Roos Slegers on the Uncanny Valley, Freud, and Cyborg Science Fiction

On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, host Kristen Collins chats with Roos Slegers on the uncanny valley, Freud, and cyborg science fiction. They explore the uncanny valley and Freud’s concept of the uncanny, connecting them to ETA Hoffmann’s “The Sandman”, Donna Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto”, and contemporary AI debates. While Mori’s uncanny valley describes discomfort with almost-human robots, Freud links the uncanny to repressed fears, particularly around gender and sexuality. Roos critiques Freud’s reading of “The Sandman”, highlighting its deeper commentary on romantic ideals and the preference for submissive, artificial women—paralleling modern AI assistants like those in the American sci-fi film, Her. Haraway’s cyborg offers an alternative, challenging rigid binaries and embracing technology’s potential for transgression and liberation. They critique how today’s AI and transhumanist movements reinforce traditional hierarchies rather than dismantling them, urging a more critical and playful engagement with technology’s role in shaping human identity.

Dr. Roos Slegers is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Tilburg University in the Netherlands.

Notes:

• Masahiro Mori, 1970, “The Uncanny Valley"
• Sigmund Freud, 1919, “The Uncanny"
• Donna Haraway, 1985, “Cyborg Manifesto”
• ETA Hoffman, 1817, “The Sandman”
• Meghan O’Gieblyn, God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning, 2021