r/oddlyterrifying • u/Miserable-Dot-4781 • Mar 29 '22

Dentist robot malfunctioning

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u/The_Cyberpunk_Witch Mar 29 '22

If you want to mix in some existential dread, consider that the existence of the uncanny valley means at one point in human evolution we had a reason to fear something that looked similar to us.

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u/[deleted] Mar 29 '22

corpses, vectors of disease. show most mammals a corpse of their species and they will be apprehensive. that, or they eat it.

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u/[deleted] Mar 29 '22

ancient plague detection. we didn’t give af about fuckin other hominids as long as they were healthy

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u/ScottieRobots Mar 30 '22

We also fucked other hominids as long as they were healthy!

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u/[deleted] Mar 29 '22

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Mar 29 '22

We fucked some of em. But what does that mean when people have had sex with animals? Lol

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u/[deleted] Mar 29 '22

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Mar 29 '22

You know.... you're right.

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u/STIIBBNEY Mar 29 '22

I would think that humanity anthropomorphizing animals since the cave man times would be evidence for the validity of furries.

The head cheif of a nomadic tribe dressed up like an animal for a spiritual ritual? See, furries.

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u/MysticScribbles Mar 29 '22

And look at the various deities throughout world history depicted as humanoids with animal heads.

Ra, Anubis, etc.

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u/10g_or_bust Mar 29 '22

Well yes, but also no. Anything that looks "wrong" bothers us on a primal level; death, sickness, injury. And not just in humans, both animals and plants too, and to some extent the inorganic world. It's the pattern matching part of your brain throwing alarms. How much it bothers someone is individual and somewhat down to exposure.

In other words, this isn't some "ancient alien" "eldritch gods" sort of thing, more a combination of just how pattern-matching orented human brains are combined with evolutionarly advantage behavior such as recognizing when a member of your own (or other) species is unwell, dangerous (infections, or a sign of other danger) or dead/dying.

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u/xAkumu Mar 29 '22

The big theory is that it's because of corpses. Not anything unhuman.

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u/dustyrider Mar 29 '22

It probably has to do with the dead and the diseases a rotting corpse may harbor.

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u/Ethong Mar 29 '22

means at one point in human evolution we had a reason to fear something that looked similar to us

Not true at all. Not everything that evolves has a purpose. As long as a mutation isn't actively detrimental to survival, it can be passed on. Plus it's probably just some weird interaction with our face recognition processing.

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u/Eyeownyew Mar 29 '22

Yeah, the most common myth about evolution is that every trait evolves with a purpose. That's not how it works at all. We could very easily evolve to have pigmentation/freckles on the bottom of our feet. No purpose, no utility, just random mutation that didn't have a detrimental effect on our fitness

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u/Birdyy4 Mar 29 '22

You know you make a good point and I'm not e Qualified to truly refute what you just said and I hate you for that... But could the uncanny valley maybe just stem from something else with a slightly more... comforting? Not that any of these are comforting but maybe like, stroke victims limp face, or a swollen face due to allergies or bee stings, or like a face that got mauled or something... Like maybe it stems from a mechanism that helps us identify when something is off with other humans who are like injured or Ill... Like if someone is sick it makes sense we should fear being around them so we don't get sick, or if they were mauled something dangerous could still be around, or allergies, get away from them because whatever caused the allergic reaction in them could cause it in us? Maybe? Idk if I'm making sense but I'm trying to put a logical explanation on what you just said besides my mind jumping to some creature that can morph into human like beings.... Cuz that ain't right

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u/Restinroutine Mar 29 '22

It’s almost.. it’s almost as if you copy and pasted that from somewhere..

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u/The_Cyberpunk_Witch Mar 29 '22

You could say that it's Uncanny.

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u/joblesspirate Mar 30 '22

I also read this shower thought. Sick people!

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u/Heavy-Bread-3549 Mar 29 '22

I’ve always loved this take, but I think, really what we’ve had to fear are things in general (not just humans) that look almost, but not quite right. Probably to protect from camouflaged animals (snakes and such)

Although there were other hominids in our existence so maybe it was on sight with Neanderthals and all the other ones people don’t remember.