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Why were the computer-generated humans in Final Fantasy: The Spirits
Within so frustrating to watch? Why does the “Thatcher Illusion” (I’m
not going to link to it here, because it really creeps me out—look in
your psych textbook or search the web) … um, creep us out? It’s The Uncanny
Valley: an anthropomorphic form which is just human-looking enough
to invite emotional attachment, but just non-human enough (plastic
movement, or deformed facial features, etc.) to seem very “wrong”
and disturbing, leading to a viscerally negative reaction. (Read the
article; you’ll understand.)