Chapter 1.5
The Uncanny Valley and the Soul
This picture is a CG version of Korean actress Song Hye Kyo. It was created by Indonesian CG artist Max Edwin Wahyudi using a 3ds max and zbrush.
There are a lot of people who would argue that just because these collections of polygons are a physical representation of the human form they do in fact lack the essence that is what makes humans human. So what makes us human? Is it our soul? How do you simulate in an animated character the innately human characteristics that we associate with ‘soul' (individuality, empathy, awareness of environment, others emotional states etc) in a human being?
In 1974, Mori published The Buddha in the Robot: a Robot Engineer's Thoughts on Science and Religion in which he discussed the metaphysical implications of robotics. In the book, he wrote "I believe robots have the Buddha-nature within them--that is, the potential for attaining Buddhahood. So if we were to assume that The Uncanny Valley chart, which was created for robots can also be carried over to animation, would any animated polygon character have the ability to attain Buddhahood? This is not a question I am trying to answer but it is an area for further research.
Continue to Chapter 1.6 - Crossing the Uncanny Valley
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