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555-605 (Medium)|   Long Passage|   Science|                           
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Hi I found this RC a bit difficult and I couldn't comprehend the second and the third paragraph. I would be grateful if anyone of you could explain the crux of this passage. I am lost among the details within the second and third paragraph. What did the author want to prove by using the stomach example?
Thank you.
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For the 1st question i chose the option as D. Here Two contradictory statements are being discusssed and that is the reason why i chose that option.Can you please explain the correct answer
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For the 1st question i chose the option as D. Here Two contradictory statements are being discusssed and that is the reason why i chose that option.Can you please explain the correct answer
Quote:
1) The main purpose of the passage is to
A) propose an experiment
B) analyze a function
C) refute an argument
D) explain a contradiction
E) simulate a process
Yes, you could say that two seemingly contradictory ideas are discussed. But is the main PURPOSE of the passage to explain that contradiction? Is the author's intention to simply explain how Searle's idea differs from the dominate view? After reading this passage, would it make sense to say, "In conclusion, Searle's view contradicts the dominate view."?

Not quite. The author does indeed explain Searle's view, which does seem to contradict the dominate view in some ways. But the author is primarily concerned with CRITICIZING Searle's view. The author's main intention is to deny (refute) Searle's argument, so (C) is a better answer.

The following explanation of the passage should provide further clarification: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-idea-of- ... l#p1867890.

I hope that helps!
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The idea of the brain as an information processor—a machine manipulating blips of energy according to fathomable rules—has come to dominate neuroscience. However, one enemy of the brain-as-computer metaphor is John R. Searle, a philosopher who argues that since computers simply follow algorithms, they cannot deal with important aspects of human thought such as meaning and content. Computers are syntactic, rather than semantic, creatures. People, on the other hand, understand meaning because they have something Searle obscurely calls the causal powers of the brain.

Yet how would a brain work if not by reducing what it learns about the world to information—some kind of code that can be transmitted from neuron to neuron? What else could meaning and content be? If the code can be cracked, a computer should be able to simulate it, at least in principle. But even if a computer could simulate the workings of the mind, Searle would claim that the machine would not really be thinking; it would just be acting as if it were. His argument proceeds thus: if a computer were used to simulate a stomach, with the stomach's churnings faithfully reproduced on a video screen, the machine would not be digesting real food. It would just be blindly manipulating the symbols that generate the visual display.

Suppose, though, that a stomach were simulated using plastic tubes, a motor to do the churning, a supply of digestive juices, and a timing mechanism. If food went in one end of the device, what came out the other end would surely be digested food. Brains, unlike stomachs, are information processors, and if one information processor were made to simulate another information processor, it is hard to see how one and not the other could be said to think. Simulated thoughts and real thoughts are made of the same element: information. The representations of the world that humans carry around in their heads are already simulations. To accept Searle's argument, one would have to deny the most fundamental notion in psychology and neuroscience: that brains work by processing information.
6) Which of the following most accurately represents Searle's criticism of the brain-as-computer metaphor, as that criticism is described in the passage?

(A) The metaphor is not experimentally verifiable.

(B) The metaphor does not take into account the unique powers of the brain.

(C) The metaphor suggests that a brain's functions can be simulated as easily as those of a stomach.

(D) The metaphor suggests that a computer can simulate the workings of the mind by using the codes of neural transmission.

(E) The metaphor is unhelpful because both the brain and the computer process information.


Passage: Searle

Question: Inference–Metaphor

The Simple Story


Most neuroscientists think of the brain as an information processor. The philosopher John Searle disagrees with this view, arguing that people can understand meaning and content, while computers cannot. The author, however, disagrees with Searle. She presents one of Searle’s arguments, related to simulated digestion, and refutes it. She then concludes that Searle’s argument is incompatible with a fundamental notion in psychology and neuroscience: that brains work by processing information.

Sample Passage Map

Here is one way to map this passage. (Note: abbreviate as desired!)

P1:

brain = info processor

Searle: computers can’t really think

Searle: human brain has ‘causal powers’

P2:

Author: brain = info processor

Searle: computer stomach not really digesting

→ computer brain not really thinking

P3:

Author: simulated stomach COULD really digest

Computer is the same, but with info

So: simulated thought = thought

Step 1: Identify the Question

The question asks for a statement that accurately represents Searle’s criticism. The right answer will not be written explicitly in the passage, but will accurately reflect what is written there. Therefore, this is an Inference question.

