
The Lonely Death of George Bell (2015) - paulpauper
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/nyregion/dying-alone-in-new-york-city.html
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dang
Thread from 2015:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10404538](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10404538)

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dave_aiello
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.

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dmcdm
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](https://youtu.be/ErooOhzE268)

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eastendguy
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.

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stretchwithme
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.

