What is this I don't even 17 May 2011 11:15 am by ryan

Machine of Death IN REAL LIFE

We’ve gotten quite a few emails linking to stories like this one (“New blood test can predict your life expectancy.. but critics warn of life insurance hikes”) and this one (“The £400 test that tells you how long you’ll live”).

Basically all we can say is, as readers of our book, you are WELL PREPARED to consider the possible ramifications of what this machine means for you, for your friends and family, for society, AND for life insurance. You’re extra prepared, actually, because you can also deal with a machine that tells you how, and not just when!

The test even works off of a blood sample, which matches up 100% with the machine in the comic. I need to start writing comics about a machine that introduces a post-scarcity economy to the world and also invents holodecks, and we will be SET.

photo credit: The Independent

10 Responses to “Machine of Death IN REAL LIFE”

  1. on 18 May 2011 at 5:15 am 1.Justin said …

    I got a Machine of Death card that said I’d die by “SABOTAGE.” I brought the card to work with me to show it to my co-worker, because I thought it was just an interesting conversation piece. But when I got to work, my boss, who has been setting me up for months now, put the final piece in place and fired me. I wasn’t dead, but it was still SABOTAGE.

  2. on 18 May 2011 at 10:55 am 2.Evan said …

    woah, hopefully there are no serial killers at my workplace.

  3. on 18 May 2011 at 2:24 pm 3.Kim said …

    It only tells you when you’ll die naturally, though. As the book evidenced, there are a lot more ways than that.

  4. on 19 May 2011 at 6:44 am 4.David said …

    Kim, it doesn’t even do that. It states an upper limit on natural death.

  5. on 19 May 2011 at 1:21 pm 5.Rollo said …

    Yeah Kim. Jeeze.

  6. on 19 May 2011 at 9:44 pm 6.Kyle said …

    What is wrong with you Kim.

  7. on 19 May 2011 at 9:51 pm 7.Kyle said …

    I want to see this used for cancer research/predictions instead of life expectancy predictions that will probably come true <1% of the time. Telomere shortening in heart cells is all well and good and could lead to heart failure but so could a ton of other things. Okay, like, two come to mind. But still!

  8. on 20 May 2011 at 5:43 am 8.David said …

    But those two other things could totes weigh a ton. And I feel bad for Kim.

    Sorry Kim!

  9. on 23 May 2011 at 1:02 pm 9.Adam said …

    This isn’t “Machine of Death” in real life. This is Heinlein’s “Life-Line” in real life – I suppose that is where the “Machine of Death” anthology got the basic idea.

  10. on 25 May 2011 at 5:44 pm 10.Anon E Mouse said …

    Sweet. I’ve always been interested in telomere shortening, though more in the “If they solve this, we’ll be immortal sort of way”. Lobsters, for instance, show negligible senescence and it’s because their telomeres don’t shorten.