Paper 1 · Comprehension
UGC NET December 2023 (08.12.2023) Shift-I
Passage
Science and the techniques to which it has given rise have changed human life during the last hundred and fifty years more than it had been changed since men took to agriculture, and the changes that are being wrought by science continue at an increasing speed. There is no sign of any new stability to be attained on some scientific plateau. On the contrary, there is every reason to think that the revolutionary possibilities of science extend immeasurably beyond what has so far been realized. Can the human race adjust itself quickly enough to these vertiginous transformations, or will it, as innumerable former species have done, perish from lack of adaptability? The dinosaurs were in their day the lords of creation, and if there had been philosophers among them, not one would have foreseen that the whole race might perish. But they became extinct because they could not adapt themselves to a world without swamps. In the case of man and science there is a wholly new factor, namely that man himself is creating the changes of environment to which he will have to adjust himself with unprecedented rapidity. Although these changes come about through human agencies, they have, or at any rate have had so far, something of the inexorable inevitability of natural forces. Whether men will be able to survive the changes of environment that their own skill has brought about is an open question. If the answer is to be in the affirmative, men will have to apply scientific ways of thinking to themselves and their institutions.
Given below are two statements. In the light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below.
- Statement I: Promising new technology will not increase the lifespan of people living in the least developed countries.
- Statement II: Promising new technologies to extend human lifespan will successfully overcome all social and physical limitations.
ABoth Statement I and Statement II are correct
BBoth Statement I and Statement II are incorrect ✓ Correct
CStatement I is correct but Statement II is incorrect
DStatement I is incorrect but Statement II is correct
Correct answer: (B) Both Statement I and Statement II are incorrect — Both statements are incorrect, so the answer is both Statement I and Statement II are incorrect.
Explanation
★Both statements are incorrect, so the answer is both Statement I and Statement II are incorrect.
★The passage says even the least developed countries share in rising life expectancy.
★So new technology does help increase their lifespan, making Statement I wrong.
★The passage warns that optimism must be tempered by social and physical limitations.
★New technology will be expensive and widen the gap between rich and poor.
★So it will not overcome all limitations, making Statement II wrong and both incorrect.
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