Âé¶¹´«Ã½

Life

Psychologist: On robot pets and video picture windows

By Alison George

1 June 2011

Âé¶¹´«Ã½. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

(Image: Brian Smale for Âé¶¹´«Ã½)

Does it matter that we often experience the natural world through technology? Peter Kahn untangles our tangled and evolving relationship with nature

You study “technological nature”. What do you mean by that?
It’s technology that mediates our experience of nature: TV wildlife programmes, online games such as , in which players plant and harvest virtual crops, digital projections of wood fires and skies for our homes, robotic dogs and electronic pets such as Tamagotchi. Technological nature is becoming increasingly sophisticated and pervasive. At the same time, we’re destroying real nature very fast. These…

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