More Solitary Passages Questions - - Question 3

Which one of the following, if true, would most undermine the position held by opponents of the use of new technolog...

Mazen April 29, 2020

Why is Answer-choice A eliminated?

Hi, Answer choice A also weakens the opponents' argument that the relationship between performer and audience will be abolished. Lines 26 to 30: "Some even worry that technology will eliminate live performance altogether; performances will be recorded for home viewing, abolishing the relationship between performer and audience." In weakening the opponents' argument, quoted above, I call your attention to "abolishing the relationship between performer and audience." If we can show that the technology will not affect this relationship between audience and performer, or if we can show that technology enhances it, then we can weaken the opponents argument that technology will result in abolishing this relationship. No? Answer-choice A states: "Surveys show that when recordings of performances are made available for home viewing, the public becomes far more knowledgeable about different performing artists." Well, when the public or audience becomes "far more knowledgeable about different performers as the result of technology, wouldn't that mean that mean that the public's relationship with these performers is strengthened, which is contrary to the opponents' forecast? In retrospect, if we can show that technology enhances the relationship between performer and audience, as answer-choice A states, we then weaken the opponents argument that technology will abolish that relationship can also weaken the opponents argument by showing that technology will not affect the relationship between performer and audience, Answer-choice D works too as it states: "The distribution of recordings of artists' performances has begun to attract many new audience members to their live performances." But what makes D superior to A? Please help with this. Thank you in advance

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Mazen April 29, 2020

Please forgive me for the spelling errors and the repetitive phraseology.

The window is too narrow and hard on my eyes. I hope you do not get dissuaded from responding to my questions. My posts are a Bit lengthier than the average posts because I would like to hone in on my reasoning weaknesses.

Thank you

Brett-Lindsay August 14, 2020

Hi @Mazen,

I also looked long and hard at (A), but I dismissed it for a few reasons:
1) "Surveys show" seems pretty flimsy. How many surveys? How many people were surveyed? Are they representative of the population at large? Do they suffer from self-reporting biases? Surveys are rife with biases, so they are not very strong as evidence.

2) Becoming knowledgeable about a person is not related to viewing a live performance. It's possible to know a ton of stuff about a person who lived 500 years ago. That kind of relationship is nothing like the relationship you have with a person when you see them in the flesh.

3) Going to watch a live performance means you get out of the home - it has a social element. Staying at home does not.

Those were just a few random thoughts that popped through my head and helped me eliminate (A).

(D) says that instead of decreasing the number of audience members, technology is actually increasing the numbers, which is the opposite of what the opponents claim. Of course, it could do both - people who previously went to performances now stay at home while people who never went in the past now go, so it's impossible to tell what is happening with real numbers, but that may be going into it a bit too deep for the question.