Un mondo sempre più nuovo …

In fact, that was what I was going to do, live, the future, the past today. I, poor Christ, a young southern migrant worker, a nursing student in a mental hospital in north London, was going to live what I know to be my past today. With a book, I thought that that map of knowledge could help me discover the future in that time that I rediscover today having lived, after more than half a century, in the manner of Proust. I hoped to understand not only what humanity's intentions were, as the ambitious Naomi proposed, but what future destiny would assign me to live. 

History, origins of life, anatomy and physiology, mathematics and economics, architecture, music and philosophy, in short, the mystery of life and the future of the world. These are the themes of the book. I read in a book review, that the book was written in 160,000 words, in 400 pages. For only 15 shillings it seemed like a good investment. Today I review the book of the Scottish scholar Naomi Mitchison, who passed away at the age of 101, I leaf through and compare it with another book, this one in digital format, which projects its vision of the new world far beyond my future near future.

If for me and for "my future", the dates were 1962, the day of the purchase of the map book and today 2021, those of prof. Paolo Perulli, author of “In 2050: Passage to the new world”, are 1989 and 2050. In short, the questions that are posed are the same ones that the Scot posed: "How will we survive the challenges that man is posing to the Earth? Will we be richer or poorer, safer or more defenseless, will we live better or worse? "

Always questions, to which I'm afraid I will not be able to give or find reasonable answers.

Professor Perulli glimpses the "new world" of Huxley's memory, I don't know how "good", in 2050. I'm afraid, with all my goodwill and intentions, I will not be able to verify the answers. He does not speak of a "map" for the future like the Scottish. He uses another word, new and fascinating; "paradigm". He says he is inspired by the idea of ​​Leibniz who imagines a human god who forges the best of all possible worlds. To tell the truth, I don't think it's a very new idea. But at this point, I have to admit that I have no maps or paradigms to offer. Who can, then?