#13 - Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=14208)

The correct answer choice is (E)

The answer to this Global Reference question is difficult to prephrase with specificity, but will be the
one choice that is consistent with the author’s attitude as presented in the passage.

Answer choice (A): In the final paragraph the author says that new technologies may soon provide
durable storage, proving this choice to be inaccurate.

Answer choice (B): The author does not suggest that archivists should store as much as possible, but
rather that it is important to distinguish the worthwhile from the dispensable.

Answer choice (C): The author makes no mention of, or reference to, the public’s having been
misled by manufacturers.

Answer choice (D): There is no suggestion in the passage that the importance of such distinctions
has only recently become an issue.

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. In the final paragraph of the passage,
the author discusses the fact that while durability issues can perhaps be addressed, the remaining
challenge is to determine what is important to keep before it deteriorates. In line 43, the author
states, “Ideally, these decisions should be informed by an assessment of the value of each document.”

[rneuman123@gmail.com]

I don't see how e is relevant to the stimulus. For this reason, I chose d. E seems like too broad an assumption, as the author does not discuss future impacts over generations.

[Emily Haney-Caron]

Hi!

See my answer to this post: lsat/viewtopic.php?f=504&t=9347&p=28186#p28186

And then let us know when it is time to re-visit and we can definitely help answer whatever questions you have left with this one.

[rneuman123@gmail.com]

I've got it now. The passage states that archivists are having trouble with the volume of works, but distinguishing between works was probably something that they've always done, not "only recently." The other answers don't suffice, so e would win by process of elimination. But also, e is a sound answer to grasp from the author's attitude.

[snowy]

Hi! I was between D and E for this one, but went with D. I was wary of the "only recently" in D, but I thought that the word "now" in line 54 was support for the recentness. Did I misunderstand that? Or is the issue with D more so that it has been a concern for longer than recently (as per D), but has now become a virtually impossible issue (as per the last sentence of the passage)?

Either way, it still feels like that level of nuance is a way smaller leap than answer choice E, which definitely sounded reasonable, but didn't have strong, clear support in the passage from my reading. Where am I going wrong with that?

Thank you in advance for your help!

[Adam Tyson]

We've got no evidence in the passage that archivists haven't previously been concerned about distinguishing the dispensable from the essential, snowy. Perhaps that has been something that has plagued archivists since ancient times? What makes it so acute today is the sheer volume of material, coupled with the less durable methods for storing it that we now use. Clay tablets last a long time, while photographs and digital formats degrade relatively quickly, so the problem is getting worse. Still, it could have always been a problem, just of a lesser degree. That's why answer D is a loser.

The last paragraph, especially the last sentence, supports answer E. If archivists today cannot easily tell what matters, and if time is rapidly running out, then what they decide to save based on their best guess about what matters will impact how future generations view and understand us. They will likely assume that we valued the things that we saved, and did not value as much the things that are lost. Much like how we view past civilizations through the lens of what we have of theirs, future generations will view us that way. Our "assessment of the value of each document" will impact what is saved and what is not.

[bukkaabh]

Hello,
I am having some trouble understanding why E is the correct choice. There is nothing in the passage that explicitly discusses how "future generations" will be impacted by the archivists' value judgments. I mean it makes sense that it would be the case, but I thought that the correct choice would be confined to what is explicitly stated in the passage. For question D, I felt like there was more information backing up the answer. For example, "the potential for losing this information is now greater than ever..." and "The danger now". I just don't see anything explicitly saying what the author thinks about how future generations will be affected.

[Jeremy Press]

Hi bukkaabh,

Regarding answer choice D, I'll refer you back to Adam's excellent answer and ask if you have any further questions about it. As he rightly says, "We've got no evidence in the passage that archivists haven't previously been concerned about distinguishing the dispensable from the essential, snowy. Perhaps that has been something that has plagued archivists since ancient times?" Just because a concern is more acute now, because of a greater danger, does not mean that same concern did not exist at all in the past. As Adam notes, it might have been present, though in lesser intensity.

