“Wow!” exclaimed Lili Ling when she first met her new gynoid. “She really does look like me, even though she's clearly mechanical...not quite sure what to make of her...I get this, well, weird feeling in her presence...not exactly sure how to describe it.”
Sarah smiled knowingly: “Ah yes, the 'uncanny valley' effect...the unusual sensation someone gets when encountering an object that looks almost human, but not quite...and in this particular case, exacerbated by her resembling your self...but tell me, does she frighten you?...do you find her repulsive?”
Lili pondered Sarah's question, then responded, carefully choosing her words: “Oh no, she does not frighten me at all...and definitely does not repulse me!...hmmm...well, more like, she intrigues me...as though I am meeting a twin sister, or even myself in some sort of bizarre twist, maybe in some alternate universe.”
“Whew,” said Sarah with obvious relief. “At least we avoided the depths of the uncanny valley, even though we may be standing on the edges of it. But perhaps I should provide some context...please bear with me...hopefully we can throw light on this situation without getting lost in the weeds of technical jargon and minutia.”
Sarah paused, and finding Lili listening very attentively, continued: “Well, when Jekyll Rival and I began developing this new gynoid, we knew it should resemble you...we could base that on the biometric data obtained from scanning you during your earlier visit with us...but we faced the tricky challenge of exactly how closely the gynoid should resemble you. Now, this involves many factors...technological, economic, and of course psychological aspects...but in this particular case, we knew that you intended to use the gynoid more as a puppet than an autonomous agent...and that you were concerned about how well the gynoid could interact with your clients when you dealt with them remotely.”
“Oh right,” commented Lili. “Yes, that exactly describes my concerns...well said! I can see why you chose to develop a gynoid that somewhat resembles me...but not so closely as to descend into the uncanny valley...indeed, that makes perfect sense. But please continue!”
Sarah then addressed the technical and economic aspects of the project: “So...although we could have developed a gynoid version that much more closely replicated you...for this initial project, we decided to employ fairly basic robotics...note the relatively simple depictions of body surfaces, just simple plates, some suggesting skin and some suggesting clothing...and minimal attempt to conceal the underlying mechanical structure. However, at some point in the future, if you need a more sophisticated gynoid who resembles you much more closely...we could do that, but the development and operational costs would likely rise dramatically. Anyway, we judged that starting with this basic model...and minimal programming since you'll be controlling her remotely and consequently she needs very limited autonomous capabilities...this simpler version should fit your needs quite well.”
“Excellent!” exclaimed Lili, obviously pleased with the results. “So...when can we begin working on how I control her?” Sarah replied: “Ah yes, that's the next step...we'll send our technicians to your existing VR interface facility in Tokyo...they can install some additional features...then begin training you about how to actually use your new gynoid. Hopefully you'll be ready to send the gynoid to meet with clients in only a few weeks!”
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