Tourist to the Uncanny Valley

The market outside the tourist attraction was crowded.

“Sir, you buy postcard? Three for a dollar.” A little girl held out an assortment of postcards.

There was something just off about her face and voice, the uncanny valley of 99% accuracy. I realized she was an android. She looked up at me with pleading eyes, undoubtedly market-tested for maximum effect.

“Fine, I’ll take three.”

The crowd around me slowed and, as one, turned towards me. There was a shuffling as books, magnets, postcards were produced.

“Souvenir?”

“Five for a dollar.”

“Good price.”

All around, the clamor of 99%-accurate voices rose.

I’m going to provide an extroduction to this story (to use an elmowrites word). There is a theory called the dead Internet theory, which says that there aren’t that many actual people online any longer, that it’s mostly just bots talking to each other and imitating human behavior. I thought I’d imagine what that would be like in real life at a tourist attraction, where the humans stopped coming and all that was left were robots trying to sell things.