There's a 'bot' hidden in each of us

There's a hidden 'bot' within each of us. It might be nestled in the deepest neuron of our brains, but it's there. A bot, as IT specialists tell us, is an automated program that performs tasks on the internet without direct human intervention. That's how, they say, Donald Trump won two elections in the United States. And with that same assistance, I'm assured, some in Portugal achieved 22.76 percent in legislative elections. These little programs transform into malicious, parroting voices.

To simplify: a bot isn't exactly malware, those tiny viruses that infiltrate computers to steal data or money. It's something else entirely. It's when, on a social network for instance, dozens of messages appear in a very short timeframe, criticizing something or someone. Almost always a person. And the bot's name is almost always indecipherable. Like: pp.e.jj.together.in.2026. Or: elma73. Or katia77. Or: goat.is.the.old.man. Or: goat.is.the.dwarf.

A bot is like those people we encounter in cafes who, between two beers and a handful of lupini beans, badmouth everything and everyone (even the greatest of the greats when he was at Real Madrid scoring goals left and right) or those who constantly praise someone to the highest degree (even when that someone, having been the greatest, is now 41). A bot declares green is red, red is black, and black is white. Without shame. A bot is precisely this. It's instinctive. It doesn't think. It reacts.

All of us, at least once in our lives, are bots. We say what we feel like saying, even if what we feel like saying isn't supported by any real evidence. A bot is someone who claims that to cure cancer, you just need to drink lime blossom tea on even days of 30-day months in leap years. Or who believes that João Neves' girlfriend actually wrote that on Instagram. Or who floods Francisco Conceição's social media with insults just because he spoke one or two truths: "I pass the ball to whoever I think is in the best position. We're not obligated to pass the ball to Cristiano."

Ultimately, a bot is an unfortunate soul. Whether human or digital. A bot is a parrot. It hears and repeats. Hears and repeats. Always without thinking. If it hears that the beach is bad for players, it says the beach is bad for players. If it hears that the beach is good for players, it says the beach is good for players. There are two types of bots: those who criticize the captain just because, and those who praise the captain just because. I'm only half a bot. I think the captain should play half the game: 45 minutes. To start the game or to close it. But I'd love it if, on Wednesday, around three in the morning, I received an email insulting me: "Suck it, half-bot. Signed: elma73 and katia77." I swear: I'd love it.