This gets posted a lot, but nobody ever seems to post what the thing was.
The answer is probably "other hominids". Humans (Homo sapiens specifically) co-existed with them for a long time and competed with them over resources.
Edit: and the genetically deformed (with whom it would be beneficial to not breed, at least from an evolutionary standpoint) and corpses or people with disease
Also corpses, I see it debunked pretty much every time it’s posted
It could be a rock formation. Nobody says uncanny valley when its a sexy looking knot on a tree.
See e.g. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbreeding_between_archaic_and_modern_humans
Corpses, illness, "bad genes" (asymmetry etc) seems like a more reasonable explaination in my ears, with interacting/breeding in mind.
Yeah if you don't say that, it's way scarier because then it could be anything! Even... the...
C R E A T U R E
Nah, too much distance between pockets of different pre-humans usually. There weren't a 10 million people on the world most of the time.
There were tons of humanoid species around before we killed them all. Neanderthals, etc. Wonder why they're dead? Could be this.
We did fuck with Neanderthals too, though. There's still traces of their DNA in modern humans, I think
The original EEE
Literally rabies
...or it's just that requiring co-operative society for our survival wired us to pick up on very subtle facial and figurative signals and signs when it comes to human behavior and anything "off" about it sticks out like a sore and creepy thumb.
I dont think that's smart, I think it's just wrong.
Rabies
I would say there's an evolutionary need to be afraid of things we don't understand. Lots more examples of that as well.
When it looks like something we think we recognize but it looks unfamiliar at the same time, we don't understand it, and we want to stay away from it.
Simple as that, in my mind. 🤷♂️
Not every trait has an adaptive significance, FFS
No, but the aversion reaction to the uncanny valley is pretty strong. It's more likely an adapted trait than not and can be easily explained by dead or sick humans and animals.
I mean, at some point humans and neanderthals coexisted and even interbred. I don't think it's a stretch that there could have been other similar species that we didn't get along with even earlier than that.
it could be a mammalian response, doesn't have to be just human
No, it doesn't.
I still don't understand what the uncanney valley is exactly. I've read the definition but not I don't experience it that way I guess? I don't know what people are talking about when they say something is uncanny valley.
I've always understood it as the perception that something isn't quite right (usually with a person, but I've seen it used in non-human contexts too) without being able to immediately describe why.
A great example is Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One - the actor who played him on the original trilogy died in 1994, so they just deep-faked him into the scenes he was needed. When I saw Rogue One initially, I didn't know that actor was dead, and didn't connect the dots that even if he wasn't dead, he'd look like a zombie this many years after filming the OT... but in Rogue One, he just looked like Tarkin. Mostly. The scenes that featured him gave a kind of uncomfortable "what the hell is wrong with that guy" feeling, but I still didn't connect the dots and couldn't put my finger on why it looked so wrong.
Then later I learned is was a deep-fake, and now it just looks like a deep-fake; the uncanny valley sensation went away once I finally understood why he looked the way he did.
The internet is full of creepy looking 'examples' of uncanny valley, but they're all shit imo, cuz they're all just blatantly creepy shit; well beyond the uncertainty that goes along with uncanny valley.
I'm decently familiar with deepfakes and I totally didn't notice Tarkin being off when I saw Rogue One in theaters. I was like, "Wow, that actor has barely aged a day since the original trilogy. Good for him." I later learned about it being special effects and was like "Damn, they did a good job. Totally fooled me."
Like, I can see it when I look at it now, only after being told. But the first time, on the big screen? Didn't notice at all.
I've seen some really neat deepfakes over the years. One of my favorites replaces Jack Nicholson with Jim Carrey in "The Shining", so the creepiness kinda helps, lol
One of the best real life examples was the movie Mars Needs Moms.
It was made with a technology called motion capture, and it's absolutely bizarre and unnerving to watch. Everything just looks wrong in a way that's very difficult to explain.
Maybe it's just a side effect from recognizing humans. The very fact that it's not supposed to happen is what freaks you out.
Or the uncanny valley is just not a thing. There's a great video breaking it down, but I don't know where to find it rn. Basically, it's just an experimental artifact of flawed methodology.
[citation needed]
