Hello, It's Been 22 Years Since My Death

David Eagleman, Nature Magazine, writing on "death switches," which are "programs" you can set up that poll you regularly by email, and if you fail to respond for a predetermined amount of time, they assume you are dead and send out a message you have written to a distribution list of your choice. Sound fuckin morbid to me, but it gets creepier :

Soon enough, people realized they could program messages to be delivered on dates in the future: “Happy 87th birthday. It’s been 22 years since my death. I hope your life is proceeding the way you want it to.”

*shudder*

(via Pasta & Vinegar)