The Uncanny Valley is that interesting little dip in our reaction to near-human movement and appearance. It shows that the more human-like something becomes, the more we notice that it is not human. An example of this is a cartoon vs. something like the very uncanny characters in Polar Express. You don’t think much about how the cartoon character moves, but you’ll notice every misplaced muscle or odd facial crease in the characters in Polar Express.
So, it turns out that the star of the new Delta safety video is not some inhuman construct but a real person. I’m not ruling out modifications, though, as when watching the video, I found myself wondering if she was the latest in Japanese technology and able to pass the Turing test or if she’d adhere to the three laws. I think she falls squarely into the valley.
I’ve seen the new video on a 737, 767 and 757 in middle-aisle tube displays, drop-down lcd panels, and the nifty back of seat lcd linux terminals on the 767) all within a few days, and my opinion was strengthened each time.
It’s hard to convey from a still photo, but watch this to see the whole video (yes, the safety video is online). There’s something very oddly manufactured about her look (ok, several things that I could point out, but I’ll leave that to you to discover). The overall approach to the video and production quality is great, but she lends a definite creepiness despite (or perhaps because of) her good acting and happy demeanor.