Where are we coming from? Who are we? Where are we going? It's Gauguin. Woody Allen usually added, "Where are we going to dine tonight?" We saw Margherita Hack, at the beginning. We definitely must ask ourselves how these great astrophysicists - this is Nanni Bignami - resolve the situation? Well, they start with the Big Bang. Then we have the molecules, the planets - Among the public, of course, someone may be named Luca. Last Universal Common Ancestor. Then we arrive - Yes, you could introduce him like this - (Laughter) Then we get to us, of course. We are here, at the Parenti Theater in Milan, Europe, planet Earth. We are - a lil' dot in the middle of this wonderful galaxy, the Milky Way, and we are going to collide with another galaxy, Andromeda. But don't worry: when this will happen, we'll have already left the planet. We'll be long gone. Nevertheless, we need to try to get how the world works. After all, these evenings have been beautiful because of this. We have to turn to logic, there are no other ways. The father of logic, Wittgenstein, used to say: "Either you use the microscope - micro; or you use the telescope - macro." This is pertinent to this conversation. However, this raises a question. In fact, we use neither the microscope nor the telescope. We use this device. We use the phone, the smartphone, the tablet. This is a problem because we don't relate anymore with things, as Hannah Arendt said, but with information. This is a problem. We end up living in the infosphere, as Luciano Floridi said. You may have read his beautiful book. So we are dealing with constant information flow. Everyone talks, nobody listens. I don't know about you, but I bike every morning. You heard the open sound of my vowels, so you've gotten that I'm Lombard: I'm from Pavia. Zigzag! Every morning I bike, and I have to zigzag. In fact, I cross a real flood of sleepwalkers. These daytime sleepwalkers come toward me. Here they are. They are a flood. Umberto Eco used to bump them on purpose. I can't do it, I'd get only profanities. Italy still doesn't have the system used by other countries, which allows these infomaniacs - These people are infomaniacs, a sort of legged thumbs. They go on - I mean, with 240 - worse, 480 keystrokes. Before the sunset, they wrote the equivalent of <i>In Search of Lost Time</i>, 3,412 pages. (Applause) I was supposed to say <i>The Betrothed</i>, but I said In Search of Lost Time, because of Proust, so 3,412 pages. Infomaniacs! I mean, what can they say? Anaxagoras said that we are intelligent because we use our hands. Yeah, but there's a problem here. We've became "Phone-Sapiens" rather than Homo Sapiens. It's a disaster. We have to try to reflect. We are observing the birth of <i>infomes</i>. Whatever ends in -<i>ome</i> should be approached with caution. Reason is being put to sleep, in a nutshell. We're finding ourselves in situations like this: "The Sleep of Reason." So we must refer to the great thinkers to help us come out. Here he comes: Sein und Zeit, i.e. Being and Time. I'll stop here. You got it: the de facto outline is made compliant. The Being is no longer related; it's no longer a relationship. Being-in-the-world, Dasein, In-Der-Welt-Sein<i>.</i> It's not that anymore. It has become Sein und Information<i>.</i> I mean, we are information. Here appears the outline of this problem: lies and "alternative" truths. Think about it: "alternative truth." What did you smoke? Should I worry about your sanity? The fake news. It's a big deal. This is where we live. So now we have to try to understand how to get out of these lies. Look, lies and alternative truths have always being there. This is the first one they told us. Obviously, the consequences are before the eyes of all. If you believe in it, then you find yourself in - But the problem is that lies exist, and they've always been there. When we were trying to document the journey of Buffalo Bill, we found old ads in <i>Corriere della Sera</i>. Go figure: "The elixir of long life", "Why do you suffer?", "Ready for anything." The problem is that today there are nonsense generators, i.e. random generators of nonsense. Hence, we are in danger. We need to learn from history how to get out of this, and we have to get back to Martin. Martin Heidegger was rehabilitated, all was fine, etc. The Nobel Laureate used to meet in Lindau every year. He went to listen to them in 1955. A great biologist who won the Nobel Prize in 1946 for chemistry gave a speech. Biologists always win Nobel Prizes for physiology or medicine, almost all of them. And a lot of them for chemistry, it's not that odd. Wendell Stanley won it because he succeeded in crystallizing the genome of the tobacco mosaic virus. Now here I don't have time because - Well, I'll tell it. The adorable torturers that have organized this event gave me 12 minutes, but in 12 minutes I can say just my first and last name. I mean - I need - (Applause) It doesn't work like this. Please, follow me because I can't finish, then there may be consequences. He was frightened listening to Stanley saying, "Hey, buddies" - well, no, he didn't said buddies. "Gentlemen!" "Gentlemen, be aware that we have the tools to synthesize life." Go figure! In a famous photo he indicated the Senior Director, and said: "Wow, this is humankind's self-destruction and an attack on life." So this is the situation. How do we get out of this? We need to recognize what has been denied: the 3 Cs. Climate, that's no longer a change but an emergency, an urgency; COVID: please, COVID is female. Accademia della Crusca said it. So stop saying "il COVID", say "la COVID," in Italian. Accademia della Crusca. Conflicts. These three Cs are tied together. As of May 16, we've already eaten the planet, i.e. the resources it provides for our lifestyles. which we need to change, we must desire another normality - are over. This deadline used to fall between November and December, until a few years ago. Then it moved between July and August. Now, we've been mooching since May 16. We would need 1.7 planets. We have only one, so things are going bad. We've destroyed the main ecosystems: rainforest and coral reefs. In the few minutes I've been allotted, every 10 minutes, 30 plastic truckloads end up in water systems. So we're destroying the planet. What else could happen? If you ask my neighbor, "The housekeeper from Voghera" (I'm quoting Arbasino), she also tells you why we got COVID. If you destroy the planet