From Self-Portraits to Geminoid Androids. Identity and Difference in Robotic Doppelgängers

The real and the virtual maintain ambiguous relations in the contemporary context of artificial intelligence. From the social phenomenon of Self-representation in digital identities to the robotic phenomenon of Replication of human beings, cultural models of identity are going to quickly change: “difference” will play a primary role at the heart of identity. The focus of this paper will be on the link between selfportraits in art, the doppelgänger in literature and robotic process automation in Geminoid androids. A geminoid robot appears and behaves just like its source person. How important is it to overcome the discomfort of an uncanny resemblance? Is similarity in robotics going to be the access key to the source of the Self? Because of their resemblance to people, androids have the potential to contribute to an understanding of human behavior and the roles our brains and bodies play in it. Our studies will try to answer these new questions.