Rui CarmoI don’t really relate to arbitrary calendar milestones like “the new decade” that was supposed to have started January 1st (spoiler–it’s going to start on 2021), but there is a specific date I like to keep track of.
Ten years ago I wrote a bit about the first day we effectively started college (amidst the usual turmoil of those analog, fuzzy times), and all of it still holds true.
A lot has changed (there is now an actual Department of Computer Science and Engineering in place, for starters, and we’ve taken to WhatsApp instead of mailing-lists), but we still get together now and then.
And if I have any regrets or melancholy, they are most about how much local academia is removed from the reality of what I do on a daily basis and their awkward, indrawn take on things.
I’d love to “go back” and instill some fresh viewpoints into both coursework and academic life, but that is extremely unlikely at this point.
Still, who knows–there are a few decades to go yet, I hope.