The Uncanny Valley: My Theory

As we discussed in class, Masahiro Mori claimed he was not finished with the Uncanny Valley. The more I looked at the Uncanny Valley and the more I thought about Be Right Back, I began to come up with my own theory about the Uncanny Valley. In Mori's original theory of the Uncanny Valley, he shows that the Valley comes back up when things become more human-like until it reaches the top of the line at "healthy human". I feel that humans are outliers in this chart. Even though we are discussing robots that are made to look and act exactly like humans, adding humans to the chart makes it slightly unfair, for lack of a better word. We, as humans, aren't creeped out by other humans simply because they are human. The idea behind the Uncanny Valley is that we are creeped out by realistic humanoid robots simply because they are extremely realistic humanoid robots.

As we discussed in class, it seems strange that humans and robots are on this same chart. In my theory, the human aspects would disappear and be replaced with more robots. As we witnessed in Be Right Back, and as we can see in other films like Her, there are some extremely human-like robots that people can accept. In Be Right Back, even though Martha was initially afraid of the software mimicking Ash's voice,  she eventually gave in and learned to trust it. The same thing happened when Ash 2 came into the picture; she obviously had some level of trust in order to have sex with Ash 2, even if she ended up retreating and falling back down the slope of the Uncanny Valley. Furthermore, even after she retreated in the Uncanny Valley, she still couldn't get rid of him because he had a face and a voice that she trusted. In my theory of the Uncanny Valley, the valley starts to go back up when humans begin to trust humanoid robots. 

Essentially, my theory would look something like the graph pictured above. It isn't perfected, but I do think that our level of trust in humanoid robots has a huge impact on how scared we are of them. This also has a lot to do with why many people still believe robots will be apart of our future; by the time that happens, our trust in humanoid robots will likely be a lot higher. I also think that, in time, we will be able to perfect robot technology and eliminate all of the "creepy" elements that are a part of humanoid robots. Part of the reasons we're so afraid of robots that look nearly human is that they move slower and their moves seem to be more calculated. With the rate at which we develop technology, we will likely eventually reach the level of robotics technology that Ash 2 was at. He was able to move at a regular pace and do all human-like actions without it looking strange (aside from getting cut by the glass and some other minute details), and the longer he stayed with Martha, the more he was going to be able learn from her and become even more human-like. 

Side Note: Why is a stuffed animal involved in the Uncanny Valley?