“THETrust is a serious thing that is given to serious things.” It was an old advertising slogan, but as a truth it is undoubted. Who can we trust today? Of science, technology, literature, justice, information, artificial intelligence? The news tells us not to do it: fishing (the request for a bank transfer, yet it really seemed like it came from our bank); romance scam (it was a scam and yet it seemed like love), dismissals via text message like in the film The Devil Wears Prada 2 (yet that place seemed solid, a second home). To the immense theme of trust, Taobuk (18-22 June in Taormina) dedicates its sixteenth edition with more than 200 guests from 30 nations, and a multidisciplinary program between literature, cinema, music, dance, visual arts and science.
We must have faith in History
In a world crossed by rapid changes, global crises and social transformations, More than ever, trust becomes a precious asset, a vital necessity. And, he claims Maria Attanasioin the beautiful dozen of the Strega con award The reverse rose (Sellerio)«we must have it in history. I have faith in the sense of justice that motivates us to change the world, to break the wall of indifference, to prevent a horrible past of war and death from returning. Alongside greed, there is the tension towards goodwho sometimes dozes. The protagonist of my novel, a young Enlightenment thinker, tries to change the world in his own way (we are on the eve of the French Revolution) and believes that it is possible. He says: I may lose but there will always be a Spartacus who takes up the flag of freedom. When we talk about trust, we also talk about hope and truth. The manipulation of information – today we call it fake news – has always been there, therefore we must not hand over our trust to just anyone, least of all to an artificial intelligence that will solve all our problems.”
Can Artificial Intelligence be trusted?
Curiously, AI is at the center of a ten-year-old, yet incredibly current series starring Jim Caviezel, successfully revived by Netflix, Person of Interest. Harold, a computer genius, created a machine to prevent terrorist attacks, but gave it ethical limits, while another artificial intelligence, his antagonist, Samaritan, freed from all rules, becomes God. And only trust in humanity with its load of doubts, its empathy and solidarity will be able to defeat it.
Of course, the geopolitical scenarios and the enormous power in the hands of technological companies such as Anthropic or Palantir make us slide towards worrying dystopian fantasies, while the Nobel Prize winner for economics Esther Duflo, with her experimental approaches to development theories forces us to deal with global poverty.
In a world crossed by rapid changes, global crises and social transformations, More than ever, trust becomes a precious asset, a vital necessity (Getty Images).
We don’t even trust ourselves
But we don’t have to look that far ahead. First we don’t trust ourselves, ensures Shadé Zahrai, researcher, online trainer and speaker (300 million views), author of Big Trusts. I trust myself (ON Editions).
«We often think that to be successful we need more skills, more productivity or more contacts. In reality, what really blocks us is the seed of doubt, that voice that whispers: “My peers are ahead of me”, “I’m not up to par”. Some call it perfectionism, others overthinking (think too much) o people pleasing (tendency to please others). A world focused on comparison, designed to make you feel less, eats away at self-esteem. Big Trusts is the manual to stop fighting against yourself and start teaming up with the most important person in your life: you. To transform insecurity into fuel.”
Listen to your body to regain confidence
Easy to say, and the manuals are quite rich. But women especially don’t trust their body, to the point of rejecting it, wanting it different, punishing it. Monica Calcagni, gynecologist very present on social media, popularizer and author of the essay-biography My journey alongside women (Maggioli) says he has often encountered this distrust in the body, combined with the inability to listen to the signals it sends.
«What trust can we have in others if we cannot accept ourselves, love ourselves in front of the mirror? We don’t trust the body that changes with motherhood or menopause, we don’t perceive its messages, tiredness and insomnia as important. We run too much, we look after too much (husband, children, elderly parents) and we only stop when illness forces us to. Yet the body says: trust me, accept me even with white hair or a few extra pounds, and if you want to change me, do it for yourself, not for the gaze of others. Today girls identify with their bodies as a presence on social media, they expect to conform to a standard of perfection, instead of trying to get to know themselves.”
Young people’s distrust of the future
It’s no coincidence that Monstersan original, symbolic one exhibition organized by Ied (European Institute of Design) in Milan (the twelve students’ works are permanently visible in Como) has among the most incisive representations Façades (Facades, but also Appearance) by Adele Colombo and Chiara Hien Valtolina which, in a satirical way, they transform distrust towards the body into a catalog of noses, mouths and eyes to be assembled to achieve ideal beauty (equally inhuman). In these works by very young IED students there is an enormous distrust towards the future.
Laura Valerio’s children see the nightmares of war, racism and pedophilia in their bedrooms. Matilde Cau’s landscapes are scarred by eco-monsters. And Veronika Tykhomyrova’s sculpture celebrates the destructive triumph of money, to the detriment of justice.
A society without limits
Simona Loiacono, writer (the latest novel is Joanna of the enchantments, Guandaand tells it to Full Volume Festivalin Ragusa 11-14 June) and magistratebelieves in justice, even if he sees a society «more linked to seduction than to testimony. We are in a very seductive era, we easily trust the influencer we don’t even know, the well-advertised product, the good salesman. For thirty years I have been used to trusting what is documented, to distinguishing reality from appearance. For me, the concept of trust is closely connected to that of limits. We live in a seemingly limitless society. We should learn not to be wary, but to train your gaze. Instead we replace idols in search of meaning, we have the cult of success. In my books I talk about wise women who confront systems of power. Joanna lives in 1640, between the Counter-Reformation and the Inquisition, Virdimura in the 14th century. Both contrast the search for one’s meaning with a world in crisis. Not much has changed, after all.”
In what, then, can we have faith? «In the readers» says Maria Attanasio. «In the value of behaviors that make situations and people credible» says Simona Loiacono. «In our beauty» says Monica Calcagni: «Today I see bodies of all genders that are starting to not be ashamed of being the way they are. Things change, trust me.”