Way Into the Future ..But Watch Your Step! | Paolo Bonolis | TEDxLUISS

Paolo Bonolis is one of Italy’s most known television hosts and authors. Through the short story “Answer” by Fredric Brown he explains the relation between technology and God. What they have in common is the capacity to go beyond time and space limits. There’s no beauty in discovery anymore because everything is now available thanks to internet.

Paolo Bonolis is one of Italy’s most known television hosts and authors. He started his career in the eighties when presenting shows for children to then pass on to the variety of shows on prime time both on the RAI and Mediaset networks. Among the most successful tv programmes there were: “Ciao Darwin”, “Il Senso della Vita”, “Chi ha incastrato Peter Pan?”, two editions of the “Festival di Sanremo” in 2005 and 2009, “Affari tuoi”, “Domenica In” and “Avanti un altro” which airs right before prime time on Channel 5 and that he has been conducting since 2011.

[Kualalumpur]

"You have in front of you a product that is going extinct. I'm 55, my name is Paolo Bonolis, and I've been working in creative endeavors, in literature and as a TV host for 35 years. I don't have discoveries to show you, I don't have a deep knowledge to share with you or to teach you, and you will rightly ask yourselves "What do you want, then?". I'm here because I was invited, and around 5-6 years ago, thanks to one of the authors who work with me, I discovered the world of TED, and I thought it was beautiful. I thought it was one of the most beautiful things I had seen in the last 20 years. It's a splendid observatory of knowledge and of sharing. So, when they asked me if I wanted to take part in it, I said alright. But I asked myself: "Now what will I tell them?". Since I don't have any discoveries or knowledge, I'll share with you a thought I had when they asked me to come here. I remembered when, when I was young, but I still do it today, I used to read sci-fi novels. I've read a lot of them. And some of these stories, like the one I'm going to briefly tell you, are still fresh in my mind 40 years after I read it. It's a book written by a so-called Fredric. It's a short tale written in 1954. It tells a weird, bizarre little story. A group of scientists, in 1954, decided to build a computer. Computers, you know if you've seen the movie "The Imitation Game", you can understand what it's all about, computers at the time were these big monoliths, an iron maiden, but instead of spikes they had transistors and valves. So they build this enormous thing, and they ask it the questions of all questions: "Does God exist?". After some instants, bzzz, the answer comes out: "Not enough computing power". "That's right"-said the scientists, "the question is very complex". Thus, they build a computer as big as the first one, and, we are talking about a story written in 1954, they connect the two computers to improve the power of the computers. Basically, in 1954 Fredric, in his mind, had built the first ring of what would have been known as the web. At the question "Does God exist?", the answer stays the same: "Not enough computing power". These scientists don't give up, and they keep building one computer after the other and connecting them between each other, creating a little city of interconnected computers, but at the question "Does God exist?" the answer is always the same. Decades go by. Centuries, even. Technology grows exponentially, computers are extremely advanced, so much that they can regenerate themselves. But at the pre-programmed question, "Does God exist?", the answer doesn't change. "Not enough computing power". Time passes. Humans are no more. Nobody is left. The only thing left is this army of computers that keep reproducing. Until one day, in the silence of the universe, at the pre-programmed question, "Does God exist?", the answer is given: "Now, He does". This short story title is "The Answer", and it's written by this Frederic whose surname I forgot. But why did I tell you this story, why did I remember it? Because I think there's an analogy hidden in this story, but it shares a thought of mine that you can refute, you can boo, you can completely shut down. I don't have what the Americans call "The Eager Jeager" (?), that thing that goes like this. I'm analog, but it works and you can bring it anywhere. *snap* The analogy is between God and the computer. Whatever God you want. Why, since the dawn of humanity, men have created the idea of God? Why is there today this urge for technology and Internet, that allow a lot of things? Because both God and computers give us a chance: the chance to go beyond the Pillars of Hercules of our mortal existence, that keeps us here, stuck and afflicted. Space and time. Thanks to the speed of computer, we can quickly move in space and time in the virtual world. Sure, for God we have to wait a while, until we kick the bucket and go to the next life. But, for better or worse, it's the same thing. Basically, through God and the computer we try to win the eternal battle of our life: go beyond these barriers, space and time. Wanting to face this matter is understandable. But history is both a process of learning and of forgetting. I, a person who is not digital, give you this thought. Watch your step (I don't know how they will translate this, should it go all over the world). Because the computer, the speed, the virtuality, can bring losses. An obvious example is the degeneration of memory. We make something else remember everything for us, and we end up forgetting all that we could remember by keeping our brain trained. This is the first point. Knowledge- I've heard before the talk of our good Greek friend- knowledge is important, but through the web, it's an imposed knowledge. It's not inferred. Our five senses are taken down, we don't get the chance to know by throwing on ourselves the experience of reaching the goal. And this brings us to the third point, that can be divided in two ways: one is the distress. What is the distress that digital natives could experience? The distress of being able to live in the virtual world without space and time, or at least so little to become insignificant, and find themselves in reality, where space and time are quite important. If you accept them, you can live with them. If you forget them, they become unsurmountable mountains that can make our life quite uncomfortable. But the same type of distress can be found in another way. It's underground, it's under the skin. It's the loss of value. What is that gives something value? The effort to obtain it. In space, we put effort to reach a place. Through this effort we collect a lot of information, absorb them, and when the place is finally reached, we are sure to remember it. Because it's the effort we put in that makes it precious. It's the same thing for time. It would be a problem to lose the concept of waiting. The ability of getting things instantaneously takes the wait away. Without waiting, what we desire doesn't have the same value that it would have had if we had to wait for it. Well, it could seem that what I told you here is the bare minimum. I still told you and was glad to be able to share it with you, you will treat the matter as you'll see fit. Between me and you there is what is called "digital divide", I'm analog and you're digital. I talked to you as a father, I think I'm the oldest of the people who talked today, I'm 54 after all. But I'm glad I did it, even if I feel a bit defeated in this thought, because a great sociologist, Guy Debord, said: "Men resemble their times moreso than their fathers". Thank you."

