CAT 2022 Slot 1 — VARC Question 23
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
All that we think we know about how life hangs together is really some kind of illusion that we have perpetrated on ourselves because of our limited vision. What appear to be inanimate objects such as stones turn out not only to be alive in the same way that we are, but also in many infinitesimal ways to be affected by stimuli just as humans are. The distinction between animate and inanimate simply cannot be made when you enter the world of quantum mechanics and try to determine how those apparent subatomic particles, of which you and everything else in our universe is composed, are all tied together. The point is that physics and metaphysics show there is a pattern to the universe that goes beyond our capacity to grasp it with our brains.
Answer & solution
Arbitrary distinctions between inanimate and animate objects disappear at the scale at which quantum mechanics works.
- B
The inanimate world is both sentient and cognizant like its animate counterpart.
- C
The effect of stimuli is similar in inanimate objects when compared to animate objects or living beings.
- D
Quantum physics indicates that an astigmatic view of reality results in erroneous assumptions about the universe.
Easy
Summary question. Central claim: the animate/inanimate distinction is an illusion of our limited vision — at the quantum scale, where everything is made of the same interconnected subatomic particles, that distinction breaks down. The best summary captures exactly this.
"Arbitrary distinctions between inanimate and animate objects disappear at the scale at which quantum mechanics works." This is the passage's core thesis, stated cleanly. Correct.
Says the inanimate world is "sentient and cognizant." The passage says stones are alive and affected by stimuli — not that they are sentient/cognizant. Over-reads — wrong.
Claims the effect of stimuli is "similar" in inanimate and animate objects. The passage says inanimate objects are affected "just as humans are," but never that the effect is the same/similar — and this misses the main animate/inanimate point. Narrow + distorted — wrong.
Introduces an "astigmatic view" idea found nowhere in the passage and drops the key animate/inanimate distinction. Out of scope — wrong.
Option A — the animate/inanimate distinction dissolves at the quantum scale.