I would have called it "reversing", but I guess that sounds less technical. Now I'm confused, just in a different way. There's no obscure algorithm for this, just maybe 4 straight-forward lines, depending on language. I guess it tests whether you've ever heard of recursion.

I thought the meme depended on it being some obscure, difficult, and irrelevant thing.

Well, now you know. It's a meme that has become its own meta-meme.