Nowadays, more and more people are being sucked into the latest phenomenon where they see a modern gadget in old image or an ancient piece of footage.

Could it possibly be time travel?

Whatever it may be, Apple CEO Tim Cook has fallen under its spell, reports CNET.

As CNBC reports, Cook was enjoying an onstage chat with former European Commissioner Neelie Kroes at the Startup Fest in Amsterdam when he was asked, "Do you happen to know Tim, where and when the iPhone was invented?"

As questions go, this might rank with: "Tim, do you know your name?" or "Tim, does Apple make magical, revolutionary products?"

Cook's reply perhaps showed his fascination: "You know, I thought I knew until last night. Last night Neelie took me over to look at some Rembrandts, and in one of the paintings -- I was so shocked; there was an iPhone in one of the paintings."

It seems that the painting in question was "Man Handing a Letter to a Woman in the Entrance Hall of a House."

Paintings had such pulsating titles in those days.

The painting: Man Handing a Letter to a Woman in the Entrance Hall of a House

This one, though, isn't a Rembrandt. It was painted by Pieter de Hooch in 1670 and today hangs in Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum.

Still, even though the title of the painting tends to give away what the man was holding, here was Cook positing that it could have been an iPhone.

It's encouraging that CEOs are now beginning to see what ordinary people have been seeing for years.

We see UFOs in the sky. We see ghosts in old houses and, indeed, in the machine.

Nothing is as it seems. We are all living in some alien's virtual-reality game.

There are even people who believe they've seen Apple's newest phones elsewhere years before.

Source: CNET