What I learned from 2,000 obituaries
-
0:01 - 0:05Joseph Keller used to jog
around the Stanford campus, -
0:05 - 0:10and he was struck by all the women
jogging there as well. -
0:10 - 0:13Why did their ponytails swing
from side to side like that? -
0:14 - 0:17Being a mathematician,
he set out to understand why. -
0:17 - 0:18(Laughter)
-
0:18 - 0:21Professor Keller was curious
about many things: -
0:21 - 0:23why teapots dribble
-
0:23 - 0:24or how earthworms wriggle.
-
0:25 - 0:28Until a few months ago,
I hadn't heard of Joseph Keller. -
0:29 - 0:31I read about him in the New York Times,
-
0:31 - 0:33in the obituaries.
-
0:33 - 0:37The Times had half a page
of editorial dedicated to him, -
0:37 - 0:41which you can imagine is premium space
for a newspaper of their stature. -
0:41 - 0:44I read the obituaries almost every day.
-
0:45 - 0:48My wife understandably thinks
I'm rather morbid -
0:48 - 0:52to begin my day with scrambled eggs
and a "Let's see who died today." -
0:52 - 0:53(Laughter)
-
0:54 - 0:55But if you think about it,
-
0:55 - 0:59the front page of the newspaper
is usually bad news, -
0:59 - 1:01and cues man's failures.
-
1:01 - 1:03An instance where bad news
cues accomplishment -
1:03 - 1:07is at the end of the paper,
in the obituaries. -
1:07 - 1:09In my day job,
-
1:09 - 1:11I run a company that focuses
on future insights -
1:11 - 1:14that marketers can derive
from past data -- -
1:14 - 1:17a kind of rearview-mirror analysis.
-
1:17 - 1:18And we began to think:
-
1:18 - 1:23What if we held a rearview mirror
to obituaries from the New York Times? -
1:25 - 1:28Were there lessons on how you could get
your obituary featured -- -
1:28 - 1:30even if you aren't around to enjoy it?
-
1:30 - 1:31(Laughter)
-
1:32 - 1:34Would this go better with scrambled eggs?
-
1:34 - 1:35(Laughter)
-
1:36 - 1:39And so, we looked at the data.
-
1:40 - 1:442,000 editorial, non-paid obituaries
-
1:44 - 1:48over a 20-month period
between 2015 and 2016. -
1:48 - 1:53What did these 2,000 deaths --
rather, lives -- teach us? -
1:53 - 1:55Well, first we looked at words.
-
1:55 - 1:57This here is an obituary headline.
-
1:57 - 1:59This one is of the amazing Lee Kuan Yew.
-
1:59 - 2:02If you remove the beginning and the end,
-
2:02 - 2:05you're left with a beautifully
worded descriptor -
2:05 - 2:10that tries to, in just a few words,
capture an achievement or a lifetime. -
2:10 - 2:12Just looking at these is fascinating.
-
2:12 - 2:16Here are a few famous ones,
people who died in the last two years. -
2:16 - 2:17Try and guess who they are.
-
2:17 - 2:18[An Artist who Defied Genre]
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2:18 - 2:20That's Prince.
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2:20 - 2:22[Titan of Boxing and the 20th Century]
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2:22 - 2:24Oh, yes.
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2:24 - 2:25[Muhammad Ali]
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2:25 - 2:26[Groundbreaking Architect]
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2:26 - 2:28Zaha Hadid.
-
2:29 - 2:31So we took these descriptors
-
2:31 - 2:33and did what's called
natural language processing, -
2:33 - 2:35where you feed these into a program,
-
2:35 - 2:37it throws out the superfluous words --
-
2:37 - 2:41"the," "and," -- the kind of words
you can mime easily in "Charades," -- -
2:41 - 2:43and leaves you with the most
significant words. -
2:43 - 2:45And we did it not just for these four,
-
2:45 - 2:48but for all 2,000 descriptors.
-
2:48 - 2:49And this is what it looks like.
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2:51 - 2:56Film, theatre, music, dance
and of course, art, are huge. -
2:56 - 2:58Over 40 percent.
-
2:58 - 3:01You have to wonder
why in so many societies -
3:01 - 3:05we insist that our kids pursue
engineering or medicine or business or law -
3:05 - 3:07to be construed as successful.
-
3:08 - 3:10And while we're talking profession,
-
3:10 - 3:11let's look at age --
-
3:11 - 3:13the average age at which
they achieved things. -
3:13 - 3:15That number is 37.
