◾ Will We Ever Overcome the Uncanny Valley?

Aware of the negative implications of an empathetic, human-like virtual character falling into the valley, one of the most pertinent questions in the games and animation industries is, “Will we ever overcome the Uncanny Valley?” ere is much controversy around this debate, with some announcing that the Uncanny Valley has already been crossed (Plantec, 2008), while others argue we still have a long way to go (Brodkin, 2014). In this chapter I consider the arguments for and against this question, looking to my own empirical studies that propose an alternative notion to the steep climb out of the valley. Rather than a scramble out of the valley, it may be an unsurpassable wall, unbound in height and stance (Tinwell and Grimshaw, 2009; Tinwell, Grimshaw and Williams, 2010). Based on current research and speculation, it seems that the race to overcome the Uncanny Valley is reliant on a signicant shi in technology to simulate authentic realism and in our perceptual coding of nonbiological, human-like objects. It may be that one day, advances in technology and articial intelligence will permit a human-like character to portray authentic, believable human-like behavior in real time as if one was in the company of a fellow human (Burke, 2011; Kain, 2011; Perry, 2014; Plantec, 2007, 2008). Neurological pathways may alter so that the boundaries between what stands for human and machine are more transient and we become more tolerant and less discerning of abnormal traits in articial nonhuman-like characters (Pollick, 2010; Saygin et al., 2012).

However, I propose that neither technology nor neurological adaptation will oer a lifeline out of the Uncanny Valley. Instead, I propose that we may become less tolerant and ever more discerning of abnormalities in a human-like character’s appearance and behavior as we continue to remain one step ahead of technology. As well as acquiring the technical expertise to prevent uncanniness in empathetic human-like characters, those in the games and animation industries are mindful of the nancial implications of a protagonist human-like character evoking the uncanny (Freedman, 2012; Young, 2011). Furthermore, there is growing concern of the possible long-term negative health implications of continued interaction with uncanny, human-like characters for children (Perry, 2014). So here, in an attempt to reason and rationalize these concerns, I discuss what the future holds-not only how humans may react to synthetic human-like characters but also whether human-like characters may ever perceive us as odd.