Commentator: In the new century, only nations with all the latest

PREMISE #1: Only high-tech nations will achieve economic prosperity
PREMISE #2: People in prosperous nations will constantly see how other countries live.
PREMISE #3: People in prosperous nations will question societal norms, leading to a dissolution of societal norms.
CONCLUSION: In the new century, the stability of a nation’s cultural identity will likely ______________ .

At this point, we should spend some time trying to generate something that might complete the conclusion.

If we can't come up with something, no problem.

Onto the answer choices!!!
As we read the answer choices, we should ask: MUST this be true?

(A) depend on a just distribution of electronic technology among all nations
This might be a tempting answer, because many students will read more into the passage that is actually stated.
Even though the passage says "The people in these nations will be constantly bombarded with images of how people in other countries live. This will increase their tendency to question their own customs and traditions." it's easy to assume that the passage implies that these people are looking at peoples who are LESS FORTUNATE than they are. However, this is not stated.
ELIMINATE A

(B) decrease if that nation comes to have a high level of economic wealth
This fits perfectly with the passage, which says: Economic prosperity --> people question norms --> dissolution of norms
KEEP B

(C) be ensured by laws that protect the customs and traditions of that culture
There's nothing in the passage to suggest that laws will have any effect on the dissolution of norms
ELIMINATE C

(D) be threatened only if the people of that culture fail to acquire the latest technical skills
Out of scope.
The passage talks about nations with all the latest electronic TECHNOLOGY. There's nothing in the passage about TECHNICAL SKILLS
Also, the passage concerns the predicament of nations that DO become prosperous (via high-tech). Nothing is mentioned about what happens to those nations that DON'T acquire technical skills.
ELIMINATE D

(E) be best maintained by ensuring the gradual assimilation of new technical knowledge and skills
Totally out of scope.
First off, the passage talks about nations with all the latest electronic TECHNOLOGY. There's nothing in the passage about TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE and SKILL
Also the passage mentions nothing about the RATE at which tech skills and knowledge are acquired.
ELIMINATE E

Answer: B

Cheers,
Brent

Looking for an explanation which explains why Answer A is not correct?

IMO B .

A is missing the word "latest" technology .
As the question stem mentions " only nations with all the LATEST electronic technology" will flourish.

I solve this using the POE; it took me nearly 2 minutes to solve

A - incorrect we are only concerned with nations with emerging prosperity
B - good linkage between all the premises and the conclusion. Keep it
C - incorrect we never discuss anything regarding law
D - incorrect this is a reverse statement. Only those nations who acquire latest technical skills are likely to be threatened with cultural dissolution
E - incorrect we never discuss a solution to maintain the cultural identity
=> B is the correct answer.

AjiteshArun sir,
Why cannot A be the answer?

If the distribution of tech is equal amongst all the nations, then this could lead to stability among all the nations.
Please evaluate where I am going wrong?

Thanks

Hi krndatta,

The correct option needs to most logically complete the argument. The argument is:

1. In the new century only nations with all the latest electronic technology will experience great economic prosperity.
2. People in these nations will be constantly bombarded with images of how people in other countries live.
3. (2) will increase their tendency to question their own ~{cultural identity}.
4. (3) will lead to a ~{decrease in stability of a nation’s cultural identity}.
5. Hence, in the new century, the stability of a nation’s cultural identity will likely ______________ .

If only nations with {AtLET} experience {GEP}, we can say "if {GEP}, then {AtLET} must exist". So if a nation has {GEP}, it must also have {AtLET}. If a nation has {AtLET}, there will most likely be a ~{decrease in stability of that nation’s cultural identity}.

A. There's nothing in the argument to indicate that just distribution of electronic technology among all nations will lead to stable national cultural identity. That is, we have no reason to think that the stability of a nation’s cultural identity depends on a just distribution of electronic technology. In fact, if we "stretch", we can say that if every nation has {AtLET} (and not just "electronic technology"), then the people of every nation will be more likely to question their own {cultural identity}. This is the opposite of stability.

B. We have a link between {GEP} and {AtLET} and a link between {AtLET} and ~{decrease in stability of a nation’s cultural identity}, and therefore we can get to option B: {GEP} will likely lead to a ~{decrease in stability of a nation's cultural identity}.

From Manhattan Forum:


The first statement, that "only nations with all the latest electronic technology will experience great economic prosperity," can be rephrased as a conditional statement: if a nation experiences great economic prosperity, then it has all the latest electronic technology.

