The Uncanny Valley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNdAIPoh8a4

Why does the Uncanny valley exist?

On the surface, let's start with the part between corpse and healthy person. This region is what we are familiar with - it is the way people judge each other subconsciously. It is indicative of health and whether physical, mental status.

We tend to feel worse about zombies than corpses, because corpses, at the least, tend to look peaceful and not in pain or any negative emotion. Zombies look awful and when we substitute ourselves into it, also feels dreadful. Yes, we invariably use what we know and feel about ourselves to fill in what we do not know about someone, to come up with an idea of what a person is like, solely based on appearance and actions.
The scientific evidence supporting this is the activity spike in parietal cortex of the brain, which has lots of mirror neurons, responsible for imagining the performing of actions. Now, if we don't feel like being in that sort of a body and acting like that, we also imagine the emotions and feelings. And that's when we don't like it.

The solution to the valley is either to avoid ticking off the imaginative mirror neurons by being humanoid, or make it look and act so human that the robot/model can really pass as a human. Of course, once the cover has been blown and the truth is out, the mechanical nature is out and I don't think most people will feel very well when imagining themselves with wires and hydraulics.

In the reverse, humans who act too well can also fall into the uncanny valley, but only if we find them strange. Beauty tends to invoke another set of responses, which negates this one. This may be what happens to any "transhumans", so I don't think they fall into the uncanny valley at all. Unless, of course, circumstances has invoked our judgmental senses.

The same effects happen in when people from different races observe each other. People from one race are usually going to think people from their own race look most human. And people with one skin color find it hard to imagine their self-image into something opposite. If one gives up or rejects the image of someone, it can become difficult to accept the rest. That's probably where racism originates too.

At the left end of the curve (left of corpse/zombie) is the range between neutral, cute and not looking cute or funny at all. This part is really kind of a feeling thing with multiple dimensions, except that the scale might as well be called naturalness!

"Facebook Addiction"

Why DO people around me almost always have Facebook on (especially females)??

I am a little annoyed at how the internet is so unimaginably gigantic and growing exponentially all the time, yet people will still habitually surf Facebook. Many people have been locked into Facebook, and maybe that's why the company is on the stock market now. But I find it disturbing to see lots of people huddling over their facebook while the book shelves lie quiet.

Is it that Facebook somehow gives the feeling of being interconnected? Is it that people like to be spoon-fed information to devour for the short attention spans, and feel the shocks?  Or that we prefer gags and trivial fun to more profound emotions as comfort, satisfaction, cognitive dissonance...

Out of all the Facebook feed I found myself consistently looking into the Slashdot/.science related ones. People CAN BE exciting, but they seem to be there for the kicks - the bursts of emotion and reactions that are fun for a tiny spike of time.

I guess we just have to be amazed at how powerful habits can be in really dominating our behavior. 

I went out and got a mechanical keyboard!

I went out to Mong Kok, Sham Shui Po and Wan Chai computer centers and found the cheapest mechanical keyboard with good build quality. Turns out, very few shops have these around. It's really quite a niche item, apparently. I was told that most people don't stock them because people are put off by the price.

Which I agree with, because at $680, it got me thinking too. Eventually though, I did get a deal for it at $600, which I found more appealing and less pricey than expected. The sound of typing on it was just too nice on my ears, the feel of high build quality. And there was also the option of very soft/silent typing, as the activation region of the keys are quite broad and the initial resistance feels just right.

When I got home, I found that I was able to type at least 10wpm faster on it compared with my home (and with somewhat fewer mistakes), while listening to the music of the keys. I guess that was quite worth it. The switches and keys feel very precise, and the psychological effect for me was to make me more precise, clear and structured in programing/writing.

They say that there are people who learn better with more actions and feelings are involved. I had no idea that was so important to me before I set my fingers on a mechanical keyboard. Now, I just find the keyboards the rest of the world is using to be quite interesting, but feeling somewhat less precise.

Twitter (i)

After a brief time of using Twitter, I find it rather unresponsive. I know many things take time to grow, but then I also realize how facebook had seriously succeeded in this respect by realizing that people need an initial base group to start with. 
On Twitter, I am behind just one of millions of accounts that do not have high initial status. I feel like I am talking to dead space. I'm going to interest/provoke people if I want better conversations. And a better way to get responsive followers.

Oh Wait, on Facebook I am the same.

Keyboards! (I)

I am going to admit it - I get keyboard itchy and then feel like typing. I like really silent, highly-responsive keys without bounce or tacile feedback.

Logitech only manages to give me more of a bouncy feel and I don't appreciate that. It is like the king of all bouncy keyboards. It is as if stock keyboards don't have enough noise and bounce to them, that one must add more to it.

Right now, I like doing my notes on the computer for this one reason.

When I actually look at the price tag of mechanical keyboards, it does get me thinking whether I actually need it or not. I have yet to break any keyboard, and I don't think I can actually use it very much at school anyway. Hence, I can conclude it is better to get something else more versatile and useful.

On second thoughts, I think I will try and get my laptop keyboard and battery changed at acer tech-support instead, add RAM, uninstall and re-install Windows and give it a good cleanup.

I guess it really needs that mid-life upgrade I can really fully utilize, compared to the keyboard that will live almost forever in computer terms (statistically, over 30 years).

Mt Kinabalu

OK, this is a pretty old post from almost 2 months ago. I found it in the draft pile.

"
Yesterday, we did the mount Kinabalu climb and returned safely.

It was not an easy climb, but I find it less dangerous than Sharp's peak. Maybe I would find it much more ridiculous if it rained on the way down.
We arrived at Kinabalu Park HQ to get climbing permits and a mountain guide. The guide came in the form of a newbie with just 6 summit ascents. In T-shirt, shorts, ankle socks and trainers, he carried a small backpack with only the absolute necessities, and no water. By necessities, I mean a thick windbreaker-jacket, headlight and poncho (our guide brought an umbrella). His technical confidence doesn't stop there.
The intiial stretch of 2km was easy, so my mates made the mistake of walking too quickly and then getting out of breath. At first, the breaks were relatively far beaten, but gradually became very often. Actually, even at 1500m, the air already feels cleaner and thinner. But just 600meters up, it became surprisingly easy to lose one's breath.

And then, something about the path reminded me of our hike up Lantau peak and the "steve method". I found out the best way is to take one breath for every step I took, and the synchronise beating in with taking a step. This way of climbing would make Kinabalu the most relaxing and enjoyable experience in hiking, all the way to the top.
The hill got better as we ascended above the rainforest canopy, towards the top. Stopping to take photos every hundred meters or to catch the breath back was epic.
It took us 6 hours to reach our hut for the night. The hut was very chilly inside and you really couldn't remove most of the layers. It was not until I woke up from the rest that I realized there was a blanket under the sheets. I could really have did with that one.
Being the second least fit out of my group, it turned out I was the least affected by the high altitude. On the way up, you will hear a lot of panting and people stopping every few steps.

But sunrise has its special powers that can give one a kind of energy that flows through the body and inspires the mind to go higher.

I want to do that again someday, but do it faster and summit twice so that I can sit at the top to enjoy the entire sunrise and do the climbing course that traverses a part of the mountain. Having said that, the weather on Mt Kinabalu changes quickly and we really got some very good weather this time.

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