What is the uncanny valley?

The uncanny valley refers to a psychological hypothesis in modern 3D digital animation and robotics often attributed to Masahiro Mori , though its ideological roots can be found as far back as Sigmund Freud. The theory proposes that when an animated or robotic model replicates a human being to almost near perfection, it can too closely resemble a human being. At this point, when a human observes the model, they will feel revulsion. Moreover, the human reaction occurs on a gradient scale, so that as a model becomes more human-like, the observer has a more positive reaction; however, after a certain point, the human reaction quickly changes to a strong sense of revulsion. For example, C3P0 elicits a positive response from most people familiar with Star Wars, but many people react negatively to porcelain dolls (which completely freak me out, by the way) As seen on this graph from wikipedia.org, a sharp dip, or "valley" signifies the sudden shift in emotional response.

Now, there are many reasons given for this instinctive reaction, referencing everything from our evolutionary psychology (mating preferences), to our innate fear of death and disease. No matter what the cause, however, I use the term here as a metaphor.

To me this term can be applied to that which I, an observer of life, society and my own personal experiences, see as the inauthentic quality of most of our lives within the "post-post-modern"-"civilized" world. The people we are, as summed up by the shared themes of the entertainment and advertising which we collectively consume. The spectacle of the personal political power we yield to typically vote for representatives who only seek to represent interests that are far more powerful than that of the people's. And finally, the simple fact that we feel we must hide so much of our true selves deep inside, in order to conform to whatever or whoever sets the current materialistic norms we hold in our quickly devolving society;  this plastic culture, which in truth is really a lack of culture devoid of tradition or shared experience (except in what we, again, collectively are spoon-fed). It makes me nauseous: I feel a revulsion when I witness it in moments of clarity.

This is why I have chosen this name, a banner under which I hope to share such observations with you, my audience. Furthermore, I hope to create a dialogue here, where we can share such musings or debate their validity. So, welcome to The Uncanny Valley.

                                                                                                                         -Sigh