LIC AAO (Assistant Administrative Officer) 2016 Exam Question paper

In the following passage, there are blanks, each of which has been numbered. Against each, five words are suggested, one of which fits the blank appropriately. Find out the appropriate word in each case.

There is a principal …(1)… between technological and biological evolution. Biological evolution is driven by survival of the …(2)…, as adaptive traits are those that make the survival and reproduction of a population more …(3)… . It isn’t perfect, but at least, in a rough way, it favours organisms that have …(4)… to their environments. Technological evolution has a different motive force. It is self evolution, and it is therefore driven by what we want as …(5)… to what is adaptive. In a market economy, it is even more complex : for most of us, our technological identities are …(6)… by what companies decide to sell based on what they believe we, as consumers, will pay for. Comfort …(7)… missiles, we spend the most to minimize pain and maximize …(8)… . When it comes to technologies, we mainly want to make things easy. Not to be bored. Oh, and may be to look a hit younger. Our will to comfort, …(9)… with our technological powers, creates a stark possibility. If we’re not careful, our technological evolution will take us toward not a singularity but a sofalarity. Sofalarity is nothing but a future defined not by an evolution toward super intelligence but by the …(10)… of discomforts.