• NateNate60@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    85
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    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

  • Nora@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    33
    ·
    4 months ago

    There were tons of humanoid species around before we killed them all. Neanderthals, etc. Wonder why they’re dead? Could be this.

  • masquenox@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    22
    ·
    4 months ago

    …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.

  • Victor@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    15
    ·
    4 months ago

    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. 🤷‍♂️

    • Enkrod@feddit.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      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.

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    4 months ago

    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.

  • JCreazy@midwest.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    4 months ago

    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.

    • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      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.

      • JCreazy@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        4 months ago

        Ah see I knew about Tarkin going in and saw the CGI. I just recognized it at that, nothing weird.

        • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          4 months ago

          Yea once you know why it looks off, it switches from uncanny to plain ol creepy. At least, subjectively for me it does - idk if that uncertainty is definitively a criteria for uncanny valley, but that’s what makes it a distinct experience from creepiness imo.

      • rudyharrelson@lemmy.radio
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        4 months ago

        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

    • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      4 months ago

      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.

  • lugal@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    4 months ago

    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.