The persuasive piece that I have chosen to use for my rhetorical analysis is a transcript from a TED talk by Paul Root Wolpe titled, “It’s time to Question Bio-engineering”. Wolpe is an ethicist who studies the implications of the new sciences, is the head at the Center for Genetics at Emory University, and is the chief bioethicist for NASA. He begins his talk by presenting the audience with examples of selective breeding in animals and mentions many hybrid animals such as “beefalo”, “cama” and “geep”. When Wolpe brings up the discussion about these hybridized animals, he conveys to the audience what could possibly happen if bio-engineering continues to evolve and especially if it is used in humans. Since this is a TED talk, he …show more content…
When he uses this method, he indirectly conveys to the audience what could possibly happen if genetic engineering is used in humans. He frequently implies that the human genetic pool will be left tainted if we alter our genome and he also states this explicitly at the end of his presentation.
Ethos: Wolpe states that he is a bioethicist and the fact that he holds positions as prestigious as the Chief Bioethicist at NASA, and the head of the Genetics Department at Emory University, brings a lot of credibility to him and it means that we can trust what he has to say and his opinions on the issue. His vast experience in bioengineering also credits him with a lot of experience which further adds to his …show more content…
He is responsible for formulating policy on bioethics and he deals with the safety of experiments. He is a decorated bioethicist and he is the author and editor of many prestigious publications as well as a Board Member on many national and international non-profit organizations. The audience for this TED talk was mostly other scientists and bioethicists as well as general population but since this TED talk is online, anyone can view it anytime. Over 1 million people have viewed this TED talk online and so the message has been passed on and heard by many people.
What?: This TED talk was about the possible implications of bio-engineering. He wants to get the audience to think about what genetic engineering is and whether or not we should really do it or if we do choose to do it, what will be acceptable versus unacceptable. All of the questions that he poses to the audience are for the audience to think about so that they can determine if they would like to genetically engineer organisms or if they would like to put a stop to