About the Future
(…)
Everytime a man dreams
The world jumps and moves forward
Like a colorfoul ball
Between the hands of a child.
António Gedeão, Pedra Filosofal
Hello, here I am! You don’t know me, but you will get an idea. Probably a lot of what I am about to write you already know or thought about.
At this moment I am living the future of this morning, where I promised to write this text. Imagine: Today is the future of yesterday, and as for tomorrow, there are plans that many times cannot be fulfilled. Each minute we live the future of the minute before. There is really nothing that can be done. Some thought of a machine to change time and there are even movies that make voyages to the future or the past.
First of all, I don’t really believe in predicting the long-term future, but it is very important to anticipate things that result from our current needs. We need a hospital, so let’s make a plan for the hospital, or for a road, or for taking a trip.
My profession always works in the future. That’s why it’s said that I make projects. In other words, I think about, create or find solutions for things that will only realize in the future. The most common example is the project of a house. I design it as I think it will be and then build it… It never stays the same. Nothing stays the same in the future and that’s the charm of life.
As for futures with many years ahead, a kind of dream, we’ll see. It’s worth thinking about these things to try to avoid greater evils and have calculated joys. But it’s not worth not sleeping for fear that something bad might happen.
Sweet dreams…
José Brandão, April 2024
Designer and Emeritus Professor at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon