World Death Rate Holding Steady at 100%

In anticipation of writing a post on The New Yorker's recent and somewhat disappointing issue on technology and innovation (and, more interestingly and less disappointingly, technology and progress), I return to some old data that I often use in lectures on the subject of technology and progress. The set up question is, progress towards what? Then, this revealing data set:

Admittedly, the research by a crack team of experts at The Onion is over a decade old and we don't have the numbers for the years ending 1997-2007. But my hunch, and I'll confess I have to follow up on this, is that the trend has continued.

As the researchers note, "Death, a metabolic affliction causing total shutdown of all life functions, has long been considered humanity's number one health concern. Responsible for 100 percent of all recorded fatalities worldwide, the condition has no cure."

Perhaps these folks can help. So long as they ignore this guy.