The writer Rosa Montero, who signs the latest novel in her Bruna Husky series, ‘Difficult Animals’ (Seix Barral), has assured that “raising walls” against migration It is “imbecility” and “ethically debatable”, and then adds that there are no walls “high enough” to “defend” the “tsunami of displaced people” today.
«To be or not to be, but to be what, that is the question: to be what. Humanity is on a radical and very dangerous frontier (…) One of the great problems of the present and the future are displaced people, migrations. What we are experiencing is nothing more than the tip of the iceberg, the beginning of a tsunami of displacement due to global warming. Faced with this challenge, there is a part of society that says that we have to set borders, build walls and protect ourselves from the poor: let the first world build walls (…). EITHER we are all saved or none of us», claimed the writer during a meeting with the media this Tuesday, January 14.
In ‘Difficult Animals’, Montero explores identity and “broken” personalities in a “chaotic” world in which Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly present. «In this breakdown of personality and this lack of calm the extreme right grows. Not only the extreme right, Islamism is growing, all the tyrannical ideologiestotalitarian, extremist and violent that give a feeling of belonging as opposed to an opposite,” he added.
In that sense, Montero has assured that this situation finds its origin in the “lack of democratic credibility” – which in Spain he attributes to the end of the 2008 crisis -, which sustains the extreme right and other radical currents by “fear and emptiness.” ». For this reason, the author explains, there is a “legitimate criticism” among voters of Donald Trump in the United States or of far-right parties in Europe.
“It’s a critical moment of lack of democratic legitimacy and crisis of democratic credibility. Even so, it is the only possible system, with all its defects (…) Democracy is hypocritical, it is a liar, it is not egalitarian and these defects were evident after the 2008 crisis. We are supposed to get out of the crisis, but It was a false exit, we left with the impoverishment of 25% of the world population (…) What people feel now is that democracy does not speak for them, it does not defend them, that they have become impoverished and your children will be poorer still. And yet, those who caused the crisis not only did not pay anything, but they have become richer than before. There is a legitimate criticism of all those who vote for Trump, those who vote for the German extreme right,” he lamented.
Closure of the tetralogy
‘Difficult Animals’ is the fourth and final novel in the tetralogy Bruna Huskywhich has been accompanying the writer since 2007. In this closing, the author puts at the center the “darkness” that she considers that AI brings with it, while reflecting on death, love or identity.
«In the last 70 years we have put ourselves at risk of extinction due to nuclear energy, global warming and now artificial intelligence. If we keep trying, we will achieve it. We are like in a race to see if we manage to become extinct or what happens, it is amazing. It is that absolutely transcendental moment, which is captured in this novel. Despite all this darkness, it turns out that in the end there is a reaffirmation of life. Because I believe in the force of life and in the ability of human beings to adapt,” he acknowledged.
Thus, the writer has reiterated that the “risk” of AI is a real threat for today’s world because it is an intelligence that we will not know how to “control.” “Creating an intelligence superior to ours is a basic evolutionary error,” he added.
With this novel, Montero concludes a series that has accompanied him for almost 20 years, an ending that has helped him to be “less afraid of death,” as he explained. “I found it very comforting and very bright“I think it is one of the brightest endings of all my books,” he highlighted.
For this reason, ‘Difficult Animals’ ends with a feeling of «sorrow and vertigo»although he does not believe that a character has to continue in time “despite everything.” Even so, Montero has already revealed that he is working on a “crazy” new project: a “contemporary” fantasy trilogy. “No dragons,” Montero specified with a laugh.
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