We have to want to be more”
Interview: Raquel Pires Photo: rights reserved
Aptly named “Computatio Lusitana”, this is a project that aims to map the history of computing in Portugal, especially the path of those technological developments and devices that preceded the modern computer age. The spectrum is vast, ranging from Jacquard’s automatic loom to precision watches, from music boxes and mechanical calculating machines to the telegraph and typewriters... Luís Sarmento has made a career in Artificial Intelligence but it is in the study of the history of computing in Portugal that he spends most of his free time. His “serious hobby” takes the form of a blog which is winning over new enthusiasts essentially interested in deepening their curiosity about “what we are technologically as a country”. Where did the idea for this project come from? Out of immense curiosity and even a certain anxiousness I had to better understand my own professional path, and how much of it was influenced by the broader context of the country where I was born. Having worked for some time in certain American technology companies that are a benchmark in the field and experiencing, first-hand, an entire ecosystem of cutting-edge science and technology, it became very obvious to me that technologically we, as a country, are lagging behind the crest of the scientific and technological wave, particularly in
the area of computing. In this specific field, with some occasional exceptions, I would venture to say that a large part of our scientific and technological ecosystem is at least 10 years behind the times. I wanted to understand the causes of this chronic delay. But also to ascertain the local causes and circumstances, and try to analyse the key historical principles that determined our scientific and technological path as a country, tracing back as far as possible the story of what is one of the greatest exponents of modern technology: the computer.