Uncanny Valley?

Post Reply New Topic

Hi all,

According to some comments on a Slashdot post (I can't post links yet, but it's the top Google hit for Uncanny Valley and Asperger Syndrome), Aspies are in the "Uncanny Valley". What that means is that we can't act enough like what NTs unconsciously think of as "human" that they can accept us as human -- and that as long as that's the case, looking human is a liability!

Anyone have second opinions on this? (I wouldn't expect science to confirm it any time soon, since research on the Uncanny Valley seems to be pretty new.)

The reason this is important to me is that I think a lot of us, self included, will have the technology to turn our bodies into non-humanoid forms, long before we have the technology to completely suppress the visible symptoms of AS with no unacceptable side effects. The latter, I figure, would mean reverse-engineering the brain in enough detail to make human-level AI, if not mind uploading, possible. In other words, I won't expect it to happen until shortly before the Singularity. The former could probably be done using any of the technologies that would make cyborg enhancements a la Deus Ex: Human Revolution possible (at which point I intend to become a cyborg anyway, so why not kill two birds with one stone?).

That feeling that just punched you in the stomach, that is the uncanny valley.

A second opinion, for what it's worth: we are not robots. We often feel that we are different and quite often that feeling is made more intense when we are bullied, harassed or ridiculed. I've yet to see a robot have a meltdown comparable to what happens when someone with Aspergers is overloaded.. I've yet to see a robot respond to outrageous demands from a drunken "friend" by locking up a trailer and walking five miles into a desert in triple-digit heat. And I'm still waiting to hear about a robot who pushes itself to exhaustion while having an anxiety attack about "not working hard enough."

Then again, I'm not a robotics expert. I'm an Aspie.

Nope. I don't want to link the single picture I have seen that actually prompted anything that resembles descriptions I have read about uncanny valley reactions, but overall I don't see it and for a long time I thought people were making it up.

I have no idea if autistic people trigger the Uncanny Valley. I find I actually prefer people with less visible affect than those with more visible affect, but I suspect that many people prefer the opposite.

That doesn't affect me >__>

"research on the Uncanny Valley seems to be pretty new"

That seems to me as unlikely.
Wasn't it conceived decades ago?
Particularly older Hollywood digital SFX companies would have been VERY interested in avoiding their movies scaring away people!

OT: I guess something similar might be experienced by NT's when they communicate with ASD's, but they'd likely shrug it off as the other being "uninterested" or "weird".
This term is just for robot's and (virtual) images that approximate humans, not for actual humans that seem a little off from the norm...

And I think most here, like me would be unimpressed by that image that was posted.
We see it as an interesting object, not as an NT would (I guess) see some grotesque semi-human being...
The picture in this article is a much better one than the posted one: http://cacm.acm.org/news/102185-crossin ... /fulltext/
The closer to human the worse it supposedly gets, and that huge grey thing without a believable nose, ears or mouth is not close at all!! !

I'd read about the 'Uncanny Valley' phenomenon being the main reason that people didn't accept
robots that were made to look human as human - there's always the subtle differences that show it isn't a human and it's the similarity to a human that makes the robot seem more weird.

I think this does transpose onto how aspies can be seen by NTs - I definitely get a sense that people often think there's something 'not right' with me, as if I'm trying to fool them in some way and they can act in a variety of different ways eg intrigued, amused or aggressive. The attitude can often feel like I'm being objectified/dehumanised for the very fact that they are considering me to be something 'out of the norm' and rather than just observing and keeping their thoughts to themselves (as I would if I saw someone who came across as different/unusual), a lot seem to want to actively blame me for it and make me feel bad about it, which seems ridiculous to me - I am as I am!

I read something recently that apparently the uncanny valley is triggered more in film than seeing something in real life. A robot that looks creepy on youtube might look pretty cool to someone who sees it live.

Masahiro Mori's original paper was published in Japanese, and widely discussed in English, in 1970. The approved English translation of the paper was only published this year, in the June edition of Robotics and Automation.

The Uncanny Valley also applies to other human-like entities such as avatars and digital animation - cute puppies and toys are easy to handle, hyper-realistic humans (and actor-derived CGI) are creepy.