john cabrera

So for those of you unfamiliar with the concept of the Uncanny Valley, it basically goes like this: We tend to become more affectionate towards things the more human they look… however, there is an uncanny valley… a point on the graph in which suddenly our affection evaporates and we are repulsed. This valley seems to occur very close to objects looking/acting 100% human and healthy.

In the graph above we can see that industrial robots elict a neutral reaction, where as friendly humanoid robots (the boxy goofy type) and stuffed animals elicit a very positive reaction. However, corpses, zombies, and even prosthetic limbs tend to make us uneasy. They have too uncanny a resemblence to what we consider human.

On the other side of the valley, another one seems to occur in this graph. If the first half charts a path from being less than human, the second half charts a path toward being more than human.

Again we see an uncanny valley that exists just beyond what we consider to be human and healthy, presumably during the period when we are first attempting to enhance the human body and condition. The idea of implants and synthetic limbs/organs (ie transhumanism) naturally makes us uneasy, repulses even.

However, as we move away from this transitory dip, the repulsion is replaced by affection for beings that are now officially posthuman but still retain aspects identifiable to being human (ie limbs, a body, organs, etc.). Superman might be a good example here.

At the far end are beings that have evolved to a state of radical posthumanism in which they may resemble so little a human as an industrial robot resembles a human. At this point our affection once again levels out to neutral.

(Source: duttyfree)