Basic Truth...

"There are between 6 and 10 face types in the world. That's it."

"What?" Glen was used to Carly making off the wall pronouncements but even he was sometimes surprised by what she came up with.

"There are between 6 and 10 face types in the world. Six very common and the four less common ones. Those are the ones when we see them we think how striking the person is."

"So you are saying we all have the same face?"

"No, I'm saying we have one of the 10 face types."

"Then why don't we all look alike?"

Carly looked puzzled, "Well we do."

"No, we don't." Glen gestured around the coffee shop, "Look around everyone is different."

Carly shook her head, "Only superficially. The face types are the same. The only variations are," she held out her hand and started counting them off on her fingers, "Age, weight, skin color, eye color. Then we make other changes with things like hair styles, makeup, glasses and facial hair. But if you were to strip all of that away the faces would be one of ten types. With the majority being one of the six."

Carly watched Glen's face to see if he understood what she was saying. When it was apparent that he was still struggling with the concept she went on.

"Remember when the whole 'no makeup selfie' thing was going on and people were surprised by how different celebrities looked without the makeup?"

"Yes."

"Then remember how people were shocked at how much that famous face looked like their neighbor once the makeup was off? That's because they do look like their neighbor. Or like their friend from school. Or like the mailman. There are only so many faces you see in a day and if you strip away the extras we add they are the same."

Glen still wasn't convinced. "There is a difference between slightly resembles and looks just like someone."

"That's the age, weight, skin color, eye color difference. Along with how much hair you have you or how it's cut you can appear to make your face change. Think about it. How often have you seen someone who normally has a beard and when they shave it off you wouldn't have even recognized them? Or even something as simple as adding bangs.

And every once in awhile you meet someone who has not only the same face type as someone you know but their hair, eyes, skin tone are all the same and you are like oh my gosh so and so has a doppelganger!

We all have doppelgangers, Glen. We all are doppelgangers."

Glen started to shake his head.

"Newspapers accidentally used pictures of Tina Fey when they wanted to show Sarah Palin."

"Well sure, but she was impersonating her."

"And why was she able to impersonate her? Because they have the same face type. You can add Emma Watson and Ally Sheedy to that mix as well. They all have the same face, just changes due to age, weight, and some coloration and makeup choices."

Carly tapped a few lines in to her phone and handed it to Glen. There she had all pictures of all four of those women in a line. He just stared.

"See?"

She did another one. This time pulling up Prince Harry and the race car driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. "When their coloration is similar it's very easy to see. If one of them had dark hair, or was bald, or even had a full beard you wouldn't notice it as much."

"I think it's just a coincidence."

She shrugged her shoulders. "It's because there are only so many combinations. It used to be much worse. Look at historical pictures. I think there must have been only four or so types just a few hundred years ago."

"Photography was limited, and painting is all artistic interpretation, that doesn't really mean there were only four types."

"Really? You buy the whole artistic interpretation story? The 'he was painting this royal but his maid was better looking so he used her for inspiration' thing? I mean, if someone were to paint a picture of me but toss in Scarlett Johansson because she's better looking and then TELL me it was me, I'd notice."

"Yeah, they'd have to use..." Glen trailed off.

"See? You had someone famous you were about to name because I look like them. Just not as polished, right?"

He shook his head, "Yeah, but that still doesn't mean anything. If there were only four types how did we get to 6 or 10 now? Wouldn't the combinations keep growing exponentially?"

She cocked her head to the side, "Oh you think we look the way we look because of genetics. I see."

"Of course that's why we look the way we look."

"Okay, then yes, if that's what you believe then the combinations should be endless by now. Take a little from this and a little from that and keep recombining and you would have so many unique types you couldn't even categorize them all."

"Right. That's what I'm saying. So your theory falls apart."

She smiled. "Or yours is wrong at the heart."

"How can it be wrong?"

She stood up, "I've got to go, but I'll leave you with something else we can talk about later. Think about your first video game. Now think about the last one you bought. Why don't they look the same?"

Then she was out the door.

Glen sat for a second. He couldn't believe she would change the subject like that. Of course video games changed. The graphics got better and more realistic as the computing power increased. With better computers you got better....

Glen's face went blank.

Oh shit...