THE UNCANNY VALLEY

The uncanny valley describes the paradox that the more human a robot appears, we tend to find them more appealing – but only to a certain extent. If the robot looks too human, we perceive the robot negatively, seeing it as strange or disturbing. This point where affinity is inverted is called the “Uncanny valley.”

The word uncanny according to Miriam Webster means: “seeming to have a supernatural character or origin, being beyond what is normal or expected, suggesting superhuman or supernatural powers.” The uncanny is experienced psychologically – something that is strangely familiar but unfamiliar at this same time. This dissonance can be quite unsettling but powerful at the same time. In the case of robots, perhaps we see too much of ourselves in something that is often an adversary, threatening our notion of what it means to be human.