Human Representation

          People don’t like it when a machine, or a projection on a screen, which is not a perfect recreation or an actual human, does not look human enough. Although human interaction with robots and androids is obviously much different from the experience of watching a film starring life-like but artificial human beings, there are similarities to be taken into account. The theory that as a human representation, or a robot, is likeable only until the point that it reaches a state of representation where it is simultaneously too human and not human enough is important in understanding the appeal of the aforementioned type of film. The human representation at this point becomes repulsive for spectators and anyone interacting with it. “The Uncanny Valley” theory, although to some may seem self-explanatorily true, is still just a theory. Developed by Masahiro Mori in the 1970s, it is today being tested and contested by many scientists in the robot business. One scientist working within the theory is David Hanson, who until recently had concentrated his developments in robotics purely on creating the most human-like androids.

          Hanson’s ultimate goal is to end up on the far side of the supposed “Uncanny Valley” where the android becomes perfectly human-like, and again becomes likeable.  According to the Dan Ferber article “Getting Too Real?”  (http://www3.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=197162) Hanson’s goal is to defeat what he sees as the resistance of creating realistic robots by indeed creating a realistic, likeable robot “friend.” Moreover, his ultimate goal is not only to create such an android, but to reach a point where the dream of “letting it loose” becomes a reality.  According to the article, Hanson says that “humans are facing an identity crisis – one that just a few people know about but many sense…” that is that “…if we can mechanize what makes us human, that will make us feel like a mechanism.” Despite working to overcome the Valley, these statements seem to link him to a belief in the theory. Although he does take a different approach to interpreting the data, saying that if we can in fact re-create humanity then that will take away our “special-ness.” Human beings are quick to give ourselves a centralized position within the world, but if we can create something that is equally human to us, we are no longer special or central. Furthermore, as Jason Sperb says in the essay “Scarring the New Flesh,” “the act of representation becomes inseparable from the act of being.” Although referring to Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983) and viewership, this idea also applies here. Once the representation becomes full (i.e. the simulacra is complete) comes the death of the real. Perhaps without seeing it, this is a part of what we all fear in the “Uncanny Valley.”

          Hanson’s newest creation is a step back from his past efforts to create the most human looking androids, perhaps to keep from falling into the Valley. Under the heading “The Next Step in Human Evolution Isn’t Human,” (on the website http://www.hansonrobotics.com/robots.html) Hanson’s creative philosophy has clearly not forgotten the “Uncanny Valley.” With the ability to recognize faces and remember names, the Zeno robot is now being marketed for 1500 dollars U.S. Unlike Hanson’s past robots, such as Albert-Hubo (a lifelike re-creation of Albert Einstein), and Philip K. Dick which is a life size replica of the author with an added attempt at re-creating Dick’s personality, the Zeno robot takes a  step back in its human appearance for a more cartoony look. As such, he is one of the only robotic creations from Hanson’s company to actually enter onto the public market. Perhaps this is because of his appeal and overall cuteness factor, achieved in stepping away from the “Uncanny Valley.”

          A human representation needs to reach the proper balance of human-ness and fake-ness to retain public interest and appeal, or become perfectly human. This can be tied into the cinematic world of animation, for instance in the film Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within (Hironobu Sakaguchi, 2001). The film, a large step forward in the development of animation, attempts to create human appearing animated characters. With a “rotten” rating of only 44% on “Rottentomatoes.com” there is clearly something missing in the film, whether it is a loss of appeal from the characters, or a poorly written script and/or executed film.  With a cast of talented and for the most part well known actors voicing the characters in the film, there should be no trouble in understanding their emotions, or finding some degree of relation with them. However, at least for this spectator, no such things were achieved.

          At least three of the 4 hypotheses of the “Uncanny Valley” can be applied to the film as reasoning for this lack of appeal. Perhaps the biggest problem with the ‘human representation’ of the film is the “mismatch of cue realism.” We expect, since the characters look and sound as human as they do, for them to move in a more humanly way. However, the romantic tension between Aki and Gray would often be unnoticeable were it not for the inflection in voice, and of course the dialogue. Furthermore, the sarcastic quips of the character Neil, an area in which actor Steve Buscemi typically excels, are rarely humorous; the things being lost from the performance ultimately being the actions of and the look on Buscemi’s face, which fail to be transferred to this new form of animation.  The “contribution of the eyes” may come into play here as well. Although remarkably life-like, one could indeed argue that they are simply not life-like enough. Rather than becoming involved in the film one becomes wrapped up in how phony the characters look, purely because of the attempts to make them look so real. That is, no one will ever say that Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton, 2003) looks phony, and the fish eyes don’t look human enough, because there existed no conscious effort on the part of Pixar to make them look believably human.  Furthermore, the “role of presence” becomes relevant. The characters in Final Fantasy look human, and not human enough. This is a fact that may confuse the spectator. The fourth hypothesis, “cultural habitation” does not enter into the film in such a large way as the others. Perhaps we’re entering into a world where ‘artificial human beings’ or artificial representations of human beings are becoming more common. With regard to this film, it would seem that the “Uncanny Valley” is still relevant however.

          It would seem that there exits at least some proof in favour of the “Uncanny Valley.” The fact that there have been very few animated films to follow in the footsteps of Final Fantasy is further testament to the criticism and possible uncanny value of the film. Until we can create perfectly human appearing animations, or androids, it would seem that real human beings will remain largely ‘en mode.’ That is, aside from those representations which embrace the artificiality of representation, such as more popular animated films like Finding Nemo or David Hanson’s newest robot creation Zeno.