What if we raised a child to believe the world was like a fairytale: populated by dragons, with clouds made of cotton candy and trees ready to hand out ice cream in exchange for water and honey?
A child raised in such a way would build a vivid expectation of what awaited them\u2014especially if they also lived in a play-park style house, filled with replicas of those dragons, clouds, and trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And how many would still defend that vision when, after a long journey, that child\u2014now grown\u2014faced a very different reality, blaming disappointment not on the fairytale itself but on a wrong choice of paths?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking at our society, the condition in which much of humanity finds itself is not so far from that of such an adult raised on bread and fairytales.
But where does this tendency to see the world this way come from?
With the introduction of the mechanistic worldview\u2014about four centuries ago\u2014and its deep influence on every field of knowledge, we began to live in a sort of \u201ctoyland\u201d in how we imagined the planet.
As we discovered the laws that govern the universe, and in response to the Church\u2019s dogmatic obscurantism, we asserted our autonomy as sentient beings, freeing ourselves from the dictates of faith.
But we got carried away. Without realizing it, we found ourselves on the comforting shores of another faith: faith in the infinity of our productive powers, supported by a planet imagined as an inexhaustible treasure chest of resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the mechanistic paradigm is one of the two \u201cparents\u201d who raised the child on fairytales\u2014and thinking of the human being as nothing more than a \u201cproduct-consuming machine\u201d with infinite needs is, after all, a rather sad fairytale\u2014the other parent is the capitalist market system, which continues to defend that distorted image even when the adult collides with reality.
Despite the capitalist edifice having shown its cracks time and again\u2014including the current crisis of national economies\u2014it seems economists, the new \u201cgurus\u201d of this faith, refuse to admit that the problem does not lie in regulating or deregulating markets, but in the very foundations of the system.
Foundations which, to borrow from Shakespeare, are \u201cmade of the same stuff as dreams.\u201d
And so we keep telling ourselves our fairytale, defending it with phrases like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo, my child. Keep searching: dragons exist. Maybe you\u2019ve been looking in the wrong places. Maybe it\u2019s too hard alone. Convince your friends, and together you\u2019ll find them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n That most economists, by training, fail to integrate into their calculations the conditions nature imposes on every human activity might not be a problem\u2026 were it not for the fact that they are precisely the \u201chigh priests\u201d chosen by governments as advisers. Rude awakenings are never pleasant, especially when one is dreaming of something delightful. I do not intend to present capitalism as absolute evil. We have the ability to recognize reality\u2019s signals in time, before the violent impact of our \u201csolid dreams\u201d smashes us against the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n A. Gramsci<\/a>\nAnthropology<\/a>\nCommunity<\/a>\nCulture<\/a>\nEcology<\/a>\nEconomy<\/a>\nFrancis Bacon<\/a>\nGiorgio Nebbia<\/a>\nH. D. Thoreau<\/a>\nIvan Illich<\/a>\nJacques Ellul<\/a>\nJeremy Rifkin<\/a>\nMark Fisher<\/a>\nMeccanicismo<\/a>\nNoam Chomsky<\/a>\nPensiero Cristiano<\/a>\nPerception<\/a>\nPIL<\/a>\nPlanetary Boundaries<\/a>\nPolitics<\/a>\nHealth<\/a>\nSerge Latouche<\/a>\nTime<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Quanti sarebbero d\u2019accordo a crescere un bambino abituandolo a pensare che il mondo sia come nelle favole: popolato di draghi, con nuvole di zucchero filato e alberi pronti a regalargli gelati in cambio di acqua e miele? Un bambino cresciuto cos\u00ec si costruirebbe un\u2019immagine ben definita di ci\u00f2 che lo attende, soprattutto se vivesse anche […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":267088026,"featured_media":18,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[36687,2367,798],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antropologia","category-cultura","category-politica"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/chatgpt-image-26-giu-2025-14_27_27.png?fit=1536%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgD05o-9","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21,"url":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/2025\/09\/29\/pincopanco-e-pancopinco\/","url_meta":{"origin":9,"position":0},"title":"2. Pincopanco e Pancopinco","author":"Homo (Semi) Liber","date":"September 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Giochino del giorno:Cosa hanno in comune Giorgia Meloni, Elly Schlein, Giuseppe Conte e gli altri leader politici dei principali partiti?Ovviamente, a prescindere dalla loro natura di esseri umani. Aiutino: la cosa che li accomuna \u00e8 la stessa che accomuna destra e sinistra.Qualcuno potrebbe storcere il naso dopo questa affermazione, ma\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economia"","block_context":{"text":"Economia","link":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/category\/economia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/pincopanco-e-pancopinco.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/pincopanco-e-pancopinco.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/pincopanco-e-pancopinco.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/pincopanco-e-pancopinco.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/pincopanco-e-pancopinco.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":135,"url":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/2025\/10\/20\/una-repubblica-fondata-sulla-vita\/","url_meta":{"origin":9,"position":1},"title":"5. Una repubblica fondata sulla vita","author":"Homo (Semi) Liber","date":"October 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Che lavoro vuoi fare da grande? Lo scienziato? L'astronauta? Il calciatore?\" \u00c8 una domanda che quasi tutti ci siamo sentiti rivolgere da bambini. Fa parte di quei rituali dell'infanzia che sembrano innocui, eppure custodiscono gi\u00e0 un'impronta culturale profonda. Sin da piccoli osserviamo gli adulti passare gran parte delle loro giornate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antonio Gramsci"","block_context":{"text":"Antonio Gramsci","link":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/category\/antonio-gramsci\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BFB3007C-4ABE-49F1-AC20-9856A217119E.