Had the stray thought yesterday that when I remember being (say) 8, it's not just adult me remembering being child me, it's an adult brain replaying memories that were recorded using an 8 year old's brain, like a modern PC accessing a Commodore 64 cassette tape

and just for a second it freaked me right tf out: 'these aren't "my" memories, although I think they are, they're the memories of an eight year old boy!'

anyway the blade runner squad is no doubt on its way by now, been nice knowing you all

come for the leopards and the folklore, stay for the giddying existential angst

hold on, is this why there's a particular subtype of flashback sequence that has an intangible adult version of the character appearing in the past alongside their child self? because we cling to the idea that memories are adult-us projecting backwards in time?

because when we remember, it *feels* like adult us is projecting backwards along our own timeline, rather than current brain running ancient files that were recorded using the hardware of the day