#24 - Taken as a whole, the computers that constitute the

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[Lsat180Please]

Hi! Can you please break down this question and discuss answer choice A vs. D? Thanks!

[Claire Horan]

Hi LSAT180Please,

First let us know how you approached and analyzed the problem. Why did you identify answer choices A and D as contenders? Explaining your thought process will help you learn and help the staff member tailor an answer for you. Thanks!

[lsbound22]

I selected "a" but I think I am starting to see why it is wrong and "d" is right. Basically the answer to D gives it away, but my thinking is that it is not wrong for the author to equate the intelligence and complexity, which he does not anyway. But he throws in the idea of intelligence for the internet without qualifying it in a premise, basically what "d" says. Am I on the right track with this thinking?

[Adam Tyson]

You're right that the author does not actually equate complexity with intelligence, lsbound22, and that is why answer A is not the problem. Rather, the author acts as if a certain level of complexity (in the form of more points being connected) is enough, by itself, to prove that intelligence will arise. Not that they are the same thing, but that one thing is sufficient for the other. Put another way, the author here fails to consider that there may be more to developing intelligence than just connecting more and more points to the system.

I like the way you looked at it - where did this idea of intelligence come from? The premises weren't about intelligence, but about complexity and growth and connections. But just focusing on that "rogue" element is not enough here, because several of the wrong answers deal with intelligence, like very attractive answer A does. Go further, and pick the answer that says that the info in the premises may not be enough to draw that conclusion about intelligence. That's answer D.

Good work, keep at it!

[Lsat180Please]

Thanks for the explanation. The question makes more sense now. For future reference, what would equating complexity with intelligence look like?

[Lsat180Please]

Hi, I was hoping to get some help with A. I am having a hard time accepting that the stimulus does not "equate the complexity with intelligence. Why is this not considered equating? Also, then, what would equating two entities look like? thanks!

[James Finch]

Hi LSAT180,

(A) is claiming that the stimulus is saying that "complexity level of a thing equals intelligence level of said thing." But that isn't what is going on in the stimulus, which is analogizing the internet to the human brain. Complexity is just one claimed shared attribute in the analogy, not a claimed determinant of intelligence.

The issue here is the claim that the internet will develop "human-like intelligence" because of shared superficial attributes: both are "complex, densely interconnected
collection" that are "growing at millions of points." Those two are two things that could describe a whole host of things, none of which have "human-like intelligence:" a sewer system, an ocean, an ecosystem, an aircraft carrier. (D) identifies this flaw.

Hope this helps!

[flexbubbleboi]

I picked C, because the question set up a false analogy: just because two things (the Internet and the human brain) are structured analogically, that doesn't mean that they will function analogically. C points out that the content flowing through those structures is not similar and therefore the Internet and the human brain also are not similar.

I can see why answer D also points out a flaw: that there's a missing step between pointing out particular features of the brain that the Internet shares, and then jumping from that to make a broad claim about human intelligence, which presumably is a function of many more factors than the neuron structure and a condition of growth. But I don't see how I can rule out C, which also undercuts one of the steps in the logic by stating that even the brain/Internet comparison is false.

[KelseyWoods]

Hi flexbubbleboi!

Answer choice (C) refers to a false analogy, but make sure you carefully read the rest of the answer choice that describes that analogy: "draws a dubious analogy between the information that is processed by the human brain and the information that is transmitted on the Internet."

As you identified, the stimulus draws an unproven comparison between the structural similarities of humans and the internet and the functional similarities between them. But that's not the false analogy that answer choice (C) is describing--it describes an analogy between the information processed by the human brain and the information that is transmitted on the internet. That comparison doesn't happen in the stimulus. The author is not comparing the information that is processed and transmitted; the author is comparing how the information is processed and transmitted. The comparison in the stimulus is about structure and function, not content.

Always be careful to read and consider the full answer choice in Flaw and Method questions--the LSAT will often try to trip you up by using key terms that will catch your eye. But before choosing an answer choice that has a term that you prephrased, make sure the rest of the answer choice accurately describes that's happening in the stimulus.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey