blog & version 2.0 Miguel on 14 Apr 2008 03:02 pm
Does the Uncanny Valley explain Elmo?
So the kid is deathly afraid of his Tickle-Me Elmo Extreme (a.k.a. the TMX). It’s like the standard Elmo, except he flops around laughing his butt off, and then eventually stands himself up again. A real-life muppet version of the ROFLMAO expression.
While thinking about his crazy fear of TMX, I thought about the Uncanny Valley hypothesis. I’m not sure if it fits in this case or not — Elmo isn’t very human-like, except when he’s rolling around laughing. On the other hand, the kid has no problem with Elmo at all if he just sits there and doesn’t laugh.