Asperger's and the Uncanny Valley

Post Reply New Topic

Watching these makes me think that someday we will all have our own robot servant/slave/bed partner. Then eventually they will advance so much that they will become completely sentient, not want to put up with that any more, and will demand equal rights and/or take over the world.

Do you mean these videos are supposed to trigger an uncanny valley reaction, or are you suggesting that robots are moving past the uncanny valley?

I think that the "Uncanny Valley" idea makes a lot of sense. It would certainly explain all the "freak" jibes I so often got at school. I just used to seriously creep the other kids out.

I loved Body Worlds in Toronto. A lot of people there, NT I assume, were really wierded out, as if a human body requires life and personality or memory of such to be human. To me, it was cool to see the inner "mechanisms of this human machine". I suppose that was me missing the uncanny effect, which I didn't really grasp from my first read of the Uncanny Valley.
I don't know what it was that weirded people out though, its as though dead bodies without the familiar exterior were not supposed to take the forms of active humans as they did in the display.

Yeah, sort of. I posted them so that folks could study their own reactions. If it's one of horror, or one of attraction & curiosity.

I get a mixed reaction. It's kinda spooky, yet I'm curious & attracted.
Maybe us aspies don't react to realistic robots the same way as NTs.
I dunno.... I just thought I'd post them for the heck of it, it's kinda on topic.

I saw the exhibit and this is exactly what weirded me out. Seeing dead people apparently frozen while running around and engaged in normal activities seemed zombie-like.

I don't really get/understand/perceive the uncanny valley. I thought the first robot was a bit cool, but the second was jerky and I couldn't understand what was being said.

This makes a lot of sense. People have told me that I seem "slightly off" to them but they can't really understand why. I've been asked by people if I'm actually human because of my mannerisms and behavior. I can see how this all would fit in with the concept of the Uncanny Valley.

Here's another article on this:

TV TROPES Article-Uncanny Valley

I think this is actually pretty accurate. It's like the Uncanny Valley for behavior.
(also I think sometimes people's appearance, depending, when they're autistic, may also fall into this category particularly over the facial expressions)

I thought I had a handle on this whole "uncanny valley" thing, but now it makes even less sense to me.

Im more interested in if aspies can percieve the uncanny valley.
I mean maybe its because I grew up with video games but I dont see what is so scary about CGI people and such.
Behaviour could be very scary if its unpredictable.
I think alot of horror mechanics work(when you design a monster) in making it look like a aberration from natural behaviour of some sort.
I think it might show how tolerant you are depending on how freaked out you are by mild uncanny valley effects. I mean with CGI you get the impression of a benign entity who could atleast pass of as normal and that isnt scary(it could just mean that they are not neurotypical or eccentric).
But if they have extreme musclespasm's and move in a strange unexpected way and express themselves in a deviant way they could potentially be horrifying.
A lion isnt that scary as its a mammal. It bleeds and I know how to respond to something like that.
I hate slugs because. Even though we all have soft squishy tissue inside off us. The slug has it on the outside. Its like a living intestine and that seems like an abomination to me.
Orcs and trolls are not that scary. Because they seem like a mix of a bloodthirsty carnivorous animal and a human. They make sense. The undead are scarier because they dont make any sense. Ambivalence is scary.
Did I just go off topic?

I was at the liquor store last night and while l was looking through the glass door at the selection of 40 Ounces, I was jerking my legs and constantly moving in place. This cop asked me if I was on drugs. I had to explain why I fidgeting, constantly moving, I tend to get stopped by police often, even if I'm wearing a suit. Really pisses me off people think I'm a drug addict.

I have always thought that the Japanese Robotics scientists made a very important, counter-intuitive observation when they discovered the uncanny valley phenomenon. I also feel that it is a reasonable explanation for how people react to those persons who have AS. However, I have come to see that it is far more complicated than this, for the simple reason that we are not robots, but fully human beings.

Of course... the uncanny valley is a perfect metaphor for the AS experience... and for many outliers, like people with ALS or Parkinson's or traumatic brain injuries, or even deaf and blind people, even obese people.

I'm getting on in age now and it is like slowly becoming invisible these years between 55 and 70.

But one thing we maybe should remember is that NTs are interested in the ins and outs of one another's lives. They are concerned about things that never cross our (my) minds.