WWTBAM Bored

I heard a story on NPR this morning about a Swedish inventor who has invented a wristwatch called the "Tikker" that is basically a countdown clock for your life. Using an algorithm similar to the one used by the U.S. Government to determine life expectancy, the watch displays the number of years, days, hours, minutes and seconds until your demise. Thousands of preorders have already been received. According to the inventor, knowledge of one's mortality makes one savor life more and makes one more generous. OTOH there are psychological studies that indicate that knowledge of one's mortality makes one xenophobic, and prone to violent or reckless behavior.

Here's the link to the story: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/12 ... line-death (The text is a summary of the report, which can be heard by clicking the link on the site.)

Two thoughts came to me when I heard this. First, I remembered Robert Heinlein's short story called "Lifeline", written back in the 30s about a man who invented a machine that could tell how long a person would live. IIRC the inventor was killed by someone hired by the insurance agencies because of the effect the machine would have on their business.

Second - why would anyone want to wear such a device? I certainly wouldn't.

earendel wrote:Second - why would anyone want to wear such a device? I certainly wouldn't.

Especially if that's all the device does. If someone really wants a real-time readout of an actuarial countdown, a smart phone app ought to handle it, nicely.

Larry King bought one and it exploded when he tried to put It on.