-
3:16 - 3:20What that means is,
you've got to wait 37 years ... -
3:20 - 3:23before your first significant achievement
that you're remembered for -- -
3:23 - 3:25on average --
-
3:25 - 3:2744 years later, when you
die at the age of 81 -- -
3:27 - 3:28on average.
-
3:28 - 3:29(Laughter)
-
3:29 - 3:31Talk about having to be patient.
-
3:31 - 3:32(Laughter)
-
3:32 - 3:34Of course, it varies by profession.
-
3:35 - 3:36If you're a sports star,
-
3:36 - 3:38you'll probably hit
your stride in your 20s. -
3:38 - 3:41And if you're in your 40s like me,
-
3:41 - 3:43you can join the fun world of politics.
-
3:43 - 3:44(Laughter)
-
3:44 - 3:48Politicians do their first and sometimes
only commendable act in their mid-40s. -
3:48 - 3:49(Laughter)
-
3:49 - 3:51If you're wondering what "others" are,
-
3:51 - 3:52here are some examples.
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3:53 - 3:55Isn't it fascinating, the things people do
-
3:55 - 3:57and the things they're remembered for?
-
3:57 - 3:59(Laughter)
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4:00 - 4:02Our curiosity was in overdrive,
-
4:02 - 4:06and we desired to analyze
more than just a descriptor. -
4:07 - 4:12So, we ingested the entire
first paragraph of all 2,000 obituaries, -
4:12 - 4:15but we did this separately
for two groups of people: -
4:15 - 4:18people that are famous
and people that are not famous. -
4:18 - 4:20Famous people -- Prince,
Ali, Zaha Hadid -- -
4:20 - 4:25people who are not famous
are people like Jocelyn Cooper, -
4:25 - 4:26Reverend Curry
-
4:26 - 4:27or Lorna Kelly.
-
4:27 - 4:30I'm willing to bet you haven't heard
of most of their names. -
4:30 - 4:34Amazing people, fantastic achievements,
but they're not famous. -
4:35 - 4:38So what if we analyze
these two groups separately -- -
4:38 - 4:39the famous and the non-famous?
-
4:39 - 4:40What might that tell us?
-
4:41 - 4:42Take a look.
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4:45 - 4:46Two things leap out at me.
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4:47 - 4:48First:
-
4:48 - 4:49"John."
-
4:49 - 4:51(Laughter)
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4:52 - 4:55Anyone here named John
should thank your parents -- -
4:55 - 4:57(Laughter)
-
4:57 - 5:00and remind your kids to cut out
your obituary when you're gone. -
5:01 - 5:02And second:
-
5:04 - 5:05"help."
-
5:07 - 5:10We uncovered, many lessons
from lives well-led, -
5:10 - 5:13and what those people immortalized
in print could teach us. -
5:13 - 5:18The exercise was a fascinating testament
to the kaleidoscope that is life, -
5:18 - 5:20and even more fascinating
-
5:20 - 5:23was the fact that the overwhelming
majority of obituaries -
5:23 - 5:26featured people famous and non-famous,
-
5:26 - 5:29who did seemingly extraordinary things.
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5:30 - 5:33They made a positive dent
in the fabric of life. -
5:33 - 5:34They helped.
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5:35 - 5:37So ask yourselves as you go
back to your daily lives: -
5:37 - 5:40How am I using my talents to help society?
-
5:40 - 5:43Because the most powerful lesson here is,
-
5:43 - 5:48if more people lived their lives
trying to be famous in death, -
5:48 - 5:50the world would be a much better place.
-
5:51 - 5:52Thank you.
-
5:52 - 5:55(Applause)
- Title:
- What I learned from 2,000 obituaries
- Speaker:
- Lux Narayan
- Description:
-
Lux Narayan starts his day with scrambled eggs and the question: "Who died today?" Why? By analyzing 2,000 New York Times obituaries over a 20-month period, Narayan gleaned, in just a few words, what achievement looks like over a lifetime. Here he shares what those immortalized in print can teach us about success and a life well lived.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 06:08
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Leslie Gauthier edited English subtitles for What I learned from 2,000 obituaries |
Retired user
2:05 that tries to, in just a few words, capture an achievement or a lifetime.
It seems to me, the speaker says "capture an achievement over a lifetime", or "of a lifetime", could you please double check?
Thank you.