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Difficulty: MediumPrinciple Questions

A commercial air carrier recently terminated its contract with a software vendor that developed its automated flight-rescheduling algorithm. The airline took this action after discovering that, although the algorithm reduced total passenger delays across the network more effectively than human dispatchers, it achieved these efficiencies by disproportionately canceling flights on low-demand regional routes where passengers have no alternative transportation. The airline's executives maintained that passengers in isolated regions should not bear a disproportionate burden merely to optimize system-wide travel times. Which of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the airline executives' decision?

  1. A
    An automated system should never be deployed by a commercial enterprise if human operators can achieve comparable outcomes on any individual route.
  2. B
    If an operational procedure does not disproportionately harm users in isolated regions, a transportation provider is obligated to adopt it whenever it enhances overall efficiency.
  3. A transportation service provider should not adopt a measure that increases overall operational efficiency if that measure achieves its gains by concentrating severe burdens on a subset of users who have no alternative options.Answer
  4. D
    A commercial carrier is justified in replacing human decision-makers with automated software only when that software treats all service routes identically.
  5. E
    Flight cancellations should be minimized primarily on regional routes because passengers in those areas have fewer travel alternatives than passengers on high-demand routes.

Answer

A transportation service provider should not adopt a measure that increases overall operational efficiency if that measure achieves its gains by concentrating severe burdens on a subset of users who have no alternative options.
The argument's conclusion is that the airline was justified in rejecting the algorithm because isolated passengers should not bear a disproportionate burden merely to optimize system-wide travel times. The correct principle establishes that an organization should not adopt an efficiency-increasing measure if that measure achieves its gains by concentrating severe burdens on users who lack alternatives. When applied to the carrier's situation, this rule directly validates the executives' decision to terminate the contract.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the premises and the conclusion of the argument.
Premise: The algorithm improves overall efficiency (reduces total delays) but does so by disproportionately canceling flights for isolated regional passengers who lack alternatives. Conclusion: The executives were justified in terminating the contract and rejecting the algorithm.
Principle-Justify questions require finding an underlying rule that connects the factual scenario directly to the judgment reached.
2
Identify the logical gap between the premises and the normative conclusion.
The argument assumes that an overall gain in efficiency is unacceptable if it comes at the expense of unfairly burdening vulnerable users with no alternatives.
A valid principle must act as a bridge from 'imposes concentrated harm on alternative-less passengers' to 'should not be used / contract should be terminated'.
3
Evaluate the answer choices to find the rule that provides a sufficient bridge without logical reversal or extreme claims.
The rule prohibiting efficiency measures that achieve gains by concentrating severe burdens on users lacking alternatives directly justifies the executives' decision.
Applying this rule to the facts yields the exact judgment made by the airline executives.

Key Concept

Principle Justification (Bridging Descriptive Premise to Normative Conclusion)
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