Words Poorly Used #125 — Uncanny

In an excellent article, zdnet discusses a resilient fact that confounds the robot mythology — people are creeped out by near misses on mechanical hominids.

The title of the article captures a main point, “Disney’s hideous Trump robot is a perfect illustration of the uncanny valley problem facing robot designers.”

“Uncanny” refers to something out of kilter.  Red Skelton, as Clem Kadiddlehopper, used to say, “it just don’t seem right to me.”

— Kilgore Forelle

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