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Stenka25 Posted 16 years ago
Vocabulary

Which is right? Insensitivity or intolerance? Or both?

The below is a question requiring the most appropriate word to fill in the blank.

Can you Give me your answer?

Throughout Earth's history, an estimated 3 million to 100 million species have disappeared, which means that this year somewhere between three and a hundred species will vanish. However, such natural extinctions appear to cause little harm. Over millions of years the ecosystem has developed an amazing _________ to errors and failures, surviving even such drastic events as the impact of the Yucatan meteorite, which killed tens of thousands of species.

? connection ? intolerance ? insensitivity
? accessibility ? subjectivity


The answer says it's #3, and I get the answer right.

However, it seems to me why #2 cannot be a proper answer and it needs googling with 'Google book search'.

First, I googled "insensitivity to errors," and I got the 126 results.
Next, I googled "intolerance to errors," and I got the 14 results.

These results bring me to the conclusion that with #3, #2 can be another answer in the context.

Am I right?

Below is the example sentences I got from googling.
I phased them so you don't take the trouble to search.

?Differential connection of the photodiodes ensures insensitivity to errors caused by light source variability due to environmental or other factors.
?error insensitivity
?error intolerance in organizations
?Since then, many variants have appeared that seek to address some of its shortcomings, such as intolerance to errors in the training data.
  

Top answer

I just think intolerance is totally opposite to the meaning of this paragraph.

  • I just think intolerance is totally opposite to the meaning of this paragraph.
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2 Answers
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I just think intolerance is totally opposite to the meaning of this paragraph.
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? intolerant of pain, which means being unable to endure pain
? insensitive to pain, which means being unaffected by pain

So, each has quite different meaning.

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