may the games begin!

Well… week one of 2022 was nice… 😉
 

#1 Yuval Harari explained why humanity is far from helpless. Vaccines are great. Epidemics are no longer uncontrollable forces of nature. Science is great! 😉 Covid also has underlined the power of information technology. Another remarkable thing about the Covid is that the internet didn’t break. As humanity automates, digitalises and shifts activities online, it exposes us to new dangers – potential digital infrastructure crashes (our next “covid”) or even future digital dictatorships! Science cannot replace politics – and it is a pity… Our scientific achievements have placed an enormous responsibility on the shoulders of politicians – a lot of them have failed us… One reason for the gap between scientific success and political failure is that scientists co-operated globally, whereas politicians tended to feud…

#2 It seems that the bubble might be close to bursting. U.S. stocks finished lower Friday, and the Nasdaq Composite booked its worst week since February 2021…Will we get a bit more time on this crazy ride?
 

#3 But… how can we start another year without having some top list of trends? Expect momentum in Life Science Technologies. Really fast internet and better coverage with the expansion of 5G-6G and Satellite-Based Internet Usage. High-Performance Computing becoming mainstream, in parallel with continued growth in Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analytics, and Cloud Computing. Internet security and privacy issues will dominate our day-to-day. The Metaverse will shine in 2022 and… NFT Platforms will Boom and Blockchain technology will prevail! The Robotics sector will also become more prevalent. And last, but not least… there will be an increased urgency in the Renewable Energy Technology sector

A monument to former President Nursultan Nazarbaev was demolished by protesters in Taldykorgan in southern Kazakhstan on January 5. Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev declared a nationwide state of emergency after thousands of anti-government protesters clashed with police and stormed government buildings in an unprecedented wave of unrest in the oil-rich Central Asian nation that was sparked by a fuel price hike.

Purpose

Finding your purpose is tough for most and maybe easy for a lucky few

It took me a lot of time to understand want I like and don’t like to do. What makes me tick. What drives me. What gives me pleasure.

I now know what to put forth

Talks to help you find your purpose | TED Talks

purpose
c. 1300, purpus, “intention, aim, goal; object to be kept in view; proper function for which something exists,” from Anglo-French purpos, Old French porpos “an aim, intention” (12c.), from porposer “to put forth,” from por- “forth” (from a variant of Latin pro- “forth;” see pur-) + Old French poser “to put, place” (see pose (v.1)).

Etymologically it is equivalent to Latin propositium “a thing proposed or intended,” but evidently formed in French from the same elements. From mid-14c. as “theme of a discourse, subject matter of a narrative (as opposed to digressions), hence to the purpose “appropriate” (late 14c.). On purpose “by design, intentionally” is attested from 1580s; earlier of purpose (early 15c.).

take vaccines

Take Vaccines (from Wear Sunscreen)

Vaccines are better than Sunscreen!

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, vaccines would be it.

The long-term benefits of vaccines have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now. Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

If you’re worried about the way you look, try to remember, you’re probably fatter than you think, maybe you should consider an eating disorder.

Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blind side you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.

Don’t worry too much about the future. If you’re nervous about an exam, ring up your school to schedule time, and make a bomb threat. If you’re a girl, lie about period pains to get out of anything you don’t want to do. Cheat if you think you can get away with it. Remember, someone with richer parents is getting private tuition.

Do one thing every day that scares you. Sing.

Do one thing each day that scares you, sing, dance, jump in front of a car.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts. Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Be open to new love. Remember, you can’t get pregnant the first time you have sex.

Floss. Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself. Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Get revenge, don’t forgive anyone for anything,

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Keep your old love letters, if you see an old lover in the street, try to run them over in your car.

Stretch. Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t know.

If you’re unsure about what you’re going to do with your life, Try to remember, some of the most interesting people didn’t know what they were going to do at age twenty-two or even at forty, and nearly all of them are unemployed drug addicts forced to live on cat food.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when you are knee-capped by a loan shark.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th anniversary. Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else’s.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t, if you do have children, lock them under the stairs.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own. Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room. Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them. Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly. Get to know your parents. You never know when they’ll be gone for good.

Get to really know your parents, they’re good for money. Milk them, then put them in an old people’s home.

Be nice to your siblings. They’re your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Also understand that friends will come and go. This is because of your irritating personality. Nobody likes you. So if the only thing getting you thought the day is the misconception that people like you, end it now. (bang)

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel, but with a mask.

Travel as often as you can, live in New York City once, live in Northern California once, never live in Adelaide, it’s a hole.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders. Respect your elders. Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you’ll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Expect others to support you, it’s easy to get the dole and still do cash in hand work. Remember, only you will truly take care of you, so carry a concealed weapon.

