0:00:03.300,0:00:06.680 The topic of this TEDx event[br]is "heterotopia", 0:00:07.400,0:00:09.750 although I don’t know how many speakers 0:00:09.750,0:00:13.335 will explicitly talk[br]about heterotopias today. 0:00:14.320,0:00:17.260 Thus, for the sake of clarity, 0:00:17.260,0:00:19.480 I’ll start with a definition[br]of heterotopia, 0:00:20.080,0:00:24.800 a personal definition, one that sounds[br]clear and sensible to me. 0:00:25.840,0:00:28.897 A heterotopia is a subspace 0:00:28.897,0:00:33.200 of the generic space we live in, 0:00:34.760,0:00:39.080 a subspace even in a broader sense: 0:00:39.080,0:00:41.720 for example, a subspace of the Web. 0:00:42.680,0:00:46.720 A subspace where the rules[br]of the generic space -- 0:00:47.600,0:00:51.747 prohibitions, expectations, and so on -- 0:00:52.257,0:00:58.241 are overturned, modified,[br]simplified or mirrored, 0:00:58.241,0:01:01.220 depending on the [br]type of heterotopia. 0:01:02.600,0:01:07.320 Now, let’s make an example[br]of heterotopia: carnival. 0:01:08.160,0:01:10.830 Someone may call it a heterochronia -- 0:01:10.830,0:01:15.660 although I think that, after Einstein[br]time and space are one. 0:01:16.210,0:01:20.766 The carnival is clearly a heterotopia, 0:01:21.160,0:01:25.487 and has a feature[br]heterotopias typically share: 0:01:26.800,0:01:28.640 it’s a "discharge" moment, 0:01:29.190,0:01:32.160 a space where contradictions, 0:01:33.310,0:01:36.640 instead of exploding[br]in a full-blown revolution, 0:01:37.320,0:01:43.360 find their place in a contained,[br]socially accepted revolution, 0:01:43.360,0:01:45.200 with well-defined temporal boundaries. 0:01:46.080,0:01:50.040 This way, society prevents[br]revolutions and outbursts -- 0:01:50.040,0:01:51.627 and this is bad. 0:01:52.508,0:01:54.000 Porn is also a heterotopia: 0:01:54.680,0:01:57.600 when you visit a porn website,[br]you are warned. 0:01:57.600,0:02:01.859 It’s a place where some rules 0:02:01.859,0:02:05.040 are suspended, or reversed -- 0:02:05.560,0:02:09.800 on a porn website, for example,[br]you can see a girl 0:02:10.479,0:02:14.680 in postures, attitudes, and behaviors 0:02:14.680,0:02:17.640 you can hardly find on common websites; 0:02:17.640,0:02:19.708 they're actually forbidden[br]everywhere else. 0:02:21.520,0:02:25.040 Carnival also looks[br]like an upside-down world. 0:02:25.640,0:02:27.280 A child, for example, 0:02:28.720,0:02:33.040 is forbidden to dress up as Batman[br]and go to school. 0:02:34.080,0:02:38.080 Porn is an upside-down world[br]as well, isn’t it? 0:02:39.120,0:02:42.920 It embodies the same subversion[br]of usual relations 0:02:42.920,0:02:45.750 that we can find in heterotopias. 0:02:47.040,0:02:50.590 Alas, much like carnival, 0:02:50.590,0:02:53.370 porn is also an outlet, and that’s bad. 0:02:53.980,0:02:57.600 That’s bad because[br]it keeps contradictions, 0:02:57.600,0:03:01.655 arising from how sex is treated[br]in the common space, 0:03:01.655,0:03:02.800 from exploding. 0:03:04.120,0:03:05.480 Therefore, when porn -- 0:03:06.040,0:03:10.630 like carnival -- stays[br]confined, delimited, 0:03:10.630,0:03:12.320 it becomes a negative phenomenon. 0:03:13.080,0:03:16.960 I believe that we should have the freedom[br]to dress like superheroes -- 0:03:16.960,0:03:19.280 I mean, social freedom -- 0:03:19.280,0:03:21.678 in any context, even when going to work, 0:03:21.678,0:03:24.400 even if we hold a position of power. 0:03:26.120,0:03:32.080 And yet, porn tends to trespass,[br]to invade the common space. 0:03:32.960,0:03:38.800 Prominent examples are nudes[br]on ordinary gossip magazines, 0:03:38.800,0:03:42.640 or sex scenes in art movies. 0:03:43.840,0:03:47.320 Such trespassing of porn into common space 0:03:48.000,0:03:50.680 is strongly opposed, 0:03:51.600,0:03:55.220 for instance in social network’s rules. 0:03:56.021,0:03:57.320 I’ve been told so often: 0:03:57.320,0:04:01.400 “Ok, you work in porn.[br]Just don’t talk about it, shut up!”. 