Essayist: Computers have the capacity to represent and to

Question

Essayist: Computers have the capacity to represent and to perform logical transformations on pieces of information. Since exactly the same applies to the human mind, the human mind is a type of computer.

The flawed pattern of reasoning in which one of the following most closely resembles the flawed pattern of reasoning in the essayist’s argument?

(A) Often individual animals sacrifice their lives when the survival of their offspring or close relatives is threatened. It is probable, therefore, that there is a biological basis for the fact that
human beings are similarly often willing to sacrifice their own well-being for the good of their community.

(B) In the plastic arts, such as sculpture or painting, no work can depend for its effectiveness upon a verbal narrative that explains it. Since the same can be said of poetry, we cannot consider
this characteristic as a reasonable criterion for distinguishing the plastic arts from other arts.

(C) In any organism, the proper functioning of each component depends upon the proper functioning of every other component. Thus, communities belong to the category of organisms, since
communities are invariably characterized by this same interdependence of components.

(D) Some vitamins require the presence in adequate amounts of some mineral in order to be fully beneficial to the body. Thus, since selenium is needed to make vitamin E fully active, anyone
with a selenium deficiency will have a greater risk of contracting those diseases from which vitamin E provides some measure of protection.

(E) Friendship often involves obligations whose fulfillment can be painful or burdensome. The same can be said of various forms of cooperation that cannot strictly be called friendship. Thus cooperation, like friendship, can require that priority be given to goals other than mere self-interest.

Maverick_Indian · Answer

Here similarity between computer & humans is presented.
So, in answer choices you need to find out the similar pattern.

nicechetan87 · Answer

Comparison showcased is in the actions of non living thing and humans.
Similar comparison is presented in non living (community) and humans in option C.

So answer is C.

prasun9 · Answer

I went with C but not because of the reason that it compares Humans with non living things. GMAT problems are usually much deeper than that and answer choices don't jump out like that. If we analyze the pattern in the question stem it says

A displays characteristics X & Y. Since B displays the same characteristics so B is a type of A.
Among the answer choices  C  seems to show this same pattern. 
But if Friendship was characterized as a type of cooperation then even that could have been a viable option.

manpritsp · Answer

Can someone throw some more light on option d

prasun9 · Answer

The pattern in the question stem says: If X has characteristic Y and A has same characteristic then A is the same Type or in the same category as X.
Option  C  clearly has the same pattern. But option  D  never makes this sort of claim it just has a generalization flaw.

EliLTG · Answer

Good explanation!

More generally, choice (D) can be thrown out from the very first word. The prompt talks about computers-- all  computers, a general statement. As soon as choice (D) begins talking about "some"  anything , we know it does not follow parallel reasoning to the prompt.

Hope this helps!

Temurkhon · Answer

Reasoning assumption:

Making the same functions guarantee the same category

C fits

mvictor · Answer

went with C as well..tough one...
so if A follows X, and B follows X, then A is similar to B.
only C fits this pattern.
although i took some time to reject B and E...

masakiyada · Answer

I just wanted to share my train of thought to arrive at C…

First, I checked the question type: the flawed reasoning pattern. Ok, alright.

As I read the stem, I wrinkled my eyebrows. I did so mainly because of the bit “since exactly the same applies to…”. “Exactly the same? Wow, that’s strong wording." And the statement is, I felt, definitely not right. If anything, many of us, including myself, especially I, often perform ILLOGICAL transformation on pieces of information, not logical transformation.

After reading the stem, I mumbled the following initial analysis and repeated like a mantra as I went ahead and filtered the list of answer choices.

(1) Analogising two inherently different things by (2) unduly (3) focusing on one aspect…

I used those three criteria to funnel the list and saw only C as a remaining contender.

Riyaagoell · Answer

Can anyone please share how to approach and compare this question?

guddo · Answer

Essayist: Computers have the capacity to represent and to perform logical transformations on pieces of information. Since exactly the same applies to the human mind, the human mind is a type of computer. 
 
The flawed pattern of reasoning in which one of the following most closely resembles the flawed pattern of reasoning in the essayist’s argument?

The essayist says computers have one important feature: they can represent information and perform logical transformations on it. Then, because the human mind has the same feature, the essayist concludes that the human mind is a type of computer.  The flaw  is treating one shared characteristic as enough to prove that one thing belongs to the same  category  as another.

(A) Often individual animals sacrifice their lives when the survival of their offspring or close relatives is threatened. It is probable, therefore, that there is a biological basis for the fact that human beings are similarly often willing to sacrifice their own well-being for the good of their community.

