Please enter the following details
Read the following passage and provide appropriate answers for the questions
This is one of the unanswered questions that I want to explore. I believe that this is certainly one of the
deeper questions about technology. Why do I say so? Without evolution technologies seem to be born
independently and improve independently. Each must come from some unexplained mental process,
some form of creativity or thinking outside the box that brings it into existence and separately develops
it. With evolution, new technologies would be birthed in some precise way from previous ones, albeit with considerable mid-wifing, and develop though some understood process of adaptation. In other words, if
we could understand evolution, we could understand the most precious of processes: innovation. But, let
me define evolution before I proceed further. The word evolution has two general meanings. One is the
gradual development of something, as with the evolution of ballet or the English madrigal. The other
is the process by which all objects of some class are related by ties of common descent from the collection of earlier objects. The latter is what I mean by evolution.
I. In 1867, S. Colum Gilfillan, a sociologist traced the evolution of ships from the dugout canoe to the modern steamship of the day.
II. Many theories propose the existence of a technology in many forms. From these variations, some perform better and are selected for further use and development.
III. Till date the people who have thought hardest about the general questions of technology have only been social scientists. They have viewed technology from the outside as stand-alone objects without studying earlier technologies.
IV. Some technologies, for example, the laser, the jet engine, the radar, the quick sort algorithm and the locomotive just appear, or at least they seem to just appear unlike novel biological species which are versions of earlier objects.
V. Radar descends from radio but you can vary 1930s radio circuits as radically you like but you will never get radar. Radar requires a different principle.
Assuming the above statements are true, which option would most strengthen the author’s premise that the question that he has identified has not been solved as yet?
The author has mentioned two processes through which technologies have been born. The unanswered question is about the innovation process, which the author wants to understand.
Options I and II present the cases for the process of evolution.
Options III. IV and V present the cases for the process of innovation.
Thus, the correct option is E.
Create a FREE account and get:
- All Quant Formulas and shortcuts PDF
- 15 XAT previous papers with solutions PDF
- XAT Trial Classes for FREE
