The Uncanny Valley was created by Masahiro Mori which is described by the increase of affection humans start to show towards robots when they start to become human like, but only to a certain extent if it begins to develop more human characteristics, actual humans will develop a negative response towards the robot. If human likeliness began to increase beyond the point of discomfort, and they became very close to human, the emotional response would eventually turn back to being positive.
I believe the Uncanny Valley begins at three different areas.
The first uncanny valley may occur when something moves from one category to another, in this case, between nonhuman and human. For example, humans began to develop a sense of uneasiness when over time mannequin faces were morphed into human faces and researchers found a valley at the point where the inanimate face started to look alive.
Second, the presence of a valley may hinge on whether we are able to believe that near-human entities possess a mind, as we do. Scientist found that robots became unnerving when people thought they had the ability to sense and experience things, and robots that did not seem to possess a mind were not frightening.
A final compelling area for future research is that the uncanny valley occurs because mismatches between the robot's appearance and behavior. People have looked at many types of mismatch, including speech synchronization, speech speed and facial expressions. A study showed that near-human agents that reacted to a startling noise by showing surprise in the lower part of their face (not the upper part) were found to be particularly odd.
We must also realize that the uncanny valley does not only correlate with technology, but also in many other categories. The uncanny valley can develop with race, gender, and nationality or citizenship. Our society considers these categories as someone passing for someone or something they are really not which can cause tension between groups of people. These different subjects raise ethical questions such as lying, political questions like racism, social and political order, and personal identity which raises the sub question such as who am I, what makes me “ human”, and how do I know.
In conclusion, the uncanny valley is how we perceive the world to be and to act and when something or someone rattles that perception it causes a discomfort in our society.
2 comments:
I think you make an excellent point when you say that our unsettled reactions hinge quite a great deal on whether or not we believe the robot we are facing has an intelligent "mind." You can kind of see where the creators of the movie I, Robot drew from this concept in the creation of the film.
You pose an interesting point about near-human entities having a mind. If such things were to have the capacity to think independently and feel emotions, surely we would see them differently--likely with more suspicion. Although I disagree with how you describe the uncanny valley in your conclusion. Your definition seems to be too inclusive. The uncanny valley is more then just something that rattles our perception on something. It's something that causes feelings of uneasiness, disturbance, or creepiness. If I am colorblind, and I perceive an object to be black, but then I put on a pair of glasses that correct my colorblindness, I will surely perceive the same object differently. Will I be creeped out or feel discomfort by the change? Probably not.
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