How uncanny is the «Uncanny valley»? Experience of deconstructing a discourse

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17072/2078-7898/2022-1-91-107

How uncanny is the «Uncanny valley»? Experience of deconstructing a discourse

Natalya V. Stolbova
Candidate of Philosophy,
Associate Professor of the Department of Philosophy and LawPerm National Research Polytechnic University,
29, Komsomolskiy av., Perm, 614990, Russia;
e-mail: pilthekid@mail.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6103-367X
ResearcherID: AGE-0972-2022

Elena V. Seredkina
Candidate of Philosophy, DocentAssociate Professor of the Department of Philosophy and Law,
Perm National Research Polytechnic University,
29, Komsomolskiy av., Perm, 614990, Russia;Head of the Department «Human-Machine Interaction»,
Promobot Company,
111/2, Kosmonavtov Hwy., Perm, 614000, Russia;e-mail: elena_seredkina@pstu.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2506-2374
ResearcherID: AGD-7292-2022

Oleg S. Myshkin
independent researcher, translatorGainy, Perm Krai, 619650, Russia;
e-mail: olegmyshkin@mail.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6850-3929
ResearcherID: AGD-7178-2022

After the Japanese scientist Masahiro Mori first described the phenomenon that he called the «Uncanny Valley», numerous attempts were made to explain it. However, the uncanny valley still remains a problem not only for people who encounter it in technical production (robotics engineers, programmers, and designers of anthropomorphic robots) but also for philosophy, in particular, for philosophical anthropology and ontology. This article attempts not so much to explain this phenomenon — this work primarily remains with psychologists, sociologists, and philosophers who study the human mentality — but demonstrate a program to increase this problem into the schemas of some contemporary ontologies. We will follow Timothy Morton who explores the uncanny valley in his books Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World, Being Ecological, and in a number of articles. We will attempt to demonstrate the insufficiency of both the «classical» (Modern) approaches to the analysis of the technical and the tool analysis proposed by M. Heidegger in Being and Time. Then we will try to show that the problem of the uncanny valley is only an example of the ontological gap the foundation for which was laid by the Modern, and, therefore, its solution is only possible by diffusion it in broader problems of the philosophy of technology. The implementation of such «diffusion» both in the theoretical aspect of ontology and in the aspect of transformation of our practices — everyday, mental, and industrial — can become one of the cornerstones in the foundation of the future ecological coexistence of the human and non-human entities.

Keywords: «Uncanny Valley», human-robot interaction, tool analysis, M. Heidegger, ontological gap, object-oriented philosophy, hyperobjects, G. Harman, T. Morton.

Acknowledgements

The research was funded by RFBR, project No. 20-411-590002 р_а_Пермский край.

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Received: 16.11.2021. Revised: 16.03.2022. Accepted: 18.03.2022

For citation:

Stolbova N.V., Seredkina E.V., Myshkin O.S. [How uncanny is the «Uncanny Valley»? Experience of deconstructing a discourse].Vestnik Permskogo universiteta. Filosofia. Psihologia. Sociologia [Perm University Herald. Philosophy. Psychology. Sociology], 2022, issue 1, pp. 91–107 (in Russian). https://doi.org/10.17072/2078-7898/2022-1-91-107