- Question
Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow
:
Nature has all along yielded her flesh to humans. First, we took nature’s materials as food, fibers, and shelter. Then we learned to extract raw materials from her biosphere to create our own new synthetic materials. Now Bios is yielding us her mind-we are taking her logic.
Clockwork logic the logic of the machines-will only build simple contraptions. Truly complex systems such as a cell, a meadow, an economy, or a brain (natural or artificial) require a rigorous nontechnological logic. We now see that no logic except bio-logic can assemble a thinking device, or even a workable system of any magnitude.
It is an astounding discovery that one can extract the logic of Bios out of biology and have something useful. Although many philosophers in the past have suspected one could abstract the laws of life and apply them elsewhere, it wasn’t until the complexity of computers and human-made systems became as complicated as living things, that it was possible to prove this. It’s eerie how much of life can be transferred. So far, some of the traits of the living that have successfully been transported to mechanical systems are self-replication, self-governance, limited self-repair, mild evolution, and partial learning.
We have reason to believe yet more can be synthesized and made into something new. Yet at the same time that the logic of Bios is being imported into machines, the logic of Technos is being imported into life. The root of bioengineering is the desire to control the organic long enough to improve it. Domesticated plants and animals are examples of technos-logic applied to life. The wild aromatic root of the Queen Anne’s lace weed has been fine- tuned over generations by selective herb gatherers until it has evolved into a sweet carrot of the garden, the udders of wild bovines have been selectively enlarged in a “unnatural way to satisfy humans rather than calves. Milk cows and carrots, therefore, are human inventions as much as steam engines and gunpowder are. But milk cows and carrots are more indicative of the kind of inventions humans will make in the future: products that are grown rather than manufactured
Genetic engineering is precisely what cattle breeders do when they select better strains of Holsteins, only bioengineers employ more precise and powerful control. While carrot and milk cow breeders had to rely on diffuse organic evolution, modern genetic engineers can use directed artificial evolution-purposeful design-which greatly accelerates improvements.
The overlap of the mechanical and the lifelike increases year by year. Part of
this bionic convergence is a matter of words. The meanings of “mechanical”
and “life” are both stretching until all complicated things can be perceived as
machines, and all self-sustaining machines can be perceived as alive.
Yet beyond semantics, two concrete trends are happening: (1) Human-made
things are behaving more lifelike, and (2) Life is becoming more engineered.
The apparent veil between the organic and the manufactured has crumpled
to reveal that the two really are, and have always been, of one being
The author claims that, “Part of this bionic convergence is a matter of words”. Which one of the following statements best expresses the point being made by the author ?
a)”Mechanical” and “life” are words from different logical systems and are, therefore, fundamentally incompatible in meaning
b)Bionic words lead to an unseen convergence
c)”Bios” and “Technos” are both convergent forms of logic, but they generate meanings about the world that are mutually exclusive.
d)Mechanical” and “life” were earlier seen as opposite in meaning, but the difference between the two is increasingly blurred
e)A bionic convergence indicates the meeting ground of genetic
engineering and artificial intelligence.
Explanation
SOLUTION[A]-“Mechanical” and “life” are words from different logical systems and are, therefore, fundamentally incompatible in meaning
Question-2
Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow
:
Nature has all along yielded her flesh to humans. First, we took nature’s materials as food, fibers, and shelter. Then we learned to extract raw materials from her biosphere to create our own new synthetic materials. Now Bios is yielding us her mind-we are taking her logic.
Clockwork logic the logic of the machines-will only build simple contraptions. Truly complex systems such as a cell, a meadow, an economy, or a brain (natural or artificial) require a rigorous nontechnological logic. We now see that no logic except bio-logic can assemble a thinking device, or even a workable system of any magnitude.
It is an astounding discovery that one can extract the logic of Bios out of biology and have something useful. Although many philosophers in the past have suspected one could abstract the laws of life and apply them elsewhere, it wasn’t until the complexity of computers and human-made systems became as complicated as living things, that it was possible to prove this. It’s eerie how much of life can be transferred. So far, some of the traits of the living that have successfully been transported to mechanical systems are self-replication, self-governance, limited self-repair, mild evolution, and partial learning. We have reason to believe yet more can be synthesized and made into something new. Yet at the same time that the logic of Bios is being imported into machines, the logic of Technos is being imported into life. The root of bioengineering is the desire to control the organic long enough to improve it. Domesticated plants and animals are examples of technos-logic applied to life. The wild aromatic root of the Queen Anne’s lace weed has been fine- tuned over generations by selective herb gatherers until it has evolved into a sweet carrot of the garden, the udders of wild bovines have been selectively enlarged in a “unnatural way to satisfy humans rather than calves. Milk cows and carrots, therefore, are human inventions as much as steam engines and gunpowder are. But milk cows and carrots are more indicative of the kind of
inventions humans will make in the future: products that are grown rather than manufactured
Genetic engineering is precisely what cattle breeders do when they select better strains of Holsteins, only bioengineers employ more precise and powerful control. While carrot and milk cow breeders had to rely on diffuse organic evolution, modern genetic engineers can use directed artificial evolution-purposeful design-which greatly accelerates improvements.
