Fenster writes:

The Uncanny Valley is a neat cognitive trick, occurring when “human features look and move almost, but not exactly, like natural human beings.”  In that valley, what results is a “response of revulsion among human observers.”

So on the one side of the valley: lovable real humans.

On the other, lovable unreal cartoons

or robots.

and, in the valley, Beowulf.

OK, that’s the process when building up from non-human to human.  What of the process of stripping away human features from real humans?

Well, for sure it is the case that if you strip away enough human features from real humans, you arrive at a different kind of abstract lovability.  Take the Blue Man Group.  Kids love ’em.  They are obviously not cartoons or robots, but the overall idea is to strip away certain human cues.  The all-blue color.  Lack of ears.  And the odd affect.

It is almost as though they are miming a reptilian way of moving and looking.

So we know that there is another side to the Uncanny Valley when removing human features from real humans.  But is there a Valley there, too?  A place where the removal of a slighter number of human cues produces a “response of revulsion”?  Why, yes indeed.