An except question- DARPA

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An except question- DARPA

by zoe » Fri Apr 22, 2016 4:25 am
Dears, here is an except question from MANHATTAN, please help clarify, thanks in advance.

Supporters of a costly new Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiative assert that the project will benefit industrial companies as well as the military itself. In many instances, military research has resulted in technologies that have fueled corporate development and growth, and this pattern can be expected to continue.

Each of the following, if true, serves to weaken the argument above EXCEPT:

(A) The research initiative will occupy many talented scientists, many of whom would otherwise have worked for private corporations.
(B) In the past decade, DARPA has adopted an increasingly restrictive stance regarding the use of intellectual property resulting from its research.
(C) If the DARPA initiative hadn't been approved, much of the funding would instead have been directed toward tax breaks for various businesses.
(D) At any given time, DARPA is conducting a wide variety of costly research projects.
(E) The research initiative is focused on specific defense mechanisms that would be ineffective for private corporations.

I doubt on A B D
Excerpted explanation from MANHATTAN,
(A) The research initiative will occupy many talented scientists, many of whom would otherwise have worked for private corporations.
MANHATTAN: This benefits the military and specifically does not benefit the companies. That does weaken the idea that companies will benefit
Doubt: why A does benefit the military and does not benefit the company? I think we cannot infer whom the benefit. In stimulus, Military research..., that doesn't imply research benefit military or company. Is there any misunderstanding?

(B) In the past decade, DARPA has adopted an increasingly restrictive stance regarding the use of intellectual property resulting from its research.
MANHATTAN: Hmm. "Restrictive" makes it sound like DARPA doesn't let others use its research as much. If that's the case, then that would weaken the idea that companies will benefit. I'm not totally sure that's what this means though- the wording is tricky-so I'm going to give this a question mark come back to it later
Doubt: DARPA has adopt restrictive stance, thus, DARPA can use the IP resulting, if the result weaken the conclusion, then definitely weaken conclusion, let's see the result (tech helps the company) therefore, it strengthen the conclusion, but MANHATTAN said weaken? I can't understand.

(D)At any given time, DARPA is conducting a wide variety of costly research projects
MANHATTAN:This choice talks about all research projects DARPA is conducting. Hmm. The argument makes a claim only about one specific project. Does this information make that claim more or less likely to be valid? I can't really see how it affects the argument's conclusion at all.
Examine (B) and (D) again
I need to compare answers (B) and (D). I thought (B) might weaken a little bit, and I thought (D) didn't do anything to the argument. Between those two, I should choose the one that doesn't weaken at all, so I'm going to choose choice (D).
Doubt: the Examine (B) and (D), so official explanation, hard to understand.

I need your help clarify, my friend. thanks a lot.

have a nice day

>_~
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by MartyMurray » Sat Apr 23, 2016 4:19 am
Supporters of a costly new Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiative assert that the project will benefit industrial companies as well as the military itself. In many instances, military research has resulted in technologies that have fueled corporate development and growth, and this pattern can be expected to continue.

Supporters' Argument: The project will benefit industrial corporations.

Premise: In past instances DARPA research has generated technologies that have been used by corporations and this pattern can be expected to continue.

Each of the following, if true, serves to weaken the argument above EXCEPT:

(A) The research initiative will occupy many talented scientists, many of whom would otherwise have worked for private corporations.

The argument is based on the idea that the DARPA research project will "benefit industrial companies" by generating technologies that will fuel corporate development and growth.

This answer choice weakens that argument, because if the DARPA project did not occupy the scientists, they would be working directly for the corporations, creating technology for the corporations. So while some corporations may benefit from the DARPA project, some would be adversely affected.

So even if the project would generate technologies that could be used by corporations, this answer choice calls into question the idea that the DARPA project will have a NET BENEFIT for corporations.


(B) In the past decade, DARPA has adopted an increasingly restrictive stance regarding the use of intellectual property resulting from its research.

The argument is based on a past "pattern", and this answer choice implies that the pattern that held in the past may not hold in the case of the project being discussed. While in the past the results of DARPA research were available for corporate use, if currently DARPA is restricting such use, then probably the benefit to corporations would be reduced from what is was in the past. So the argument, which is based on the idea that the pattern will hold, is weakened.

(C) If the DARPA initiative hadn't been approved, much of the funding would instead have been directed toward tax breaks for various businesses.

