CAT 2022 Question Paper | VARC Slot 1

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Question 18 : The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

All that we think we know about how life hangs together is really some kind of illusion that we have perpetrated on ourselves because of our limited vision. What appear to be inanimate objects such as stones turn out not only to be alive in the same way that we are, but also in many infinitesimal ways to be affected by stimuli just as humans are. The distinction between animate and inanimate simply cannot be made when you enter the world of quantum mechanics and try to determine how those apparent subatomic particles, of which you and everything else in our universe is composed, are all tied together. The point is that physics and metaphysics show there is a pattern to the universe that goes beyond our capacity to grasp it with our brains.

Explanatory Answer

According to the given paragraph, we can realize how limited our capacity to understand the universe is when we enter the world of quantum mechanics and find that arbitrary distinctions between animate and inanimate simply cannot be made. Option A captures all key ideas.

Option B does not touch upon the distinction between animate and inanimate.

Option C says the inanimate world is 'cognizant', which is not what the paragraph says.

Option D is incorrect: the paragraph does not say the effect of stimuli on the animate and inanimate is "similar"; it only says that in many infinitesimal ways, the inanimate seem to be affected by stimuli just as humans are.

The answer is 'Arbitrary distinctions between inanimate and animate objects disappear at the scale at which quantum mechanics works.'

Choice A is the correct answer.