Lux Narayan: What I learned from 2,000 obituaries
Lux Narayan: Lo que aprendí de 2000 obituarios
Lux Narayan is a perpetual learner of various things -- from origami and molecular gastronomy to stand-up and improv comedy. Full bio
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around the Stanford campus,
por el campus de Stanford,
jogging there as well.
que corrían allí también.
from side to side like that?
oscilaban de un lado a otro de esa manera?
he set out to understand why.
se dispuso a entender por qué.
curiosidad por muchas cosas:
about many things:
las lombrices de tierra.
I hadn't heard of Joseph Keller.
yo no había oído hablar de Joseph Keller.
of editorial dedicated to him,
la mitad de una página editorial a él,
for a newspaper of their stature.
para un periódico de su nivel.
obituarios casi todos los días.
I'm rather morbid
que soy algo morboso
and a "Let's see who died today."
y un "vamos a ver quién ha muerto hoy".
is usually bad news,
suele ser una mala noticia,
cues accomplishment
con logros
in the obituaries.
en los obituarios.
en vislumbrar el futuro
on future insights
from past data --
pueden derivar de datos del pasado,
de espejo retrovisor.
to obituaries from the New York Times?
para obituarios del New York Times?
conseguir un obituario destacado
your obituary featured --
incluso si uno ya no está?
con huevos revueltos?
between 2015 and 2016.
20 meses entre 2015 y 2016.
rather, lives -- teach us?
mejor dicho, vidas?
nos fijamos en las palabras.
worded descriptor
muy bien redactado
capture an achievement or a lifetime.
de capturar un logro de toda la vida.
de esto es fascinante.
que murieron en los últimos dos años.
people who died in the last two years.
procesamiento del lenguaje natural,
natural language processing,
you can mime easily in "Charades," --
imitar fácilmente en "Charades", -
significant words.
las palabras más significativas.
and of course, art, are huge.
por supuesto, el arte, son muy frecuentes.
why in so many societies
por qué en tantas sociedades
estudien ingeniería, medicina,
engineering or medicine or business or law
para que logren el éxito.
they achieved things.
you've got to wait 37 years ...
deben esperar 37 años
that you're remembered for --
por el que serán recordados,
die at the age of 81 --
cuando mueran a la edad de 81,
your stride in your 20s.
el logro llegue a los 20 años.
mundo de la política.
only commendable act in their mid-40s.
único acto encomiable a los 40 años.
quienes son los otros,
las cosas que la gente hace
more than just a descriptor.
algo más que un descriptor.
first paragraph of all 2,000 obituaries,
el primer párrafo de los 2000 obituarios,
for two groups of people:
para dos grupos de personas:
and people that are not famous.
y las personas que no lo son.
Ali, Zaha Hadid --
Prince, Ali, Zaha Hadid;
son personas como Jocelyn Cooper,
are people like Jocelyn Cooper,
of most of their names.
hablar de la mayoría de estos nombres.
but they're not famous.
pero que no son famosos.
these two groups separately --
estos dos grupos por separado,
Debe agradecérselo a sus padres
should thank your parents --
your obituary when you're gone.
recorten su obituario cuando ya no estén.
from lives well-led,
lecciones de vida bien dirigida
in print could teach us.
en prensa pueden enseñarnos.
to the kaleidoscope that is life,
y calidoscopio de lo que es la vida,
majority of obituaries
la inmensa mayoría de los obituarios
personas famosas y no famosas,
aparentemente extraordinarias.
in the fabric of life.
en el tejido de la vida.
back to your daily lives:
al volver a sus vidas diarias:
para ayudar a la sociedad?
trying to be famous in death,
tratando de ser famosos en la muerte,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Lux Narayan - EntrepreneurLux Narayan is a perpetual learner of various things -- from origami and molecular gastronomy to stand-up and improv comedy.
Why you should listen
Lakshmanan aka Lux Narayan mans the helm of Unmetric, a social media intelligence company that helps digital marketers, social media analysts, and content creators harness social signals to track and analyze competitive content and campaigns, and to create better content and campaigns of their own.
Prior to founding Unmetric, Narayan was a co-founder at Vembu Technologies, an online data backup company. He also helped found and volunteered at ShareMyCake, a non-profit started by his wife that focuses on encouraging children to use their birthdays to channel monetary support towards a cause of their choosing.
As Unmetric's CEO, he leads a team of 70 people distributed across the company's operations in Chennai and New York City.
Outside of work, he is a perpetual learner of various things -- from origami and molecular gastronomy to stand-up and improv comedy. He enjoys reading obituaries and other non-fiction and watching documentaries with bad ratings. Narayan makes time every year for trekking in the Himalayas or scuba diving in tropical waters, and once he learns to fly, he hopes to spend more time off land than on it.
Lux Narayan | Speaker | TED.com