This weakens the idea that businesses will see a net benefit from the DARPA project. They might get some research results, but the project will cost the businesses money, some of which could have been used for their own research.

(D) At any given time, DARPA is conducting a wide variety of costly research projects.

The argument is about a specific project and the benefits that it can be expected to generate. The fact that other projects are ongoing does not affect the validity of the argument.

(E) The research initiative is focused on specific defense mechanisms that would be ineffective for private corporations.

If the research is focused on creating things that are useless for industrial purposes, then the idea that it will benefit those companies is incorrect.

So the argument is weakened by all of the choices except D, which does not affect the argument in any way.
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by zoe » Sun Apr 24, 2016 12:05 am
Marty Murray wrote: (A) The research initiative will occupy many talented scientists, many of whom would otherwise have worked for private corporations.

The argument is based on the idea that the DARPA research project will "benefit industrial companies" by generating technologies that will fuel corporate development and growth.

This answer choice weakens that argument, because if the DARPA project did not occupy the scientists, they would be working directly for the corporations, creating technology for the corporations. So while some corporations may benefit from the DARPA project, some would be adversely affected.

So even if the project would generate technologies that could be used by corporations, this answer choice calls into question the idea that the DARPA project will have a NET BENEFIT for corporations.
yes, I caught what you said.
additionally, I realized that another issue, the past happened does not mean those will happen in the future, even if the tech. can be used for the companies.
since the premise in stimulus is things happened in the past, while, answer A is the thing that will happen in the future.
Do you agree with me?

Marty Murray wrote:(B) In the past decade, DARPA has adopted an increasingly restrictive stance regarding the use of intellectual property resulting from its research.

The argument is based on a past "pattern", and this answer choice implies that the pattern that held in the past may not hold in the case of the project being discussed. While in the past the results of DARPA research were available for corporate use, if currently DARPA is restricting such use, then probably the benefit to corporations would be reduced from what is was in the past. So the argument, which is based on the idea that the pattern will hold, is weakened.
I think I got what (B) says after your clarify meaning.

To extend to RC, I always misunderstanding the passage, resulting in plenty time on reading and finishing the choices, and always making wrong choice, the accuracy is 0~1 correct answer per passage
do you have any strategy for reading comprehension especially low level non-native speaker, like me
current level: 30-40min per passage, 0~1 correct answer per passage
My Goal: in two month, (2½ to 3 minutes for a short passage, 3½ to 4 minutes for a long passage), less than one failure per passage.
Marty Murray wrote: (D) At any given time, DARPA is conducting a wide variety of costly research projects.

The argument is about a specific project and the benefits that it can be expected to generate. The fact that other projects are ongoing does not affect the validity of the argument.
yes, got it

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by MartyMurray » Tue Apr 26, 2016 6:25 pm
zoe wrote:I realized that another issue, the past happened does not mean those will happen in the future, even if the tech. can be used for the companies.
since the premise in stimulus is things happened in the past, while, answer A is the thing that will happen in the future.
Do you agree with me?
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I agree that the argument does involve an assumption that what happened in the past will also happen in the future, but that assumption does not have much to do with answer choice A.
To extend to RC, I always misunderstanding the passage, resulting in plenty time on reading and finishing the choices, and always making wrong choice, the accuracy is 0~1 correct answer per passage
do you have any strategy for reading comprehension especially low level non-native speaker, like me
current level: 30-40min per passage, 0~1 correct answer per passage
My Goal: in two month, (2½ to 3 minutes for a short passage, 3½ to 4 minutes for a long passage), less than one failure per passage.
For reading RC passages I generally recommend achieving three things, noticing the structure of the passage, understanding basically what the passage is about and noting where discussions of key details lie so that you can go back and find the details as needed for confirming which answer choices are correct.

I don't have any specific strategy to recommend for non native speakers as there is no effective substitute for understanding what is going on in that passages and noting where the details lie.

I can say though that finding and reading things written in English that interest you and somehow resemble GMAT passages can be a great way to practice comprehending written English material. I often send to people articles that have cool discussions that are interesting, somewhat challenging to read, somehow similar in content to GMAT RC passages, and, to some degree, relevant to day to day living.

Articles that discuss scientific, historic or business related topics are particularly good practice for GMAT RC. Here are a couple of examples of articles that you could read for practice. Practice makes perfect.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... -in-genes/

https://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and ... techniques
Marty Murray
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