Word Spy word of the day: uncanny valley
Word Spy word of the day: uncanny valley. “n. Feelings of unease, fear, or revulsion created by a robot or robotic device that appears to be, but is not quite, human-like.”
Advertise here with Carbon Ads
This site is made possible by member support. 💞
Big thanks to Arcustech for hosting the site and offering amazing tech support.
When you buy through links on kottke.org, I may earn an affiliate commission. Thanks for supporting the site!
kottke.org. home of fine hypertext products since 1998.
Reader comments
alanDec 09, 2003 at 10:14PM
Aha - thanks for this. I remember seeing this phrase and description quite a while back, and wanted to share it with others, but could not remember the exact name - spent fruitless hours googling "robot", "zombie" and "human-like" looking for it. The topic is broad enough that Google's not much help unless one knows the exact name. This scratches a mental itch I've had for months now.
drkDec 10, 2003 at 12:51AM
metafilter usually pulls through! uncanny :D
http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/21071
Stefan JonesDec 10, 2003 at 2:15AM
Long essay on The Uncanny Valley:
http://www.arclight.net/~pdb/glimpses/valley.html
shaunDec 11, 2003 at 2:36AM
I think a better word for this concept would be "uncanny."
Melissa HarringtonFeb 18, 2004 at 6:42PM
Please allow me to leave my links on your page
Married Women Cheating Wives
Swingers Clubs
Swingers Couples Swinging
Swinger Couples ads
Penis Growth Pills
Sorry for disturbing
Regards
This thread is closed to new comments. Thanks to everyone who responded.