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DECKARD
DECKARD presents
Among the greatest discoveries made in recent times by the human mind one must include, I think, the art of judging books without having read them. -Georg Lichtenberg. Aphorisms. 1766-1799.
Don't let people lie to you: hostels are for the ugly. -Victor. The rules of attraction. 2002.
What's this?
A telegram from the assistant. We've been summoned to the University.
You go.
You're not coming?
No, you go. It'll be the usual letdown.
All right, I'm going now.
COSTUMES Beatrice Zannini
SOUND Sasha Shinezz
FIRST ASSISTANT Francesco Genco
SCREENPLAY Edoardo D'Elia
IMAGES BY Enrico Poli
The notion that one's entire life is a dream -- a dream in which we believe all the objects that we see are real...
... doesn't imply any logical contradiction. Although it's not a self-contradictory idea, there is no reason to think it is true.
- Wake up! - I'm sorry.
Try to hold on: we're almost done.
In a little while, when we leave this room, we will naturally believe that this table is going to stay here, where it is now.
This instinctive belief doesn't get us into any trouble. To the contrary, it simplifies and organizes the explanation of our experiences.
Therefore, there are no good reasons to reject it.
We can certainly accept the idea that the outside world truly exists, and that its existence doesn't wholly rely on the fact that we keep perceiving it through our senses...
... though we can still maintain a slight doubt that it's all just the result of a dream.
And so you claim that we must trust our instincts, which tell us that this table exists when we're not around
and at the same time our... intuition that there is more to the world than meets the eye.
You see, I think, as the Professor stated in his most recent treatise, that to see reality too clearly brings about the same bad effects as does believing it to be merely a mysterious dream.
Many other professors argue that metaphysical philosophers are often just people who are too weak to accept the world as it is.
Nevertheless, no disillusionment, however extreme, can protect one from the terrible reality of being in the world, and in fact, it would just render life bleak and meaningless…
Or, as a great Hollywood producer said, “Too much reality is not what people want”.
Did he just quote…?
What?
Isn't that a quote from that movie...?
Are you sure?
So then, what's left for philosophy to do? Should it explain the deepest reality of things, and therefore the deepest of mysteries?
Should it teach people how to live within the dream? Should it teach us how to deal with both types of worlds…?
Well, this is a good question to ask the professor.
Well, since the Professor has been hard to find recently, at least tell us what you yourself think.
Next Monday... we'll go on next Monday.
It drives me crazy when they answer as the author would! Tell me what you think, one time at least! I can read what the author thinks.
I don't know, and in any case, I can't stand this whole thing about the Professor's mysterious absence. I'll try asking him again.
Good luck, I'll go grab a coffee, see you later.
Good bye.
- Good morning. - Good morning.
The telegram...
Oh... yes, you're Alfredo, aren't you?
I am.
I'm sorry to interrupt, just something quick: do you have office hours today?
No, today I'm busy -- sorry.
Well.
Well, let's see... here it states: “He graduated with top grades and distinction, and wrote a dissertation with... a very long title.
Never take a class whose title is longer than the class itself.
Do you know who said that?
No.
Snoopy.
So, “A top student who stood out for his participation and his motivation” Well, well, well… my compliments!
“His remarkable ability to flit from one idea to another allows him to sidestep the holes in his knowledge.”
A classic! “He's smart but if he just made some effort...”
Well, if I hadn't made any effort...
You're quite right. Follow me.
They tell me to raise the level... The Professor always tells me that the lectures have to be of high level… and these students fall asleep!
So, the Professor has chosen you as the ideal candidate for this new project...
... and he's told me that you have a partner too... a certain…?
Delplace.
Delplace. Are you friends? Are you electively affine? I don't care, I trust you; but efficiency is the top priority.
Your job won't be what you would call a distinction for a young man wishing to pursue an academic career. Is this what you are aiming towards?
We'll see.
For this kind of research we need someone who knows how to get around… not just in the library, since in a library you don't go anywhere.
We're looking for someone who knows the lay of the land and is familiar with the space.
Have you ever noticed how clumsy many people are? They stumble, they bump into each other, as if they were on a cliff covered with lava and with needles everywhere.
It's the opposite of what you do with your own lack of knowledge.
