(Dynamic music)
Well, this staging is coming to an end.
Some professors who are enthusiastic
about science, technology and culture,
which is communication,
have made the effort to step out of our fields.
Professors are told:
'You have presence'.
Yes, but not exactly on stage.
Therefore, for all of us,
specially for my colleagues,
it has been a dual effort.
Let us hope we have achieved the goal we were seeking,
which is to thrill you for living in this changing world.
I only want to contribute a little reflection to conclude.
We, humans always thought
that the world had been built for us,
that this stage was built, and when it was finished,
the curtain was raised, the lights were on,
the lights of knowledge,
and then we humans came on stage like main characters,
like celebrities.
What a disappointment!
We were insistently warned by astronomers,
and they keep warning us:
'No, no,
this is a small theatre.
There are many more theatres,
even bigger and more sumptuous.'
And biologists tell us:
'No, you are made of the same material
of the drop curtain and the floor.
You are not on stage,
you are the stage.'
And finally anthropologists have moved us by saying:
"Humans, 'Homo sapiens',
before you came on stage
other humans, I repeat, other humans like you
were already taking it up.
And they were taller, stronger,
and then you appeared".
And there it is the dramatic climax of this play.
It turns out that when we appeared
things began to change.
And the ones who were controlling the stage
have been losing impact, little by little,
until being put away.
That is why we call them 'Neanderthal',
because we have found their remains somewhere far away.
And little by little, they lost so much impact
that they vanished from this staging
like artificial fog.
Why did this happen? The answer
is even more surprising than the event.
The answer is:
this happened because we dreamed more.
And when we dreamed we were creating virtual worlds!
Imaginary worlds!
And so we began telling stories.
So we began commemorating ancestors
with whom we had not even lived!
So we began shrinking, fearing a future scenario,
to come, which could be unfavourable.
Or we all gathered to hatch something to be done.
And that produced a feeling that draws attention:
virtual worlds, imagination, dreams...
They have more emotional strength than reality!
If that reality, which burns if we touch it,
which dazzles if we look at it, which is bothering if we listen to it,
does not even give us the same impression
than those fears, emotions and happiness
which come from virtual worlds.
Well then, that is what caused
this dramatic situation on this stage.
How could I explain that?
I have no choice. As I am on this stage,
I will do it with all I have. Look,
if I wanted to meet you all right now...
Besides, I cannot see you with the lights on.
What would I do? Please, come here.
(LAUGHS) But I would soon realise
that you all do not fit here.
So, I don't know, there is room for 40, 50 people.
Just as Neanderthals!
Beyond that number, the groups of Neanderthals,
that is to say, the groups of these humans,
began showing dysfunction:
subsistence and organizational problems,
a climate of conflict.
So I have no choice.
Although I am looking forward to seeing you,
touching you, talking to you one by one,
I cannot, I cannot here.
I will do something different
thanks to my ability to generate virtual worlds:
I will only call a few people.
Only a few.
When they get here I will tell them stories.
I will tell them stories about heroes who lived there.
I will also tell them the reason of those fears
that are in the shadows, by the curtains.
I will tell them a beautiful story
about who sheds that light which invades us.
And I will show you some beautiful landscapes
that are behind those walls we cannot cross.
Then, the result is as follows:
with the stories I have told you,
come back there and tell all that.
Tell again what you heard.
And those who hear that will tell that again.
And, at the end, a wonder happens:
if I meet any of you in the adjoining corridors,
we will recognise each other,
we will understand each other. Why?
Because we share the same stories,
the same virtual world.
We have resolved it. Neanderthals did not get that,
because they dreamed less.
Well then, the virtual worlds we have generated so far
have produced
this 'Big Bang' of life that we call 'humanity'.
This other and recent virtual world made by 'Homo faber',
because 'Homo sapiens' is also 'Homo faber',
and our maker hands, now we call it 'technology'.
But we have not stopped
transforming the world with our hands.
'Homo faber'.
What can this new virtual world bring us?
Now, as I told you at the beginning,
this performance is finishing.
Well, no.
The play is not finishing.
The curtain will drop, yes, but you...
will stay with me.
(Dynamic music)
European Night of Researchers
Communication and Culture Vice-Chancellor
Scientific Information Office