Two Sylvias' Weekly Muse: October 29, 2023

Issue 79

Hello Muse Writers and Poets!

It’s that season again for all things creepy and scary! This year, our intro deals with All Hallows’ Eve in a subtle manner as we explore a fascinating concept called “the uncanny valley.” The uncanny valley was introduced by robotics professor Masahiro Mori at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He coined the term to describe his observation that as robots appear more humanlike, they become appealing to people—but only up to a certain point. When a robot looks too human, we notice small discrepancies, and we have a tendency to feel disturbed and ill at ease—at that moment, we’ve entered the uncanny valley. A robot can look completely lifelike, but our senses pick up that something isn’t quite right. Below is roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University and the robot replica he created of himself. Ishiguro’s robot, which is on the left, can give some of us the creeps, taking us straight into the uncanny valley!