Question

read the excerpt from anthem.

those men who survived—those eager to obey, eager to live for one another, since they had nothing else to vindicate them—those men could neither carry on, nor preserve what they had received. thus did all thought, all science, all wisdom perish on earth. thus did men—men with nothing to offer save their great number—lose the steel towers, the flying ships, the power wires, all the things they had not created and could never keep.

what connection does the narrator make between collectivism and human invention?

○ people in a collective society often dismiss the need for human progress and creativity.
○ people who prefer collective thought are unable to contribute new ideas to mankind’s progress.
○ societies in which people live for one another tend to cooperate and produce innovative developments.
○ societies that have the greatest number of people need to have more inventions and produce more.

Explanation:

The excerpt describes collectivist men who live for one another, unable to sustain or build on existing inventions, leading to the loss of scientific and technological progress. This matches the idea that collective-focused people fail to contribute new ideas for progress. The other options contradict the text: the first claims they dismiss progress (the text says they can't preserve it, not dismiss it), the third says they create innovations (opposite of the text), and the fourth links population size to inventions (not the narrator's point).

Answer:

People who prefer collective thought are unable to contribute new ideas to mankind’s progress.