GS-1 Verbal Reasoning Question 9

[wendy345]

9. The passage suggests that according to the laws of physics, one would expect that precognitive signals:

A. travel faster than the speed of light. [x]
B. cannot travel over large distances uninterrupted. [x]
C. have properties similar to those of gamma rays. [x]
D. can neither be created nor destroyed.

The right anwer is A, but the passage says, "Standard physics dictates that no signals of any kind can travel faster than the speed of light and that as they travel, they lose strength. How then can parapsychologists account rationally for precognition, in which information from an event is said to reach the subject before the event occurs?" How can A be right?

Thank you,
Wendy

[admin]

Yes, it is correct.

OK, so we need to see what the passage "suggests" or what we can infer from the information in the passage. Without looking at the answer choices, I can only see 2 options: (1) precognition is NOT consistent with the laws of physics and are therefore impossible; or (2) if precognitive signals actually existed, the only way that information from an event can reach a subject before the event occurs, would be if they traveled faster than the speed of light. That is the expectation. Because that is what is expected, the author asks in an almost skeptical or rhetorical way, how can precognition be rational?

[jmakela5197]

well, I really hope that there aren't any wording technicalities such as this on the test... I also got it wrong. the basis of the question is "according to the laws of physics..." and it says plainly in the paragraph that according to the laws of physics, no signal can travel faster than the speed of light. It doesn't say "what must be true of precognition signals if they are to exist" it just asks about them in the context of the laws of physics. of the answers, the one about not traveling uninterrupted over long distances is the only one discussed as a rational possibility.

[sthakur115380]

Hey everyone,

I agree. I parsed the placement of "According to the laws of physics" to give a a stump that's asking "what would be true of signals if we modeled them on EM waves?"

In this case, since EM waves can't go faster than c, the answer would have to be B.

[geoffn045751]

I also picked B. A was the first one I crossed out because the question specifically says "according to the laws of physics". The laws of physics include nothing about anything traveling faster than the speed of light..

[chinedu1120]

I agree with everyone. I also picked B. The question explicitly says "according to the laws of physics"!

[chronicida2879]

Concur.
Picking A would mean you're making a conclusion "according to the laws of physics" that violates them.

[samsonludu4685]

Yep. I said "B" too.