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The rise of the dead: How many ghosts are on Facebook?

1000memories.com

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Re: The rise of the dead: How many ghosts are on Facebook?

#11

Post by Psyonic »

alanh wrote: post #6
danshapiro wrote: post #3

It would be fascinating to calculate when the dead on Facebook will outnumber the living. Anyone able to interpolate based on the data provided + Facebook's growth rate?

If the number active (alive) Facebook users grows at a sufficient exponential rate, e.g. each new generation has at least 2× the users of the last generation, then the answer would be “never” Edit: Um, humans do grow in population in an exponential pattern… how long do you think the population has been at 6.8 billion?

Last I checked humans are limited in supply. AI users though...

Re: The rise of the dead: How many ghosts are on Facebook?

#13

Post by alain94040 »

cosmicray wrote: post #9

This seems like a (morbid) opportunity. An AI to keep these people posting on each other walls. I'm reminded of a short story by Larry Niven... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Defenseless_Dead

You could actually build a startup for that: when you die, our product will post updates on your facebook page. It's up to you, from the afterlife, to focus enough so our software can catch your brain waves.

If enough people believe in supernatural stuff, you could make a killing :-)

Re: The rise of the dead: How many ghosts are on Facebook?

#14

Post by jaaron »

cosmicray wrote: post #9

This seems like a (morbid) opportunity. An AI to keep these people posting on each other walls. I'm reminded of a short story by Larry Niven... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Defenseless_Dead

The Facebook wall for one of my passed away friends is regularly populated with notes and shared memories by those who knew him.

Re: The rise of the dead: How many ghosts are on Facebook?

#15

Post by purp »

jaaron wrote: post #14
cosmicray wrote: post #9

This seems like a (morbid) opportunity. An AI to keep these people posting on each other walls. I'm reminded of a short story by Larry Niven... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Defenseless_Dead

The Facebook wall for one of my passed away friends is regularly populated with notes and shared memories by those who knew him.

Same here. I got two FB firsts this year: first death of a friend I learned of via FB (I've had another since), and first "update" from a dead friend who's mother now controls his account.

Re: The rise of the dead: How many ghosts are on Facebook?

#16

Post by tmorgan »

alanh wrote: post #6
danshapiro wrote: post #3

It would be fascinating to calculate when the dead on Facebook will outnumber the living. Anyone able to interpolate based on the data provided + Facebook's growth rate?

If the number active (alive) Facebook users grows at a sufficient exponential rate, e.g. each new generation has at least 2× the users of the last generation, then the answer would be “never” Edit: Um, humans do grow in population in an exponential pattern… how long do you think the population has been at 6.8 billion?

Well, populations are typically modeled as a sigmoid function, they only appear to be growing exponentially. I think it's fair to assume total population will stabilise whilst we are still resource limited to Earth.

Re: The rise of the dead: How many ghosts are on Facebook?

#17

Post by jonathanbgood »

jules wrote: post #10
danshapiro wrote: post #3

It would be fascinating to calculate when the dead on Facebook will outnumber the living. Anyone able to interpolate based on the data provided + Facebook's growth rate?

According to world population on wikipedia it seems like more people live now than have died since year 1.

I read that this is an urban myth and actually only a few percent of the people who have ever lived are alive today.

Re: The rise of the dead: How many ghosts are on Facebook?

#19

Post by southpolesteve »

The guys at www.entrustet.com have been talking about this for the last 6 months. Some of 1000 memories points are straight up lifted. Have some integrity guys. The interwebs know when you copy.

Stats are free, but you should at least credit them for inspiration.

Re: The rise of the dead: How many ghosts are on Facebook?

#20

Post by southpolesteve »

adrianwaj wrote: post #8

I recently came across some YT channels of high-altitude climbers who'd deceased in their endeavors, with their last videos remaining. http://www.youtube.com/user/karlunterkircher http://www.youtube.com/user/FredrikEricsson http://vimeo.com/joepuryear/videos Creepy. There'd be an opportunity for digital wills, so a next of kin can claim passwords for ghosted accounts. Maybe some type of program that various sites can…

check out some friends of mine at www.entrustet.com

They are doing exactly what you describe

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