Miguel Fernández y Fernández, engineer

José Capiano And now, José? The year is over. You did not pass, Your father got angry and now, José? and now, you? you who are nameless, who mocks others you who takes exams, takes tests, orals? and now, José? You are without a woman, you are without a speech, you are without affection. you can no longer drink, you can no longer smoke, spitting you can no longer do, the night has grown cold. the grade did not come, the day did not come, the laughter did not come, utopia did n

We understand that intelligence is one thing and memory is another. Looking in the dictionary (Portuguese language, Aulete 2011), it seems that we are right. So, this so-called AI (Artificial Intelligence) is a semantic mistake or a clumsy translation. It would be better to call it IA (Intelligent Automatism) or IC (Intelligent Computing). Having said that, in this text, we will adopt the acronym AI to designate the branch of cybernetics that tries to emulate human reasoning.

It was 2005, cell phones were already smaller, with a hinge, they opened and became larger (“flip”). I went to a meeting at PETROBRAS, in the offices on General Canabarro street (near CEFET and Maracanã). I had lunch around there with colleagues. I left there, in a hurry, for a meeting scheduled at my office, on Rua Evaristo da Veiga, near the Municipal Theater of Rio. The subject would be to discuss the company’s balance sheet with an accountant-consultant, paid by time. I

1997, NJ It was autumn of 1997, and he decided to spend a few days in the USA, taking the opportunity to visit relatives and friends. He arrived on a Saturday morning, directly from Rio, via Newark airport, where Léo Goldblatt was waiting for him, a colleague and friend from the years 1971/72 in São Paulo. Léo had returned to the region where he had been born, in Paramus, New Jersey, took him to his house and immediately said: _ Eat something, sleep a little to compensate f

1988jan, coast-to-coast It was Dec 1987 and he went to spend the end of the year at his brother’s house in El Cerrito, next to Berkeley, California, where his brother was doing a “post-doc” in thermodynamics. Christmas was spent in Lake Tahoe. Remember the Bonanza film series? It was set there. On Dec 23, he watched, with his brother and their wives, a live performance by the masterful Ray Charles. With the women, that is a figure of speech. His sister-in-law decided to f

ABES Bio magazine I worked with Eng. Enaldo Cravo Peixoto during part of the year 1971, and this one was told to me by several characters who took part in the “interview”: Fernando Botafogo, Adilson Seroa da Motta, Constantino Arruda, Volpi, ... Enaldo Cravo Peixoto, born in Alagoas, an engineer of the City Hall of the then Federal District, raised to Secretary of Works by Carlos Lacerda when he was governor of the then State of Guanabara, around 1961-62, was quite a charac

I acknowledge that languages influence one another. I acknowledge that English has become the “Esperanto” of the financial market and of international trade, and it is not even worth discussing this, besides using many abbreviated terms and practical words, such as A.S.A.P., OK, “Help”. The same happens with new words, created and/or adapted to meet the demands of technological novelties, such as, for example, “blogue”, which is still a “diary for others to read” (web-log, s

Responding to the invitation of a colleague, former president of the entity, I went to the inauguration of a new board of directors of an old society of engineers, architects and related professionals of “State Civil Servants”! The auditorium was full; the youngest person must have been 60 years old. The auditorium was named after a former professor of mine. On the walls, several cast-metal plaques, with tributes. I think I knew and/or worked with 80% of those mentioned ther

The discussion about the nationalization/denationalization of public companies needs to be broadened. The arguments used today mix government, State and public. Why not introduce into the topic the unlinking of the management of these companies from the administration of the State (carried out by the government)? It should be noted that this issue can be conducted without moving in the direction of privatization, as it is understood among us today. We suggest that Cedae be a

Envy (and the interests hidden in anonymity) is a sadness, a smallness. On Jan 22, 2010, it was announced in Brazil’s main newspapers that the company OGX had just found, in the Campos basin, another oil reserve. In parallel, an anonymous campaign began circulating on the internet, entitled "eike batista: rich or a front man", to denigrate the main shareholder of OGX: I keep thinking, why? For what? For whom? Between curiosity and indignation, I write my musings on the mat

In 1925, only 100 years ago, planet Earth, our spacecraft, had about 1.9 billion crew members; in 1975 they were ≈4.0 billion and in 2025 it reached ≈8.5 billion, distributed among various groups, peoples, countries, nations. Roughly speaking, every half century, the planet doubled its population. In some areas, birth rates decreased, but people’s longevity increased. And in others, rates and population simply increased. The total numbers are frightening. The surface of the

For three thousand years, almost always the defense of an interest has been made viable, in political terms, by inducing society to believe that it is an interest of the collectivity, for economic reasons, reasons of sovereignty, social reasons, reasons of well-being, of the less favored, of minorities, etc., this idea being materialized in a "solution", "program", "guideline", "package", "norm", “incentives”, “subsidies”, or whatever else it may be. For this, use is made of

Noticed his wife was livelier, more enthusiastic, more “tuned in,” happier; he even became a little worried — could there be someone else? Amid the doubts, he put his antennae up! But, since he noticed no abnormal sign of vanity, or suspicious attitudes — on the contrary, she was more homebound and even less “coquettish” — he became concerned. What could be happening? Outside the routine, there was only his stepdaughter, who lives and works abroad and had come to spend her

It was 1971 and São Paulo was full of bars with live music, the piano bars, closed venues, especially in the area called Bela Vista. Basically MPB, Bossa Nova, Jazz, Blues, and similar styles. I love live music, and that kind, so I went whenever I could. I clearly remember “Jogral” and “BalacoBaco”, one almost next to the other, on Avanhandava Street, at the corner with Augusta Street, the “Catedral do Samba” and the “Telecoteco na Paróquia”, known simply as Telecoteco, on Sa

Today I heard on the car radio that, starting June 27, 2019, supermarkets in the state of Rio de Janeiro will no longer be allowed to provide plastic bags (polyethylene) to customers, in the name of saving the planet. Those who insist or fail to comply will be fined R$34,000 (*1), said the JB radio announcer. It seems that in packaging for rice, beans, sugar, plastic bottles for soft drinks and bleach, yogurt cups, vacuum-sealed meat packages, this plastic can still be use

We met Renato in March 1966, as classmates at the National School of Engineering at Fundão. It was nearly 59 years of companionship. At the wake of his partner, engineer Mário Aurélio, I believe around 2010, Renato—without warning me, perhaps because I had been the class “valedictorian” at our graduation in 1970—true to his style, handed me the floor to speak, as an engineer, to the engineer who was leaving us. The surprise and the emotion choked my voice, and I FROZE. Tod

In Brazil, hostility toward smokers (of tobacco), drinkers, and carnivores, therefore toward normal people who enjoy life (hereafter SDEL), if I’m not mistaken, began around 1980, when those North American trends and woke agendas started arriving here more forcefully, with our “copycat monkeys” imitating everything that comes from abroad while claiming to defend national sovereignty. Encouragement of gyms, so-called healthy foods, anti-smoking campaigns, vegetarian restauran

Carlos fell in love with a woman who is politically his complete opposite. She fits into the predominant stance in her workplace. Or perhaps the workplace demands that stance. Cause or effect? No one knows. On the other hand, they are alike: brilliant, hardworking, used to giving orders and being obeyed. And experienced. Yesterday was Valentine’s Day 2024. He tells me that today he woke up around 8 a.m.; his partner had already left for work, carefully so as not to wake him.

In each one of us there is a little of our parents, our grandparents, our ancestors. What is it, for a father, mother or grandfather, to see a son or daughter doing the same things he remembers having done? The same foolish things, the same mannerisms, the same discoveries, the same joys and the same sorrows? It is a pleasure and a concern, at the same time. Sometimes it seems that children listen little to their parents, that they want to learn everything by themselves; so

From the first time I heard the neologism “AI” as an abbreviation for “Artificial Intelligence,” it didn’t sit well with me. At first, it seemed like a translation mistake. Later, the term, probably of North American origin, was adopted worldwide. Since “artificial intelligence” is something that doesn’t exist and, God willing, never will, it was unclear what exactly people meant by it. It seems that the correct term would be “Intelligent Automatism – IA,” as some say, or “Co