The whole theory argues that humans are disgusted by humanoids because they do not like being deceived. I personally agree with the theory for the most part. Though, I think the reason the valley exists is not just because of feelings of deception. The further into the progress of making humanoids more realistic sparks fear of inferiority into most of mankind. The dip into the valley starts with the uncomfortable feelings of deception or because of people’s fear that they are inferior to the humanoids. The Uncanny Valley isn’t actually just “uncanny” it is also a valley of fear. If anything, it should be the Valley of fear and uncanny. Keep the graph and everything, but in addition to the uncanny feelings add fear as well to the title. There is a need to do this because there will be a point where the humanoids are so common that deception can not be the only reason for staying at the bottom of the valley. Even with the society disgusted, engineers will continue producing the humanoids. The people, who are not disgusted at this point, will buy them. This will increase the amount of humanoids in a community. It will be apart of daily life to have them. But, it is the fear that humanoids are better that keeps them at the bottom of the valley. Humans will be afraid that everything they do could be done better by the humanoids. The humanoids will be everything man is but superior.
Humanoids will be better at problem-solving, more knowledgeable, physically stronger, and possibly more attractive.
To cope with this fear, people will hate them and claim the opposite: Humanoids are not people, they do not have feelings, they are inferior. It is the denial of human qualities that will push people to perceive them as less than instead of equal. This will continue until the slow ascendance up the Valley when society begins to empathize with the Humanoids. Once people start to interact more with the humanoids and feel for them then people will stop worrying about inferiority and superiority and/or deception. Not everyone will feel inferior to the humanoids and not every will feel deceived. There can be cases where people feel both options, one of them, or neither. Here's my professional photoshopped (definitely not made in Microsoft Paint) version:
It is literally the same theory but instead of the valley just being about eerie feelings, it is also centered around fear.
4 comments:
You know, you could argue this by using the episode " Be Right Back" from the Netflix series Black Mirror. I think the audience could feel both descriptions of the valley you describe. And I think it's purposefully clear that we are suppose to feel the exact definition of the Uncanny Valley. We know for sure Ash 2.0 isn't Ash 1.0 and we are better supported of the contrast between the two by Martha's constant corrections toward Ash 2.0 on the "proper" way Ash would react. It's clear they are targeting our moral/ethical opinions toward the usage of humanoids and the treatment they receive. But, to the fear aspect of your argument. Everyone in the classroom stuck to the whole deception idea, yet, no one was fearful? I mean Ash 2.0 easily became a pro at doing the nasty, he could look up and learn information so quickly, and he could easily adapt to form traits of Ash 1.0. They could easily become better forms of us. I mean Martha even said, " You look like him on a good day."
I disagree. I mean couldn't you argue that the whole deceiving part is what causes the fear? I don't think anyone is afraid of humanoids being better than humans. It's kinda a cold heart fact that they are. I think there is a presence of fear in the audience toward Ash 2.0, but not because his superiority, it's really because all those traits are what we associate with actual humans. For example: Ash 2.0 has sex with Martha,Sex isn't with a Woman and robot!! Also: The robots success at creating a reaction on the spot after being corrected. It's scary.
I'm with ya 100%! I thought that the word "uncanny" meant fear of strange objects. Then I thought about it and noticed that would be a phobia, so it makes complete sense why it should be called Valley of fear and uncanny. I will say there will be a point where intelligent devices will become so real we can be best friends with one, and would never know it. That's why you see the sharp positive rate in the graph. Great Blog Post! The gif was funny!
Interesting take on the valley. I agree that there is merit in believing that the dip in the graph is not purely dependent on the "uncannyness" of a humanoid. Other factors, including fear of inferiority, are very important to distinguish.
There might even be a graph that better represents this phenomenon. Unfortunately, I lack the ability to recreate your stellar photoshop skills. So I will describe what I am thinking through words: I can imagine a graph with two dips. The first dip comes about as a result of how uncanny the humanoid is. Then the graph slopes up, only to return down again to a second dip later along the x-axis. This second dip could correspond to the fear factor you were referring to. Even though the humanoid might resemble humans perfectly, we still feel a sense of disgust due to the fact that the humanoid is much more advanced than us humans. Just a thought...
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