The overlap of the mechanical and the lifelike increases year by year. Part of
this bionic convergence is a matter of words. The meanings of “mechanical”
and “life” are both stretching until all complicated things can be perceived as
machines, and all self-sustaining machines can be perceived as alive.
Yet beyond semantics, two concrete trends are happening: (1) Human-made
things are behaving more lifelike, and (2) Life is becoming more engineered.
The apparent veil between the organic and the manufactured has crumpled
to reveal that the two really are, and have always been, of one being
None of the following statements is implied by the arguments of the passage, except:
a)Purposeful design represents the pinnacle of scientific expertise in the service of human betterment and civilisational progress.
b)The biological realm is as complex as the mechanical one; which is why the logic of Bios is being imported into machines
c)Genetic engineers and bioengineers are the same insofar as they both seek to force evolution in an artificial way
d)Laws of life need to be undferstood by the youth of today if the humanity is to survive for long
e)Historically, philosophers have known that the laws of life can be abstracted and applied elsewhere.
Explanation
SOLUTION[C]-Genetic engineers and bioengineers are the same insofar as they both seek to force evolution in an artificial way
Question-3
Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow
:
Nature has all along yielded her flesh to humans. First, we took nature’s materials as food, fibers, and shelter. Then we learned to extract raw materials from her biosphere to create our own new synthetic materials. Now Bios is yielding us her mind-we are taking her logic.
Clockwork logic the logic of the machines-will only build simple contraptions. Truly complex systems such as a cell, a meadow, an economy, or a brain (natural or artificial) require a rigorous nontechnological logic. We now see that no logic except bio-logic can assemble a thinking device, or even a workable system of any magnitude.
It is an astounding discovery that one can extract the logic of Bios out of biology and have something useful. Although many philosophers in the past have suspected one could abstract the laws of life and apply them elsewhere, it wasn’t until the complexity of computers and human-made systems became as complicated as living things, that it was possible to prove this. It’s eerie how much of life can be transferred. So far, some of the traits of the living that have successfully been transported to mechanical systems are self-replication, self-governance, limited self-repair, mild evolution, and partial learning. We have reason to believe yet more can be synthesized and made into something new. Yet at the same time that the logic of Bios is being imported into machines, the logic of Technos is being imported into life. The root of bioengineering is the desire to control the organic long enough to improve it. Domesticated plants and animals are examples of technos-logic applied to life. The wild aromatic root of the Queen Anne’s lace weed has been fine- tuned over generations by selective herb gatherers until it has evolved into a sweet carrot of the garden,
the udders of wild bovines have been selectively enlarged in a “unnatural way to satisfy humans rather than calves. Milk cows and carrots, therefore, are human inventions as much as steam engines and gunpowder are. But milk cows and carrots are more indicative of the kind of inventions humans will make in the future: products that are grown rather than manufactured
Genetic engineering is precisely what cattle breeders do when they select better strains of Holsteins, only bioengineers employ more precise and powerful control. While carrot and milk cow breeders had to rely on diffuse organic evolution, modern genetic engineers can use directed artificial evolution-purposeful design-which greatly accelerates improvements.
The overlap of the mechanical and the lifelike increases year by year. Part of
this bionic convergence is a matter of words. The meanings of “mechanical”
and “life” are both stretching until all complicated things can be perceived as
machines, and all self-sustaining machines can be perceived as alive.
Yet beyond semantics, two concrete trends are happening: (1) Human-made
things are behaving more lifelike, and (2) Life is becoming more engineered.
The apparent veil between the organic and the manufactured has crumpled
to reveal that the two really are, and have always been, of one being
The author claims that, “The apparent veil between the organic and the manufactured has crumpled to reveal that the two really are, and have always been, of one being.” Which one of the following statements best expresses the point being made by the author here ?
a)Scientific advances need to be curtailed if the Society is to be made progressive.
b)Organic reality has crumpled under the veil of manufacturing, rendering the apparent and the real as the same being
c)Scientific advances are making it increasingly
difficult to distinguish between organic reality and manufactured reality.
d)The crumpling of the organic veil between apparent and manufactured reality reveals them to have the same being.
e)Apparent reality and organic reality are distinguished by the fact that the former is manufactured.
Explanation
SOLUTION[C]-Scientific advances are making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between organic reality and manufactured reality
Question-4
Read the following passage carefully and answer the question that follows:
“People who work in law, hotel and food services, and technology were found the most likely to skip breakfast daily, according to a recent study. As for people who do eat breakfast and prefer a savoury type (sliced buttered toast for instance), the study found they tend to make more money, be night owls and prefer cats over dogs. If you prefer a sweet breakfast like a donut you tend to be a morning person, like romcoms and are a dog person”.
