LogFAQs > #946225857

43. The Uncanny Valley (19 points)
Nominated by: Gall (1/4 remaining)
https://imgur.com/a/xIsG1WE

Importance: 9.5
Fear: 5.5
Snake: 4

The Uncanny Valley generally refers to computer-animation or real-life robots created with the intent to look as human-like as possible, but end up falling just a few centimetres short. The Uncanny Valley as a term has existed since about 1970, right around the time robots and computers were starting to really take hold in the world. It's interesting this term comes right after "feeling something is slightly off" since this is exactly what the valley does to you. It's really that visual trigger that makes the uncanny valley work its magic. While the valley is mostly used to actively criticize and lampoon media, such as movies like The Polar Express, Cats, or those terrible CGI replacements in newer Star Wars movies, I think that's really only one part of it, and is of much greater interest to the population than we may think. Take Sophia, a robot with citizenship. It's certainly awesome and futurist to grant a robot citizenship, but taking a look at her, she really just does not feel right at all, especially with her circuits hanging out in view behind her fake skin. We can't help but take to mind countless dystopian landscapes where robots have taken over the Earth and enslaved us as the inferior species. Is there a way to fix this? Could we get to Detroit: Become Human levels of realism where it becomes impossible to spot the difference at a glance? Sure, anything is possible, but I think it's a long time before we get there, or if we even want to get there. Relating this subject to horror, now that I'm always for. It's the one place I believe people can creatively use the valley to achieve a desired level of fear automatically in a viewer. Michael Myers, Chucky, and pretty much all zombie media utilizes the valley to some extent. With Myers' pure white mask, we as a viewer never get to know what he is thinking or feeling in any situation. Through body language we may project our own feelings onto him, but we can never be 100% sure it is the correct feeling. Chucky is a more traditional example, a type of robot that talks and acts like a little child, but his rubber face and stilted movement make him seem like a terrifying threat with or without the crazed murder's soul attached to it. Zombies, especially the classic Romero ones, often feature pale skin and blank expressions devoid of any humanity, yet we still feel like there's some part of their former selves still inside, which compels us closer despite knowing the realities and dangers of the situation. There's plenty more examples I could cite, but they're all pretty similar to the ones I mentioned. Truth be told, the uncanny valley is really just a tool for us to make sense of what doesn't. Our brains love a rational explanation, and we might just be too good to ever be fooled enough by a robot or animation. Or the uncanny robots are just there to distract us from the ultra-real robots we see everyday without ever realizing it. Well, I'll save the conspiracy theories for another time!

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Bare feet on the tile with my head up in the clouds
https://imgur.com/1e1e70S