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Obituaries get attention... I don't know how to test the hypothesis that more famous people died than average... we would have to have a defined quantity of fam

Obituaries get attention... I don't know how to test the hypothesis that more famous people died than average... we would have to have a defined quantity of famous people... or perhaps number of famous obituaries vs. population... I suspect the % of "famous" people goes up over time. Imagine all the reality TV stars...

ConceptJunkie 10y ago
The percentage of famous people that everyone knows goes up every year, so each year you are more likely to know the famous people who died. Also, by the time you're in your 40s or 50s, most of the famous people you knew when you were a kid are starting to die of old age. In music for instance, there was a huge wave of "classic rock" musicians who became really big starting around 1965 through the late 70s. These people are at least in their 70s now, which means they are starting to die of old age. Except Keith Richards. I'm starting to wonder if he's immortal.
- pjmorris 10y ago
  I remember watching the Stones on TV for Live Aid in 1985, and it looked like Keith Richards was one foot in the grave then (if you read his biography, it's pretty clear why - he lived pretty hard). I guess it's fitting that he's beaten the odds so far. I love the memes around the idea that Richards is immortal.
- wavefunction 10y ago
  Percentage of what? If you can show that the rate of people attaining celebrity is outpacing the rate of population growth, I will accept the claim.
  - jacalata 10y ago
    I interpreted the claim as "penetration of famous people" - same percentage of people are famous but the percentage of the population that has heard of each one goes up.
    - lambertsimnel 10y ago
      I wonder whether celebrities are less likely to be confined to a small niche now than in the past. I assume they are less constrained by geography, but audiences are more fragmented by the Internet, etc. Assuming a constant proportion of the population is famous and that more and more people know of a typical famous person over time, eventually every famous person would be known to everybody.
rubyfan 10y ago
Compare death rate of celebs to population would account for growth in % celeb. You might want to create other cohorts out of population to compare, e.g. age range buckets, lifestyle buckets, race, geographies, etc.
grkvlt 10y ago
The definition in this case was how many deaths had a 'prepared' obituary. news organisations will write obituaries in advance for 'famous' people, in order to be prepared if they die unexpectedly; they simply print the obituary they have on file. There are people whose job it is to update these documents and add new ones. It seems like a reasonable, if slightly loose, metric.

ConceptJunkie 10y ago

The percentage of famous people that everyone knows goes up every year, so each year you are more likely to know the famous people who died. Also, by the time you're in your 40s or 50s, most of the famous people you knew when you were a kid are starting to die of old age. In music for instance, there was a huge wave of "classic rock" musicians who became really big starting around 1965 through the late 70s. These people are at least in their 70s now, which means they are starting to die of old age. Except Keith Richards. I'm starting to wonder if he's immortal.

pjmorris 10y ago
I remember watching the Stones on TV for Live Aid in 1985, and it looked like Keith Richards was one foot in the grave then (if you read his biography, it's pretty clear why - he lived pretty hard). I guess it's fitting that he's beaten the odds so far. I love the memes around the idea that Richards is immortal.
wavefunction 10y ago
Percentage of what? If you can show that the rate of people attaining celebrity is outpacing the rate of population growth, I will accept the claim.
- jacalata 10y ago
  I interpreted the claim as "penetration of famous people" - same percentage of people are famous but the percentage of the population that has heard of each one goes up.
  - lambertsimnel 10y ago
    I wonder whether celebrities are less likely to be confined to a small niche now than in the past. I assume they are less constrained by geography, but audiences are more fragmented by the Internet, etc. Assuming a constant proportion of the population is famous and that more and more people know of a typical famous person over time, eventually every famous person would be known to everybody.

rubyfan 10y ago

Compare death rate of celebs to population would account for growth in % celeb. You might want to create other cohorts out of population to compare, e.g. age range buckets, lifestyle buckets, race, geographies, etc.

grkvlt 10y ago

The definition in this case was how many deaths had a 'prepared' obituary. news organisations will write obituaries in advance for 'famous' people, in order to be prepared if they die unexpectedly; they simply print the obituary they have on file. There are people whose job it is to update these documents and add new ones. It seems like a reasonable, if slightly loose, metric.