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HOW SMALL IT IS!

This is the photo of Earth taken in 1990 by the Voyager probe from 6 billion kilometers away.
In the shot, our planet appears as a pale blue dot suspended in the vast blackness of space.
It's the farthest photo from our Earth that has ever been taken. The idea came from American astronomer Carl Sagan. He later published the book “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space,” in which he included a profound reflection on that photograph.
Here are his words that represent an invitation to reflect on our condition, on how ephemeral and yet unique the opportunity of life is, and especially on the importance of devoting maximum energy to the climate issue, which must be placed at the top of the daily priorities list for all of us.




Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994:
"Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate.
Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known...".

HUMAN STUPIDITY

Man has been given two enormous gifts: intelligence and conscience. An animal follows instincts, it does not have the ability to choose between good and evil. Man, the only species on Earth that has been given these special gifts and this great responsibility, how does he use them? Sometimes well, but often badly, very badly indeed. With the knowledge, technology, and wealth that we have achieved, life could be good all over the world if there were true collaboration and resources were used intelligently. Instead, selfishness and the thirst for power prevail, actions are taken only in terms of money, profit, and the accumulation of capital without taking into consideration much more important factors like health, the well-being of people, and respect for the environment.

Our behavior is all the more foolish when considering not only the rarity of life in the universe but also the improbability of its formation. We fail to realize just how incredible it is that the universe was formed, life was born, and intelligence developed. A highly precise series of conditions have allowed us to be here at this moment, intelligent creatures on a beautiful planet that we are mistreating to the point of making our extinction very likely. It would be an enormous waste to throw away this great opportunity that has been given to us, especially considering that if we manage not to destroy ourselves we could evolve further.

Interview with Nobel Prize winner Giorgio Parisi:
"Artificial intelligence will lead to disaster if not regulated"

Will we be able to govern artificial intelligence?
"Artificial intelligence 70-80 years ago (computers) was able to perform calculations faster than humans. That of 40-50 years ago managed to perform algebraic calculations more quickly than humans. In short, we are heading in the direction where AI will be able to do certain things better than us. Think about the ability to automatically translate a 500-page book in a minute and with good results. In short, we are certainly enhancing human capability. And just as machines have allowed us to increase our manual capacity, AI allows us to augment our intellectual capacity. But there are dangers nonetheless. For example, today AI represents a monumental shift comparable to that of the printing press, which had an immense impact when it was introduced, but the press is regulated by dozens of laws. Imagine what would happen if we removed copyright laws, or the responsibility of journalists. AI must absolutely be regulated. People who see a photo have the right to know whether it is real or doctored so as not to lose the certainty, which we currently have, to say that an event has actually occurred. Changes must be controlled and regulated, otherwise, they tend to lead to disaster."
You often advocate for the environment. Do you think technologies like quantum ones could be useful in combating climate change?
"It is already happening. Take solar panels, for instance: they operate thanks to quantum technologies. The ones we use today are very efficient but unlikely to see much more improvement in efficiency. The real issue is to find sustainable solutions because the material these panels are made of is polluting. There are already some types made of organic material in the form of films that can be applied, for example, to building windows. However, they are extremely inefficient and very expensive at the moment, so clearly, we need to find solutions where we can effectively and directly transform solar energy into fuel. That is, to achieve a kind of photosynthesis because it is not conceivable to have a situation where fuels are eliminated 100%, but if we manage to produce them efficiently and directly from solar, this will be crucial. So there are many technologies that can be imagined to contribute to the fight against climate change."
Science has a major social impact. Why is it important for citizens to have a basic understanding of science?
"Very often decisions are made on the basis of scientific arguments and citizens need to be able to understand them. We can say that it is a tool to achieve complete democracy. The problem is that probably school is organized in a somewhat old-fashioned way, essentially with “Gentilian” curricula from a century ago, which saw in high school an elite and humanistic education. Thus, we fail to make school serve the precise purpose of training citizens to understand how science works to avoid having to blindly trust others. Education is a crucial point and it is important to start from childhood. The practical importance of science is very clear to us through an infinity of ways and yet, in these times, there is greater distrust, something I have also personally experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic when I was the subject of attacks. And this may seem paradoxical: at the same time society becomes increasingly dependent on advanced technology, which is the very fruit of scientific discoveries, citizens become more suspicious of scientists."
What do you attribute this phenomenon to?
"We are entering a period of pessimism about the future due to the fact that we face crises of all kinds: climate, economic, resource, an increase in inequalities, job insecurity, and not least wars. Once we were all convinced that the future would be better than the present and that it was science that would lead us to this bright future. Then this confidence in progress and in the future eroded, and for many, science began to be blamed for this situation and to be considered as a bad teacher that pushed humanity in the wrong direction. Moreover, scientists are sometimes seen as an elite and, as such, bear the brunt of strong resentment against all elites. But this distrust of science can be disastrous. In reality, we need more science; otherwise, we won't be able to fight dangers like global warming, infectious diseases, poverty, hunger, and the lack of resources at a planetary level."
Do you then think the world should be governed by technicians and scientists?
"I am not a technocrat and I do not think a government of scientists is the best thing, but science is the only honest attempt to understand reality and to make predictions estimating uncertainty. Science, therefore, has the task of helping humanity navigate a dangerous path and must indicate the various options. But the decision, in the end, is up to politics."