Toni Pendove — The algorithm
Colombo began as a composer of poems, then dedicated himself ten years ago almost as a joke to writing complete stories, thus developing a passion that has given him much satisfaction. “Writing a story from start to finish without boring the reader is not easy. I started by chance when I was 50 because everyone did it, the first was a story written by six hands and now I’ve arrived here, with what I consider to be my best book”. This writing was in fact noticed and then published by the publishing house PlaceBook Publishing which proposed that he also register the two previous works under its own brand.
For the first time, Columbus has chosen one female protagonist, Toni Pendove, creating a name that plays on that of the writer: Toni is a diminutive of Antonio, and Pendove is from the English “pen” pen and “dove” dove. It wasn’t easy for the author to identify with a female character: “I had to change my thoughts, not so much the form, to deal with the complicity and complexity of a woman’s mind.” Toni was born in Milan, her surname derives from the one invented by her grandfather to more easily find a job in America, where he had just emigrated. The girl works in the branch of a large multinational company that supports projects that want to change people’s lives for the better. One day she is forced to follow a project in New York which makes her open her eyes and question her entire career until she decides to quit. From here she begins a journey, a path that leads her to become the very factor of change, just like the English Catholic conspirator Guy Fawkes, initially pointed out as a traitor and then incarnated by the people as a symbol of rebellion. “We live in times in which entropic information mixes the true and the false until they become a single entity. It’s up to us to decide what our future will be without letting someone else decide for us… It’s time to get up from the comfortable sofa and put on Guy’s mask to say loudly that we want the power to decide our destiny back. Sometimes Guy reappears among the plagues of time and Toni had understood this”, he quotes Colombo’s introduction to the story in this regard.
In a story that develops in the present and in the future designed and performed by the author, Toni finds himself imitating Guy, turning into a guide to navigate the complexity of modern society. In her mission, she is accompanied by a woman and a man who are builders of mechanical watches who turn out to be the underlying theme of the novel, representing an untraceable technology as opposed to a world where everything is profiled. “This book is not intended to be a reading to be carried under the umbrella” explained Colombo, it is true that on the one hand, it presents a love story between two women, but its main purpose is to offer itself as a means to address certain issues and delve deeper into topics that characterize these last years of uncertainty. The objective of this book is to show a modern society full of contradiction and confusion, like the current one where the language is one of the first victims of this situation, adopting foreign terms and Italianizing them, creating confusion and dispersion together with social media, which used without awareness they are the first vehicle for transmitting ‘fake news’. “Today we only think about acting instead of thinking”. The author, passionate about technology, shows a reality that seems filtered by artificial intelligence, guided by an algorithm, in which it is practically impossible to distinguish true from false. In the digital age, there is a continuous transfer of power from man to machines, with the thought that technology will solve all problems. Colombo, who among his many passions and hobbies dedicates part of his time to volunteering, has come to the conclusion that the truth is very different. “By often going to Congo I realized the authentic reality. This place is not dominated by consumerism and progress but by a lot of humanity and sensitivity. These will be the true qualities that save the world and distinguish women. A strength that in the book I entrusted to Toni and that she will be the only one capable of determining a different future”.
The evening ended with a long reflection among those present on the role of technology, which if used correctly can bring numerous advantages, but which if used unconsciously or entrusted to the most powerful, can transform into a dangerous tool. The author will continue to write out of necessity to convey what “comes from inside me and not out of ambition, communicating the teachings I have received from life”. So the appointment is for next year with work that will probably deal with his travels in the Congo.
Link to the online article: https://news.italy24.press/books/1035905.html
