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Persian
Gulf Technology to Plowshares
by
Rabbi Shimon Silman
Director, Rabbi Yisroel Aryeh Leib
Research Institute on Moshiach & Science
Editors
Note: This article is dedicated to the memory of
Regina Devorah bas Tzvi, o.h.
the wife of Rabbi Yisroel Aryeh Leib Schneerson,
who passed away last month on 21 Teves.
Tehei Nishmosoh Tzerurah Bitzror HaChaim.
It
was this Shabbos, Parshas Mishpotim, five years ago that the Rebbe, Melech
HaMoshiach, announced that, as the result of the influence of Melech
HaMoshiach on the nations of the world, the prophecy of Yeshayahu,
"And they shall beat their swords into plowshares" had begun to
be fulfilled. The excitment that followed this announcement was tremendous.
The day before, leaders of the major countries of the world who had been
meeting in New York made a declaration that they were going to reduce arms
production and channel the resources into efforts to improve the economic
conditions of the people of the world. Most of us probably brushed this off
as a political statement of little significance - if we took any notice of
it at all. The Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, however, who sees deeper into
things, opened our eyes also to see this as part of the Geulah!
Since then one hardly has to open his eyes to see how this prophecy of
Yeshayahu continues to unfold. Our man in the Pentagon, Rabbi Dr. Naftali
Berg z.l., who was the Director of Research of the Advanced Technology
Office of the Army Research Center at the Pentagon, lectured on the
transformation of military technology to peaceful tecnology at the Moshiach
and Science conference of the Rabbi Yisroel Aryeh Leib Research Institute
in 5753. <1>These days all one has to do is casually follow the news and he
will see the "Swords Into Plowshares" transformation occurring in
many different places and in many different ways.
In this article I would like to describe three fascinating examples of
military technology being transformed into peaceful technology to benefit
people. And these examples are just "the tip of the iceberg."
"INTO PLOWSHARES" - LITERALLY
The first example involves the transformation of one of the most commonly
used "swords" of this century into a device for planting trees in
currently inaccessible areas. As reported recently in Science News: <2>
"They talk of payloads, premission photogrammetric reconnaissance,
inertial navigation, satellite positioning systems, and the aerodynamic
shaping of bombs. There are discussions of employing idle commercial or
military aircraft....
"Listening to recruits to this nascent international cosortium, one
might get the impression that they are planning some precisely coordinated
military operation. Instead, the aerial bombs they hope to deploy are
open-topped cones bearing year-old tree seedlings. Their targets include
denuded slopes, barren deserts, and war-ravaged sites around the globe -
areas otherwise inaccessible to foresters.
"Unless replanted, such soils are likely to erode with the winds and
seasonal rains. Any water that falls risks running off instead of
percolating in to slake the thirst of dormant seeds and soil conditioning
microbes. The main impetus for this...though, is concern about the growing
buildup of atmospheric carbon dioxide and the threat of global warming it
poses."
This project is being developed by an Israeli aeronautical engineer named
Moshe Alamaro who is now a doctoral candidate at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. His plans include using military technologies developed for the
Star Wars program and Operation Desert Storm - the Persian Gulf War.
"OPENING THE EYES" - LITERALLY
Pilots in the Persian Gulf War wore head-mounted units which displayed
before their eyes the region on the ground containing their target. By
merely focusing their eyes on the image of the target on the display before
their eyes, and then pressing a button, a missile would be shot at the
target on the ground below. Such technology is now being used to help
nearly-blind people see.
A device called Low Vision Enhancement System (LVES) was developed by
Professor Robert Massof at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. As described
in a publication of the SUNY College of Optometry which dispenses the LVES
system:
"It is worn like a large pair of aviator goggles or wrap-around
sunglasses. Instead of looking through lenses, the user looks into a
sophisticated system of mirrors and lenses to see images on miniature
cathode ray tube displays that are housed in [the] 'temple arms' of the
device which reach back over the ears.
