TOW #2 - Article: Will You Still Love Me When I'm 164?

In Sonia Arrison's opinion article published by Time, the national bestselling author discusses the possible effects she predicts will result from Google’s new company, Calico. Calico, which was publicly announced this past Wednesday, is another branch of Google that specializes in health and well-being, with a focus on aging and the detrimental diseases that come with it. Due to the simple fact that it is an opinion piece, her article will obviously be biased with the intent to convince her audience, which most likely consists of almost everyone besides young children, that her viewpoint is the correct one. To achieve this purpose, Arrison uses examples, multiple statistics, and attempts to discredit opposing opinions. The first possible effect she discusses is that people will have more time to spend with their spouses, with different spouses, and having children decades apart. To support this, she uses actress Elizabeth Taylor as an example who has been married eight times to seven different husbands. She then uses a statistic that compares the average age men and women married at in the 1950s compared with 2013. Comparing the two shows that men and women are more likely to marry 5-6 years later in life in 2013 than in the 1950s which she attributes partially to increased life expectancy. Later on in the article she references a statistic from the University of Chicago that states $3.2 trillion per year have been added to the national wealth due to increased life expectancy from 1970-2000. Lastly she refutes the opposing opinion that a drastically increased life expectancy will potentially devalue the richness of life by saying that will more able years, people can spend more time with friends, family, innovating, exploring, learning, and helping others. Ultimately I do believe that Arrison achieved her purpose of convincing her audience that her opinion of increased life expectancy being good was successful due mainly to her appeal to logos through the statistic and pathos through being able to spend more time doing good things.