— likeness without source · two near-identical pages —
one of these paragraphs was written first. the other was written to look like the first. the difference between them is six small decisions. neither paragraph confesses, and neither is labelled. the original was not photographed; only described. then the description was forgotten, and only the descriptions of the description survived.
there is a long rain on a flat roof. it has been going on since before the building was built, in the sense that the rain does not really stop, only moves from place to place. nobody is in the upstairs room. the lamp is on.
downstairs, a kettle is being left to boil itself empty by someone who has gone to look for a pen.
a long rain falls on a flat roof. it has been falling since before the building stood there, in that the rain never quite stops, but moves from one place to the next. no one is in the room upstairs. the lamp is left on.
downstairs, somebody has left a kettle to boil itself empty, and gone to look for a pen.
— which is which? —
we don't say.
a deepfake is the production of likeness without preserving the source. it is also the older condition of every copied image, every copied sentence, every copied memory. the page does not denounce the practice. it merely reproduces it. compare mirror, idolum, palimpsest, naturans.