Which of the following can be best inferred from the given passage ?
a)Hoteliers who eat regular breakfast are more likely to make more money than those who watch romcoms regularly
b)A preference for cats as pets over dogs, usually, is a result of eating eggs for breakfast daily
c)Lawyers, who eat savory breakfast daily, make more money than those lawyers who have early breakfast daily.
d)Among regular breakfast eaters, early risers have more sugar in their breakfast than late risers
e)IT professionals, who eat eggs for breakfast, are more likely to make more money than their counterparts who eat donuts for breakfast.
Explanation
SOLUTION[E]-IT professionals, who eat eggs for breakfast, are more likely to make more money than their counterparts who eat donuts for breakfast
Question-5
Read the following passage carefully and answer the question that follows:
“People who work in law, hotel and food services, and technology were found the most likely to skip breakfast daily, according to a recent study. As for people who do eat breakfast and prefer a savoury type (sliced buttered toast for instance), the study found they tend to make more money, be night owls and prefer cats over dogs. If you prefer a sweet breakfast like a donut you tend to be a morning person, like romcoms and are a dog person”.
Who amongst the following is most likely to suffer from Ailurophobia as per the contents of the given passage?
a)People who like romantic comedies
b] Hoteliers who eat healthy food
c)Lawyers who eat junk food
d)People who dislike owls
e)People who like to eat sliced buttered toasts
Explanation
SOLUTION[A]-People who like romantic comedies
Question-6
Read the contents of the passage carfully and answer the questions that follow: There is nothing spectacularly new in the situation. Most old-societies- turned-young-nation states learn to live in a world dominated by the psychology and culture of exile. For some, the twentieth century has been a century of refugees. Others like Hannah Arendt have identified refugees as virtually a new species of human being who have come to symbolize the distinctive violence of our time. Refugees as contemporary symbols, however, proclaim something more than a pathology of a global nation-state system. They also represent a state of mind, a form of psychological displacement that has become endemic to modernizing societies. One does not even have to cross national frontiers to become a refugee; one can choose to be seduced by the pull of self-induced displacement rather than be ‘pushed’ by an oppressive or violent system at home. It is this
changed status of territoriality in human life that explains why, in immigrant societies, the metaphor of exile is now jaded. Some have already begun to argue that human beings need not have a ‘home’ as it has been traditionally understood in large parts of the world, that the idea itself is a red herring While the idea of exile begins to appear trite in intellectual circles, an increasingly large proportion of the world is getting reconciled to living with the labile sense of self. Exile no longer seems a pathology or an affliction. Displacement and the psychology of exile are in; cultural continuities and settled communities are out; there is a touch of ennui about them.
Based on the contents of the passage, which of the following is the author likely to disagree the most with
a)A feeling of alienation in modernizing societies is a common phenomenon.
b)Being a refugee is a state of mind
c)Refugees symbolize exploitation and abuse of our times.
d)Intellectuals find the notion of exile irrelevant
e)One does not have to cross frontiers to become a refugee
Explanation
SOLUTION[C]-Refugees symbolize exploitation and abuse of our times
Question-7
Read the contents of the passage carfully and answer the questions that follow: There is nothing spectacularly new in the situation. Most old-societies- turned-young-nation states learn to live in a world dominated by the psychology and culture of exile. For some, the twentieth century has been a century of refugees. Others like Hannah Arendt have identified refugees as virtually a new species of human being who have come to symbolize the distinctive violence of our time. Refugees as contemporary symbols, however, proclaim something more than a pathology of a global nation-state system. They also represent a state
of mind, a form of psychological displacement that has become endemic to modernizing societies. One does not even have to cross national frontiers to become a refugee; one can choose to be seduced by the pull of self-induced displacement rather than be ‘pushed’ by an oppressive or violent system at home. It is this changed status of territoriality in human life that explains why, in immigrant societies, the metaphor of exile is now jaded. Some have already begun to argue that human beings need not have a ‘home’ as it has been traditionally understood in large parts of the world, that the idea itself is a red herring While the idea of exile begins to appear trite in intellectual circles, an increasingly large proportion of the world is getting reconciled to living with the labile sense of self. Exile no longer seems a pathology or an affliction. Displacement and the psychology of exile are in; cultural continuities and settled communities are out; there is a touch of ennui about them.
Which of the following describes the meaning of the term “labile sense of self” most correctly as given in the passage?
a)History does not confine the self
b)The self adapts to a new geography
c)The self does not belong to a particular geography
d)Geography does not imprison the self
e)Humans are not meant to be shunted around
Explanation
SOLUTION[B]-The self adapts to a new geography