and the ecosystems, then that's it. In geological times, we went to mess with the livestock to tame it, and we got measles and tuberculosis. We messed with the pigs to tame them, and there you go: pertussis. Then ducks - influenza. It's simple: we've destroyed everything. Even the housewife from Voghera can make the list for you. Let's start from the 1980s: HIV, Marburg, Nipah, H5N1, H1N1- and COVID. It's very simple. Going on like this is inconceivable. We're just chasing trouble. Where do you think animals can go after we've destroyed the ecosystems? We've been reminded that 25% of mammals are bats. One of them is going to defecate in your garden. Furthermore, by eating it as in some Western African and Asiatic cultures, we're obviously going to meet zoonoses and spillovers. Of course, all this multiplies injustices and inequalities, therefore conflicts. And this is the third C. So we're in this situation, and we have to want another normality, and we have to change. How? Hölderlin told us: "Where the danger is, also the saving power grows." These are our lifestyle's icons. We don't live in the Anthropocene. Rather, we live in the "Plasticene." These are the icons. We live on red meat. The biomass of eight billion humans, right now, equals the biomass of one billion cattle that we're breeding intensively. We destroyed the climate not so much with the greenhouse gases produced by transport, but with those, much more, emitted by the intestines of these cattle. So the issue is very clear. We need to change. Thousands of airports, thousands of kilometers of roads: That's not good. The Dasgupta report has 632 pages. I'm sure you won't read it. But please download it and at least look at the Table of Contents. The exit way is already in the Table of Contents. We can get out of it. Let's have a look at which conditions. You don't want to give up red meat? Voilà, let's make a burger from stem cells. It's cell farming. We can produce fish, crustaceans, whatever you wish. It starts from muscles - Mind you, one kg of red meat equals 15,000 liters of water. Think of animal suffering. Think that you have cleared the equivalent of the surface of the African continent to do intensive breeding. We can't go on like this. It still costs about 20 euro. It's not so tasty, because it's missing - Oh, no, it tastes good, but the fat component is missing. In fact, we can make myocyte stem cells. However, ladies pay to do liposuction. They should pay you. if you give adipocytes away. Anyway, I don't have time right now. for these things, though... (Applause) I don't have time. The timer is already over, what a stress! Danke schön. We can find other ways to make proteins. For example, Samantha Gregoretti is testing hydrogenotrophic bacteria, from thin air! These bacteria produce amino acids from the CO2 we breathe out. Hence, the molecular stellar chef will be able to do whatever she wishes. Think of the debate on thermal incineration and thermal conversion. The most expensive disposal deals with the wet component. So let's use it to breed insects' larvae. It's so simple. We'll sanitize them and chomp on them. Easy peasy. Wait, it's important. Let me introduce to you the spring/summer collection of pandemics: this is it. Ebola, H5N1, smallpox, waiting for the fall/winter fashion show, which will be a little more consistent. So it's time to change, and to want to change. We have to do it, because then there's conflict. In fact, all these situations accentuate conflicts, and this is the result. This means no way out. We have the tools. We listened to all the previous speeches. They threw very relevant buds. Let's think of conflicts. I'm going to be provocative, as we listened to lessons with a remarkable specific weight. Hey, we have the Metaverse. Hundreds of thousands dead, countries destroyed, for what? Doesn't history teach anything? The Horatii and the Curiatii. Do it in the Metaverse! We're told they're deciding the strategies on how to attack, counterattack, and defend. Let's use the table war games, and wrap it up! Think of the Challenge of Barletta. I think it would - I know, it's provocative, but it looks like no one has ideas, so I have a say. Could it work? Let's see. What's crystal clear, we must desire another normality. I must end it here. It's weird - the statute of Thatcher was smeared the other day. I myself would go against some statues, but there are boundaries, I wouldn't when it's about a lady. Margaret Thatcher said, when the time came, "TINA, There Is No Alternative." Stop. There's nothing else to do. Let's go home with this belief. You've been told several times: wish for another normality. It's a little dark in here now, but I could point at you, you, you, me, us. We're not good ancestors. What planet are we handing over to the little ones? That's not good. This is very nice: Let's not go back to normal, because that was it. You're tired, I know, I'm done, but I have to conclude quoting Béjart, my favorite choreographer. Béjart, at some point, was awarded as the finest choreographer. They gave him this incredible prize, but he, in his prologue, says: "Malgré la merde." Everyone was baffled by what he said. Then he made a nice speech, expressing his repulsion toward our time. Indeed, here we are all good, privileged, etc. but to be honest, this era is... Notwithstanding, folks, he says: "je crois." Such a "je crois" carries an awesome strength. It's been said several times, it's false that our action has no influence. It's false that there are hyperobjects, and whatever I do has no effect. It does indeed. It's necessary to go back to being generous. We've forgotten what generosity is. You know, only generosity let's us win. By closing yourself you get the sucker's payoff. That's true for everybody, in the end. Among the great masters, we saw Rita Levi-Montalcini. I don't have time to tell you my story with Rita. Ehhh... But: exercise Montalcini number five! This is for you, you won't go without homework. As soon as you get out of here - Ciao!, aperitif, nightlife... I know who I'm dealing with. As you've endured all this, when exiting you have the right to pick up one of these. I have one left in my pocket. It's a silkworm cocoon. You have to do this: get out of this state of idleness, kind of, "Yeah, I'm cool." Get out and start desiring in an erotic, poetic way another normality. Take this home, and when you look at it remember what you have to do in these terms. (Applause)
