The video discusses the concept of "disappearing" without anyone noticing. It starts with a story about a man who was declared dead by his wife and family due to a premature obituary, but he returned to Paris 11 years later. The video then explores various cases of people who were declared dead or missing, including a woman who was mistakenly buried and later recovered, and a man who was declared dead by newspapers after a stroke.
The video also touches on the theme of missing persons, particularly children. It mentions that the FBI's National Crime Information database contains approximately 50,000 reported missing children. However, Outpost for Hope reports that there are more than a million children in America who are missing without anyone knowing.
The video concludes with a discussion on the act of disappearing. It states that it's not illegal to disappear under your own volition, but it is considered unscientific to believe that no one would miss you if you disappeared. The video also mentions a thought experiment by David Wong, which posits that the funniest joke a person under the age of 38 will ever hear is a joke they haven't heard yet, and the funniest joke a person over 38 will ever hear is a joke they already know.
The video emphasizes the vast amount of information available today, and the fact that every year more than 100 million new people are born, most of whom are not born knowing basic facts like that they are made out of atoms or that black holes are awesome.
Here are the key facts from the text:
1. Target uses internal algorithms to track and process customer purchases.
2. In 2010, a man in Minneapolis complained to Target about receiving coupons for baby products, as his daughter was not pregnant.
3. However, it was later discovered that the daughter was indeed pregnant, and Target's algorithms had correctly identified the pregnancy.
4. Over 2,000 people disappear in the United States each year and are never found.
5. In most jurisdictions, a person can be declared dead in absentia after 5-7 years of no contact.
6. Guillaume Le Gentil, a French astronomer, was declared dead in absentia in the 18th century, but he reappeared 11 years later.
7. Janet Veal, a woman in the UK, was found dead in her apartment, and her body had been partially eaten by her pet cats.
8. Joyce Carol Vincent, a woman in the UK, was found dead on her sofa, and her body had been there for at least three years.
9. A severed leg was found in the rubble of the Oklahoma City bombing, but the owner of the leg was never identified.
10. In 2003, CNN's website accidentally published draft obituaries for living people, including Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela.
11. Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, read his own obituary after his brother's death was mistakenly reported as his own.
12. Nobel was so ashamed of his legacy that he created the Nobel Prize to celebrate humanity.
13. Marcus Garvey, a civil rights leader, suffered a stroke after reading his own obituary, which was critical of him.
14. In 2006, a woman named Laura Van Ryn was mistaken for her friend Whitney Cerak, who was pronounced dead after a car accident.
15. The two women looked similar, and Laura was buried in Whitney's place.
16. Hospitals can accidentally switch babies at birth, but this is rare due to modern hospital policies.
17. It is estimated that there are over 1 million children in the United States who are missing, but not reported as missing.
18. The FBI's National Crime Information database contains approximately 50,000 reported missing children.
19. It is not against the law to go missing under one's own volition, but it is unlikely that no one would miss the person.
20. According to David Wong, every year, over 100 million new people are born, and none of them are born with knowledge of the world.