CAJ: Rhetorical analysis

 source: http://aeon.co/magazine/nature-and-cosmos/can-we-tell-if-reality-is-a-computer-simulation/

The article “Is this life real” by Matthew Francis was published in the Aeon Magazine and deals with the Simulation Hypothesis. The author does not take all three appeals into account. He clearly fulfills the logical appeal. His article is very well structured, starting with two short paragraphs introducing the major topic. I like the fact that he stops the introduction with the question “But why stop there?”. He gained my interest and I wanted to continue reading as it sounded promising and interesting. The main part of the article is very long and detailed. There is a lot of information in it. Still, it is easy to follow his arguments as he starts first by explaining the philosophical approach to the topic and then he moves on to the scientific one. His concluding paragraphs are once again very short but still effective. Personally, I think that the author is trustworthy. There are a couple of sentences written about him saying that he is a science writer and speaker specializing in physics and astronomy. I had the feeling that he is very well informed about this topic and also able to explain certain concepts for example the lattice quantum chromodynamics. Nevertheless, I believe that the pathetic appeal is not fulfilled. He just mentions his personal opinion about the topic in one single sentence saying that he does not believe that we are living in a computer simulation. However, in my opinion it is very good that he did not use strong emotions in this article as it should inform the reader and try to let him/her form his/her own opinion about the topic.