Many people think that 2016 was particularly bad, but data tells us that it is not an exception. In fact, we should expect more famous people to die in 2017 than in 2016. Why? The answer is simple: because the number of famous people has increased over time.
Of course there are a few caveats you may be considering, such as: who qualifies as famous? Or, is the increasing number of famous people just a consequence of global population growth?
Toward the end of 2016, I started hearing people say that 2016 was a bad year. Resounding cries out to the heavens that 2016 sucked. Was it that bad? When I asked people why they thought that, they mostly just referenced celebrity deaths and that’s where I got the suspicion that this was all just some Facebook echo-chamber where people all agreed unanimously that 2016 sucked sort of out of nowhere. At least that’s how I proceeded it.
Well, some researchers at MIT did the math and they confirmed something that I immediately jumped to the assumption when people were indicating that more celebrities than ever died in 2016.
Yes but only because there are now more celebrities than ever. From YouTubers to Tech CEOs to actors, reality TV stars and indie musicians. the amount of media outlets in the world is much larger than it was 20 years ago when you had Models, Film, Music, Television and way behind in notoriety, business people. We live in the Information age where there are more outlets to be famous in and more exposure of these people to become more famous thanks to the Internet.
The amount of famous people that die from now on will only increase especially when the boomer population is also at an age where if you partied hard, your life will soon come to an end. The actors who did a lot of hard drugs in the 80s are going to die soon (statistically speaking). Keep it in perspective that more deaths than ever of people you know that are celebrities will die each subsequent year going forward until the millennials are in their 80s. Why will it drop when millennial grow older? While we have more celebrities due to YouTube and Internet-fame, those are ’15 minute fame’ people who won’t be in the spotlight in 10 years. More importantly, millennial have less sex, do less drugs and have less children than ever before. The early death and population boom will be much lower in 50 years. (just a hunch).
As for this writer, 2016 was an amazing year. I had a blast.