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Swords
into Plowshares at the Pentagon
RABBI
DR. NAFTOLI BERG, o.b.m.
(at
the 2nd conference of the Rabbi Yisroel Aryeh Leib
Research Institute on Moshiach and the Sciences,
11 Iyar, 5753, Brooklyn, NY)
Editor's
Note: In the Sicha of Shabbos Parshas Shofteim, 5751, the Rebbe, Melech
HaMoshiach, said that all aspects of the Redemption had already begun. Then
in the Sichos of 5752 the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, described at length
specific aspects of the Redemption that were unfolding before our eyes,
such as the ingathering of the exiles, as the Jews were allowed to leave
Russia and go to Israel. The significant aspect was the fact that they went
in a pleasant and peaceful manner and with the assistence of the Russian
government.
In
February '92 a conference of the heads of state of the major countries of
the world took place. The heads of state made a joint declaration that they
would cut back on arms production and instead use their resources to
increase food production in the world. The Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach spoke
about this declaration in the Sicha of Shabbos Parshas Mishpatim, 5752 and
said that it was the beginning of the fulfillment of the prophecy of
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) that "They shall beat their swords into
plowshares."
Rabbi Dr.
Berg was the Director of Research of the Advanced Technology Office of the
Army Research Center at the Pentagon. His second yartzeit was observed this
past week on 27 Tamuz. In this article he draws on his first hand knowledge
and experience at the forefront of military research to show how "They
shall beat their swords into plowshares" was not just a onetime event
but is rather an ongoing process of the transformation of military
technology into technology for the benefit of people - another aspect of
the Redemption that is unfolding right before our eyes.
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I've been
asked to talk a little bit about the technology point of view, how I as a
research scientist - a director of research for the U.S. army - see this
concept of "V'chitzvu charvosom l'itim", "They shall beat
their swords into plowshares." And I wanted to give a few examples
before I get into my basic topic.
There
appeared an article in Scientific America in January 1991, which is titled,
"The Future of Space Reconnaissance." I'll just read you the
introduction and then I'll be able to explain it.
"As
the superpowers continue to launch spy satellites many nations are planning
to orbit their own. Such expensive proliferation will complicate
international politics into the next century."
Basically
what this article talks about is the fact that the U.S. and other countries
have developed very, very capable techniques to be able to see and probe
the earth surface from satellites which can be hundreds even thousands of
miles away using either optical tecniques - lets say better cameras, or
infra red - looking at thermal emissions, or using radar. And these
techniques have allowed these countries, the U.S. and other countries,
including Eretz Yisroel which is mentioned here to be able to see what
they're enemies are doing. This is, of course, very laudable. You always
want to see what your enemies are doing. This is a defensive utilization.
However,
sometimes these satellites are used for offensive purposes also since you
can plan your offensive strategy based on what they are doing. But as a
result of, what you might say is a fallout of this technology, of this
space reconnaissance technology, we have also developed for commercial
application, satellites which are used to scan the earth's surface to see
areas which can be better used for agriculture. There are three current
programs in this area.
One is
called LANDSAT, which means land satellite, the other one is called, LANDTM
which is land thermal imagery; meaning seeing the heat emitted from the
earth's surface and from there you get the idea of what is under the
earth's surface. And there is also a program called ERS1, "earth
resource satellite one" which uses a radar system to scan the earth's
surface. Similarly from that you can understand the quality of the soil,
the covering of the earth's surface and water resources underneath and also
chemical content, minerals and oil which are under the earth's surface.
There is
also a foreign competitor in this field and its a system called, SPOT. But
the SPOT system is also a French satellite which uses visual and also
thermal imagery to scan the earth's surface. These satellite are used
actually to monitor agriculture to see how effective plowing and other
types of...use of the surface is to develop increased enhanced uses of
these resources for agriculture, for food production, for monitoring
forestry and also, as I said to find minerals and other petroleum or other
types of resources including water. This is certainly a direct application
of military technology for peaceful and actually food production uses.