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BFB3007C-4ABE-49F1-AC20-9856A217119E.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BFB3007C-4ABE-49F1-AC20-9856A217119E.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BFB3007C-4ABE-49F1-AC20-9856A217119E.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BFB3007C-4ABE-49F1-AC20-9856A217119E.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":297,"url":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/2026\/02\/02\/8-il-paesaggio-che-non-interroghiamo\/","url_meta":{"origin":9,"position":2},"title":"8. The Landscape We Do Not Question","author":"Homo (Semi) Liber","date":"February 2, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Ogni mattina potrei affacciarmi alla finestra e guardare ci\u00f2 che mi circonda.\u2028Palazzi, strade, automobili, semafori, negozi, cartelloni pubblicitari, balconi con piante in vaso, antenne, condizionatori. \u00c8 tutto l\u00ec, davanti ai miei occhi, e io lo riconosco immediatamente. Non devo interpretarlo: l\u2019ho gi\u00e0 imparato.So cosa \u00e8 \u201cuna strada\u201d, cosa \u00e8 \u201cun\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antonio Gramsci"","block_context":{"text":"Antonio Gramsci","link":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/category\/antonio-gramsci\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-Jan-31-2026-at-06_37_33-PM.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-Jan-31-2026-at-06_37_33-PM.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-Jan-31-2026-at-06_37_33-PM.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-Jan-31-2026-at-06_37_33-PM.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-Jan-31-2026-at-06_37_33-PM.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":275,"url":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/2026\/01\/12\/quando-la-vera-malattia-e-non-vedere-la-malattia\/","url_meta":{"origin":9,"position":3},"title":"7. Quando la vera malattia \u00e8 non vedere la malattia","author":"Homo (Semi) Liber","date":"January 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cPrima di guarire qualcuno, chiedigli se \u00e8 disposto a rinunciare alle cose che lo hanno fatto ammalare.\u201d\u2014\u00a0attribuita a Ippocrate Quando qualcosa nel nostro corpo non va, di solito facciamo una cosa semplice: cerchiamo di far passare il fastidio.Un mal di testa? Un analgesico.Un\u2019insonnia? Qualcosa per dormire.Un bruciore allo stomaco? Un\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Confini Planetari"","block_context":{"text":"Confini Planetari","link":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/category\/confini-planetari\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-Jan-12-2026-at-01_46_41-PM.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-Jan-12-2026-at-01_46_41-PM.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-Jan-12-2026-at-01_46_41-PM.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-Jan-12-2026-at-01_46_41-PM.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChatGPT-Image-Jan-12-2026-at-01_46_41-PM.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100,"url":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/2025\/10\/06\/il-giglio-e-il-capitale\/","url_meta":{"origin":9,"position":4},"title":"3. Il giglio e il capitale","author":"Homo (Semi) Liber","date":"October 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Circa 2000 anni fa, in un punto del mondo, accadde che per invenzione letteraria, o per maturazione di un ristretto gruppo di persone, o per il vissuto particolare di un certo individuo, si \u00e8 iniziato a raccontare una storia.E questa storia con al centro un certo personaggio, un\u00a0\u201cfiglio dell\u2019umanit\u00e0\u201d, ha\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cultura"","block_context":{"text":"Cultura","link":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/category\/cultura\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/il-giglio-e-il-capitale-1.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/il-giglio-e-il-capitale-1.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/il-giglio-e-il-capitale-1.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/il-giglio-e-il-capitale-1.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/il-giglio-e-il-capitale-1.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":130,"url":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/2025\/10\/13\/il-tempo-rotto\/","url_meta":{"origin":9,"position":5},"title":"4. 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Non chiedeva di essere risparmiato, n\u00e9 investito.Si donava, si apriva, ci si giocava.Poi arriv\u00f2 l\u2019uomo della macchina,e gli mise le ruote, al tempo.Fu tagliato a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antropologia"","block_context":{"text":"Antropologia","link":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/category\/antropologia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/il_tempo_rotto.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/il_tempo_rotto.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/il_tempo_rotto.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/il_tempo_rotto.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbitalibera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/il_tempo_rotto.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/267088026"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":289,"href":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions\/289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbitalibera.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
And they\u2014and we\u2014intoxicated by the abundance of goods produced in the last century, now, like children afraid of losing their toys, struggle to open our eyes and recognize that perhaps it is those very toys that have taken much away from us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it is undeniable that for us\u2014the part of the world that has tasted the sweetest fruits of capitalism\u2014that system has been, and still is, a room full of comforts.
But as suggested in the documentary The Corporation<\/em> (Achbar, Abbott, Bakan \u2013 2003), we should be careful not to mistake the rush of speed and the air whipping against our faces for the experience of flight, when in truth it is a rapid fall toward a ruinous crash with the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Throughout human history, periods have come and gone\u2014and will continue to come and go\u2014in which worldviews, lifestyles, and social models are tested. These are natural, formative stages in humanity\u2019s overall journey.
The point is that, while recognizing the original intention of building widespread well-being, the time has come to look at what surrounds us as it truly is\u2014not with the enchanted gaze of childhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n