What Makes the “Uncanny Valley” So Unsettling

Have you ever looked at a life-like doll and felt your skin crawl? Gotten an unsettled feeling when you saw a human-like robot? Felt nauseous while watching an on-screen zombie lumber around aimlessly? If so, you’ve experienced the phenomenon known as the uncanny valley. First proposed in 1970 by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori, the uncanny valley is the creepy, repulsed feeling we get when we observe an entity that looks almost human, but lacks some essential element of humanity. Characteristics of the Uncanny Valley When Mori first proposed the phenomenon of uncanny valley, he created a graph to explain the concept: Moris Uncanny Valley Graph translated by MacDornan and Minato.   Wikimedia Commons According to Mori, the more human a robot appears, the more positive our feelings towards them will be—up to a point. As robots approach near-perfect human likeness, our responses quickly turn from positive to negative. This sharp emotional dip, seen in the graph above, is the uncanny valley. Negative responses can range from mild discomfort to severe repulsion. Mori’s original graph specified two distinct pathways to the uncanny valley: one for still entities, like corpses, and one for moving entities, like zombies. Mori predicted that the uncanny valley was steeper for moving entities. Finally, the uncanny valley effect subsides and people’s feelings towards a robot again turn positive once the robot becomes indistinguishable from a human being. In addition to robots, the uncanny valley can apply to things like CGI movie or video game characters (such as those from The Polar Express) whose appearance doesn’t match their behavior, as well as wax figures and realistic-looking dolls whose faces look human but lack life in their eyes. Why the Uncanny Valley Freaks Us Out Since Mori first coined the term, the uncanny valley has been researched by everyone from roboticists to philosophers to psychologists. But it wasn’t until 2005, when Mori’s original paper was translated from Japanese into English, that research on the subject really took off. Despite the intuitive familiarity of the idea of the uncanny valley (anyone who’s ever seen a horror movie featuring a human-like doll or zombie has likely experienced it), Mori’s idea was a prediction, not the result of scientific research.  Therefore, today, scholars disagree about why we experience the phenomenon and whether it even exists at all. Stephanie Lay, an uncanny valley researcher, says she’s counted at least seven explanations for the phenomenon in the scientific literature, but there are three that show the most potential. Boundaries Between Categories First, categorical boundaries may be responsible. In the case of the uncanny valley, this is the boundary at which an entity moves between non-human and human. For example, researchers Christine Looser and Thalia Wheatley found that when they presented a series of manipulated images created from human and mannequin faces to participants, participants consistently perceived the images as life-like at the point where they crossed to the more human end of the spectrum. The perception of life was based on the eyes more than other parts of the face. Perception of Mind Second, the uncanny valley could depend on people’s belief that entities with human-like features possess a human-like mind. In a series of experiments, Kurt Gray and Daniel Wegner found that machines became unsettling when people attributed the capacity to feel and sense to them, but not when people’s only expectation of the machine was the ability to act. The researchers proposed this is because people believe the ability to feel and sense is fundamental to humans, but not machines. Mismatch Between Appearance and Behavior Finally, the uncanny valley may be the result of a mismatch between the appearance of a near-human entity and its behavior. For instance, in one study, Angela Tinwell and her colleagues discovered that a human-like virtual entity was regarded as most unnerving when it didn’t react to a scream with a visible startled response in the eye region. Participants perceived an entity who exhibited this behavior as having psychopathic traits, pointing to a possible psychological explanation for the uncanny valley. The Future of the Uncanny Valley As androids become further integrated into our lives to aid us in a variety of capacities, we must like and trust them in order for us to have the best interactions. For example, recent research suggests that when medical students train with simulators that look and behave like humans, they perform better in real emergency situations. Figuring out how to transcend the uncanny valley is critical as we rely more and more on technology to assist us in everyday life. Sources Gray, Kurt, and Daniel M. Wegner. â€Å"Feeling Robots and Human Zombies: Mind Perception and the Uncanny Valley.† Cognition, vol. 125, no. 1, 2012, pp. 125-130, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2012.06.007Hsu, Jeremy. â€Å"Why ‘Uncanny Valley’ Human Look-Alikes Put Us on Edge.† Scientific American, 3 April 2012. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-uncanny-valley-human-look-alikes-put-us-on-edge/Mori, Masahiro. â€Å"The Uncanny Valley.† Energy, vol. 7, no. 4, 1970, pp. 33-35, translated by Karl F. MacDornan and Takashi Minator, http://www.movingimages.info/digitalmedia/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/MorUnc.pdLay, Stephanie. â€Å"Introducing the Uncanny Valley.† Stephanie Lay’s Research Web, 2015. http://uncanny-valley.open.ac.uk/UV/UV.nsf/Homepage?ReadFormLay, Stephanie. â€Å"Uncanny Valley: Why We Find Human-Like Robots and Dolls So Creepy.† The Conversation, 10 November 2015. https://theconversation.com/uncanny-va lley-why-we-find-human-like-robots-and-dolls-so-creepy-50268Looser, Christine E., and Thalia Wheatley. â€Å"The Tipping Point of Animacy: How, When, and Where We Perceive Life in a Face.† Psychological Science, vol. 21, no. 12, 2010, pp. 1854-1862, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797610388044Rouse, Margaret. â€Å"Uncanny Valley.† WhatIs.com, February 2016. https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/uncanny-valleyTinwell, Angela, Deborah Abdel Nabi, and John P. Charlton. â€Å"Perceptions of Psychopathy and the Uncanny Valley in Virtual Characters.† Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 29, no. 4, 2013, pp. 1617-1625, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.01.008

