Parallax
As I write this, it’s 5 January 2026.
I’m 49 years, 10 months, 22 days old. Not a significant milestone.
But it turns out that this is the exact age that one of my favourite musicians, Max Richter, was… on my 40th birthday.
What does this mean??
Yeah, seriously, what are you on about?
Well, it means that:
- on my 40th birthday (a milestone I do remember)
- out there somewhere…
- Max Richter looked in the mirror…
- and saw someone exactly the same age I do when I look in the mirror right now
Still not amazing? Well… it’s just a matter of perspective. It matters who the two people you compare are.
I happened to notice this for a musician, but obviously it works between any two things. But… what was “this” that I noticed?
Meeting in time
If your mum was born on 1 January 1950, and you were born on 1 July 1980, then she was 30 years and 6 months old when you were born. Picture her, your imaginary mother.
This means that…
- you were exactly the age…
- that she was…
- when you were born…
…on 1 July + 30 years + 7 months = 1 March 2011
This is the date when you overlap symmetrically - when you meet her in time. It’s also when you are exactly half her age now.
That happens once: there’s one date like this for any two things. If you missed it, don’t forget to propose a toast (or have a piece of toast) next time you see your mum. But don’t worry, there’s always the anniversary of your meeting in time… which is what the thing I noticed really is. Today is the 40th anniversary of me first catching up with Max Richter in time. Not significant particularly, but the kernel of an idea.
This idea might be called something like “age parallax”. It hurt my brain to think about it, so I asked ChatGPT if it could boil it down. As well as telling me I’m a genius for noticing such an interesting concept, it said:
it implies a perceptual effect caused by viewpoint, not an objective feature of the world. The alignment isn’t “out there”; it’s generated by where you’re standing in time.
…which sums it up nicely.
Where have I seen this before?
This is similar to the vertigo-inducing feeling that came about when someone noticed…
“Oasis are now as far away from us as the Beatles were from Oasis”
…or…
Back to the Future is now further from us than its 1955 setting was from the film
When was released, Judgment Day was predicted to be August 29 1997… which was as far away then as 2032 is from us now.
Instead, we’re living 29 years after it didn’t happen.
Bladerunner, made in 1982, is set in 2019.
2019 − 1982 = 37 years into the future
Now, this is 7 years ago.
So the moment when Blade Runner’s future lay as far behind us as it once lay ahead was:
2019 + 37 = 2056
We’re not there yet, but we’re already living in Blade Runner’s “future”, just with fewer flying cars.
Save the day
I’m going to add this date to my calendar for the people I care about: my parents and my children, for example. An excuse for a shared mini-celebration. A piece of toast, at least.