Step 2: Find the Support

Searle’s criticism of the brain-as-computer metaphor is described in the first paragraph.

“…since computers simply follow algorithms, they cannot deal with important aspects of human thought such as meaning and content. Computers are syntactic, rather than semantic, creatures. People, on the other hand, understand meaning because they have something Searle obscurely calls the causal powers of the brain.”

Step 3: Predict an Answer

Searle’s criticism is that a computer that follows algorithms can’t understand meaning and content, while the human mind can understand these things. This makes a computer an inaccurate metaphor for the human mind.

Step 4: Eliminate and Find a Match

(A) Searle’s views on experimentation are not described in the passage.

(B) CORRECT. Searle’s criticism is that the human mind has a property that a computer lacks: the causal powers of the brain.

(C) Searle uses this example in order to argue that the stomach, like the brain, cannot be accurately simulated by a computer.

(D) Searle’s criticism does not involve the specifics of how information is transmitted in the brain, or whether a computer can simulate this transmission. Rather, Searle criticizes the implications of such a simulation: a computer simulation, he argues, wouldn’t actually be thinking.

(E) The fact that brains and computers both process information makes the metaphor between them more accurate, not less.
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Any pointers for Inference question as well?
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GMATNinja

This is indeed a tricky passage, so rather than trying to understanding every detail, make sure you first understand the purpose of each paragraph and then the purpose of the passage as a whole.

hi GMATNinja :-) hope you are having great weekend :) should we apply the above mentioned strategy to all RC passages ? :-)
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Any pointers for Inference question as well?
The most common mistake I see on inference questions -- besides basic reading errors -- is overthinking what the word "inference" means. Technically speaking, an inference is something that isn't stated directly in the text, but in reality, the inference might be a really simple, obvious restatement of part of the passage. And sometimes, I see test-takers discard answers because they're "too obvious." In those cases, the answer choice that's "too obvious" is almost certainly correct.

So when you see an inference question, think of it this way: try to discard the four answer choices that are NOT correct based on the passage. The fifth answer choice will obviously be the right answer.

This video covers a bunch of issues in CR and RC, but inference questions are a pretty big part of it.

dave13
GMATNinja

This is indeed a tricky passage, so rather than trying to understanding every detail, make sure you first understand the purpose of each paragraph and then the purpose of the passage as a whole.

hi GMATNinja :-) hope you are having great weekend :) should we apply the above mentioned strategy to all RC passages ? :-)
Basically... yeah. More on that in this article and this video.

I hope this helps!
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MentorTutoring

Thanks for the revert on all my queries. Your explanations are really helpful.

I am stuck in between B and C in question#4 .

Searle's rejection is always based on one point. He says that computers cannot THINK like humans.

So why is C incorrect??

Option B on the other hand says that Searle is unable to explain adequately how people understand meaning.
But if you read the paragraph , we don't have any question raised on how people comprehend.

The question is always that computer cannot think like human.

So why B is correct??
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MentorTutoring

Thanks for the revert on all my queries. Your explanations are really helpful.

I am stuck in between B and C in question#4 .

Searle's rejection is always based on one point. He says that computers cannot THINK like humans.

So why is C incorrect??

Option B on the other hand says that Searle is unable to explain adequately how people understand meaning.
But if you read the paragraph , we don't have any question raised on how people comprehend.

The question is always that computer cannot think like human.

So why B is correct??
Hello, warrior1991. I am glad to hear that my explanations prove helpful to you. That is why I write them, to assist the community. As for the matter at hand, by the time you are four questions deep into a long passage, the map of the paragraphs should be clear. My mental map for the passage (since I do not actually write anything down) is something akin to the following:

1—brain v. computer; JRS: computers follow rules, people grasp meaning
2—JRS: computers simulate
3—passage against JRS; thoughts require information, people already simulate

Specific examples about simulating a stomach from paragraphs two and three can be referred back to if necessary. Since the question asks us to identify a shortcoming in Seale's argument, the answer should be rooted in paragraph three, what I will call the primary anti-JRS portion. In fact, we know that the passage concludes by asserting that the argument of JRS violates the most fundamental notion in psychology and neuroscience: that brains work by processing information. The correct answer will presumably express the same idea in as many words.

