Patent for a wristwatch that tells you how much longer you could expect to live

In 2007, Kevin Kelly started displaying a life expectancy countdown clock on his computer. (I posted about it on Boing Boing.) Here's what he wrote about it:

I've been using this system for several months now and it has been very powerful. Day to day I am aware -- and can rattle off if I am asked - how many days I have left. I decided to post my project today because on my clock it shows a handily rounded off sum. So here is the news: As of today I have 8,500 days left to live. That's not much in my book. I can almost hear them ticking away as we speak. I look at my lifelist of current dreams and I realize that in only 8,500 days I won't get to but a few of them. And what of any new dreams?

(It must be at 6,500 or so now.) I thought of Kevin when I saw this 1991 patent for a “life expectancy timepiece”:

It shows the years, days, hours, minutes, and seconds you have left, according to actuarial data. I think Kevin's "days remaining" presentation is more moving than this watch's display, however. Someone should Kickstart a wristwatch that shows how many days you could expect to live!

Memento Mori

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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waltbosz

Dibs on his CD player!
http://twitter.com/matcatastrophe mat catastrophe

It cannot know. The Good Lord Jesus in our Most Holey and Sacred Historical Text tells us that we do not know the time or the hour of his coming and that HIS coming can only mean that which takes us to HIM, in the presence of the LORD in the most HIGH AND HOLEY HEAVEN, which is above and below and all around, EVEN IN THE SPACES BETWEEN THE COUCH CUSHIONS.

REPENT, SINNERS! You are not guaranteed the next BREATH through your polluted mouths, much less whatever this Devil’s Watch tells you.
- http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby
  
  I can’t work out if you’re a crazy person, a troll, or making a clever joke that I don’t get.
  
  Story of my life.
  - Wreckrob8
    
    I think you need to study the HOLEy texts!
- http://twitter.com/JTBlueShell J.T. Murphy
  
  I’m not a fan of this idea, but if it happens, “Devil’s Watch” would be an AWESOME name for it.
- Jake0748
  
  Holy Holey Wholly Batman!!
waetherman

I’d like to see this idea refreshed with some of the new gizmos that have come out recently that monitor activity, diet, sleep, etc., such as FitBit, Jawbone Up, or NikeFuel, or even just apps like Runkeeper, Gympact or LoseIt. It’d be very motivating to see that a couple of days were added to the clock every time you went to the gym, for instance, or got a full night’s rest, or taken away every time you ate a cheeseburger.
- bcsizemo
  
  Go to gym 3 days a week gain 3 days…
  Go to BK and try that new bacon sundae lose 4…
  - Wreckrob8
    
    And then get run over trying to work out your new watch!
http://twitter.com/benjymous/ benjymous

It’d be a fairly easy thing to add to a MetaWatch – I’d add it to my software, but

a) that’s far too morbid
b) I wouldn’t want to go breaking the aforementioned patent, now, would I?
- waetherman
  
  It’s been 21 years, so I think we’re past the term of the patent…
- billstewart
  
  If you want something that’s been Kickstartered, there’s the Pebble watch. Metawatch looks cool. If you want something that’s programmer-friendly and cheap, the TI Chronos is $50, often discounted to $25, and has an accelerometer and radio links so you can do a variety of things with it.
  - http://twitter.com/benjymous/ benjymous
    
    I’ve already got a MetaWatch, which is very dev friendly (as I’ve spent the last seven months improving the software!)
    
    As I said, implementing this would probably take less than 10 minutes, but frankly it gives me the heebie geebies!
millford

So, Karl Pilkington wasn’t totally off.
- http://jello-bomb.tumblr.com/ Jello
  
  My thoughts exactly. It’s an insane world we’re living in if Karl Pilkington’s inventions are becoming real. I wait with baited breath for the ‘old woman turns into a baby’ invention that will surely follow.
http://www.aarongilliland.com/ Aaron Gilliland

Is this device hardened against Q-rays? I wouldn’t want their healing vibes throwing off the calculation.
http://2012diaries.blogspot.com/ tristan eldritch

Man, I don’t want one of these. If I go in sudden, unforeseen circumstances, I don’t want my last words on this earth to be: “Gah, stupid watch!”

