Lyric Opera 2022-2023 Issue 9 - Proximity

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 26 That. “ If you look at roadside embankments, you might be able to see how trees connect with each other through their root systems. On these slopes, rain often washes away the soil, leaving the underground networks exposed. Scientists in the Harz mountains in Germany have discovered that this really is a case of interdependence, and most individual trees of the same species growing in the same stand are connected to each other through their root systems. It appears that nutrient exchange and helping neighbors in times of need is the rule, and this leads to the conclusion that forests are superorganisms with interconnections much like ant colonies. ” The Hidden Life of Trees , Peter Wohlleben The Other. In an article published in 1970, Japanese professor of robotics Masahiro Mori hypothesizes that the more a robot resembles an actual human, the more empathetic and positive the emotional response of the observer becomes— until the resemblance reaches a certain point. At this point, the observer’s positive and empathetic emotional responses quickly turn into uncanny or strangely familiar feelings of uneasiness and revulsion. But as the robot’s appearance continues to become even more human, the positive emotions return, and the level of empathy between observer and robot approaches the level seen in interactions between human beings. Mori identi es this cognitive phenomenon as 不気味の谷 , which was translated into English in 1978 as the “uncanny valley” in the book Robots: Fact, Fiction, and Prediction by Jasia Reichardt. The “valley” denotes a dip in the human observer’s af nity for the replica, a relation that otherwise increases with the replica’s human likeness. Charles Darwin has a similar experience when he encounters an unusual snake in his own uncanny valley in 1839: “ The extremity of the tail of this snake is terminated by a point, which is very slightly enlarged; and as the animal glides along, it constantly vibrates the last inch.[…] As often as the animal was irritated or surprised, its tail was shaken; and the vibrations were extremely rapid. Even as long as the body retained its irritability, a tendency to this habitual movement was evident.[…] The expression of this snake’s face was hideous and erce; the pupil consisted of a vertical slit in a mottled and coppery iris; the jaws were broad at the base, and the nose terminated in a triangular projection. I do not think I ever saw anything more ugly, excepting, perhaps, some of the vampire bats. I imagine this repulsive aspect originates from the features being placed in positions, with respect to each other, somewhat proportional to those of the human face; and thus we obtain a scale of hideousness. ” The Voyage of the Beagle , Charles Darwin