Quote:
(A) distinguish between syntactic and semantic operations
If anything, JRS is the one doing the distinguishing. The end of the first paragraph reveals the very distinction mentioned, syntactic versus semantic operations. This answer is nothing if not a reversal.

Quote:
(B) explain adequately how people, unlike computers, are able to understand meaning
This answer checks out when measured against the final lines of the passage, quoted above. Notice the toned-down modifier in “adequately.” It is not that JRS fails to offer an explanation as to how people think, but that that explanation does not make it clear how, at a fundamental level, the human brain grasps meaning in a way that differs from that of a computer. In fact, this notion is fully backed by the text as early as the end of paragraph one, when the author mentions that humans possess something Searle obscurely calls the causal powers of the brain. Of course, “something” is vague, as is “obscurely” by definition. Two vaguenesses do not make a clarity. This answer is hard to argue against, making it a strong contender. If you were not ready to commit, that is fine. Just look for problems in the other answer choices to narrow the pool of potentials.

Quote:
(C) provide concrete examples illustrating its claims about thinking
The “fundamental” problem at the end of the passage does not touch on a lack of evidence, which makes this answer look off-topic. You might want to read into the last line of the opening paragraph as a call for JRS to back up this claim that People, [unlike computers], understand meaning because they have something Searle obscurely calls the causal powers of the brain; however, such a reading assumes that it is concrete examples that are necessary, rather than a better, perhaps fuller, explanation, with or without such examples, as the previous answer choice touched on. In short, such a reading is one step removed from what the author of the passage states. Simply put, we are told what JRS attributes to humans, regarding the comprehension of meaning, that computers lack. Neither is this notion of providing examples to qualify the term causal powers brought up in paragraphs two or three. This is a tricky answer, one that requires a close reading and a less interpretive mindset, but CR questions should have you thinking in a linear-logic manner already, and if the passage does not state something, you should not be quick to conjure it up.

Quote:
(D) understand how computers use algorithms to process information
JRS acknowledges that computers “simply follow algorithms." Sure, the first two paragraphs do not delve into the technical aspects of computing language, but again, such a lack of detail is not indicative of the “fundamental” flaw mentioned at the end of the passage. This answer is a distraction, nothing more.

Quote:
(E) decipher the code that is transmitted from neuron to neuron in the brain
Codebreaking is mentioned in passing at the beginning of paragraph two, but it is hardly the “fundamental” flaw that the end of the passage makes reference to. A red herring cannot be correct. Go to the heart of the matter, the closing lines, and you will see that it is practically spelled out that JRS fails to properly explain why “processing information” in the brain is any different from “processing information” in a computer.

I hope that helps. If you have further questions, feel free to ask. Thank you for tagging me.

- Andrew
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The idea of the brain as an information processor—a machine manipulating blips of energy according to fathomable rules—has come to dominate neuroscience. However, one enemy of the brain-as-computer metaphor is John R. Searle, a philosopher who argues that since computers simply follow algorithms, they cannot deal with important aspects of human thought such as meaning and content. Computers are syntactic, rather than semantic, creatures. People, on the other hand, understand meaning because they have something Searle obscurely calls the causal powers of the brain.

Yet how would a brain work if not by reducing what it learns about the world to information—some kind of code that can be transmitted from neuron to neuron? What else could meaning and content be? If the code can be cracked, a computer should be able to simulate it, at least in principle. But even if a computer could simulate the workings of the mind, Searle would claim that the machine would not really be thinking; it would just be acting as if it were. His argument proceeds thus: if a computer were used to simulate a stomach, with the stomach's churnings faithfully reproduced on a video screen, the machine would not be digesting real food. It would just be blindly manipulating the symbols that generate the visual display.

Suppose, though, that a stomach were simulated using plastic tubes, a motor to do the churning, a supply of digestive juices, and a timing mechanism. If food went in one end of the device, what came out the other end would surely be digested food. Brains, unlike stomachs, are information processors, and if one information processor were made to simulate another information processor, it is hard to see how one and not the other could be said to think. Simulated thoughts and real thoughts are made of the same element: information. The representations of the world that humans carry around in their heads are already simulations. To accept Searle's argument, one would have to deny the most fundamental notion in psychology and neuroscience: that brains work by processing information.

