"More than conversation at the interface, it is creative assemblages like these that explore and elaborate the particular dynamic capacities that digital media afford and the ways that through them humans and machines can perform interesting new effects (...) in uniquely particular ways." Lucy Suchman (2009). Human-machine reconfigurations: plans and situated actions.
"To erect the framework for flourishing, we need a reliable superstructure that provides for our basic needs, a bulwark against a precarious survival. What we don't need is a society that regularly gets upended by major systemwide shocks that jerk us in undesirable directions, ripping us out of the present to worry about our existential future (...) and democracies collapse." Brian Klaas (2025). Fluke: chance, chaos, and why everything we do matters. Photo of tapestry with map behind by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) February 2026.
"You mix your metaphors, and a seed becomes a lantern glowing, or a flashlight, or a firefly hatching". Rebecca Solnit (2025). No Straight Road Takes You There. Photo by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) December 2025.
After seeing the video of Mark Rothko murals at Tate Modern, one of the artists mentioned in the book A Therapeutic Journey by Alain de Botton, sharing photo with a reminder of the other side of nothingness. Photo by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) December, 2025.
Sustainability in practice. Bouquet with plants grown locally. No artificial fertilizers or pesticides. Collected manually, near creative assembling point. Made with love and care. Hand delivered by the creator in nearby location, reached in less than 30 minutes by foot. Including complimentary smile and a good day hug. To dispose end of life bouquet, compost, cut in small pieces to use as mulch or use the dry plants as materials to do tapestries ;)
Photo by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) November, 2025.
Sim, existem muitos quilómetros de alternativas para colocar paineis solares no nosso pais. Para além dos locais em ambiente construÃdo, grandes extensões foram identificadas pelo Centro de Investigação Comum Europeu (JRC), em Portugal e nos restantes estados-membros da UE, com imenso potencial: autoestradas e caminhos de ferro.
JRC (2024). European transport infrastructure as a solar photovoltaic energy hub. Utilizando dados geoespaciais para quantificar o potencial de implantação em larga escala de painéis solares ao longo das principais estradas e ferrovias da Europa, tendo em conta “geografia, restrições ambientais, limitações de uso da terra e parâmetros técnico económicos”, resultados revelaram potencial de capacidade de “energia fotovoltaica de 403 GWp na União Europeia (UE)”, ou seja, o “equivalente a 55 % do objetivo de capacidade solar fotovoltaica total da UE fixada para 2030.” Considerando apenas as linhas ferroviárias, “a produção anual total de eletricidade fotovoltaica teria potencial para atingir 250 % do atual consumo anual de eletricidade da rede ferroviária da UE.“
JRC (2024). Communication on the potential of applied PV in the European Union: Rooftops, reservoirs, roads (R3). Neste artigo, avaliaram também o potencial de instalação de painéis em autoestradas e linhas férreas, constatando que a “capacidade instalada total de energia fotovoltaica poderia exceder 1 TWp, o que é muito superior à capacidade total de energia fotovoltaica para 2030 da Estratégia de Energia Solar da UE (720 GWp) e seria uma contribuição significativa para os vários TW necessários para a transição global atingir o zero lÃquido, até 2050” Podiámos também pensar na utilização das faixas de gestão de combustÃveis para instalação dos parques solares.Todas elas, formas existentes de baixar e evitar custos ambientais, como alternativas à ocupação e destruição de paisagens protegidas, florestas, montados, corredores ecológicos ou solos agrÃcolas, incuÃndo o abate de todo o tipo de povoamentos florestais que tanto necessitamos neste momento.
"The paradise lies in the fluid possibilities of emergent alliances, associations, and organizations, and the ways they network through the impacted area to circulate what's needed. And in both the deep kindness motivating that action and the agency and alliance that emerge." Rebecca Solnit (2025). No Straight Road Takes You There. Photo by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) November, 2025.
“The organized expression of collective interests is what gives shape and meaning to democracy, and requires trust, continuity, structure – and the willingness of people to join things”. Yuan Yang, 2024. Why We Should Join Things. In Democracy: Eleven Writers and Leaders on what it is – and why it matters. Image of tapestry «Democracy vessel» (83 x 80 cm). November 2025. Below, fresh flowers of agapanthus collected in July. Dry flowers. Multipurpose tools used during work.
All photos by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC).
“We need
to step outside the machine in order to comprehend how it is working and where
it is failing us”. Step into Nature, “a generous teacher, if we can only
manage to slow down and listen to what it is saying”. Nature is the system
of systems, running with stunning complexity, based in feedback loops “allowing
natural ecosystems to continue in equilibrium for eons” even if some “have
failed to notice, let alone appreciate”, others haven't.
“Democracy, too, is a delicate ecosystem – of checks and balances, rights and needs, power and accountability, It requires a healthy, functioning environment and a diverse community of interacting organisms”. It also requires feedback loops. “Our voices matter. Stories bring us together. Silences keep us apart” and erase democracy, in our country and in other's countries. Democracy is interconnected. Worldwide.
It would be wise for us to employ more people and less artificial intelligence. AI requires many finite critical materials, creates geopolitical and economic wars, and end-of-life hazardous waste. As for people, they use less energy, are abundant, can teach each other, and, at the end of life, they are organic and decompose.
On the
monitor, I received the wording that this reflection stimulates debates about
digital sustainability, where the "logic is clear”, according to the LLM I
used.
"AI is not “immaterial”: it demands enormous
amounts of energy, critical materials (lithium, cobalt, rare earths), cooling
water, and generates technological waste.
Scarcity and geopolitical risks: the demand for
critical minerals is already causing international tension.
Life cycle: servers and chips have a short
lifespan, creating electronic waste that is difficult to recycle."
Regarding «human capital» (instead of «people», like I used in my prompt), the LLM wrote:
"Human capital is renewable: people can learn,
adapt, and collaborate without generating comparable environmental impacts.
Social efficiency: many tasks that are currently automated could be performed by humans with a smaller ecological footprint, if there is investment in training and valuing work."
It then suggested
a comparative table «AI vs Human Capital» regarding energy,
materials, environmental impacts, flexibility, and what it termed hidden costs.
I accepted.
After the table, it left a conclusion:
“This table shows that AI has a significantly greater ecological and material footprint, while human capital is more sustainable and adaptable.” (bold from the LLM tool)
At a time
when billions are being invested in artificial solutions, incurring monumental
costs for the environment, instead of investing in natural and human capital,
it is ironic that this conclusion comes from an AI tool and does not feature
among global political priorities.
Photo by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC). October 30, 2025.
