Consider for a moment the first time you created an identifier online for yourself. For me, it was the first time I signed up with a Internet Service Provider. It was so long ago, I had to supply my details by fax. 20 years later, I am still signing up for digital services or products, thankfully not with a fax. 

Death has changed its focus in the last 300 hundred years. In the past the elderly, ill or injured would lay on their death bed surrounded by family and friends tending to their comfort. Mutterings of the dying person would be heavy with emotion and philosophy. The experience for people in attendance was intense and conclusive, providing an opportunity to reflect and justify ones life.