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RC: Commodification of Knowledge

XAT 2020 · Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning · Hard · Reading Comprehension

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Passage / data set

Read the passage below and answer the 3 associated questions:

The nature of knowledge cannot survive unchanged within this context of general transformation. It can fit into the new channels, and become operational, only if learning is translated into quantities of information. We can predict that anything in the constituted body of knowledge that is not translatable in this way will be abandoned and that the direction of new research will be dictated by the possibility of its eventual results being translatable into computer language. The "producers" and users of knowledge must know, and will have to, possess the means of translating into these languages whatever they want to invent or learn. Research on translating machines is already well advanced. Along with the hegemony of computers comes a certain logic, and therefore a certain set of prescriptions determining which statements are accepted as "knowledge" statements. We may thus expect a thorough exteriorisation of knowledge with respect to the "knower," at whatever point he or she may occupy in the knowledge process. The old principle that the acquisition of knowledge is indissociable from the training (Bildung) of minds, or even of individuals, is becoming obsolete and will become ever more so. The relationships of the suppliers and users of knowledge to the knowledge they supply and use is now tending, and will increasingly tend, to assume the form already taken by the relationship of commodity producers and consumers to the commodities they produce and consume - that is, the form of value. Knowledge is and will be produced in order to be sold, it is and will be consumed in order to be valorised in a new production: in both cases, the goal is exchange.

Knowledge ceases to be an end in itself, it loses its "use-value."

Question 1 of 3

Which of the following statements BEST captures the essence of the passage?

  1. A.

    Knowledge shall no longer be evaluated by its truth but its commercial value.

  2. B.

    Translation of knowledge into machine language exteriorises it.

  3. C.

    Suppliers and users of knowledge have become its producers and consumers.

  4. D.

    Knowledge shall be exclusively produced to be sold.

  5. E.

    Market forces have taken over the process of knowledge production.

Answer

A

Explanation

The main theme is that knowledge loses its intrinsic value and is evaluated solely as an exchangeable, commercial commodity evaluated by commercial value rather than truth.

Question 2 of 3

Based on the passage, which of the following statements can be BEST inferred?

  1. A.

    For knowledge to acquire an exchange-value, it should cease to have a use-value.

  2. B.

    Acquisition of knowledge need no longer transform its recipient.

  3. C.

    The locus of creation and accumulation of knowledge has shifted.

  4. D.

    Knowledge as a transactional commodity is indispensable to productive power.

  5. E.

    Mental discipline is not necessary for learning anymore.

Answer

B

Explanation

The passage states: "The old principle that the acquisition of knowledge is indissociable from the training (Bildung) of minds... is becoming obsolete". This means learning knowledge no longer inherently transforms the mind of its recipient.

Question 3 of 3

Which of the following options will the author agree the MOST with?

  1. A.

    A daughter of a lawyer must become a lawyer.

  2. B.

    A person with no passion for singing, if trained, will sing perfectly.

  3. C.

    To get promoted, an unempathetic manager can learn to display empathy.

  4. D.

    To teach poetry, one must not be a poet.

  5. E.

    MBA program has a high exchange-value but zero use-value.

Answer

C

Explanation

The author argues that knowledge/skills become transactional tools performed for exchange/valorization rather than intrinsic qualities. Displaying empathy as a performative tool to get promoted aligns with this view.

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