his state of not being observed would torment him after a while, much more than the knowledge of being observed bothered him earlier, because not being watched would make him feel not worth noticing, not being worth noticing would make him feel disrespected, being disrespected would make him feel insignificant, being insignificant would make him feel meaningless, and, he imagined, the end result might be a hopeless depression.
[friedrich duerrenmatt, the assignment, or, on the observing of the observer of the observers; 1986]