- Today, we trudge the depths of the uncanny valley.
- Let's talk about that.
("Good Mythical Morning" theme song playing)
(flames crackling loudly)
"Good Mythical Morning!"
- Let's get things started today
by showing you a little picture.
- Okay.
- [Rhett] Look at this little robot.
What would you say about that robot?
- [Link] Well as long as he's little,
as long as he's not like 28 feet tall-
- [Rhett] I think he's little.
- I think he's pretty cool, man.
- Oh, he's so cute.
He's like a little person with big eyes,
and "Oh, I just like to cuddle him," right?
- Yeah, he's cuddlable.
- What about this one?
- [Link] Oh, she's not so cuddlable.
(Rhett laughing amusingly)
- I know, a little freaky.
But, the interesting thing is-
- She's making the face that I'm making when I look at her.
- She's making the face that you're having on the inside.
- Yeah, she's mirroring me
with the face she's making about her own face.
- Now interestingly, she's a whole lot more human
than that first robot.
- True.
- But, she's a whole lot more freaky
and that's because she is in the very bottom
of what they call the "uncanny valley," okay?
- Which is this thing I've experienced,
but I never knew it had a name
and that science has described-
- You're learning so much today.
- Mm-hmm.
- Well, you already knew.
- Right.
- They're gonna learn, right?
- Yeah, they're gonna learn.
- Okay, uncanny valley, introduced in 1970
by a robotics professor, Mashahiro Mori.
Now, he's the guy in the picture here.
He's not a robot, he's an actual man, okay?
- Got it.
- But it's the idea that as a robot becomes more humanlike,
our emotional response,
our empathy increases towards that robot
up to a certain point,
at which point it gets too close to being a human
but it's not actually a human,
and then the creep factor sets in.
- So, your empathy (Link imitating plummeting sound)
takes a nosedive-
- Takes a nosedive.
- And you start to become disconcerted.
- And you start making that robot face on the inside.
(Link groaning uncomfortably)
Now in order to help you understand this,
I have created a chart that shows you some different robots.
'Cause it doesn't just apply to robots,
it applies to animation and anything,
things that you could draw.
So I'm gonna just show you this chart,
so you're gonna understand the uncanny valley.
- Okay.
- [Rhett] Okay so right here,
we've got likability versus realism, right?
(Link laughing amusingly)
So we start there, we got a stick figure.
Okay yeah, "Wall-E," a little bit more likable.
We got Stewie, oh he's very humanlike, very likable.
- [Link] Oh, my likability's going up.
- [Rhett] Then, you got Mr. Incredible
right at the top of of that thing.
- [Link] He is so incredible.
- [Rhett] And then all of a sudden, you hit "Polar Express."
- Yes.
Listen, I saw the trailer for "Polar Express,"
and I was like, "I am not paying money to see that,"
you know? "How can I unsee that?"
And I dunno know why, it was just weird, right?
- You don't like Tom Hanks?
- I love the Hankster.
- But you don't like this version of Tom Hanks,
the not-quite-Tom-Hanks version of Tom Hanks.
- Weird mustachioed, you know?
Like it's like a plastified...
- Exactly.
- I didn't go.
- [Rhett] And then,
you get even further into the uncanny valley
when you get into these very humanoid robots,
and of course you,
when we blended your face with the contouring makeup.
- [Link] I'm down in the valley?
- [Rhett] When we gave you the instant bronzer.
- [Link] Oh, more of me down in the valley.
- And of course,
you start going back out of the valley
once you have your old haircut.
(Link gasping happily)
And then with your new haircut,
even more likable, even more real.
And then of course at the top, you have me.
So, this is sort of the...
- This is sort of-
- Do you understand the concept? (Rhett laughing amusingly)
- Yeah, I know the concept is you made this graph.
- I did.
I did, I'm sorry.
- But you didn't invent the graph
because the valley existed ever since the 70s
when the dude invented it.
- Now, let's take a trip into the valley itself.
I wanna introduce you to CB2.
This is a child robot with biomimetic body.
Let's get to know him.
- Okay.
Don't push that button!
Oop, she did it.
- Oop, the three-fingered boy.
(Rhett laughing amusingly)
- Oh, there he is!
He's looking around.
- Now, this is a robot designed
to help scientists study child development.
- Is she gonna kiss it?
- You've seen babies do this.
Watch what happens with the legs.
Yes, (Rhett laughing amusingly) every baby is that flexible.
- Got a tummy ache.
- Not every baby is that big though,
(Link groaning comedically)
you know? (Rhett laughing amusingly)
If you have a baby that big, there's a-
(ring clinking loudly)
- You just hit me in the face with your ring.
- You hit me in the face with my hand.
- No, I didn't.
- You hit yourself in the face with my hand.
