Uncanny Realm – The Extension of The Natural

Abstract

Taking the uncanny valley concept by M. Mori (Mori 1970) as a starting point, the paper will investigate how this concept fits into experiments that are intertwining biological and technological matter. The uncanny valley idea was developed by Mori in relation to robots and their resemblance to humans. It is a concept that is strongly connected to our perception of truth and to the moment when we are confronted with a question to judge if something is ‘real’. In the paper the uncanny valley concept is extended to experiments in the arts and the sciences that address intertwining of biology, nature, technology, and which disarrange our traditional understanding of natural, artificial and real.