Even a cursory glance through the passage shows that some of the assumptions made by the author are appalling. What appears to be the most appalling of them all?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

A philosopher once remarked that the difference between a bee and an architect is that the architect, unlike the bee, erects a structure in the mind before translating it into reality. Human civilization has taken considerable time to attain the stage of the architect. However, having got there, the contours of human evolution are determined by a continuous clash of ideas in all spheres of endeavor. The philosophical divide between materialism and idealism is often erroneously portrayed as matter versus mind. It is, in fact, a battle between the mind or consciousness as the highest form of matter and consciousness independent of the human body and, in that sense, cosmic in nature. While advances in modern science from astrophysics micro-genetic engineering reconfirm the former, the battle between sects of ideas, or ideology, continues to shape advances in every field. The answer to Descarte’s famous postulate ‘I think, therefore, I am’ is ‘I am, therefore, I think’.      
Ideology represents the structure of ideas that seeks to influence the course of human development. It not merely remains relevant, but also becomes pivotal in shaping the future. Presuming that the goal of humanity is to seek emancipation from all forms of bondage, the realization of that quest lies in Marxism.
Marxism is unique in that it can be transcended only when its agenda is realized. This is because its understanding of capitalism is by itself thorough enough for it to comprehend the historical possibilities that lie beyond it. Hence Marxism will be rendered superfluous only when capitalism, the object of its analysis, is itself superseded.
Put another way, the uniqueness of Marxism lies in the fact that all so-called theoretical advances, which supposedly render it obsolete, actually represent throwbacks to still earlier theories superseded by it. Alternatively, these are exaggerations of some particular aspects inherent in Marxism, but dressed in a new garb. These should properly be assimilated within Marxism. ‘Post-modernist’ or ‘post-Marxist’ theories which, at their best, emphasize a moral–ethical stance on social issues, represent pre-Marxist notions of social reformism, egalitarianism or progressive interventionism. On the other hand, certain reformist theories like Keynesianism, based on insights into the functioning of the capitalist economy, unknowingly recall insights actually contained in though not adequately developed within Marxism. It is not surprising that the Polish economist Michael Kalecki, by training an engineer whose only introduction to economics was Marx’s Capital, independently arrived at the so-called Keynesian Revolution.
Marx was not unique on account of subjective qualities that made him superior to other thinkers. What was remarkable was his approach to the analysis of capitalism and the unearthing of certain tendencies that he said were ‘immanent’ in capitalist social relations. The capitalist systems function in a manner that is not merely independent of the will and consciousness of its participants. Indeed, it makes the participants, whether capitalists or workers, victims of ‘alienation’ and mere personifications of the elements through which its inherent logic works itself out.