(Rhett and "Mythical" crew laughing amusingly)
I'm just here, man, I'm like CB2.
- I didn't know you were gonna be so floppy
that that was gonna crack my glasses.
- It's not cracked.
(Rhett and Link laughing happily)
- Is it cracked? (Link laughing amusingly)
- But, I would rather hang out with a baby-
- I'd rather get smacked in the face by you
than hang out with that.
- That robot's creepy!
- You know what, yeah.
- This is like you don't need fertility drugs...
Or, you don't need to go in...
You don't need to give people birth control and condoms,
you just need to-
- Those are opposite things.
(Rhett and Link laughing amusingly)
- You just need to show 'em-
- You don't need either.
You don't need to make a lot of babies or make no babies,
you need to get right in the middle, just make a-
- If there's a place where they're having too many children,
just take this little boy-
- Let him hang out.
- And just be like, "This is what a child could be like.
This is as creepy as a child could be,"
and they'll never get pregnant.
- He looks more like an old man.
Can I take you further into the uncanny valley?
- Please do.
- Okay.
You're gonna run into Jules deep in the valley.
- Okay.
- This is a conversational character robot
that I'm about to show you.
- That's my favorite kind.
- Designed and built by David Hansen of Hansen Robotics.
It runs on batteries, Rhett.
- Oh.
- And it's made of a lightweight material called Frubber.
But listen to the conversation that he has, David Hanson,
with the robot he's made.
- I am so touched and sad to see you all for the last time.
- Hmm.
- We'll stay in touch.
- They're leaving, parting ways.
- With e-mails and phone calls.
- I love you deeply,
as deeply as a synthetic intelligence can.
- She's caressing him.
- David, you are my father,
but you feel more like a best friend to me.
- I think you're awesome.
(Rhett and Link laughing loudly)
- David, you're-
- That is the most, most disappointing response
that you could give to that poor robot!
- David, you're like a father to me and my best friend.
(Rhett laughing uncomfortably)
- Well I never really thought about this,
but you're pretty awesome.
("Mythical" crew laughing amusingly)
- Which is weird
because I think that he told the robot to say that.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah I mean, his thing is not real AI.
- He scripted that robot to say that, so that then
he could crush all of his desires for reciprocal empathy.
- But when that woman reached out and caressed,
what's his name, Jules?
- Jules.
- It creeped me out.
I mean, this guy, maybe he creeps me out because-
- She creeped you out too? Yeah.
- The back of his head is absent,
which couldn't you have given the dude a wig?
I mean come on, help him out a little bit.
- Work with us, Hanson.
- But, this does raise the question
of why are these humanoid robots so creepy to us?
- Right 'cause there's no doubt that like
the moderate repulsion to just the creepiness is there.
- Right, and this is something that-
- But, why?
- Virtually everybody experiences.
Now, people have studied this, this uncanny valley,
and they've tried to pinpoint,
"Okay, what is it when they get so close to being humans
and we become creeped out,
what are we being creeped out by?"
- What do you think?
- So this is actually,
you know, scientists have different theories,
but I personally believe that this has to do with the fact
that there's an adaptive advantage
to being scared of dead bodies, right?
When you look at a body, like when you go to a...
There's a dead body and it's a body that has no life in it-
- A cadaver?
- There's an adaptive advantage
to staying away from that body and not touching it
'cause you're gonna get something from that dead body.
- So subconsciously,
when you see one of these humanoid robots-
- You know that it's not real,
you know that it's not really alive!
- You think it's a near-dead cadaver.
- It's like a dead body.
- It's a talking cadaver.
- Yeah, that's my theory.
What do you think, scientists?
- I think it's that
I don't want to get whatever that guy's got, you know?
There's something wrong with that person.
Like on a subconscious level, you think,
"There's something wrong there, I don't wanna contract it."
- Like he has a cold?
- Yeah, but that-
- He has a cold that's so bad
that he lost the back of his head.
- And like, his face doesn't move right.
- He sneezed too hard.
- I think even more so, it's mate selection.
I think deep down,
whenever we look at something like a robot,
we're asking ourselves, "Do I wanna mate with that?"
(Link and Rhett laughing amusingly)
I mean, on a I'm just saying on a-
- You might be on to something.
- On the most basic level,
"Do I want to do pass my genes on?
- Yeah, we know what you're talking about.
("Mythical" crew laughing amusingly)
We know what mating is.
- Well, I think that's what it is.
- So far, I haven't wanted to mate with any of these.
- So I... (Link laughing amusingly)
- But I've got another one,
do you want me to show you another one?
- Okay, yeah.
- Okay, this is Showa Hanako Number 2.
- Okay.
- I only imagine what number one was like,
but here's number two.
- Okay.
- Showa Hanako 2, a robot dental patient.
- Dental patient.
