Q11 - Geneticist: Billions of dollars

[bbirdwell]

Conclusion:
Funding for human gene research should be reduced, other genetic research increased

Premises:
human gene research has billions of bucks and few practical consequences
other practical projects are underfunded

Our correct answer will utilize a general rule of some kind to validate the reasoning above.

(A) there is no discussion about how many people will be helped.

(B) we sort of already know this -- this doesn't support the author's conclusion, it's more like it repeats a premise

(C) this does not support the authors' conclusion about fudning.

(D) here it is! practical experiments are better than non-practical ones. This is an exact match for our argument.

(E) media attention is out of scope here and inapplicable to the argument as it is written.

[wj097]

Conclusion:
Funding for human gene research should be reduced, other genetic research increased

Premises:
human gene research has billions of bucks and few practical consequences
other practical projects are underfunded

Our correct answer will utilize a general rule of some kind to validate the reasoning above.

(A) there is no discussion about how many people will be helped.

(B) we sort of already know this -- this doesn't support the author's conclusion, it's more like it repeats a premise

(C) this does not support the authors' conclusion about fudning.

(D) here it is! practical experiments are better than non-practical ones. This is an exact match for our argument.

(E) media attention is out of scope here and inapplicable to the argument as it is written.

bbirdwell thx for the concise and clear explanation.
Meanwhile, I have a different perspective on (C); it actually touches on the conclusion by saying one is more worthwhile than the other. While there is a slight logical leap to say something more worthwhile should be deserving more funding, I think such small jump is allowable (D, correct answer choice, also resorts on the same jump).
Rather, (C) seems to err by focusing on malnutrition vs personality trait; these characteristics are just some examples used to describe something that is of practical/few-practical use, and the correct answer needs to be dealing with this concept of practicality.

Thx

[matthewyoung2008]

(C) vs. (D)

(D) borrows language directly from the passage

(C) takes the passage's stated actions one step further, a step that is assumed, but not explicitly stated

e.g., "natural ways to make edible plants more nutritious" became "help prevent malnutrition"

e.g., "particular personality traits" became "undesirable personality traits"

the scientist in me likes (C) because it demonstrates the significance/innovation of the research, which must be stated for grant funding, but because it is not stated, (D) is the better choice