Once, I Was Dead.
I attended a video conference, but my camera and mic were dead. I could see and hear my colleagues, but they could neither see nor hear me. They shared a room, and stared at me. They stared at their blank screen in confusion.
“Where is he?”, they said. “Is he late?”
“I’m right here”, I replied meekly.
But they could neither see nor hear me, so carried on regardless. I watched them as they worked. Sharing ideas. Making decisions. Getting things done.
I offered contributions.
I made suggestions.
But they could neither see nor hear me.
I worried that they might offer some criticism for my absence, my tardy nature or rudeness. And yet I thrilled that I could be party to their confidences.
I watched, undetected, but disembodied and without agency. Without contact to their corporeal world.
Dead camera. Dead mic.
Dead me.
