"A-ha! Standing upright is a sufficient condition for having free use of your hands, but it's not necessary. The argument is having you think that it goes Soph. Tools --> Free hands --> Standing upright.
But, it's just: Soph. Tools --> Free hands & Standing upright --> Free hands"
Hi Noah,
I'm a little confused because I thought standing upright would be the sufficient condition for advanced tools.
Standing Upright --> Adv Tool --> Free Hands.
Why is Standing upright a necessary condition in your diagram?
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Re: Q14 - Scientist: A controversy in paleontology
My thought process:
A) almost correct; would be correct if it said "sophisticated/advanced". If animals could do it, so could humans. But it says basic tools, which is not what the scientist is arguing for.
C) strengthens instead of weakens; evidence that humans stood upright first before creation of advanced tools
D) slightly weakens; possibly correct if B didn't exist; standing up didn't make a difference --> evidence leaning towards tools could have been made before standing up
E) slightly weakens; possibly correct if B didn't exist
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So left with B, D, and E, which all seem to weaken.
Then I moved on to assumptions required for each one; then rank easiest to hardest assumptions to prove. Easiest to prove would be most likely the answer.
B) requires assumption that advanced weapons that belonged to them were created by them.
D) requires assumption of a connection between dexterity and developing tools.
E) requires assumption that if users didn't need to stand upright to use it, neither did creating it.
For now, rank is E > B > D.
Eliminated D here, because linking dexterity + creating advanced tools was too far of a stretch.
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And then I looked at what could be holes, from least to biggest/worst hole. The least would be the answer.
B) weapons, even if belonged, were found by them then made.
E) it says many -- so, sort of implying that some tools did require users to stand upright, which actually strengthens the argument. Because why didn't it just state "all tools"? or "All of the tools so far found"?
So then, I eliminated E here, and picked B. Because even if these weapons were found, who is to say the creators stood upright while the ones who found/used them didn't?
A) almost correct; would be correct if it said "sophisticated/advanced". If animals could do it, so could humans. But it says basic tools, which is not what the scientist is arguing for.
C) strengthens instead of weakens; evidence that humans stood upright first before creation of advanced tools
D) slightly weakens; possibly correct if B didn't exist; standing up didn't make a difference --> evidence leaning towards tools could have been made before standing up
E) slightly weakens; possibly correct if B didn't exist
-----
So left with B, D, and E, which all seem to weaken.
Then I moved on to assumptions required for each one; then rank easiest to hardest assumptions to prove. Easiest to prove would be most likely the answer.
B) requires assumption that advanced weapons that belonged to them were created by them.
D) requires assumption of a connection between dexterity and developing tools.
E) requires assumption that if users didn't need to stand upright to use it, neither did creating it.
For now, rank is E > B > D.
Eliminated D here, because linking dexterity + creating advanced tools was too far of a stretch.
----
And then I looked at what could be holes, from least to biggest/worst hole. The least would be the answer.
B) weapons, even if belonged, were found by them then made.
E) it says many -- so, sort of implying that some tools did require users to stand upright, which actually strengthens the argument. Because why didn't it just state "all tools"? or "All of the tools so far found"?
So then, I eliminated E here, and picked B. Because even if these weapons were found, who is to say the creators stood upright while the ones who found/used them didn't?