This is important because the stimulus goes on to tell us more about these technologically advanced countries: they'll be bombarded by images of other ways of life, which will undermine and eventually dissolve their own traditions and customs.

(B) is correct because we know that what's true of technologically advanced countries is necessarily true of countries that experience great economic prosperity. So we can infer that if a country comes to have high economic wealth, its customs and traditions will dissolve -- in other words, its cultural identity will decrease.

(A) is out of scope. The stimulus doesn't have anything to do with notions of just distribution, nor do relative levels of technological advancement between countries enter into the discussion.

(C) is out of scope because the stimulus doesn't come close to mentioning laws or legal protection.

(D) is a mess. First of all, we have no basis to say that anything is the only threat to cultural identity. Further, the argument is about electronic technology, not technical skills.

(E) is plagued with the same problem: what do technical skills and knowledge have to do with anything

Posted from my mobile device

Commentator: In the new century, only nations with all the latest electronic technology will experience great economic prosperity. The people in these nations will be constantly bombarded with images of how people in other countries live. This will increase their tendency to question their own customs and traditions, leading to a dissolution of those customs and traditions. Hence, in the new century, the stability of a nation’s cultural identity will likely ______________ .

Which one of the following most logically completes the commentator’s argument?

(A) depend on a just distribution of electronic technology among all nations - WRONG. No not possible since this is not point out in the passage.
(B) decrease if that nation comes to have a high level of economic wealth - CORRECT. POE helps. Questioning is equivalent to decrease in stability of CI.
(C) be ensured by laws that protect the customs and traditions of that culture - WRONG. Like A not relevant.
(D) be threatened only if the people of that culture fail to acquire the latest technical skills - WRONG. Acquiring skills is irrelevant. Threathen is bit extreme of a claim.
(E) be best maintained by ensuring the gradual assimilation of new technical knowledge and skills - WORNG. Like D somewhat.

Answer B.

­
Premises:

In the new century, only nations with all the latest electronic technology will experience great economic prosperity. 

The people in these nations will be constantly bombarded with images of how people in other countries live.

This will increase their tendency to question their own customs and traditions, leading to a dissolution of those customs and traditions.

Conclusion:

In the new century, the stability of a nation’s cultural identity will likely ______________ .

The last sentence will provide us the conclusion as is evident from the use of the word ‘hence. So the option that will complete the paragraph will be the conclusion. So we should be able to deduce it from the information given in the argument. The argument tells us that electronic tech is necessary for prosperity. But due to electronic tech, people will question their culture leading to dissolution of their traditions. 

(A)    Depend on a just distribution of electronic technology among all nations

No discussion on distribution of tech.


(B)    Decrease if that nation comes to have a high level of economic wealth



If the nation has high level of wealth, it will have electronic tech too since electronic tech is necessary for wealth. Then its people will be exposed to how people in other countries live and they will question their own traditions. So the nation’s cultural identity will likely decrease if the nation is wealthy. 

Correct.

(C)    Be ensured by laws that protect the customs and traditions of that culture


No laws mentioned in the argument.

(D)    Be threatened only if the people of that culture fail to acquire the latest technical skills



Technical skills threaten culture. Failing to acquire them might actually preserve culture.

(E)    Be best maintained by ensuring the gradual assimilation of new technical knowledge and skills

The passage doesn’t say that gradual assimilation of tech will preserve cultural identity. 

Answer (B)

 

Understanding the argument - ­
Commentator: In the new century, only nations with all the latest electronic technology will experience great economic prosperity. - "The latest electronic technology" is a minimum condition for "experiencing great economic prosperity."

The people in these nations will be constantly bombarded with images of how people in other countries live. - Premise

This will increase their tendency to question their own customs and traditions, leading to a dissolution of those customs and traditions. - meaning their customs will be dissolved. 

Hence, in the new century, the stability of a nation’s cultural identity will likely ______________ .

Which one of the following most logically completes the commentator’s argument?

(A) depend on a just distribution of electronic technology among all nations - then all other nations' customs will also be dissolved. 

(B) decrease if that nation comes to have a high level of economic wealth - Yes. This is what the argument implies. 

(C) be ensured by laws that protect the customs and traditions of that culture - out of scope. 

(D) be threatened only if the people of that culture fail to acquire the latest technical skills - the opposite. 

(E) be best maintained by ensuring the gradual assimilation of new technical knowledge and skills - "maintenance" is out of scope. ­Additionally with technolgy, the customs will be dissolved and not maintained.