The Database of the Dead

Paul Ford is a writer I really like. Of late, he’s done a few pieces that mix good writing with technology (see the incredible and epic What is Code).

In his latest, The Final File: Exploring the Social Security Administration’s List of America’s Dead, he talks a bit about what he finds in this particular database… and what it means to be alive. And dead. And sometimes an odd mixture of both.

In addition to the article, there’s also a neat interactive component that lets you search the database for names and patterns.

Of course, the first thing I did was pop my name in there. As I assume you are doing right now, as we speak. What is it about ourselves that this is the reflexive first action? Is it a morbidness? Is it a check to verify that we are currently alive?

On my end, it looks like I haven’t died in a while. So I’ll take that as a good sign.

[via MetaFilter]

Related:
How to Be Polite
Dead Advice: A Guide to Living (From the Dead)
Raising the Dead: The Incredible Story of Extreme Diver Dave Shaw
Disturbing Reminders of Mortality, On the Way to Work