For answer choice E, the support is coming from two basic facts: in the last sentence, the author explicitly considers it a virtual impossibility that archivists will save everything they currently have to sort. And, in the first paragraph, "archivists ... are charged with preserving vital [implying value judgments] records and documents." For support for a similar idea, see the last paragraph where the author states, "Ideally, these decisions should be informed by an assessment of the value of each document."

Since the author acknowledges archivists are making value judgments about what to preserve, but also believes it is a virtual impossibility that archivists have time to sort all the vital from the non-vital records, their value judgments about what to preserve will inevitably shape the way that future generations view and understand the past. This is because future generations' understanding of the past depends on what is preserved for them to understand about that past. It's that inevitability that makes a "future generations" answer supportable, even where the passage didn't explicitly refer to future generations.

I hope this helps!

Jeremy

[bruceg]

I've read all the responses and justifications on this thread and still dont agree that (E) is the correct answer.

The question stem asks "The passage" most strongly suggests…That means, we need to look to the passage for text that closely resembles the answer without too many assumptions or inference not contained in the passage.

(D) says distinguishing what is important “has only recently become a concern for archivists.”

Lines 54-59 says “The danger now is…sort the essential from the dispensable…” By using the phrase “the danger now”, the author distinguishes it from what was previously a concern for archivists, losing this information [line 4].

We do have to resolve the phrase “only recently” because the passage doesn’t comment on whether this was a concern before. But it doesn’t matter what archivists were concerned about, only what the author would agree with.

The author spends most of the time talking about the archivists concern about storing information and the declining durability of that storage. On line 54-55 they explicitly pivot and contrast the “danger now” with the previous concerns about storage. So the passage does support that the author believes this is a recent concern, driven by technological changes. We can point to the exact lines in the passage providing that support.

LSAC’s opinion that (E ) is the better answer is unsupportable. While the “value judgment” in the answer conforms to lines 43-44 (“these decisions should be informed by an assessment of the value”) the author takes no position on the second half of the answer, that this will “influence how future generations view and understand the past”.

Yes, it’s a fair interference. But there is nothing in the passage -- which the question stem is directing us to consider -- to suggest the author is thinking about this or has an opinion on it. Like (D), it requires assumptions about what the author would agree with. But we cannot point to any text in the passage to support this inference.

Answer (D) has text in the passage to support its inferences -- I can point to specific line numbers to support the answer. Answer (E ) does not contain text in the passage to support the entire statement. The question stem is asking us to support our answer with specific text in the passage. The correct answer is (D).

[Jeff Wren]

Hi Bruce,

This is no doubt a tricky question, and I get what you are saying.

As far as why Answer D is incorrect, there are a few lines that illustrate the problem, but they require a bit of extrapolation.

In lines 4-5, the author describes archivists as those "who are charged with preserving vital (emphasis mine) records and documents infinitely. In context, this definition isn't just referring to modern archivists, but to all archivists throughout history. The key word here is that archivists are charged with preserving vital (i.e. important) records, not all records, and this is true of past archivists as well as current ones. In order to preserve the vital records, presumably decisions would need to be made to determine which records are vital and which are not.

In lines 45-54, the examples of the works of Homer, Virgil, and Plato being preserved (while others works were lost) is an example of works that were saved by past archivists. The works of Plato mentioned were found "in the archives of medieval monasteries or in other scholarly collections" (lines 51-52). Since these works were preserved in archives/private collections, there were archivists responsible for selecting which works to keep and which works not to keep based on their value judgements, even if these individuals didn't have an official job title "archivist." Notice how these examples come right after the authors statement that the decisions should be made based on an assessment of value.

Also, in lines 54-59, the danger now is that the current conditions (specifically the combination of immense volume of records and the nondurable media) will make it visually impossible for archivists to sort the dispensable from the essential in time. This is not the same as saying the only now do archivists have to worry about sorting the essential from the dispensable. Archivists have always had to that, it's just that before it was easier to do as there was less to sort through and more time to do it.