For a serendipitous future

Ti proponiamo una sintesi di tre minuti dell'incontro con Telmo Pievani che si è tenuto in STEP FuturAbility nell'ambito del programma scientifico culturale.

The algorithm collects information about our choices, profiles us and proposes us things that should meet our tastes. In doing so, it confirms the ordinary and crystallises stereotypes. How can we imagine future navigations in which we explore unexpected worlds, perhaps discovering things that we weren’t looking for? This is serendipity, the secret of scientific creativity, a sudden and unexpected observation that opens the door to new possibilities. And, as such, it cannot be programmed or planned. However, it can be cultivated, i.e. the ecological conditions that allow serendipity to flourish can be created. Serendipity necessitates the tolerance of error, the ability to identify the anomalies that generate it, the luxury of taking more time, and the willingness to change tack, embracing different disciplines and interests. With a healthy injection of serendipity, the digital future will be more creative.

Telmo Pievani, is a philosopher of biology and an expert on the theory of evolution. He is a full professor in the Department of Biology of the University of Padua, where he holds the first Italian chair of Philosophy of Biological Sciences. In the same Department he also teaches Bioethics and Naturalism. Member of the Scientific and Ethics Committee of the Umberto Veronesi Foundation, he is also a member of the Board of the Istituto Italiano di Antropologia, the Editorial Board of international scientific journals such as Evolutionary Biology and Evolution: Education and Outreach, the Editorial Board of Rendiconti Lincei per le Scienze Fisiche e Naturali, and the Editorial Committee of the Treccani Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana. He has been an Honorary Member of CICAP since 2020. He is editor of Pikaia, the Italian evolution portal, and editor of La Mela di Newton, Micromega's online science magazine. He was secretary of the Scientific Council of the Genoa Science Festival, he has been a member of the Scientific Committee of BergamoScienza since 2013, and since 2014 he has been on the International Scientific Council of MUSE, the Science Museum of Trento. He was scientific director of the UTET "Ecosphera" encyclopaedia project (2008-2010) with Niles Eldredge, curator of the Italian version of the Darwin.1809-2009 exhibition (Rome-Milan-Bari 2009-2010) with Niles Eldredge and Ian Tattersall, and curator of the exhibition project Homo sapiens: the great history of human diversity (Rome, 2011-2012; Trento, 2012-2013; Novara, 2013) with Luigi Luca Cavalli Sforza. In 2014 he curated the permanent scientific installation ("Plants and Man") of the Garden of Biodiversity in the Botanical Garden of Padua; in 2017 he was co-curator of the exhibition DNA. The great book of life from Mendel to genomics (Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni). He has written books for children and adolescents on evolution and together with Banda Osiris and Federico Taddia writes and acts in science-based theatre and music projects such as Finalmente il Finimondo! (2012) and Il maschio inutile (2015). Since 2019, on behalf of the AIRC he has produced and brought the DNA show to theatres together with music collective Deproducers. Since 2018, he has been editor of the University of Padua web magazine, Il Bo LIVE, and Natura Viva magazine. He collaborates with Il Corriere della Sera and with magazines Le Scienze, Micromega and L'Indice dei Libri. He is author of numerous national and international publications in the field of the philosophy of science, including La vita inaspettata (Cortina, 2011; finalist in the Galileo Prize; Premio Serono Special Mention 2012); Evoluti e abbandonati (Einaudi, 2014); Il maschio è inutile (Rizzoli, 2014, with F. Taddia); Libertà di migrare (Einaudi, 2016, with V. Calzolaio); Imperfezione. Una storia naturale (Cortina, 2019); La Terra dopo di noi (Contrasto, 2019; with photos by F. Lanting), Finitudine (Cortina, 2020), Serendipità (Cortina, 2021). Human evolution, cultural and technological evolution, the philosophy of science, the Anthropocene and bioethics are the main subject areas of his works.