Poll of the Day > Here's a fun thought

(+) Yeah! (+)

The phenomenon of the uncanny valley implies there was an evolutionary advantage to be scared of things that look almost human.

I already saw this on reddit, it was a screenshot of a post from Twitter. Or maybe Instagram idk

That thought doesn't seem very fun.

Also, the actual scientific explanation for the uncanny valley seems to be that humans have an innate repulsion towards corpses (which look human, because they are, but which look slightly "off" from being dead), because corpses become sources of bacteria, toxic effluents, and spreading diseases when decaying, so there's an evolutionary advantage to staying away from them.

It's arguably the same reason why funerary behaviors began - cultures that buried or burned corpses were going to be healthier than ones that kept grandma's corpse around until she turned into pudding.

It wasn't until much, much, much later that it turned out that it also seems to trigger off "lifelike" dolls, robots, computer graphics, and possibly clowns.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

and possibly clowns.

I knew it! Demonic shape-shifting space clowns confirmed!

papercup posted...

I knew it! Demonic shape-shifting space clowns confirmed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVQ3AGzeB_0