The uncanny valley hypothesis is one of the most well-known and compelling philosophical theories of the modern day. If you were able to graph the relationship between an artificial object’s resemblance to a human and the human emotional response it elicits, you would see a significant dip in that response as the resemblance approaches humanoid but not quite human. This phenomenon was first theorized in 1970 by Japanese robotics professor Masahiro Mori. In his book, he coined the phrase “bukimi no tani gensho,” which roughly translates to “uncanny valley phenomenon.” This phenomenon is recognized everywhere, and when you really think about it, it brings up a lot of questions about the evolutionary history of humans. Why is it that we can watch a family-friendly Pixar animated movie without issue, but get a chill down our spines when we see a mannequin or toy doll? When we see robots, humanoid aliens, and AI generated art of humans, why do we know there’s something not quite right?
A lot of research has gone into finding the explanation to the uncanny valley hypothesis, but some of the official conclusions are just not as interesting as the theory itself. While it’s pretty clear that this is evolutionary across all humans, the reason why we evolved a feeling of aversion towards the human-adjacent is mostly attributed to self-preservation and the fear of disease. In the past, those who had diseases had a sickly complexion and slightly distorted features that made other, healthier humans wary of them. Plagues have long been a part of human history, and it makes sense that it’s become part of our evolutionary DNA to avoid anything related to that.
But my favorite theory as to why we evolved has nothing to do with disease. It’s a far more paranormal idea called the predator theory. This theory suggests that people evolved to be wary of creatures resembling humans because at one point in human history, there was a predator with humanoid features. Many cultures have legends of such creatures. One such being is the wendigo, a mythological creature from First Nations folklore. It’s believed to be an evil spirit that is depicted with human-like characteristics that possesses people and has cannibalistic tendencies. Skinwalkers are another such entity that has a humanoid form and can lure people away. Many myths have tidbits of truth in them, and across the world cultures have these legends of humanoid predators. For it to be so prevalent among all humans, I fully believe there’s some truth to the predator theory.
A lot of paranormal content creators have made videos and blog posts about their own theories behind the uncanny valley hypothesis, and a lot of that can be found on YouTube or TikTok. If you’re curious to experience the uncanny valley for yourself, even some non-horror movies elicit the same effect, like “The Polar Express,” “Cats,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Hoodwinked,” and “Star Wars.” The use of CGI in these types of movies is often intentional to create the feelings of distrust and aversion towards some of the characters. But sometimes it’s just the quality of the animation’s attempt to be more human-like that rubs us the wrong way.