I was willing to accept that I was just having the irrational heebie jeebies over this, but if I can blame it on an inherent condition, I'm happy with that.
The reason normal human beings experience revulsion at the sight of a corpse and fear at the sight of a ghost is because they don't look right. Well, actually, because they AREN'T right. A human being is an embodied spirit (or an inspirited body) and to see either the body or the spirit without the other is to see something incompletely human. That's why, though we believe in the immortality of the soul, we confess the resurrection of the body.
germangreek, well said. If the article Thursday linked to is correct, then the basis for the Uncanny Valley theory came out in 1906, turn of the last century. That would fit right into the timeframe when science and psychology were struggling desperately to replace every possible spiritual concept with a more empirical one.
What could be more empirically verifiable than the understanding that human beings, unlike all other created matter, possess an unquantifiable 'quality'. Of course, to verify it we would need to expand our empire to include non-material experience. Even dolphins and chimpanzees, clever as they are, haven't yet produced 'Hamlet'. Or even 'Rat Pfink and Boo Boo'!
As an old art student I'm all for using art as one of the things which points us towards God. But one of the arguments I started running into way back in college, and that I still occasionally get from the teens in my catechesis class, amounts to "Well, maybe dolphins and chimps do produce art, but not in a way we can ever comprehend, so how can you say that with any authority?". It's kind of the anti-science response; if you can't prove or disprove everything, then everything could possibly be true, so don't tell me anything I do is wrong, you're not the boss of me!
Ah kids. Can you tell I'm getting ready for Sunday night classes?
7 comments:
Ok, that's pretty creepy!
Two words: uncanny valley.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley
a good article explaining a theory on just why this is so creepy. I just know it is, no need for explanation
I was willing to accept that I was just having the irrational heebie jeebies over this, but if I can blame it on an inherent condition, I'm happy with that.
The reason normal human beings experience revulsion at the sight of a corpse and fear at the sight of a ghost is because they don't look right. Well, actually, because they AREN'T right. A human being is an embodied spirit (or an inspirited body) and to see either the body or the spirit without the other is to see something incompletely human. That's why, though we believe in the immortality of the soul, we confess the resurrection of the body.
germangreek, well said. If the article Thursday linked to is correct, then the basis for the Uncanny Valley theory came out in 1906, turn of the last century. That would fit right into the timeframe when science and psychology were struggling desperately to replace every possible spiritual concept with a more empirical one.
What could be more empirically verifiable than the understanding that human beings, unlike all other created matter, possess an unquantifiable 'quality'. Of course, to verify it we would need to expand our empire to include non-material experience.
Even dolphins and chimpanzees, clever as they are, haven't yet produced 'Hamlet'. Or even 'Rat Pfink and Boo Boo'!
As an old art student I'm all for using art as one of the things which points us towards God. But one of the arguments I started running into way back in college, and that I still occasionally get from the teens in my catechesis class, amounts to "Well, maybe dolphins and chimps do produce art, but not in a way we can ever comprehend, so how can you say that with any authority?". It's kind of the anti-science response; if you can't prove or disprove everything, then everything could possibly be true, so don't tell me anything I do is wrong, you're not the boss of me!
Ah kids. Can you tell I'm getting ready for Sunday night classes?
Post a Comment