Don’t mess too much with your hair or by the time you’re 40 it will look 85.

Don’t mess too much with your hair, or else by the time you’re thirty-five, you’ll look like Greg Matthews.

Be careful whose advice you buy, buy be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

But most of all, don’t aim too high, you’re probably only suited to an office or factory job.

But trust me on the vaccines!

 

 

 

Mutants

Mutants, we all need to change, mutate for the better or the worse (hopefully the first)

This a side project that I am dabbling with and still brewing in my spare time…

I want to give back, share, collaborate more. But how?

Time is my most precious asset, but I also have another great asset – the power of networking and proactively sharing things… ideas, thoughts, experience, food, drinks, things… a bit of my time, as well…

Soon, hopefully I will share news on this side project that I am developing to give back to the community.
The idea is to promote physical and digital places that can link people that are more knowledgeable in certain fields and that can share that with others.
Stay tuned!
Mutants – Be, Work, Play, Collaborate, Learn, Teach, Share, Eat, Drink, Do

iterooting

ITER

 

Only recently have I’ve heard about this cool (but it isn’t really cool… it is actually quite hot) project.

They are building the biggest magnet ever existed in the world to try to replicate the way the sun creates energy… (this is how an economist boils down to a very basic form the complexity of even trying to explain what ITER is all about…)

They are only trying to creating a sustainable unlimited source of energy… small potatoes 🥔

I am ITERooting for them!

Check them out!

End to begin


“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”


Ontem foi o meu último dia na Sonae IM e Bright Pixel.
 
Uma viagem de 2.054 dias onde pude voltar às minhas origens (voltar a viver perto da família na cidade onde nasci, no Porto) e onde fiquei irremediavelmente mais conectado ao mundo (por via das viagens a vários países, das inúmeras pessoas que conheci em todos os cantos do mundo, e fiquei ligado ao que mais inovador se faz em termos de tecnologia hoje em dia). 
 
Fiz parte de uma equipa que já investiu em mais de 35 empresas espalhadas pelo mundo, incluindo as 15 empresas que ajudou a fazer nascer através do papel da Bright Pixel no early stage. Uma equipa que tem a cultura de não divulgar muito os seus múltiplos sucessos enquanto investidores de capital de risco tecnológico de Portugal para o mundo.
 
Cresci muito e está agora na hora de partir para outros voos no mundo do capital de risco. Em breve darei novidades!
 

Yesterday was my last day at Sonae IM and Bright Pixel.
A 2.054-days journey back to my roots (living again closer to family in my hometown of Porto) with the bonus of putting me in closer touch with the vast world around us (traveling to several parts of the world, getting to meet incredible people, and above all, in the midst of what is trending in terms of top-notch tech innovation).
I am proud of having been a part of a great team that has already invested in more than 35 startups from different corners of the world, including the 15 that we helped jumpstart through our early-stage efforts at Bright Pixel. A team that has embedded a very low profile in its culture when talking about their multiple successes as venture capital investors from Portugal to the world.
I’ve learned a lot and grew to a point that gives me the confidence and tremendous satisfaction of tackling new challenges in the venture capital world. A truly special project that I’ll disclose very soon!

Seneca breaks

Bad and good breaks
In the year 41 CE, Seneca was banished by the emperor Claudius for supposedly sleeping with Julia Livilla, the sister of Caligula. We don’t know if he was completely innocent of the accusation, but we do know that the incident was hardly an exemplar of justice. The historian Suetonius tells us that Seneca’s “charge was vague and the accused was given no opportunity to defend himself.”
It was a bad break that would cost Seneca eight years of his life in exile.
In 49 CE, as Seneca tired of the burden and the distance of his punishment, he was suddenly recalled to Rome by the wife of the emperor, in order to serve as the tutor to her son. In the words of the historian Richard M. Gummere, “Fortune, whom Seneca as a Stoic often ridicules, came to his rescue.” Within a few years, he would be one of the richest men in Rome, his fame and power assured, influencing world events with the snap of his fingers.
Life is like this. It gives us bad breaks—heartbreakingly bad breaks—and it also gives us incredible lucky breaks. Sometimes the ball that should have gone in, bounces out. Sometimes the ball that had no business going in, surprises both the athlete and the crowd when it goes through the net.
When we’re going through a bad break, we should never forget Fortune’s power to redeem us. When we’re singing in the roses, we should never forget how easily and how quickly we can be humbled. Sometimes life goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t.
The only thing you can do is be ready… for either one.