Since the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, societies have wrestled with the question of how to balance the benefits of new technologies with the loss of employment these changes may engender. In our own time, not only have jobs in manufacturing disappeared with the expanding implementation of robotics but also professional careers are now threatened by social media. While many people believe that those enjoying lofty levels of compensation resist redistribution of wealth, a recent book by social media multimillionaire Chris Hughes argues for a guaranteed minimum income, funded primarily by a marginal tax rate of 50 percent on individual annual incomes over $250,000, to offset reduced employment due to technological advances.

Reflecting on his own fortuitous life story, Hughes recounts how his chance selection of Mark Zuckerberg as his roommate in college was the primary determinant of Hughes’s own success. Zuckerberg recruited Hughes and a few other friends to help with his side project, Facebook, and within a few years, Hughes’s ownership share was worth an inconceivable amount of money. Hughes recognizes that his meteoric rise from the middle class was a product not only of his education and effort but also of luck. In addition, Hughes believes that opportunities for upward economic mobility are becoming less accessible as developments in technology supplant employment opportunities. Social media, Hughes's own vehicle for success, for example, may reduce the number of salespeople or human resource recruiters employed because social media algorithms can connect people to products or to other people more efficiently than can a human intermediary.

While Hughes may be commended for his ethos of generosity and his recognition of an impending social dilemma, his solution suffers the same failings as those offered by other technology moguls. There is no consideration of the formidable political obstacles to his plan or how these obstacles could be overcome.

1. Which of the following best describes the function of the second sentence in the second paragraph (Highlighted) in the context of the passage as a whole?

A. To illustrate that Hughes is wealthy
B. To contradict the hypothesis that introduced the passage
C. To explain Hughes's motivation for writing his book
D. To argue against a view stated previously in the passage
E. To support a proposition stated previously in the passage


2. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would likely agree with which of the following proposals for change to the economic system?

A. Because the redistribution of wealth would be rejected by most of the individuals whose income would be taxed at higher rates, voluntary charitable contributions should be encouraged to support the unemployed.
B. Recent innovations in technology, such as the widespread adoption of social media to conduct business and personal interactions, should be curtailed to prevent widespread loss of employment.
C. The role of luck as a factor that enables rapid accumulation of wealth should be mitigated by providing more opportunities for education, especially in technological fields.
D. Chris Hughes's plan for the redistribution of wealth is an important development and should be implemented with little modification.
E. A system to remedy the impact on personal income when technological advancement reduces the supply of jobs should be considered.