"Wild Robots" is a hit! How can maternal love break through the "prison" of programming?

Learn the Way

Using psychology to improve learning ability

The movie "Wild Robots" currently in theaters tells the story of how the robot Rose raises a little grey goose on a desert island and trains it to become the leader of a flock of geese. The film is adapted from Peter Brown's best-selling book of the same name, which is translated into Chinese as "Wild Robots". The little grey goose in the movie is a little wild goose in the book.

Love is not a program

The robot Rose drifted to an isolated island due to an accident. She picked up a wild goose egg and hatched a little grey goose. The little grey goose mistook the robot for its mother and chased after it. The robot's originally defined programming was also broken, and a story about love unfolded between the robot and the goose.

For the robot, what it has to complete is a program or a command. Rose did not originally plan to take care of the little grey goose, "My program did not tell me how to be a mother." Because the fox told her that she had to take care of the little grey goose, she broke through the programming limitations and started a new program, feeding the little grey goose, teaching it to swim, and teaching it to fly before autumn. If the program of the machine represents the rational side, then the reproduction and killing instincts of other wild animals are also a kind of natural program.

Whether it is mechanical or instinctive to complete the duties of a parent, it is not true love. For example, the three things that the little grey goose needs to learn - eating, swimming and flying, represent the physiological satisfaction, survival skills and independence that a person needs in his growth.

Parents need to raise their children to adulthood according to their characteristics. For example, the little grey goose cannot eat everything, so it needs to find suitable food. Since robots cannot demonstrate swimming and flying in person, the little grey goose should first learn theoretical knowledge and then practice in the water; for flying courses, the best eagle should be the teacher.

At first, the robot only performed tasks mechanically. But gradually, an emotional attachment developed between the two. Seeing the little grey goose gradually grow up and leave the nest, the robot mother also felt reluctant to leave.

There is a classic line in the movie. The fox said that the child must learn to be independent one day. The robot said that he should try to be independent near home. The fox said: "It seems that mothers are like this. They worry that their children will get hurt and always want to protect them. But the children will eventually have their own world." No matter how reluctant they are, in order to facilitate the growth of the little grey goose, they must let it catch up with the large group of migrants in autumn.

Love in the world is often for reunion, and only the love between parents and children is for a calm separation.

Make good use of the “imprinting effect” to educate your children

Why does the little grey goose regard the robot as its mother? It is because the first moving object it sees after hatching is the robot, so it will keep following the robot. The inspiration here should come from the "imprinting effect".

The imprinting effect was first proposed by Austrian zoologist Lorenz, who found that in the early and sensitive stages of an animal's life, the first moving object it sees will produce irreversible learning behavior. If a newly hatched grey goose sees its mother goose for the first time, it will chase after her, but if it sees a human, it will also follow behind.

The imprinting effect has three characteristics: first, it occurs during a specific sensitive period; second, it is irreversible and difficult to change once it is formed; third, the object of imprinting is not necessarily one's own biological parents or peers, as long as the appropriate object appears at a specific time, the child will follow it. Therefore, in education, we should make good use of the imprinting effect and establish a healthy attachment relationship.

During the critical period of children's growth, communicate with them more and encourage them to explore freely and develop their passion for learning. As the American poet Whitman wrote in the poem "There Was a Child Going Ahead":

"There was a child who walked forward every day. The first thing he saw became a part of him. It might be the early lilac, the green grass, the gorgeous morning glow, the red and white clover, the curious fish in the pond, the beautiful and charming lake water, and the water plants in the pond swaying gracefully. All of these became a part of the child."

The poem uses figurative means to emphasize the profound impact that the first things a child comes into contact with as he grows up have on him. It also reminds us to attach importance to the child's early education, because he will be shaped by the love he receives, the books he reads, and the paths he travels.

"Wild Robots" is a science fiction story, the core of which is the birth of love, the development of artificial intelligence and the relationship between people and technology. We need to cultivate children's abilities that are different from machines, that is, independent thinking, compassion for the world, and great love... These are all forces that cannot be ignored in promoting human progress.

(The author Li Zhengrong is an education science writer and deputy editor-in-chief of Beijing Daily Publishing House)