Comments

  7. profpedant says

    The ‘uncanny valley’ is not a universal experience. The robot looks pretty much like a human, and that does not bother me at all. I have never seen something that someone has an ‘uncanny valley’ problem with that disturbed me in the least. If it was not for the number of people who assert they have difficulties with ‘nearly human appearances’ I would conclude that the ‘uncanny valley’ was like Santa Claus, something that people inexplicably claim is real.

  8. Wrath Panda says

    Is it bad of me to think that it’s cuter before they put the skin on?

    Also, I can’t think that baby would taste particularly pleasant barbequed.

  10. says

    @2 The person who thinks this is a good idea is the producer who has to pay for two babies and a studio teacher in order to get a day’s worth of shooting, plus SAG residuals, plus some crazy insurance rider.

    I dont’s this thing selling closeup’s though. Not yet.

  12. bhebing says

    Ok, so I get the novelty value, but why hook it up to an incubator? That makes no sense on multiple levels.

  15. Athywren - not the moon you're looking for says

    Torn from the headlines:
    “Help! My baby is a the Terminator!”

  16. Athywren - not the moon you're looking for says

    …that’s right. You heard me. A the Terminator. Look it up.
    *puts box on head and shuffles into the corner of shame*

  19. zibble says

    @7 profpedant
    I’m with you. Hell, am I the only one here who thinks the skinless version is kind of cute?

    I don’t think the uncanny valley is universal, either. In fact, I think it’s a prejudice born of a culture that defines humanity with bullshit like “the soul” instead of our actually tangible, worthwhile qualities, furthered by scaremongering, technophobic, and anti-scientific sentiments in movies like Terminator, movies that, should androids with artificial intelligence ever be developed, will probably be looked back on the same way we look back on the casual racism of our past.

    Much has been said about the cultural response to androids in Japan, as opposed to America’s. Since the days of Astroboy, Japan has seen robots as innocents who deserve our empathy as they struggle to fit into our illogical society, often being mistreated, exploited, and senselessly hated. Whereas America sees them as inherently deserving of all those things just for not being human.