Nature vs. Technology
Embedded Files
Sometimes Technology and Nature are at odds. Sometimes they work together.
In Our Story
The Wild Robot explores the interplay and tension between nature and technology. Peter Brown was guided by an interesting inquiry that does just that. He wondered, “What would an intelligent robot do in the wilderness?” For this to truly be a “robot nature story” Roz would need to encounter a wide variety of natural elements. And she does. Roz learns to adjust and adapt to her environment; she camouflages herself, like the animals around her, to fit into various habitats across the island, and she learns animal languages and communication behaviors.
Roz
Our heroine in this book is mechanical but she’s not wrestling with the question of what it means to feel emotions or any of that. She’s a bit more interested in survival and then, after a bit of time, connection. Over the course of the novel, the reader experiences the internal changes that occur within Roz as she learns how to think and behave more like an animal, and less like a robot. In her own words: “I was just a machine. I functioned. But you— my friends and my family — you have taught me to live.”
And her Feelings
Questions about Roz’s feelings and ability to learn can feel confusing in our story. People really struggle with parsing out the ability to learn from being a living thing. Is it true that if you can learn then you must be alive? The same is true with the discussion around feelings. While Roz (and Peter Brown) are careful throughout the book to state that she only “feels something like” any given emotion instead of having actual feelings, there is a lot of evidence that she could in fact feel emotions like fear, joy, sadness and concern. Mainly evidence that if she weren’t actually feeling those emotions, she wouldn’t have acted on them accordingly. (If she wasn’t afraid of the bears, she wouldn’t have hidden in the tree. If she wasn’t worried about BrightBill, she wouldn’t have gone looking for him.) What do you think about this?
Mechanical Design
Throughout the novel, Roz possesses a clear eye for design. She identifies useful plant and animal adaptations and attempts to mimic them with her robot body. She learns to walk like a crab on the beach and camouflages herself in a variety of ways to fit into her surroundings. She even models her “Nest” on beaver dams.
When she loses her foot, the animals work together to design and build a new one for her, a design that they continue to refine. Our Story offers us valuable insight into animal adaptations as well as mechanical design principles. It mixes the genres of science fiction and animal fantasy and explores the relationship between mechanical design and the natural world.
How do you think designers do things? Maybe in a similar way? Is there a process you follow when you're trying to bring a creative idea to life?
Thoughtful Questions about Roz's Tech
What do you think it means that Roz is “programmed to survive?” What parts of her programming allowed her to survive? If you were creating her programming, what kinds of things do you think she would need to know and able to do? Was she missing anything?
Share some examples of the way Roz learned new things? How is this the same or different from the way you learn?
Does Roz have feelings? Why or why not? How do you know? Do you think robots can have feelings? If not, would you like to design a robot that could? Why or why not?
How does Roz figure out how to survive on the island? Describe how she works with others to survive herself and also how she helps others to survive?
Do you think this book is realistic? Do you think it could happen today, or is this something that isn’t likely until much farther into the future, if at all?
Obviously Technology has big implications for education, employment and our everyday lives. There are thousands, if not millions, of robots just like Roz working in homes and businesses in the United States. Upper elementary and middle grade students have grown-up in a world in which Siri is ubiquitous, cars have voice-activated features, robot vacuums clean our floors, and cell phones allow us to see inside our homes when we’re away. What else are robots doing?
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse