Dystopian science fiction is typically not a genre I select as "leisure" reading material. I tend to select this genre specifically to gain a different perspective of education and technology (translate that to mean, to inform my professional practice). I must say, I did enjoy reading this book in my leisure. The fact that I refrained from any notetaking when I designate a book as one for work, was a sure sign that I just might be reading for fun.
Ishiguro's (2021) Klara and the Sun is a story about a solar-powered Artificial Friend (AF), who patiently waits day in and day out to be selected by her person. AFs exist to serve young people/teens to alleviate loneliness. I will not elaborate further so as not to give away any surprises....which develop over time and quite slowly in this book. The story is told from the perspective of Klara so the reader is at times left guessing when she shares interpretations and insights. There are strange terms and situations to decipher and translate to familiar objects and things. As the Manager constantly notes with awe, Klara is remarkable with unusual insights and observational skills. This is somewhat of a surprise given she is not the latest generation of AFs but it also caused me to ponder the way we view older technologies vs newer technologies.
As I read the first section of the book, I was reminded of Don Freeman's Corduroy. Later, when I read Wood's (2021) review, I was thrilled that he too mentioned a Corduroy connection.
This novel narrows the theme of What it means to be human that is found in other novels such as Asimov's (1990) The Bicentennial Man. A main theme of Klara and the Sun focuses on What it means to love and the ever-changing complexity of love. I found Chapman's (1992) work on love languages to be particularly helpful in categorizing the different facets of love in this book. There is definitely a class system within this world (presumably the US) as Ishiguro presents a variety of reactions and behaviors toward machines, housekeepers, and the haves and have-nots. There are subthemes related to faith vs rationality and hope vs despair (from the AF perspective), bullying, prejudice, loneliness, the circle of life, and even waste and pollution.
What struck me about this book is that the scenario presented is purely plausible, which brings me to connections to education and the Designing Digital Learning in Schools specialization. Regarding technology, the novel addresses the direction of innovation, machine learning, the possibility of machines replacing humans, and ethics in technology innovations, specifically, the question of where do ethics come into play-- at the invention stage or implementation? Can the inventor offload ethics to the legislators who use regulations to dictate ethics?
There's a scene in the book when Josie, the teen who selects Klara and her friend, Ricky, play a game in which she draws images with speech bubbles, and he fills in the speech bubbles with text. This is very much like the activity we did in EDIT 782: Designing for Literacy, with the cartoons, combining two symbol systems and moving between image to text and text to image. Teens in the book are learning virtually and using online resources to learn advanced skills. However, there is acknowledgement that an expert is still needed to situate learning in the culture of use.
There is a huge question raised in the book related to equity in schools, what it means to succeed, and even, the lengths parents will go to help their children....sound familiar? (Also see a connection to Lee's (2021) book, Who Gets to Be Smart: Privilege, Power, and Knowledge.
The use of Klara in the life of Josie had little to do with Josie's learning of essential content knowledge, but more about her social, emotional, and physical growth. It made me wonder about the place of machine learning in education and if there could be uses other than tracking progress and personalized learning. I am reminded of McDonald's (2011) Creative Spirit of Design which advocates for students to be the designer of these environments.
No comments:
Post a Comment