TikTok user @unknown1575489 has posted just one video — and it has more than 5.5 million views.
In the video, the cameraperson is across a busy street from a person who is walking away from them on the sidewalk. Except, the person isn't really walking; they look like they are "frozen" mid-stride while the cars continue to drive on.
"Why's she frozen, dude? Bro I be trippin," the TikTok poster asks aloud before the person walking away from them picks up their pace and starts walking once more. "What the fuck?"
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The video looks like it was posted to Snapchat first, because it has that classic snapchat text overlay which reads: "She was like that for a minute before."
Most of the comments are connected to The Matrix,simulation theory, or comparing our world to a video game ("She was checking her inventory😂"). The video is captioned with "NPC caught lacking #npc#malfunction" and the hashtag #malfunction has more than 245 million videos. The hashtagged videos run from clothing malfunctions to carnival ride mishaps to other similar "glitches in reality."
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Part of what is so fascinating about videos like this — whether they're edited or not — is that they push forward the intrigue into simulation theory, which is the idea that all of existence is a simulated reality running inside of a computer or something. Elon Musk is one of the most high-profile believers in the simulation theory, but the subculture of believers is so thorough that it inspired A Glitch in the Matrix, a documentary by Rodney Ascher that focuses less on the theory itself and more on why people believe it.