Reading The Wild Robot with one of my book clubbers was quite the experience.'Do you think a robot can experience emotions?' I asked.'Yes,' came the confident reply, which took me by surprise.'Why would you say that?''Because it's artificial intelligence, which learns. If it can learn other things, why can't it learn to experience emotion?'And with this conversation, we started reading The Wild Robot, the story of Roz the robot, who hatches out of a crate that is washed up on the shore of a wild island. A group of curious otters turns her on with a click, and Roz springs to life--artificial life.Through Roz, author Peter Brown forces us to be curious and ask questions that have no single correct answer. For instance, how does a robot with Survival Instincts differ from an animal? Can robots experience guilt? As a student of philosophy, I remember studying several theories … [Read more...]