"The user sees images that are captured by miniature television cameras
that are mounted on the front of the goggles....Users may tailor the image
they see to their needs, changing magnification at will, and adjusting
image contrast to achieve the most understandable image, and for changing
light conditions....The device can help patients with visual acuity ranging
from 20/100 to 20/800."
Now people with vision impairments so severe, Rachmana Litzlan, that they
are even unable to read the weekly edition of "Living with
Moshiach" prepared specially for those with vision impairments, will
be able to read the conventional print of any sefer on Moshiach.
BRAINS OF CRUISE MISSILES INTO A CURE FOR THE BRAIN
Consider the following military problem: As part of a military operation
during the Persian Gulf War, a cruise missile is shot at a target. Between
the time that the missile is shot and the time that it reaches its target,
the target moves so that it is no longer at the location to which the
missile was directed.
The solution: Special computer programs were developed to keep track of the
location of a moving target and continually recalculate the path of the
missile. Each time the target moves the path of the missile is recalculated
and the missile is redirected.
Now consider the following medical problem: A patient with a brain tumor,
Rachmana Litzlan, is to be treated with radiation. This may involve
shooting an X-Ray beam at the tumor to destroy it. Actually, the first
problem is that an X-Ray beam strong enough to destroy the tumor would also
destroy healthy brain tissue along the way. The solution to this is to
shoot several weak beams from several different directions, all of which
will converge to the point of the tumor, rather than to shoot one strong
beam. None of the weak beams will be strong enough to damage brain tissue
but the strength of all of the beams combined at the location of the tumor
will destroy it.
The problem we must solve is that while the X-Ray beams are being shot at
the tumor the patient may move and when the beams arrive at the location to
which they were directed the tumor will no longer be there and the X-Rays
will instead destroy healthy brain tissue. One solution has been to secure
the patient's head tightly in a vise. But this is very uncomfortable.
Furthermore, if we are destroying a tumor in a different organ such as the
spine, this method cannot be used at all since the spine can't be held in a
vise.
The solution: The software developed to guide Cruise missiles in the
Persian Gulf War to a moving target is now being used to guide X-Ray beams
to destroy tumors. Again, from Science News: <3>
"A robotic arm, guided by a computer programmed with missile-tracking
software, can now deliver pinpoint doses of radiation to tumors in highly
sensitive areas of the body, such as the brain and spinal cord. The extreme
accuracy of of the system may make it possible to treat on an outpatient
basis some cancers that are not amenable to surgery, says John Adler, a
neurosurgeon at Stanford University Medical Center.
"Called Computer Mediated Stereotaxic Radiosurgery (CMSR), the new
tecnique combines software adapted from Cruise missile guidance systems
with robotic manipulators and a high-powered X-Ray machine....Physicians
may be able to kill off some types of cancers without opening a patient's
skull or spine, Adler says."
"And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears
into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation nor shall
they learn any more war." It's happenning now!
In honor of the 5th anniversary of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach's
announcement that the "Swords Into Plowshares" prophecy of
Yeshayahu has begun to be fulfilled, I would like to ask the readers of
Beis Moshiach throughout the world to send me examples of "Swords Into
Plowshares" that they become aware of so that we can correlate them
and provide updates from time to time on the progression of this part of
the Geulah. Send them to: RYAL Institute on Moshiach and the Sciences, 912
Montgomery St., Brooklyn, NY 11213 or, through the Internet, to: 103427.30@compuserve.com
YECHI ADONEINU MOREINU V'RABEINU MELECH HAMOSHIACH L'OLAM VOED!
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NOTES:
1. See Beis Moshiach of 3 Menachem Av, 5756, pp. 86-88
2. Science News vol. 151, no. 2, Jan. 11/97, pp. 28-29
3. Science News vol. 148, no. 9, Aug. 26/95, p. 137
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