We robot

As a thought experiment, I’ve been imagining how else we might appear to each other, other than as our literal selves, if we were all to walk around wearing future reality glasses. There are many possibilities.

We could choose to appear to each other as space aliens, as dolphins, or as glowing points of astral light. I am particularly intrigued by the possibility of appearing as robots.

There is something elegant about everyone choosing to look like a robot in the early stages of future reality. For one thing, it reiterates the basic theme of physical presence refracted through the lens of high technology. What could possibly be a more iconic symbol of that theme than the robot?

For another, this approach gracefully avoids the problem of the uncanny valley. For example, when we talk to each other on the telephone, and all that we perceive of each other is voice, then we accept the reality of that voice. We don’t say “oh, this is a vocal representation of my friend John.” Rather, we just feel that we are talking to John.

A visual representation of John as a robot similarly sidesteps all questions of fidelity. The robot represents John, but could never be mistaken for John. So it becomes simply a token of his presence in the conversation. Our own knowledge of John is then free to fill in the rest.

Or at least, that is the hypothesis. To see if it really works that way, we’ll just need to try it and see.