Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Do we care if robots can feel?
The New Scientist Book Club has been reading Luminous, Silvia Park’s near-future story set in a reunified Korea in which robots are fully integrated into society. Head of books Alison Flood caught up with Silvia to talk about how this increasingly dark story began as an idea for a children’s book, whether the advent of large language models affected their writing, and whether robots might one day achieve consciousness.
For more conversation on the book, sign up to the New Scientist Book Club discord: discord.gg/fn7m4NbSac
Do we care if robots can feel?
The New Scientist Book Club has been reading Luminous, Silvia Park’s near-future story set in a reunified Korea in which robots are fully integrated into society. Head of books Alison Flood caught up with Silvia to talk about how this increasingly dark story began as an idea for a children’s book, whether the advent of large language models affected their writing, and whether robots might one day achieve consciousness.
For more conversation on the book, sign up to the New Scientist Book Club discord: discord.gg/fn7m4NbSac
