Eli5: How come we experience the “Uncanny Valley” phenomenon?
In: 5
It’s not confirmed although it’s theorized that it was to tell the difference between other human like species such as Neanderthals, there were a few species that lived along side humans that resembled them so we evolved to “fear” them
We do. We can hypothesize the roots of our behaviors, but it obviously serves some evolutionary purpose since we kept it. Some theories basically attribute it to revulsion from sickness/death – basically signals that the other human is not quite right and could be dangerous/or the conditions could be dangerous.
The most likely explanation is that something that looks human but not quite enough is propably a human that is very sick and you should better stay away.
But we can’t be sure. Maybe it has no use and is an “artifact” of how we categorize things in our brain.
For those like me that had no idea what OP was referring to, allow me to save you the Google.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley
Because something non-human attempting to mimic our movements is likely doing so to prey on us. Hence our brain gives us the heads up that this is not natural and we should be concerned.
Latest Answers