Because, unlike Blade Runner or The Terminator where the cinematic robots are played by literal humans, when it comes to the real world, talking to a machine that kind of looks and moves like you but also kind of doesn’t look and move like you would probably land pretty high on the stranger-danger scale.The reason for our unease over this, is something known as ‘uncanny valley’.

The uncanny valley effect ‘suggests that a human appearance or behaviour can make an artificial figure seem more familiar for viewers – but only up to a point.’ The unconscious need to find compatibility plumets drastically as soon as the robot attempts, and subsequently fails, to imitate realistic human behaviour. Trying to find a connection with someone that is unable to do so triggers feelings of disconnect.

This directly bleeds over into pop culture, as movies that have attempted to recreate realistic human features with animation results in negative reactions from the audience – they find it unsettling and weird. One example that often comes up is Robert Zemeckis’s The Polar Express, where studios struggled to recreate real-life emotions and facial expressions of human characters, which instead resulted in a haunting, dead-eyed gaze of the all the characters. Animating animals, objects and toys has always been much easier for obvious reasons, but as soon as they start recreating humans, the end results are often bizarre and scary, if not hilarious.

Essentially, what this ultimately demonstrates is the importance of eye contact to gauge human connection. A rather disconcerting example of this is breakfast cereal aimed at kids: Frosties, Froot Loops, Coco Pops, etc. If you look closely at the box, you’ll notice the eyes of the respective mascots – Tony the Tiger, Toucan Sam, Coco the Monkey – are all pointing down. Why? Because when small children walk into the supermarket and look up, they will make eye contact with these characters, instantly building a connection, and ultimately demanding their parents to buy it. Creepy, right?! This explains why, since I can now reach the top shelf, I no longer feel that unbreakable bond with Tony the Tiger whenever I stroll down the breakfast aisle (it’s not you, Tony, it’s me…I’ve become too tall for your manipulative charms).

What’s even more odd is that ever since the term ‘uncanny valley’ was first coined in 1970 by Japanese roboticist Masiahiro Mori, the reason for our apprehension towards this uncanniness remains debated and studied amongst scientists. Seriously? How is that debated? If a new-born baby doesn’t make eye contact within the first 6 months, immediate consultation with a medical expert is recommended due to the potential risk of forthcoming antisocial behaviour. And just think about other everyday scenarios, like Madame Tussaud’s for example: sure, it might be fun to take a selfie next to Dwayne Johnson’s wax figure, but would you really want that thing in your house with those frozen, lifeless eyes staring into nothing? Probably not.

Android and robot technology is developing rapidly (AI is already being utilised to hire and fire staff), but as the robots continue to get more advanced, one can only hope that, since we are animals of adaptation, our own sensitivity will continue to increase as well, otherwise we have a very eerie future to look forward to.