1. The main purpose of the passage is to

(A) propose an experiment
(B) analyze a function
(C) refute an argument
(D) explain a contradiction
(E) simulate a process


2. Which of the following is most consistent with Searle's reasoning as presented in the passage?

(A) Meaning and content cannot be reduced to algorithms.
(B) The process of digestion can be simulated mechanically, but not on a computer.
(C) Simulated thoughts and real thoughts are essentially similar because they are composed primarily of information.
(D) A computer can use "causal powers" similar to those of the human brain when processing information.
(E) Computer simulations of the world can achieve the complexity of the brain's representations of the world.


3. The author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements about the simulation of organ functions?

(A) An artificial device that achieves the functions of the stomach could be considered a valid model of the stomach.
(B) Computer simulations of the brain are best used to crack the brain's codes of meaning and content
(C) Computer simulations of the brain challenge ideas that are fundamental to psychology and neuroscience.
(D) Because the brain and the stomach both act as processors, they can best be simulated by mechanical devices.
(E) The computer's limitations in simulating digestion suggest equal limitations in computer-simulated thinking.


4. It can be inferred that the author of the passage believes that Searle's argument is flawed by its failure to

(A) distinguish between syntactic and semantic operations
(B) explain adequately how people, unlike computers, are able to understand meaning
(C) provide concrete examples illustrating its claims about thinking
(D) understand how computers use algorithms to process information
(E) decipher the code that is transmitted from neuron to neuron in the brain


5. From the passage, it can be inferred that the author would agree with Searle on which of the following points?

(A) Computers operate by following algorithms.
(B) The human brain can never fully understand its own functions.
(C) The comparison of the brain to a machine is overly simplistic.
(D) The most accurate models of physical processes are computer simulations.
(E) Human thought and computer-simulated thought involve similar processes of representation.


6. Which of the following most accurately represents Searle's criticism of the brain-as-computer metaphor, as that criticism is described in the passage?

(A) The metaphor is not experimentally verifiable.
(B) The metaphor does not take into account the unique powers of the brain.
(C) The metaphor suggests that a brain's functions can be simulated as easily as those of a stomach.
(D) The metaphor suggests that a computer can simulate the workings of the mind by using the codes of neural transmission.
(E) The metaphor is unhelpful because both the brain and the computer process information.



Hi GMATNinja egmat

Can you please please help me to understand the 6th question? and what actually does criticism mean here? Does it simply mean opinion or something else?
Also how 2nd option is correct
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Question 6


760Abhi

Hi GMATNinja egmat

Can you please please help me to understand the 6th question? and what actually does criticism mean here? Does it simply mean opinion or something else?
Also how 2nd option is correct
The passage first introduces a metaphor comparing a brain to a computer. Then we learn that John R. Searle is an "enemy" of this metaphor -- in other words, he disagrees with/criticizes the comparison. Question 6 asks us to find the answer choice that most accurately represents Searle's argument against the metaphor.

That argument is summed up at the end of the first paragraph:
Quote:
"... since computers simply follow algorithms, they cannot deal with important aspects of human thought such as meaning and content. Computers are syntactic, rather than semantic, creatures. People, on the other hand, understand meaning because they have something Searle obscurely calls the causal powers of the brain."
Here, Searle argues that brains and computers are fundamentally different -- computers just follow algorithms, while humans understand meaning because of the brain's "causal powers."

That argument is captured nicely in answer choice (B):
Quote:
(B) The metaphor does not take into account the unique powers of the brain.

(B) is the correct answer to question 6.

I hope that helps!
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I still dont fully understand Q4. Can one of the experts help pls? KarishmaB, GMATNinja, IanStewart thanks and looking forward to you reply
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I still dont fully understand Q4. Can one of the experts help pls? KarishmaB, GMATNinja, IanStewart thanks and looking forward to you reply


4. It can be inferred that the author of the passage believes that Searle's argument is flawed by its failure to

(A) distinguish between syntactic and semantic operations
(B) explain adequately how people, unlike computers, are able to understand meaning
(C) provide concrete examples illustrating its claims about thinking
(D) understand how computers use algorithms to process information
(E) decipher the code that is transmitted from neuron to neuron in the brain

... John R. Searle, a philosopher who argues that since computers simply follow algorithms, they cannot deal with important aspects of human thought such as meaning and content. Computers are syntactic, rather than semantic, creatures. People, on the other hand, understand meaning because they have something Searle obscurely calls the causal powers of the brain.

