# Famous for 15 Minutes **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 15, 2000, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-15-minutes/41374 "2000-11-15T23:19:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-15-minutes/41374/1 "2000-11-15T23:19:05Z")
If everyone in the world is famous for 15 minutes, what’s the average number of famous people at any given time? ---
**Author:** ![Nukeman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Nukeman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nukeman)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-15-minutes/41374/2 "2000-11-15T23:24:56Z")
WHAT? were you drunk when you thought up that question? presumably, everyone would be famous at the same time for fifteen minuites. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-15-minutes/41374/3 "2000-11-15T23:33:01Z")
I thought this looked like a really stupid question at first – until I realized that (1) a peson could actually calculate it, and (2) I’m really looking for an excuse to not work on what I’m working on. So, let’s run my 2 minutes’ worth of math up the pole and see who salutes: Let’s say the average person lives 70 years. That’s [ul]70 x 365 x 24 x 4 = 2,452,800 15-minute slots per lifetime.[/ul] 6 billion lives (at last count) are being lived on the planet. That gives us [ul]6 billion divided by 2,452,800 = 2446 famous people at any given moment.[/ul] Howzat? ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-15-minutes/41374/4 "2000-11-15T23:53:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scarlett67 \* > \*\* > > Howzat? \*\* Not bad, but not good enough to keep this an active GQ thread. Closing this thread.