0:04:01.400,0:04:04.760 I can’t even talk about porn per se. 0:04:07.560,0:04:12.400 Among the opposers of porn's[br]trespassing into common space, 0:04:12.400,0:04:16.640 there are feminists, catholics, muslims, 0:04:16.640,0:04:23.120 but also intellectuals, atheists too,[br]progressives and conservatives, 0:04:23.720,0:04:27.120 all united against porn invasion[br]of common space. 0:04:29.320,0:04:30.440 In my opinion, 0:04:31.520,0:04:35.800 porn's trespassing into public domain 0:04:36.520,0:04:40.040 is a sign of progress,[br]for a very simple reason: 0:04:40.800,0:04:45.920 it rubs the nose[br]into people's irrationality. 0:04:47.000,0:04:51.400 An example: why shouldn’t a child[br]watch an intercourse scene 0:04:52.120,0:04:54.640 projected on a giant screen 0:04:54.640,0:04:59.478 in Piccadilly Circus in London,[br]or in Piazza del Popolo in Rome? 0:04:59.478,0:05:00.880 What's wrong with that? 0:05:01.499,0:05:03.520 The problem lays not only in the influence 0:05:03.520,0:05:05.840 religions still have on people 0:05:06.360,0:05:09.600 but mostly in current schizophrenias[br]between practice and reason -- 0:05:10.120,0:05:12.840 for example, when a couple[br]of atheist parents 0:05:12.840,0:05:15.720 decides to baptize their child 0:05:15.720,0:05:18.680 for the sake of tradition,[br]or just not to disappoint granny. 0:05:19.840,0:05:22.240 Or still, in the USA, 0:05:23.160,0:05:26.630 a parent that decides[br]to circumcise his own son -- 0:05:26.630,0:05:31.160 so we are talking about[br]a genital mutilation here -- 0:05:31.960,0:05:34.140 just because it’s always been like that. 0:05:34.880,0:05:38.520 Someone will bring out[br]usual objections like, 0:05:38.520,0:05:42.135 “Everybody is free to do[br]as they want or as they believe." 0:05:42.135,0:05:43.320 But we are not. 0:05:43.920,0:05:46.680 Because it’s actually legal 0:05:46.680,0:05:49.720 to instill religious irrationalities[br]into children's minds, 0:05:50.960,0:05:55.280 it’s legal to refuse to transfuse a child, 0:05:55.280,0:05:58.740 maybe in the name of Geova,[br]and cause him the loss of a limb -- 0:05:58.740,0:06:00.000 it already happened. 0:06:00.560,0:06:04.760 But it’s illegal to show a 13-year-old 0:06:04.760,0:06:08.572 a PG-14 rated film, 0:06:08.960,0:06:13.000 just because it shows[br]plenty of all-nude scenes. 0:06:14.960,0:06:18.280 So, where is freedom here? 0:06:19.360,0:06:23.000 The truth is we take freedom[br]away from rational people, 0:06:23.000,0:06:25.080 to give it to irrational ones. 0:06:25.080,0:06:28.680 Another example:[br]abortion is legal in Italy, 0:06:29.480,0:06:32.400 yet most of the women[br]who want to have an abortion 0:06:32.400,0:06:34.720 struggle to do it[br]in a public health facility 0:06:36.040,0:06:38.880 because most gynecologists[br]are conscientious objectors, 0:06:38.880,0:06:40.130 in such facilities. 0:06:42.840,0:06:45.100 The truth is, freedom 0:06:45.100,0:06:49.200 is never neutral to rationality -- 0:06:49.200,0:06:53.040 there is always a core of shared truths. 0:06:53.680,0:06:57.320 So we must ask ourselves:[br]which freedom do we want? 0:06:58.160,0:07:02.920 Do we want the freedom[br]invoked by religious leaders, popes, 0:07:02.920,0:07:06.000 or do we want rational freedom? 0:07:07.560,0:07:10.520 According to that relativist freedom, 0:07:10.520,0:07:13.560 they can have their medieval parades, 0:07:13.560,0:07:16.160 with people self-fustigating[br]in the streets, 0:07:16.760,0:07:19.960 while I cannot freely walk naked. 0:07:21.360,0:07:26.003 There is no symmetry in this freedom, 0:07:26.440,0:07:28.560 in this acephalous relativism; 0:07:28.560,0:07:32.400 there is only the desire[br]to protect irrationality, 0:07:33.000,0:07:36.933 not to face our own contradictions. 0:07:42.280,0:07:49.054 Today, two ways of thinking[br]seem to face each other: 0:07:50.040,0:07:53.265 a strong, religious one; 0:07:54.400,0:07:57.436 and a weak, secular one. 0:07:58.240,0:08:02.760 I believe instead, that a strong,[br]rationalist approach should prevail, 0:08:03.440,0:08:07.930 one that allows to show[br]a movie with nude scenes 0:08:07.930,0:08:09.745 to a 13-year-old, 0:08:10.800,0:08:15.680 but forbids to instill him with[br]religious irrationalities. 0:08:16.680,0:08:19.420 (Applause)