During my semi-regular stroll around the blogosphere I came across this photograph. Looks fairly unremarkable, no? Consider this then: it’s not a photograph at all, it’s a digital rendering. Now, does that make you feel impressed, or a little bit disturbed. If you said disturbed, you’re still human, and you have taken your first step into what is known as the Uncanny Valley.
David Morris once wrote (explaining Freud) that, “The Uncanny derives its terror not from something external, alien or unknown but– on the contrary– from something strangely familiar to separate ourselves from it.” This characterization is as good as any… and it’s something that we had all better get used to.
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