1. What cultural or social values, beliefs, etc., do we share with the society or culture in which the text was written? Why have they endured?
Most people in our society (that know of the uncanny valley) do seem to believe in it at least in some regard. The belief in the theory is supported by no real studies being pushed that disprove it, and the theory does appear intuitive (almost realistic robots do appear creepy).
2. What cultural or social values, beliefs, etc., do we not share? Why not?
Society may be split on its acceptance of robotics in general. A lot of people may have an unfavorable view of robots, and any robot, no matter how realistic or unrealistic, will be viewed unfavorably. Others may be fascinated by robots, and any robot, no matter how creepy, will be viewed favorably. There likely is not a clear cut 'view' that all of society shares on the topic.
3. If the text is written in a culture distant or different from our own, what social values, beliefs, etc., connect to or reflect our own culture? What social values,beliefs, etc., can we not see in our own culture?
The culture of article is more scientific than normal society would be. So while normal culture might buy into the uncanny valley because, "yeah, Polar Express was creepy", the scientific community would argue that no matter how intuitive the theory seems, they can't accept it until it has evidence supporting it.
They would agree in that the creepiness of some robots is observed, but it's just the uncanny valley model that is disputed.
4. If the text is written in our culture but in a different historical time, how have social values, beliefs, etc., developed or changed over time?
The article might read differently if written 10, 20 or 100 years in the future. In this time frame, the line between realism and CGI would be thinner, and more and more CGI would be passed off as the real thing. It's possible in this time that we will have 'crossed' the uncanny valley, and it may be a non-issue anymore. It's also possible that the uncanny valley could have been disproved in this time, and replaced with a more accurate model.
Robotics is often a confusing subject and I must ask you, if something is confusing do you feel that people automatically reject it rather than attempt to understand it?
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