File spoon-archives/puptcrit.archive/puptcrit_1997/97-02-09.045, message 73


Date: Wed, 15 Jan 97 17:00 EST
From: Sara Peattie <0002136581-AT-mcimail.com>
Subject: re:facial expression


>3. Puppet technology has improved enormously in the last
ten years. Is there still a place for the basic glove
puppet?

	Yes, in my opinion, until puppet technology can
outperform the human brain. As Janet Dalgliesh points out,
neutral mask performance can be very expressive. This is,
as I understand, because the human brain is very good at
recognizing emotional expressions; so good, in fact, that
it recognizes emotions in weather, furniture, and elect-
ronics (see the poetic fallacy, Charles Dickens, and your
fellow computer users). The ability of humans to read
emotions from subtle cues is the admiration of AI experts,
and our ability to delude ourselves into seeing what isn't
there keeps con men in cash. These are powerful forces,
and shouldn't be given up lightly, as they are with a 
puppet which confines the audience to seeing it's small
range of mechanically produced expressions.



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