4 ms·
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
by 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 agoI 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 agoPercentage 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 agoI 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 agoI 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.