#7 - Specific Reference, Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[ncolicci11]

I was pulled to E because the scientists were actively tweaking particular constants to see the end result. Thus, is this answer incorrect because it is not really a practical experience they are shaping? Instead, B is a better answer because the situation they are altering is hypothetical?

[tiffanystills]

Hi,
I also was in between answers B and E, but chose E because the actions of scientists tweaking parameters seemed like an "active role in shaping the story." Is there a reason why answer B is a better answer choice and why E fails?

[Frank Peter]

Hi Tiffany & Ncolicci,

With an inference question like #7, we should treat it similar to a "must be true" style logical reasoning question - that is, whatever we infer must be able to be confirmed by information provided in the stimulus. (E) suggests that the scientists are "shaping" the story, but the process that is described in the stimulus suggests more of a logical, data-driven process wherein a given set of results are deduced from a particular set of inputs.

I can see how the phrase "play the movie" suggests a story that is being told, but if the scientists were really "shaping" the story here, that would suggest that they already had a given conclusion in mind, and would be looking for outcomes of their experiments that conform to that foregone conclusion. But the process as it's described sounds more like they are tweaking certain parameters, and then measuring the results without necessarily looking for outputs that conform to a story that they are trying to shape.

[ntusss]

Hi PowerScore Staff,

I'm confused why (D) can't be the correct answer. Aren't the scientists doing their work on "certain common archetypes" while changing a particular constant?

Appreciate your help!

[Paul Marsh]

Hi ntusss! For all RC Must be True questions, we want to point to the specific area in the passage that gives our answer choice support. Answer Choice (D) doesn't really have any support in the passage. The passage never mentions any "certain common archetypes" that the scientists are modeling their work upon.

In addition, when a question asks what the passage means by a certain phrase, we can try substituting the right answer directly into the passage where that phrase was. We'd get: "The scientists then model their work on certain common archetypes to see what disasters occur". That doesn't really make a whole lot of sense.

Hope that helps!

[christinecwt]

Hi Team - may I know why Answer Choice A and C are wrong? coz I thought these two answers are more related to movie nature as described in first paragraph. Many thanks!

[Robert Carroll]

christinecwt,

The most important context for an understanding of what the author means by "play[ing] the movie" in the fifth paragraph is the definition given right there - doing calculations, what-if scenarios, or computer simulations. The dashes indicate that the author intends these examples to be defining what the author means by playing the movie.

There's thus no attempt to highlight the "fictionality" of these scenarios - these what-if situations may not be real, but after all, they could be. Running a simulation using the actual physical constants of the real universe could also be called "playing the movie" of this universe. So it's not essential that these scenarios are fictional.

Further, these are scientific simulations seeing what happens in various counterfactual scenarios. Nothing about them is intended to be particularly dramatic.

Robert Carroll