
The Lonely Death of George Bell (2015) (nytimes.com)
36 points by paulpauper 73 days ago | hide | past | web | favorite | 8 comments

What an incredible story. I wonder why it was shared today, but thank you for doing that.

I had a great aunt who died and left my siblings and I a small amount of money. Her death was my introduction to wills and estates. The people who followed through on her will did my family an incredible service.

I can't imagine how hard it is to do this work for people who haven't got any friends or relatives who are in touch with the deceased person.

I'm glad to hear that there is a process and that the city and state governments try to do the right thing and to minimize theft from the dead and their families.

There was a 2012 documentary on the subject of dying alone with no next of kin, titled "A Certain Kind of Death": https://youtu.be/ErooOhzE268

I keep thinking that an app or service to fight loneliness will be an (anti) killer app. Yet I have no idea how such an service should look like. Obviously dating apps do not work for all circumstances.

Apps are often more of an obstacle to connection than the aid they promise to be. What we mean to each other cannot be quantified with ones and zeros.

To get more thin, artificial connections that never used to happen, we give up the real ones. Now friends don't have to met up to get the latest news. They know everything already, so no need to met up with a real live person.

My advice is if you have a great friend in real life, do NOT friend them on Facebook!

Of course, as long as we've been wealthy enough to afford separate shacks, we've had people die in isolation without anybody knowing. It's not a new problem. But I think it's going to become more common, not less, unfortunately.

Or you know, no app, just people being friends with each other and building communities... as opposed to isolated themselves in apps and gadgets...

If that app is regarding educating people to be pro-active in their social lives that also makes them want to be a bit altruistic, then yes.

Otherwise, I'd be sceptical.

I've seen one that pairs people to meet up every week.

It's just hard to incentivise. I wonder what would? Would being payed work?