This is not parallel. It uses similar behavior in animals and humans to suggest a similar biological explanation. It does not conclude that humans are a type of animal solely because they share one feature.

(B) In the plastic arts, such as sculpture or painting, no work can depend for its effectiveness upon a verbal narrative that explains it. Since the same can be said of poetry, we cannot consider this characteristic as a reasonable criterion for distinguishing the plastic arts from other arts.

This is not parallel. It says a shared feature cannot be used to distinguish one category from another. The original argument does the opposite: it uses a shared feature to put something into a category.

(C) In any organism, the proper functioning of each component depends upon the proper functioning of every other component. Thus, communities belong to the category of organisms, since communities are invariably characterized by this same interdependence of components.

This is correct. It says organisms have a certain feature, and communities have that same feature. Then it concludes that communities are organisms. This matches the original flaw: shared feature, therefore same category.

(D) Some vitamins require the presence in adequate amounts of some mineral in order to be fully beneficial to the body. Thus, since selenium is needed to make vitamin E fully active, anyone with a selenium deficiency will have a greater risk of contracting those diseases from which vitamin E provides some measure of protection.

This is not parallel. This is causal reasoning about selenium, vitamin E, and disease risk. It does not classify one thing as a type of another because of a shared feature.

(E) Friendship often involves obligations whose fulfillment can be painful or burdensome. The same can be said of various forms of cooperation that cannot strictly be called friendship. Thus cooperation, like friendship, can require that priority be given to goals other than mere self-interest.

This is not parallel. It notes that friendship and cooperation can share a feature, but it does not conclude that cooperation is friendship. So it avoids the original classification error.

Answer: (C)

egmat · Answer

Hi Riyaagoell,

For a "flawed parallel reasoning" question, the trick is to stop reading it as a story and instead  strip the argument down to its skeleton  before you even look at the choices. A few people above jumped to "it compares humans with non-living things," but as prasun9 rightly warned, the GMAT rarely rewards a surface match like that - you have to match the  logical shape .

Step 1 - Abstract the stem

Strip the essayist's argument to its bones:

- Computers have  property X  (represent and transform information).
- The human mind has  property X  too.
-  Therefore  the human mind  is a type of computer .

So the skeleton is:  "A has trait X. B has trait X. Therefore B belongs to A's category."  The  flaw  is assuming that sharing one trait makes something a  member  of the category.

Step 2 - Test each choice against that skeleton

Now you're not comparing topics; you're checking for two things:  (1) shared trait , and  (2) a category-membership conclusion.

-  (A)  Reasons to a probable common  cause  - no "belongs to category" conclusion. Out.
-  (B)  Uses a shared trait to argue the trait is  not  a good distinguishing criterion - different conclusion. Out.
-  (C)  Organisms have trait X (interdependent parts) - communities have trait X -  therefore  communities  belong to the category of organisms . Same skeleton, same flaw. Keep.
-  (D)  A chain of conditions leading to a  risk  conclusion - no category claim (and note the "some,"). Out.
-  (E)  Concludes a shared  requirement , not membership in a category. Out.

Only  (C)  reproduces both the trait-sharing and the " therefore  it's a member of that category" jump.

The takeaway

For these questions, always  abstract first, match second.  Pin down the conclusion  type  (here: category membership) - that single feature usually eliminates  three  or  four  choices instantly, so you never get seduced by matching topics.

Answer: C

Auro411 · Answer

The flawed structure in the reasoning is: Computers have the ability to perform certain functions, and since it applies same to the human mind, the human mind is a type of computer.

Let's look at the options:

(A) It's a tempting answer; it shows that an individual animal showcases certain characteristics, which are possessed by humans, but it doesn't mention that humans are a type of animal. Eliminate

(B) It's a negative or reversal answer, and no trait is shared by the two characters. Hence Eliminate

(C) It's the same structure as stimulus; In an organism, components depend upon the proper functioning of every component, and the community possesses the same characteristics, which makes the community a type of organism. Keep this as a  contender .

(D) It's in a completely different relationship which is showing a importance of selenium and deiciency of it can increase the greater risk of contracting disease, there is no other variabke which possess characteristics as in the stimulus. Eliminate

(E) In this cooperation cannot strictly friendship, make this as a straightaway eliminator.

Hence  C i s the correct answer.

Essayist: Computers have the capacity to represent and to

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Essayist: Computers have the capacity to represent and to

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