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Life is tough. So take a break from it all for a moment and enjoy this bizarrely entertaining collection of links, websites, other random stuff I've collected over the years. Life stinks--but it can also be mysteriously fascinating.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

The Uncanny Valley





Virtual pop stars? 

I kid you not. These girls don't actually exist. The holographic singer's voice is even synthesized.That's right, that is actually a computer singing, not a human being. And she's had sold out concerts right here in the USA. Just a little too freaky for me.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2011/07/01/lah.japan.cg.video.star.cnn?hpt=hp_c2

And this leads us to . . . 

The Uncanny Valley

This is a psychological fear of something that looks human but isn't. We humans tend to feel uncomfortable or even fearful when a man made object gets a little too human looking, but isn't quite the real thing. Example: ultra realistic robots, CGI, or even dolls. (Think wax museum.) Something seems just a tiny bit off to us when we look at them and this triggers fear. Scientists have tried to study this phenomenon for years. Watch the video below to see some great examples of this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNdAIPoh8a4 

Think of all the people who are terrified of dolls--or clowns. That's the Uncanny Valley. Freaky, huh?

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