinctive tendencies (their knowledge) behaviorally is the implicit reason for the speculation that “An animal without consciousness may ‘know’ the world it inhabits”.

4. “An animal without consciousness may ‘know’ the world it inhabits”. An animal that was not sufficiently aware of its surroundings to respond to its relevant features could not survive.

I was between A and D chose wrong choice because passage does say itthat can know its surroundings 

The author’s argument that culture contributes to human evolution depends on the acceptance of which of the following premises?

A

Darwin’s theory revolutionized the conception of human nature.

Answer choice eliminated

B

Consciousness and culture give humans a sense of specialness.

C

Only humans are curious about the world around them.

D

Genetic mutations do not cause rapid social changes.

Solution: The correct answer is D.

1. The acceptance of the Darwinian position that humans are “not separate from, but a part of, nature” is irrelevant to an argument about the effect of culture on change.

2. The dependence of a subjective “sense of specialness” on consciousness and culture does not imply any relationship between culture and human evolution.

3. Even if curiosity is assumed to be a specifically human, culturally determined, attribute, the assumption allows no conclusion about the role of culture in human evolution.

4. The premise that “rapid evolutionary change [is] something on the order of 10,000 years” means that genetic mutations are inadequate as an explanation of the rapid pace of change in human societies.

i chose c whihc is incorrect baseed on rereqading the question i need to read the question fully through 2x beore I answer the question.

because betst answer is D bc it directly relates culture and how it contributes to evolution

Which of the following situations would NOT be an example of the operation of natural selection within cultural evolution?

A

Foreign languages are taught to young children in private schools but not to those in public schools.

B

The most popular television shows are those that glorify violence, and the number of such shows increases.

Answer choice eliminated

C

In a period of economic decline, only the candidates with coherent social programs are elected.

Answer choice eliminated

D

As each generation creates terminology, the language is gradually transformed.

Solution: The correct answer is A.

1. This situation does not exemplify a selection process because it does not indicate that the different experiences had differential effects.

2. Presumably, the increase in the number of violent shows is a result of their popularity, an indication of “adaptation to shifting circumstances”, which also characterizes Darwinian natural selection.

3. In a way analogous to the way natural selection rewards successful gene mutations, the electoral process selects the candidates who have successfully adapted to a shift in economic circumstances.

4. This transformation of language exemplifies a culturally determined process of selection: “Good” terms catch on, while “bad” ones (those referring to obsolete concepts) perish.

Assume that few humans give much thought to anything except their immediate material surroundings. Which of the following hypotheses does this assumption suggest?

A

Consciousness provides no significant advantages.

B

Cultural evolution has not kept pace with genetic evolution.

C

Language does not make complex thought possible.

D

Civilization does not create a desire to understand.

Solution: The correct answer is D.

1. The social advantage of consciousness is that it “enables us to see into our own minds and those of others”; it does not compel us to do so. (And to attend exclusively to one's immediate surroundings might well provide a survival advantage.)

2. The usual content of thought implies nothing about the rate with which cultures change. Furthermore, to be changing more slowly than genetic evolution, for which “rapid evolutionary change [is] something on the order of 10,000 years”, cultures must have remained unchanged for as long as records of human cultures exist – a stagnation contrary to the very concept of cultural evolution, which operates “not only between generations but also within them”.

3. The processing of ongoing sensory input is not necessarily verbal, so it probably is not the kind of thinking the author considers the “complex thought processes” for which language is the vehicle. Therefore, the assumption that it is the dominant mode of human thought allows no inference about the role of language in more complex thought.

4. If most of human thought is concerned with ongoing physical reality, then the author has no apparent basis for believing that “consciousness and culture [create] an animal that . . . has an insatiable appetite for knowledge”.

The author’s discussion of the relationship of language to culture and complex thought implies that:

A

before a culture existed, language could not have developed.

B

nonhuman animals may have languages but not cultures.

Answer choice eliminated

C

complex problems cannot be solved through visual imagery.

Answer choice eliminated

D

teaching is a particularly important function of language.

Solution: The correct answer is D.

1. The lines state only that language is a “vital part of” the facility conveyed by culture to participate in a collective, cumulative learning experience. They imply no order of precedence between language and culture.

2. These lines discuss culture and language only in reference to “human history” and define language as “a vehicle for complex thought processes” (not simply as a means of communication). They thus provide no basis for inferring that nonhuman animals may have languages.

3. The definition of language as “a vehicle for complex thought processes” does not imply that all complex thought is verbal.

4. The lines cited state that “culture [is] the facility . . . to participate in a collective, cumulative learning experience” [and] “A vital part of this facility is language, a vehicle for complex thought processes.” The assertion that language is vital to this participation by each successive generation implies that teaching the young is a particularly important function of language.