[EnizeCA]

Just the fact that an icon italian guy like him is part of something like this teaches me something. Also he explained something so common but not obvious in a clear way and this is pretty valuable. Non ha cincischiato, insomma.

[monteluckast]

Ha una proprietà di linguaggio formidabile

[shih-tzu_pek]

immaginatevi Paolo Bonolis come vostro insegnante di Italiano....

[scassinaentrabarrica]

Gonna tell my kids this was Bill Gates.

[MrMrzlcu]

Come faccia un uomo con una cultura immensa come Bonolis e una capacitá di linguaggio formidabile a fare Ciao Darwin é uno dei misteri dell'universo.

[AlessioTrivisonno]

Vorrei riportare un attimo il pensiero sul messaggio del video, evitando di criticare Bonolis, che invece ringrazio perché ci ha dato uno spunto su cui riflettere a proposito della percezione che le persone hanno di questo mondo digitale. Sono uno studente di informatica e penso che ci sia un concetto fondamentale che molti non hanno colto di questo processo di digitalizzazione. Ossia che il computer non è uno strumento per semplificarci la vita e basta. Chi lo utilizza solo per questo scopo allora cade nella pigrizia e in tutti gli altri problemi elencati da Bonolis. Il computer invece è, e deve essere, per tutti uno strumento per portare la nostra conoscenza ad un livello di astrazione più alto, in cui il nostro cervello non ci serve a ricordarci la singola data di storia ma a capire le connessioni e le ripercussioni che quell'evento ha avuto negli anni a venire. Un po' come si usa una biro per scrivere un romanzo, senza preoccuparsi del diametro della biglia al suo interno o della fluidità del suo inchiostro. É questa la vera sfida secondo me, far capire alle persone che non bisogna essere utilizzatori passivi del computer, bensì attivi produttori di conoscenza.

[shredded-shredder]

A giudicare dai commenti che leggo, il messaggio non è stato colto da molti; mi devo ricredere su quest'uomo. Ha esposto in modo pulito un pensiero che ho sempre tenuto nel cassetto da diversi anni.

[mlggodzilla]

The title is in english but obviously Paolo talks in italian, at least they could have made english subs for the foreigners.

[massimilianocoperchini]

Oggi è stata una giornata particolarmente provante, ma questa splendida riflessione del Dottor Bonolis, dallo stesso condivisa e splendidamente argomentata come solo lui sa fare, è balsamo per mente, cuore ed Anima.
Grazie davvero.

[sonojotrx]

Un'uomo di una profondità, cultura, espressività, eloquio (ad oggi) Monumentale. Intrattiene da anni con maestria e Professionalità. Ha creato e Condotto programmi entrati nella Storia della televisione italiana (tra cui Tira e molla, Ciao Darwin senza dimenticare ( troppo spesso sottovalutato ) Il senso della vita. Immenso.

[beyond]

Cioe io sono entrata in questo video per vedere i commenti inglesi dire cose positive riguardo Bonolis così per essere fiera dell'Italia ma poi sono tutti commenti italiani e neanche il video sottotitolato XD

[lorismoretto]

Che bello sentir parlare un italiano così curato come quello di Bonolis. Bravo Paolo il numero uno della Tv italiana

[theartofhands]

Trovo questo intervento di Bonolis una cosa positiva, per una volta ad una manifestazione sul digitale è stata gettata un'ancora, che ricorda un po' a tutti quanto sia importante non perdere il contatto con la realtà o con i valori, pur gettando l'occhio al futuro.

[Praisethefab]

mi pare strano che fanno una ted talk con la descrizione in inglese ma non fanno neanche i sottotitoli in inglese

[Jess-shxq]

Un Paolo Bonolis cosi serio mi mancava....🔝🔝🔝🔝🔝

[bracobaldo]

L'ho sempre detto e sempre lo ribadisco Paolo Bonolis è senza se e senza ma IL MIGLIOR CONDUTTORE TELEVISIVO ITALIANO, UN ORGOGLIO NAZIONALE!

[carlocasano]

For the British: activate the automatic subtitles are 90% reliable in this video

[MsMissMaggie]

Grazieee di averlo invitato, è uno dei personaggi televisivi che adoro di più, lo ascolterei per ore. Purtroppo ha ragione... Io che sono nata quando ancora non c era il boom di questa vita di fretta, la sento questa pressione di volere tutto subito e sento molto disagio, credo che viviamo in un'epoca in cui i disagi mentali colpiscono come mai hanno colpito prima ma nello stesso tempo, la società ti spinge alla perfezione

[lukc]

title in english but there is no even english subtitles... yeah