If I die of cancer, I don’t personally want those who memorialize me to donate to cancer research.
Let’s talk death
Death is a topic that is not discussed frequently enough because we conflate discussing death with the being insensitive about death.
I have been pleased in recent months to see SaaS businesses such as EverPlans opening up the conversation about how to plan for death. I’ve also been impressed with the excellent Nathan Yau’s data-visualization of the probable age at which we will die. Each of these innovations are valuable moves towards being able to engage with and respond to death better.
How we react to death
Friends and family of lost loved ones often create memorial funds. These funds are usually set-up to prevent others from experiencing a similar fate. I have personally contributed to funds to improve road safety, fire safety, and cancer research. These “issue-specific” funds are a way for families and friends to grieve productively and take action that pays respect to the person who has died.
I know on a personal level that if I died in a car accident tomorrow, that I wouldn’t think that road safety was more or less important than I think it is today. I would prefer the statistics to guide the issues that need to be addressed, and I know that my single instance of a certain kind of death would not tip the scales of how important a given issue is.
There is a case to be made that the causes that claim more lives will have more memorial funds. We could assume that even in death that the market solves. But as is so often the case, an uneven distribution of wealth means this isn’t true. The causes that the wealthy die of are far more likely to be funded than the causes of the poor – in life and in death.
Proactive Signaling
If I died tomorrow, no matter the cause, I would want friends and family to contribute to direct and unconditional cash transfers through GiveDirectly and/or to entrepreneurship competitions in emerging markets. Prizes are underutilized, and cash transfers are the most effective humanitarian intervention we have right now.
What’s more, low-income individuals and prospective entrepreneurs in emerging markets have much less wealth in their collective networks than many more “typical” causes. The marginal value of the dollar on these causes is likely to be much higher.
That won’t change no matter how I die.
Not Just Me
This post isn’t really intended for my friends and family. I do hope this changes the way they behave when I die, but my broader hope is that others will agree and join in pro-active signaling.
From 1991 to 2002 the percent of Americans with a living will increased from 17% to 41%. There is no reason not to change our behavior. This is a public encouragement for others, especially the wealthy, to think about which causes they would like to support after death.
Placeholder Title 