The
second example that I wanted to give is something which I am personally
connected to. At my laboratory, which used to be called "Harry Diamond
Laboratory" --the only army laboratory named after a Jew--Harry
Diamond, who was an inventor, we discovered a number of years ago a
phenomenon called "fluidics". This basically means to replace
electronics, a transistor, by a fluid, a compressed gas flowing through
some kind of structure. In other words, you can control hydraulic surfaces
by the flow of small amounts of gas rather then using electronics.
The
purpose of this for military technology was to able to use these in an
environment which would be too harsh for electronics like nuclear
environments and others. The relevant issue from the military point of view
is that the military hardware should survive this mission. So this fluidic
technology was developed.
As an
offshoot of that we developed a fluidic amplifier, a loud speaker, which
does not use electricity at all. Its based purely on the flow of gas. In
5738(1977), what occurred at the beginning of that year I thought that
would be a very useful thing to have in 770 to be able to amplify the voice
of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, so that we could hear it without much
difficulty.
This
system which actually developed and there is a company who has developed
this but in order to bring it into a synogogue or a study hall, you must
have a halachic ruling, that this is system is permissible. For the last 8
years, we have been trying and unfortunately, without much success, to find
a Rabbi, to be able to put his name on the line so to say and give a psak
heter that we should be able to use this. But, G-d willing, perhaps this
will happen eventually, especially now that we're in the Era of Moshiach.
Dual Use
Technology
A third
example which I want to bring of this, is a program which has been started
by the new administration, the Clinton administration, called "Dual
Use Technology". This program is a program which has set aside for the
first year, five hundred million dollars. A half a billions dollars, of the
defense research budget to be used by commercial industries to take
military technology and use it for commercial application.
If a
company puts up 50% of the money the other 50% comes from this fund and the
military then would give its technology to this company to develop a
commercial peace time application. A few examples, this program has
literally just started so I can't give any example of which things have
really been done. But some of the ideas which have been put forth from our
laboratory is for example the following:
We have
developed a radar called an "ultra wide band" radar which is able
to actually see deep into the earth. Its purpose for military applications
is to find mines and other things that are buried deep into the earth of a
military nature. The commercial implications is to find toxic waste
materials in order to be able to dig these up and not harm human beings,
Chas V'sholom.
Another
technology which we hope to be able to use is very small radars which we
have built for bombs and put them on to cars for collision avoidance. In
other words, not to hit another car. So if you have a radar, you can see
where the car is and stop the car before you hit it. A third technology,
which is in one of the areas which I work in is also is an acoustics
technology, using sound - very sensitive microphones to pick up enemy
vehicles - tanks and airplanes and be able to follow them around on the
battle field. The application of this for commercial applications is to
monitor traffic or to put them at small airports which can't afford to pay
for radar.
Anyway,
the main point is that we really see the revelation of Moshiach now that
the administration is taking a half of a million dollars per year and putting
it into these "Dual Use Technologies." It is certainly a
fulfillment of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach's sicha of a year ago,
"V'chitzvu Charvosom L'itim" - "They shall beat their swords
into plowshares." - that the nations of the earth will take their
military budgets and convert them into food production and other peace time
uses.
Finally I
would like to give you two very simple examples, from areas which I'm
connected with, of the general application of technology in the Era of
Moshiach. You know that we are developing now what is called interactive
video. Using fiber optics, cables and switching techniques, not only can
you see what is going on in another place but you can actually talk
backward and forward. In other words, many people can be involved in a
conversation or a discussion or in a class simultaneously using interactive
video. Certainly this interactive video will be developed for the Rebbe,
Melech HaMoshiach, to be able to teach hundreds of thousands, millions of
people Toras Hashem.
Another
example, which is in the category of "V'chitzvu Charvosom
L'itim", we've developed, in the last number of years, very powerful
laser beams, which can cut through metal, through steel and through rock. I
propose that when the third Bais Hamikdosh is built, if there will be any
human involvement at all, if it won't come completely built from Hashem, we
will use lasers to cut the rocks for the Bais Hamikdosh since we don't have
the Shamir, the special worm, nowadays. But the main thing is that Hashem
should open our eyes to see the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, complete the
Geulah and take us to Yerushalayim and the Beis HaMikdosh and show us all
the miracles and wonders of the Era of Moshiach NOW!
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