Free Nonsense

Chronicles of one (half) anarchist (half) crazy

By Manuel Parente*

Curiously, the amount of subjects that one could approach in a chronicle such as this is a quite longer list than I expected. I could talk about how I managed to show up in crutches at CEGI when I was «in the house» for less than a year. Or about that time in which I was «abducted» by a more or less old lady who no one knew and, in a way that totally transcends me, I ended up participating in a meeting between her and one of the Diretors of INEGI (yes, INEGI, not INESC TEC) without knowing how or what is was about (you should have seen the look on my colleagues faces when I told them what had just happened). However, there is an even more interesting subject in the scope of «Free Nonsense» that promises to soothe the interest of my collegues at INESC TEC. 

As all INESC TEC probably noticed, during the time that follows lunch and precedes the return to work in the afternoon, collaborators of CEGI like to gather around the building’s entrance and undertake some discussions (extremely heated), specially about politics and/or Bitcoins.

So, as a civil-engineer-that-knows-nothing-about-none-of-those-subjects, I assume a point of view incredibly pragmatic: one is incredibly ethereal and the other extremely unnecessary. Yes, its true that my point of view is one of a crazy and extremist anarquist – so extremist that even anti-anarchist I am. Nice to meet you. 

Fortunately, I haven’t got to the point of craziness that can lead me to share this thought during CEGI «heated discussions», under penalty of lure all the attentions and end up impaled at our doorstep with a warning to future insurgents who could have the same idea. Actually, when my opinion is requested during these discussions, I stick to an exaggerated friendly smile and vividly wave like someone who’s sharing opinions with both sides in a very unbiased way. Well, now that I belong here, I decided that once and for all I can take on the rebelliousness and give up on the social and political correctness: for starters, in stead of discussing politics and currencies, why don’t we discuss the need (or not) of their existence? (its time to add on a soundtrack to all this madness – obvious suggestion: Imagine, by John Lennon).

Looking at currency from a simpler point of view, this is, originally, a proof of the individual formation to face a society or a community, which primal use is to gain goods and services essencial to everyday life, namey food and shelter. If we at INESC TEC can reach the golds we are already following, we will be able to create, with the power of the collaboration between our research centres, a robotic infrastructure, autonomous and self-sufficient, capable of ensuring food and shelter, by acting in agriculture (without putting pressure on the SmartFarming team!) and in conctruction industry (e.g. Industry 4.0), respectively. Reaching these golds, what’s the need to continue using a currency? Besides that, if there is no need to compete for better life conditions, because these are guaranteed, where is the notion of propriety going? And of countries and nations? Are we going to turn into a bunch of lazy people and destroy our natural evolution potential, or will we be able to gather around as inhabitants of a global planet and work towards a greater good? Obviously, in this context most likely utopic that Lennon continues to bomb in our ears (assuming that my multimedia instructions were followed), is there any use for politics nowadays?

To wrap up this sarcastic but totally coherent thesis, we can conclude that in this context we are all a bunch of (half) anarquists (half) crazy, who insistly try to phase the world out as we know it, either for fun or to build a better version of it (or both). Here is also justified my lack of contributions (up until now) in the heated CEGI discussions about these subjects: it is not worth to discuss advantages and disadvantages of currencies and politics if we are at the same time working to end them!! Days at INESC TEC are truly an adventure.

* Collaborator at the Centre for Industrial Engineering and Management (CEGI)