This may be the stuff of dreams for a certain demographic raised on fantasy books and video games. But while the urge to fill this post with thinly veiled cyber-porn allusions is great, what came to mind when I read about this is in fact the theme of this blog. This is a perfect instance of the uncanny valley phenomenon.
A whole lot of thought has gone into making prosthetic limbs look natural and lifelike, but they often remain eerily creepy. Much creepier, as it turns out, than this sci-fi inspired model, a conceptual design by Hans Alexander Huseklepp at AHO, which makes no pretense whatsoever of resembling a flesh-and-blood human limb.
The uncanny valley theory would suggest that this is because this sci-fi prosthesis is sufficiently non-humanlike, that we zero in on its human-like qualities instead. Quite the opposite occurs for traditional prostheses. Indeed, with their skin-colored plastic and fake fingernails, traditional prostheses fall right down the uncanny valley, that eerie place where making something more humanlike actually causes a distinctly more negative human response.
As of now, this design is merely conceptual, but click here to read more about the thought process behind it.
