Robots, robots, robots. I’ve got to admit that ever since I was a kid, I’ve been really interested in robots. I’ve devoured robot short stories and novels, picked up random robot comics and watched tons of the-bots-are-among-us movies and TV shows. And even really weak cinematic automaton rampages with terrible animatronics haven’t kept me from at least partially enjoying myself. Hey, if nothing else, all those flicks and stories have taught us our limits, right?
I have to say, though, that some of today’s real-world steps in robot-making make me just a tad queasy. Indeed, robots—particularly robots designed to look particularly human—give many of us the heebie-jeebies. Back in 1970, a Japanese robotics professor named Masahiro Mori actually put a label on that very normal feeling. He called it the “uncanny valley.” That’s the point at which androids that act human, but not quite human enough, cross over from being cute and fun to creepy and bizarre—sending us humans into a spiral of uneasiness and borderline revulsion.
With all that in mind, let me introduce you to Sophia. And tell me if the last few seconds of her interview don’t make you sit up and think … maybe we haven’t learned anything.
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