Thousands of people were born on the exact same day as you. Some share your gender. Some are almost exactly your height. They were born with you — but they do not live the same lives.
bornwithyou.com allows you to find out how many people were born on your exact birthday, and discover a little bit of what their lives are like.
Born With You is a kind of statistical mirror. You enter your birthday, gender, and height, and it estimates how many people around the world share that strange little overlap with you: the same day, the same body, a different world.
From the original post on Poetry Culture:
It came to me one day that there must be a person somewhere in the world who shares not only my exact birthday, but my height and vague body shape.
Someone who could wear all of my clothes. Someone who, when he sleeps, would occupy roughly the same portion of a bed. Someone who, if I met him, I would see exactly eye to eye with, and hug in almost exactly the same way. Somewhere out there, I have a double.
Born With You was created as a collaboration between Poetry Culture and The Studies Show because it sits exactly between the two: part data project, part reminder that our lives are deeply shaped by chance.
It also includes a small birthday guestbook, where people born on the same day of the year can leave notes for each other. Not full birth dates, not private contact details — just a quiet public room for each square on the calendar.
Then it shows how their lives might have diverged. Some finished school. Some never got the chance. Some have been online for years. Some may never have used the internet. Some speak languages you do not understand. Some are no longer alive.
Check it out at bornwithyou.com
