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A arrogância humana

[...] I’m frightened by what the most extraordinary of Italian poets, Giacomo Leopardi, calls “the night sky full of worlds”. I’m also frightened by the conceited small-mindedness of human beings when they consider themselves elect creatures. I have no liking for the throne we have assigned ourselves by declaring that we are beloved children of God and lords of the universe.

The pride that derives from that distresses me – that, although we are animals among animals, we believe we have the right to enslave the rest of the living world. This makes us dangerous, and at the same time ridiculous. However much we empower ourselves with increasingly sophisticated technology, we remain comic creatures, like the cat that a child dresses as if it were her doll. It’s urgent that we learn to confront the truth of ourselves, before we’re destroyed by our obstinate determination to become immortal. The animal man has to be self-critical. The future that interests me is a future of absolute openness to the other, to any living being, to everything endowed with the breath of life.

— Elena Ferrante