The author says that Searle says that people understand meaning because of "the causal powers of the brain."
He uses the term "obscurely" to show that Searle does not explain what these causal powers of the brain are.
So the author says that Searle fails to explain how people understand meaning.
Hence option (B) is correct.


(A) distinguish between syntactic and semantic operations

Searle does distinguish between syntactic, rather than semantic, creatures. The author tells us this is the highlighted part above.

(C) provide concrete examples illustrating its claims about thinking

Searle provide the digestion example hence this is not correct. The author doesn't say that Searle doesn't provide examples.

(D) understand how computers use algorithms to process information
(E) decipher the code that is transmitted from neuron to neuron in the brain

For the two options above, the author doesn't imply that Searle's argument fails to understand these. He says that Searle's argument doesn't explain how people understand meaning.

Answer (B)
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I had my doubts about question 3.

I Could not eliminate B and C and land on A. Could someone please help?
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Question 3


Rainman91
I had my doubts about question 3.

I Could not eliminate B and C and land on A. Could someone please help?
Question 3 asks us what the author would agree with concerning the simulation of organ functions. In the passage, we get two differing ideas about such simulations: Searle's idea and the author's idea.

Searle thinks that simulations aren't that great. He argues that a simulated stomach isn't actually digesting food, and that similarly, a simulated brain isn't actually thinking.

The author disagrees -- he/she thinks that you could create an elaborate simulation of a stomach that DOES actually digest food. And because a brain "digests" information, a computer simulation of a brain IS actually thinking.

With that in mind, here's (A):
Quote:
(A) An artificial device that achieves the functions of the stomach could be considered a valid model of the stomach.
Yup, this is in line with the author's argument. He/she thinks that a mechanical stomach does digest food, and thus is an accurate representation of a "real" stomach.

Keep (A) for now.

Quote:
(B) Computer simulations of the brain are best used to crack the brain's codes of meaning and content
(B) says that, out of all of the things that you could do with a brain simulation, the author thinks that the BEST use is to crack the brain's codes.

There just isn't anything to support this in the passage -- the author seems to think that we CAN crack these codes, but doesn't weigh in on OTHER uses of brain simulations. Perhaps the author would be more excited to use the brain simulations for another task.

We don't have enough information to say that the author would agree with (B), so eliminate this option.

Quote:
(C) Computer simulations of the brain challenge ideas that are fundamental to psychology and neuroscience.

The author talks about ideas fundamental to neuroscience/psychology at the end of the third paragraph. However, he/she isn't saying that brain simulations challenge these ideas -- instead, he/she is just bringing up this point to refute Searle's idea. The author is basically saying, "Look how absurd Searle is! To agree with him, you'd have to reject this super basic concept!"

So, the author wouldn't agree that computer simulations challenge these basic ideas. He/she accepts the basic ideas, and only brings them up to argue against Searle.

(C) is out, and (A) is the correct answer to question 3.
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Hi GMATNinja - could you please help me understand for Question 5 why E is incorrect? Is it because Searle does not necessarily agree the two are similar given the brain includes the other "powers"? I have read all the posts on the forum but it is not super clear. I can make out that A is correct because in the passage the author nods to how the brain is an information processor. Thank you!­
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pnwhikingfan
Hi GMATNinja - could you please help me understand for Question 5 why E is incorrect? Is it because Searle does not necessarily agree the two are similar given the brain includes the other "powers"? I have read all the posts on the forum but it is not super clear. I can make out that A is correct because in the passage the author nods to how the brain is an information processor. Thank you!­
­Yup, that's the right idea!

Remember, Searle is an "enemy of the brain-as-computer metaphor" and stresses the differences between human thought and computer-simulated thought:

Quote:
...[Searle] argues that since computers simply follow algorithms, they cannot deal with important aspects of human thought such as meaning and content. Computers are syntactic, rather than semantic, creatures. People, on the other hand, understand meaning because they have something Searle obscurely calls the causal powers of the brain.
According to Searle, computers can't handle important aspects of human thought and lack the "causal powers" of the brain. This implies that the two actually involve processes that are different, or at least different enough that the computer metaphor doesn't hold up.

(A) is a much better answer.

I hope that helps!
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