(July 12, 2016) Conscience and decision making, creativity, innovation, mprovisation. Rationality, intuition, biological factors, cultural norms, and subconscious desires. These are the things, among others, discussed at the Italian Cultural Institute in São Paulo. The key speaker at the conference titled “When we decide. Are we conscious actors or biological machines?” is Mauro Maldonato. “I am a psychiatrist and professor of general psychopathology. I studied at the Sapienza University in Rome, Federico II University in Naples, the London School of Economics, and École des hautes études in Paris. I have been a recurring visiting professor at the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) and Pontificia Universidade Católica (PUC) of São Paulo and at Duke University. I am author and editor of scientific volumes and articles published in various language and scientific director of the International Research Week”. Maldonato is also a member of various international research groups and is often abroad attending conferences and conducting further research at cultural and scientific institutions. Currently Maldonato works for the Department of European and Mediterranean Cultures at the University of Basilicata. “When we decide. Are we conscious actors or biological machines?” is the title of one of his books released last year (Giunti Editore) which invites us to reflect: “Are we certain that we know why we do the things we do or choose the things we choose?”. Understanding origins and the reasons behind these basic activities of our minds is the challenge. His publication is a journey through the jagged and mutable borders of the archipelago that we call the human action. (Red)