«My tweets with Elon Musk on empty cradles in Italy»- Corriere.it

ROME
– Last Friday, when Istat published data on the historic low birth rate in Italy, Andrew Stroppa, 29, a computer analyst, raised the alarm on Twitter: “We are running at full speed towards decline”. Obtaining Elon Musk’s answer: “Italy is disappearing!”. The CEO of Twitter was also interested in the cause of our empty cribs last year, even receiving a comment from Giorgia Meloni: “It’s good that a visible person talks about it”, even if the alarm “is disheartening”.

Stroppa, how did you meet Elon Musk?

“I wrote to him on Twitter a little over a year ago. He answered me ».

And now you collaborate with him?

“I gave him a small hand to minimize the phenomenon of child pornography on Twitter.”

Musk gave her public certificates of esteem (“thanks for the work done,” he wrote on Twitter). She is 29 years old, she lives in Rome, she has already worked in information technology for ten years.

«At 18 I had my first great satisfaction, the New York Times published my data analysis. But I don’t want to talk about myself.”

By Elon Musk instead? He replied to a tweet of his on Friday about this. What else did you say?

“I wrote that I hoped that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni would deal with how to encourage births”.

The conversation went beyond the tweets, what did he say back?

«He often makes considerations on the falling birth rate in Italy. He cares a lot about our country ».

Yes? And what about the problem of births in Italy?

“He drew a parallel with the Roman Empire, saying that one of the factors that contributed to the disappearance of the empire was precisely the collapse of the birth rate.”

And does Musk have any ideas on how the drop in birth rates could be countered?

“As far as I know, he never gives advice. He is an entrepreneur who cares about child care and invests in education, which is part of our well-being. If there is a welfare system around it is easier to see future prospects and therefore think about having children. Today there is an absence of prospects».

This is especially true for young people, who often go abroad to build their future. You stayed here, do you have any advice?

«I have no advice, I was lucky. I understand that for a young researcher there is a lack of career and earning prospects».

How did she do it?

“I am an independent researcher with a small group that I created. We deal with online counterfeiting, Islamic terrorism on social networks, social networks in general”.

Independent researcher? And do you research? With what money?

«I finance myself, having other lucrative jobs».

So is there a chance to make it?

“I repeat, I am lucky. There is a gerontocracy problem in this country. There is no turnover, there are always the same people around».

Istat has underlined how Italy is a country of the elderly.

“But if we don’t give space to young people we won’t go anywhere. Elon Musk puts twenty and thirty year olds to work. And certainly not in stock, he makes him launch rockets for SpaceX, and puts artificial intelligence programs in his hands for Tesla. He is inspired by Enrico Fermi, he loves him very much. Fermi at 23 was already a university professor. We should go back to the times of via Panisperna. He dreamed of more. This is what this country lacks: the dream».