In past elections, citizens of the United States of America have collectively chosen to elect older presidents into office. Our current president, President Joe Biden, is to date, the oldest president to ever have been in office, being elected into office at the age of 78 years old. His predecessor, Donald Trump, was elected in office at the age 70 years old, ranking second for being the oldest president to be elected into office.  There is currently no age limit on presidents being elected into federal office, nor is there a competency or cognitive ability assessment to determine if a presidential candidate has the mental capacity to operate and manage the United States of America.

With age, brings many disabilities and health concerns. Physical, emotional, and most crucial to those in office, mental abilities can deteriorate or fault. The products of age not only have an effect on singular people, they could affect many. Being president of the United States, cognitive ability is extremely important in their job to manage and protect our country.If our president is unable to properly function due to the adverse effects of age then we, as citizens of the united states, could be poorly affected. To determine whether a presidential candidate has this ability can be decided with a cognitive assessment. This form of testing is used to determine if a person has hindrances with memory, critical thinking, and other cognitive functions.

News of President Joe Biden's competency issues are constantly being reported in tabloids, newspapers, and news channels. Concerns for our president's mental and physical capacity have exponentially grown over the span of his presidency. Some political officials have suggested that a law be put into place that all presidents be required to take cognitive tests.These tests would prove to be essential in determining if a person is fit both physically and mentally to be the President. It is no easy task to run a country so we should take precautions to ensure that our Presidents are fully capable of this responsibility.. Having a cognitive test would place a safety precaution that would prevent harmful consequences from happening in the future.

“The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.” Is the definition of art given by the Oxford Dictionary. Do video games fall under this blanket, however? Well, the answer is cloudy.

Typical art forms include the likes of painting, sculpture, literature, architecture, cinema, music, and theater. At first glance video games don’t seem to fit in with these other categories but, with a bit of breaking down, you can see that the title of video games is simply a mask covering a collaboration of a majority of these aforementioned art forms. First, painting and sculpture can easily be related to the practice of character design. It’s only in rare cases that a character would be originally and first rendered in a 3d format for a game, oftentimes concept art will be made to help visualize the character, if this isn’t the creation of art I don’t know what is. The 3d rendering and modeling of characters in modern games however is much more reminiscent of a sculpture. Literature is highlighted by being the most direct and efficient way to tell a story or list of events. Games, however, can fulfill the same job, in fact, a majority of games are made to do just that. Architecture is a bit harder to pin down in games, but level, world, and environment design is somewhat reminiscent. Cinema and theater are both encapsulated more and more often as games try to imitate the enjoyment of modern movies with “cutscenes” series of scenes where the player has no control over the game and simply watches. Lastly, music is abundant in modern games, many would feel empty without it. Video game soundtracks are so good that many consider them their own genre with each game giving a completely different auditory experience.

This argument has never satisfied everyone though, In an article by Newsweek drama and film critic Jack Kroll is quoted saying “games can be fun and rewarding in many ways, but they can't transmit the emotional complexity that is the root of art.” I’m led to not agree with this take, however. Games may very well be one of the best forms to use to imprint emotion and ideas into people. Video games are unique with the attribute of being interactive, allowing the viewer to plant themselves inside a situation or narrative. One of the best recent examples of a game that does this is Before Your Eyes. Developed by indie collective GoodbyeWorld Games and released in 2021 Before Your Eyes is often praised for its new development of interactivity and control due to its mechanic in which it flashes through moments of the main character's life whenever the player blinks, tracking their eye movement using a webcam. The game is also now well known for how it handles and shows many topics and emotions, tying the character and player together in the process. Throughout the main story depending on the player's choices shows the joys and sadness of love, success, and growing up. Eventually leading to themes of self-acceptance and savoring life because if you blink, you might just miss it. It’s hard to imagine that a single painting, piece of music, or sculpture could cover so many themes and evoke such empathy from someone like Before Your Eyes does.

Video Games may never be taken entirely seriously in the art world, but for now, it’s good to keep an open mind and realize the developments that have been made in the industry and the effects they can have on people.