Then, I stumbled upon the new Death Clock app that has become the rage amongst those obsessed with longevity. You give the app a wide range of your physical, emotional and social inputs as well as your demographics and it offers you the certainty of a specific death date, mine being a little more than two decades from now with my most likely ways of dying (in order of likelihood) being cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and, surprise, cancer. It also helped me to see that with some better health habits, I could add another five years and make it to 90.
Overall, I have to say that using AI to determine how much longer I’ll live feels a little depressing. Yes, this app offers quite an array of recommendations, but can my whole life be distilled down to bits of data that will help me understand when the grim reaper will win my tug-of-war of life?
To be honest, it feels more like a parlor game and a rip-off (I got a 3-day free trial which I’ll cancel now rather than paying $39 per year)……Oops, I’m finding it almost impossible to cancel. Where’s the opportunity to manage my subscription? Okay, this Luddite Boomer finally figured it out, but beware if you’re not tech-savvy that you’ll be paying $39 per year for the rest of your life and, with the recommendations that Death Clock gives you, your “lifetime value of the customer” just continues to grow for the creators of this app.
Last thought: my UCSF radiation oncologist Dr. Felix Feng, someone who empathetically held my shaky hand during the early years of my cancer journey just passed away due to cancer. He was a quiet giant and the sad irony of my oncologist passing from cancer is not lost on me. Life is short – love it while you’ve got it!
-Chip