Do you think you could be just as coordinated and insightful? That is, with reality, with the external world?
Still maintaining the slight doubt that it's all just the result of a dream?
Come in.
Is the Professor...?
The Professor isn't here. He has been absent for quite some time, and I can't reach him... and the students won't be patient for long.
Is he on a trip, or…?
Please, sit down. No, all was going on as usual when he told me about you and your fellow, some days ago, and then nothing more.
Ergo ( = therefore)?
Ergo ( = therefore) this whole story is making more mysteries than it is going to solve.
Ok then, but what are we going to...?
You have probably understood by now that your activities have to be kept secret. The Professor has risked his position many times because of his fascination for the limits of the comprehensible.
Anyway, yesterday morning I found this envelope on the table, along with a note telling to deliver it to you in person as soon as possible.
You'll find directions inside, and temporary C.A.R.T.A. badges as well. (C.A.R.T.A. = Working Redactors and Transcribers Academic Committee)
You should have seen them. After the lesson, they all stopped to touch the table as they were leaving.
Freshmen! They are wonderful. How nice it was to be carefree. When my father didn't throw my dentist's bills in my face.
And my mother didn't stare at the clock waiting for my first salary or something.
Good morning. Hi dad. I brought you tea.
Tell me more.
It seems we are talking about a one time chance.
Listen to me: you have to stay home, focused. You shouldn't see anyone.
You're right, I'm getting dizzy this way.
What does the envelope contain?
One of the history of science's mysteries that has never been solved.
Never ever?
So it seems… this is “The missing of Ettore Majorana”, then, if we are good, we will be assigned more.
Anyway, here is the bibliography on the topic.
Have you been to the library yet, to get an idea?
Uhm, no, because I was...
Well, don't worry about it. We'll go there soon.
No, it's pointless to go there… they have the classics, but many of the others they don't…
And none of the other libraries...?
No, none of the other libraries of the University have those books.
Perfect...
Yeah… I asked around, and the only thing I understood it's that it is better not to ask around it seems.
Fantastic...
So, what do you think?
I don't know. What do you think?
About what?
Well, I don't know. You are always sitting there reading books, maybe I thought you'd have an idea...
Well look, I'm not sure, the assistant says that...
Near the dumpsters!
What?!
Let's look in the dumpsters. Do you know how many people throw books away?
If you say so. Well, we can try. What are you doing, you want to come with us?
Stop bothering him! What does the Assistant say?
Your task is to solve this mystery and have a well-written essay on it. Grasp the meaning and report the gist.
So, a kind of detective journalism…
Well, if after all those years studying philosophy you just want to be a journalist, go ahead.
I guess you're right.
Let me know as soon as possible about you and your partner's decision.
Ok, thank you. Good bye.
Oh, and if you should encounter any problem in looking for the books, remember what the great Julius Caesar said.
That “things look greater from afar”?
No, it's a brilliant citation, but not all that relevant.
He said: “The greatest enemy hides in the last place you would ever look”
What does that mean?
Who knows... Maybe only that he really really likes to quote.
Well, we like to quote as well. And what about the books?
In the last place you would ever look... Admit it! You're keeping the books!
Me?
- Let's go! - Let's go.
If nothing goes the way it should, I will be a barber after all this.
Yeah. That Turk has a very fine hand.
I meant Gasparo, he just sits there and reads all day long. I've never seen him once holding a pair of scissors.
Maybe he inherited a fortune.
Who knows where one can find a fortune? I could use one as well.
Ergo ( = so)?
What?
Sum ( = I am)... I mean: should we accept? I think we could succeed.
In finding the books?
About that, what is wrong with those books? Anyway I was talking about the offer. What do you think?
You can do whatever you like.
But you can't do it whenever you want. You have to admit this is a good chance.
Yeah, but they aren't paying us.
But it's fascinating and we have to find something to do after graduation.
But they aren't paying us.
For now... but if we insist... maybe.
There! You are their salesman already.
Come on, let's go.
By the way you are a poser, yours isn't true skepticism...
... you do like to tell yourself stories too.
No, that is you!
Time moves fast.
Yes and, all things considered, we've taken it easy so far.
Telling Ourselves A Story