Sandro Botticelli - 1261 Words

Sandro Botticelli | Probable self-portrait of Botticelli, in hisAdoration of the Magi (1475). | Birth name | Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi | Born | c. 1445[1] Florence, Republic of Florence, (now Italy) | Died | May 17, 1510 (aged 64–65) Florence, Republic of Florence, (now Italy) | Nationality | Italian | Field | Painting | Training | Filippo Lippi Andrea del Verrocchio | Movement | Italian Renaissance | Works | Primavera The Birth of Venus The Adoration of the Magi Other Works | Influenced by | Fra Filippo Lippi | Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, better known as Sandro Botticelli (Italian: [ˈsandro bottiˈtÊÆ'É›lli]; c. 1445[1] – May 17, 1510), was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. He belonged to the†¦show more content†¦Even at this early date, his work was characterized by a conception of the figure as if seen in low relief, drawn with clear contours, and minimizing strong contrasts of light and shadow which would indicate fully modeled forms. Maturity The Adoration of the Magi for Santa Maria Novella (c. 1475–1476, now at the Uffizi), contains the portraits of Cosimo de Medici, his sons Piero and Giovanni, and his grandsons Lorenzo and Giuliano. The quality of the scene was hailed by Vasari as one of Botticellis pinnacles. In 1481, Pope Sixtus IV summoned Botticelli and other prominent Florentine and Umbrian artists to fresco the walls of the Sistine Chapel. The iconological program was the supremacy of the Papacy. Sandros contribution included the Temptations of Christ, the Punishment of the Rebels and Trial of Moses. He returned to Florence, and being of a sophistical turn of mind, he there wrote a commentary on a portion ofDante and illustrated the Inferno which he printed, spending much time over it, and this abstention from work led to serious disorders in his living. Thus Vasari characterized the first printed Dante (1481) with Botticellis decorations; he could not imagine that the new art of printing might occupy an artist. The masterpieces Primavera (c. 1482) and The Birth ofShow MoreRelatedSandro Botticelli Essay968 Words   |  4 PagesBotticelli is one of the most famous artists during the Italian Renaissance. He was very well know for the portrayal of the female figure and his ability to incorporate femininity as a symbol of life itself and/or nature illustrated by the changes of seasons. Botticelli most famous figure was that of Venus, the goddess of love. She was incorporated into two of his most famous works, The Birth of Venus and Primavera. Most of Botticellis women had that typical hourglass figure to them . 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Outcomes of the Crusades Free Essays

The â€Å"Crusades† was a military campaign of Christians in Western Europe whose purpose is to reclaim the Holy Land from the Muslims. The Roman Catholic Church stimulated most of the support for the war, showing its intolerance to both Islam and Orthodox Christianity. Although religious in nature, the Crusades had become a bloody frenzy. We will write a custom essay sample on Outcomes of the Crusades or any similar topic only for you Order Now Six military campaigns comprised the period, starting from the First Crusade in 1096, inspired by Pope Urban II, and ending in the Sixth Crusade in 1254, led by the king of France, King Louis IX. To this day, the Crusades is still a controversial because of the military excesses during the battles. However, many outcomes came out of the movement: First, the European horizon expanded; second, the encounters with the different cultures promoted learning as well as commerce between different civilizations; third, as a result of the eastern influence, there was growth in western scholasticism and philosophy; and fourth, it sparked a dangerous concept adapted in monarchy and politics. Among the noted significance of the first crusades was the increased contacts between the Europeans and the Byzantines and Muslims. During this time, the Byzantine was already beginning to decline and Islam was not as powerful as it once was, although still a formidable force. As regards the original intention of the Crusades, the Christians’ success of having Jerusalem under their control never reached permanence. However, the first crusades effected the expansion of Europe, meaning it gained more strength than other competing civilizations did. Moreover, there became a balance of power between the Muslims and the Christians. During the First Crusade, supporters of the movement, such as those from Pisa and Genoa, sailed the Mediterranean Sea to bring help to Jerusalem. As a result, the sea was again reopened to western shipping, and, in turn, communication was reestablished between the east and west. Although at several points the Christians ruled over the Holy Land, Muslims were able to conquer it again in the 12th century. However, the Christians continued to hold power over the sea. Thus, the ports in the countries such as Levant in the border of the sea were under their control. The number of commercial establishments grew rapidly in the ports of Syria and Egypt, and the Christians held autonomy over operations in the areas of Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily, which were originally controlled by the Saracens (Riley-Smith 85). The sea routes were open for trade, allowing products of Asia to come in. In short, the Crusades opened the lines of communication and exchange of knowledge between the eastern and western civilizations through the trade. This made a significant contribution to the development of Europe in terms of both knowledge and economy. Some of the practices of Muslim science, literature and philosophy, as well as medicine had found its way to Christian tradition (Riley-Smith 87). In time, the crusading movements were divided into two groups: the external Crusades and the internal Crusades. The former was directed mainly against Muslims, whereas the latter was a war against the perceived enemies of the Christian world. Unfortunately, the development of the internal Crusades enforced a violent thinking—that is, violence is sanctified in ideological pursuits. The Crusades was originally a war to retrieve the Holy Land, but the concept of sanctified violence extended to the monarchy and the political sphere. What used to be the holy cause of defending the Church became a moral duty of defending the state (Riley-Smith 90). Indeed, the Crusades was a crucial moment in history, and one that people can learn from. That is, the good things that came out of it should be emulated, and its detrimental effects should serve as a warning to modern society. Works Cited Riley-Smith, Jonathan. â€Å"The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading†. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1991. 85-96. How to cite Outcomes of the Crusades, Papers