Are Authors Always Right?

Authors often show biased when writing an informative text. Although biased is difficult to overlook, by disregarding the authors perspective it is possible to challenge the author's assertion on a subject. In TheWeek.coms article “Can Human Mortality Be Hacked” the writer's opinion is that the drugs said to extend humans life are ridiculous, the author does not take them seriously. Although the author's opinion is seen in the article they still include credible research. By just looking at the research and disregarding the authors biased another possible opinion on the subject could be found.

In the second paragraph, the author includes a research study on the amount of time a mouse can run on a treadmill since mice have the same blood vessel pattern that results in vital organ breakdown. The experiment included mice that were fed a chemical that manipulated the gene associated with blood vessel growth. The mice who had the chemical ran on the treadmill significantly longer as they aged. The author disregards this evidence and refers to these findings as “self-described cognition boosters” but this evidence is a significant step in the right direction. With the similarities between mice genes and human genes, it is likely that human genes would follow the same pattern. If the author were writing this passage with the belief that the lifespan-enhancing drugs could work in the future then the research would be described as promising and the drugs are advancements could work after some development and further research. There are also many infamously smart people the author includes who join in the movement. The author refers to the followers and creators of the movement as fringe scientists and undermines them as basement hobbyists, but when you look at the people who support the movement they are entrepreneurs of big companies who are reputable and intelligent. Elon Musk the CEO and co-founder of Tesla and Space-X founded a Nueralink to develop digital implants for the brain. Musk is one of the most prominent figures in modern technological advances, not the unconventional scientist that the author describes the people who contribute to this research.

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