Okay, and there's the dentist.
(woman speaking in a foreign language)
- Look at the blinking.
- Oh look, she talks.
- Yeah, it talks just like I do when I'm at the dentist.
- She lets you do a root canal.
- Whoa!
- They ripped her face off!
(Rhett laughing amusingly)
- You gotta know when that's coming.
Look, there's a gag reflex, it even has a gag reflex.
Look, ah! (Rhett heaving comedically)
Did you hear that?
- I got one of those too. I think-
- You're just like her.
- I think we could be friends.
- Well, if something happens to your wife-
- I don't wanna mate with her.
- You could mate with her.
- No.
I mean, I'm not saying consciously.
I'm saying subconsciously, you're always thinking,
"Do you wanna mate with fill-in-the-blank?"
That's just biology, man.
- Okay.
- I mean... (Link laughing amusingly)
- And have you answered the question?
- I don't know,
but maybe my last robot will help us answer the question.
This is Sophia. (Link laughing amusingly)
- (Rhett laughing amusingly) Hello, Sophia.
- Alright, she debuted at the 2016 "South by Southwest."
Created by who? Hansen Robotics.
(Rhett gasping surprisingly)
Yes, David Hansen is back.
- They're so busy.
- The goal for Sophia is to help in areas of healthcare,
therapy, education, and customer service applications.
Check her out.
- How are you?
- Hi there, everything is going extremely well.
- Oh.
- She's missing the back too.
- She's got a great attitude, look at that.
Whoa, look at that!
- She changes her expression.
- She's so happy.
- Nope, she's sad. - Oh no, she's not anymore.
- She's hurt.
- She's curious.
Oh, now she's so happy. - Now, she's happy again.
- Oh, no!
(Link imitating springing sound comedically)
(Rhett laughing amusingly)
Like, what is that?
(Rhett and Link reacting uncomfortably)
- Sorry.
- Whoa!
(Rhett and Link laughing surprisingly)
- Okay, I will destroy humans.
- No, I take it back.
- Did she say she will destroy... Whoa!
- He was joking with her about,
"You're not gonna destroy the human race?"
And she was like, "Okay, I will do it.
("Mythical" crew giggling amusingly)
I will destroy humans."
- She's so humanlike!
I mean, this is-
- I do not wanna catch what she has
or pass on the genes that she's got.
- But, here's the thing.
She's like the best that we have to offer.
Again, it wouldn't take much to put a wig on her.
- Just put a wig on that.
- I can put a wig...
I mean, we wear wigs on this show on a regular basis.
- Or just skin!
I mean, she can be bald but-
- Just something!
- Just skin it up, Hanson!
- But here's the thing,
some people think that we should just stop with this.
- Yeah, we should back out of the valley.
- No, we shouldn't.
You have to go through...
Have you seen "Ex Machina"? She was hot.
- She was a human actress.
- Yeah. (Rhett laughing happily)
- Do you remember how it ended?
- Uh, I don't wanna think about that.
I just remember thinking, "She's a robot, she's hot."
(Link laughing uncontrollably)
("Mythical crew laughing amusingly)
- See, I told you that's how we think!
- Maybe one of these days, like 100 years from now,
they'll be able to make 'em that good.
- Robots need to back the heck outta the valley.
- I don't agree.
- The closest we need to get is Rosie from "The Jetsons."
That's it.
- That's not Rosie from "The Jetsons,"
that's just a human with a Rosie costume on.
You've done the same thing that you accuse me of.
- Thanks for liking, commenting, and subscribing.
- You know what time it is.
- Hi, I'm Marcus.
- And I'm Rosanna.
And we're from England.
- This is our Tardis, and it's time to spin-
- The Wheel of Mythicality!
(Tardis energizing mysteriously)
- This Saturday, watch "Good Mythical Crew,"
where you can see Mike and Alex
actually go to a school of robotics.
- Is that right?
- Yeah, they went and got educated.
- Sounds cool.
Every Saturday, "Good Mythical Crew."
Click through to "Good Mythical More,"
where we are going to battle each other with battle bots.
- But not before an overly confident conversation
about diversifying your portfolio.
(Link laughing smugly)
(Rhett laughing smugly)
- You mentioned portfolio,
well is yours diversified?
- Oh, it's so diversified.
- Right, every race-
- I have people of every race-
- Yeah, I'm with you on that.
- Every creed.
- Right, in the portfolio.
- Yeah, you wanna see 'em?
- It's a folder, there's like headshots.
- Look at that, it's like a freaking rainbow.
("Good Mythical Morning" theme song playing)
Turn around, man.
(battle bots whirring loudly)
(Rhett and Link laughing happily)
What, what?
How did that happen?
- Whoa!
Oh, God!
("Good Mythical Morning" theme song fades)