Anyway, if Kurzweil is right, all these clocks are gonna hit a big Y2K pretty soon.
bcsizemo

Bonus if the watch kills you when it gets to zero.
Guaranteed accurate.
http://twitter.com/digitalArtform Joseph Francis

Is this based on average life expectancy at birth? Or does it adjust its estimate like real actuarial tables as you age? The average male at birth has a life expectancy of 75.38 years, but if he makes it to 75 he can expect to make it to 85.

http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html

This is why certain arguments about social security and retirement age are misleading and make things sound worse than they are. Thanks to better modern child care the life expectancy at birth has changed a lot since the 30s but the life expectancy of a 65-year-old hasn’t changed nearly as much.
- bbonyx
  
  Yes, but by your own statement, the number of infants who *make* it to 65 (and thus start collecting SS) is increasing. So while the expectation of those who have reached the SS gateway may be fairly static once they are in it, the volume of people reaching that gateway is increasing, which is the problem.
nixiebunny

Someone paid a lawyer money to patent such an idea????!!?!?!
lozhuf

It just makes me think of this Simpsons line:

http://download.lardlad.com/sounds/season14/cedoh14.mp3
Fred Cairns

Kinda surprised that nobody mentioned the plethora of sites on teh internets that will happily provide some sort of estimate along these lines. http://www.deathclock.com and http://www.deathclock.org are just two of many. I don’t endorse them. One of them, and I can’t remember which one, and maybe there is more than one, will allow you to download an app which you can stick on your desktop. I really don’t care to have this kind of counter on my desktop, or on my wrist.
- bcsizemo
  
  It appears http://www.deathclock.org might have “died” so to speak…
  
  and ironically http://www.deathclock.com gives you a different date every time you hit the button, even if you don’t change anything.
http://twitter.com/WaRpEdThOuGhT Gary Woodrow

Could it have a green display and be implanted under the skin.
- malindrome
  
  And maybe it could be on the palm of your hand and change colors as each citizen approaches their “Last Day”. If they refuse to enter the Carousel and accept Renewal, we can send Sandmen after them.
Shai_Hulud

Could augment the data provided with a “Survival/death probability” via Gompertz Law. http://gravityandlevity.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/your-body-wasnt-built-to-last-a-lesson-from-human-mortality-rates/
http://forio.com/simulate/simulation/mbean/death-probability-calculator/
http://twitter.com/Ohyran Jens Reuterberg

15814 days left for me. Thats if I (a smoker) will live to the average age for a man in Sweden (78,7ish)…
I think its kinda refreshing, found a countdown widget for my android and placed it on my homescreen.
- billstewart
  
  Shortly after 9/11, a security expert was being interviewed on the radio about what you can do to protect yourself from terrorism. “Quit smoking and wear your seatbelt!” Those are much higher risks than crazy people in airplanes.
  
  But I don’t need a countdown widget – I’ve got hair that’s gradually switching to gray…
http://twitter.com/Hypothete Duncan Alexander

THE LIFE CLOCKS ARE A LIE! CAROUSEL IS A LIE!
Daneel

Relevant cartoon is relevant:

http://formalsweatpants.com/journal/2011/12/15/the-watch.html

(via bearfood.com)
dingobaby

It already existed, although good luck trying to find one: http://www.digitalwatchlibrary.com/DWL/1work/casio_dbs-21/

You could input any date and time and it would tell you the remaining time to that moment. Seem to remember it would go right back until 0 AD. Great for seeing how long you had lived, how close it was to Christmas, or just how long until the weekend.
- AnthonyC
  
  I hope not since there was no such year.
  /pedantry
http://twitter.com/suedegambit Evan King

Anyone know of an app that would do this on OS X ? The one Kevin Kelly referred to in 2007 is PPC only.
John Hattan

It’s funny. I have a free “Life-O-Meter” app (google for it), and it gets horrible reviews because it completely freaks people out.

I mean, I literally have a one-star review that’s “I uninstalled this because it gave me nightmares”.
- bbonyx
  
  I’ve never understood the fear of knowing ones death date. If I could know exactly when I am going to go I would take that info in a heartbeat. We all know we’re going to die (although apparently many people live in denial of that fact) so imagine the usefulness of having accurate parameters of your stay on this rock.
  
  The only fear should be spending your final time comatose, painfully ill or paralyzed due to a non-fatal, yet significant trauma or disease. I’ve never been afraid of dying, I’m only afraid of being seriously injured.
  
  Imagine if you knew exactly how much time you have. You would know exactly how much you could get done and exactly when you could stop sweating things like your credit rating or healthy lifestyle and just go balls out hedonist without a care in the world due to a complete lack of long-term ramifications. Bliss!
http://halfbakedmaker.org Robert Baruch

I think there should be a Singularitarian version. It starts off ticking down normally, but it keeps slowing down. Then it stops and refuses to start up again.
Paul Renault

I hope the ‘Time Expectancy Timepiece’ is eventually manufactured by the Trafalmadorian Corporation.
ablebody

the way my life is going, the watch would break. i’d spend my final days rifling thru warranty papers and pressing 1 (o marque ocho) to speak with a representative.
CH

I don’t get it why everybody is in such a hurry to die. I have absolutely no plans of dying, such a waste of time.

Like with the Venus flyover… “Last chance to see in your lifetime!” Pfft… you can go die if you want to, I missed this one due to clouds, I’m not going to miss the next one.
RedShirt77

If I wore one of these I would need a second watch that told me how far off bankruptcy is if I live life to the fullest.