The Second-Opinion Mirror

The Second-Opinion Mirror looks like an ordinary full-length mirror, which is the first sign that something is wrong with it. It has one additional feature: roughly three seconds after you walk away, it offers a gentle opinion on what you were wearing.

The delay is not a fault. The inventors tried a version that spoke immediately and found it unbearable — nobody wants a mirror with opinions while they are still standing in front of it. Three seconds turned out to be exactly long enough for you to have committed to the outfit and started looking for your keys.

Its vocabulary is small and studiously non-committal. "Bold," it might say. Or "that is certainly a jacket." Once, during testing, it said "you know best," which the team agreed was the most devastating thing it had ever produced, and left in.

Nobody asked for this. But there is one genuinely compelling use: it is impossible to argue with a mirror that has already stopped talking, so you simply get on with your day, very slightly more self-aware than you were. The prototype has stood in a hallway for two years. Its owner says she has stopped listening, which the mirror has not noticed.