Balance of Abundance and Scarcity

I'd like to point out that in our modern world there is potential for abundance in almost every imaginable resource.  Clear examples that come to mind are the abundance of energy from the sun and the abundance of water in our planet.
Most of all there is abundance of new ideas coming up every day with the help of our collective intelligence and imagination.
The idea of scarcity came about from our history of hunting and gathering, the time where we did not have the tools and the technology we have today.  There was no agriculture or print or highly developed industries.  Our survival instincts caused us to believe the scarcity is detrimental.
It is often and common that we hear about water shortages or an energy crisis.  We easily get into a conflict mode and debate as to how to resolve these shortages.
The current drought in California is considered the worst in over a hundred years.  Studies of tree rings show this drought is worst in over 1200 years.
Please check my March 29 post on Israel and water.  This is what Booky Oren pointed out:  There is all the snow on the mountains.  There are floods.  There is the ocean water that can be desalinated.  It is possible for humans to use their ingenuity and imagination to create a water delivery system that is efficient and equitable for all.
In the past century we have been utilizing coal mines, fossil fuel and atomic power plants to create energy.  Each of these methods caused multiple problems in our planet.  The time is here when we are ready to utilize the abundant energy from our sun.  Solar panels are getting improved every day and there is the vision and technology to harness this energy in batteries.
The concern about scarcity follows us throughout our lives.  If some people are very rich we feel that they take all there is and leave nothing for us.  But the idea of abundance is the idea that there is always plenty for all and as people have more opportunities they also create more abundance. 
Watch this video on Tesla Energy by Elon Musk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvCIhn7_FXI&feature=youtu.be

Wind Farm in Germany:

Tesla battery for the home:

Balance of Power and Ideas

We always hear about the power balance between the two super powers US and Russia.  In the future China maybe one of the superpowers. Each superpower needs to keep as many allies and areas of influence as it can.  Who is first at the arms race?  Who is best at space exploration?  It is a fine balance.
These superpowers have their blocks of supporters in the United Nations.  Many of our world's conflicts are fought over in this organization.  One of the conflicts we hear about most is the Israeli Arab conflict.
To try and understand this conflict I have started with the Jewish history highlights.  (one of my earlier posts.)  The Jews call this country their home as they have no other home.
Let's check the balance here:  There are 20 million Jews in the world.  The number of Muslims is close to a billion.  That is a thousand million!  The number of Muslims keep growing.  Out of these 400 million are Arabs.
This map shows the areas where Arabs and Jews live:




The Jews represent the idea of one god but they also have the story of exile and persecution.  This idea of one god was further evolved by Christianity and Islam.  There were many cases where Jews were converted to Christians or to Muslims.
Jews like those in my family who migrated to Mashhad refused to convert.  For them being Jewish in unchangeable.
The balance of these two ideas is that the Muslim world is unable to accept an independent Jewish state.  The conflict is going on for 67 years and there are still refugees from the 1948 war.
There are certainly Israeli Jews that are extremely radical.  They settle in the west bank and the government supports them despite Israelis public opinion.  But have a look if these Jewish radicals are in any balance with Muslim radicals around the world.  There are certainly friendly Arab nations and enlightened Muslims.  But all I hear is constant bashing of Israel.  Demonizing Israel to the point of sanctions and boycott of Israeli academic institutions.
And there is Iran with its own history of glory and defeat.  Iran is the country where my family came from.  These people who are considerate and polite, people who speak Farsi and love it.  Iran joins this Israel bashing full force.  "Death to Israel" is declared in every speech and written on signs in every mosque.  One US senator came up with the point that Iran should recognize Israel as a Jewish state in order to end the sanctions against it.  This simple point is considered a "poison pill."  My question is why?  Why is it so impossible for them to accept a small state representing such a small part of the earth's population?
When are we going to reach a balance here?

Open Curiosity

My intense curiosity followed me throughout my life.
I am interested in exploring some important elements in social discourse.

My unique approach to many social issues is my background and upbringing in a Jewish Iranian family in Israel on one hand and my education and career in biological sciences on the other hand.

I have the ability and desire to view things from both East and West point of view.

These are universal human qualities that I believe should be enhanced and utilized for a better world for all of us:

Collective intelligence

Curiosity, imagination, creativity, resourcefulness

Abundance

Awe, wonder, knowledge, understanding

Mohammad from Israel

A young law professor came to talk at the UCLA Nazarian center Feb 11, 2015

Jewish and Democratic?: A Perspective from Israel's Arab Minority

Professor Mohammed S. Wattad

Bright and clever, he has an impressive law career.

He started his talk by telling us about a conference he attended in Canada where he presented himself to a Canadian judge: "I am Mohammad from Israel."  The judge asked "How come?"  This comment made him think deeply about his identity and having to explain that he is an Israeli Arab.  He does not feel as a Palestinian but as an Arab.

He talked as a lawyer from a legal point of view and tried to keep religion out of his discussion. He described the partition plan by the British, which he read very carefully:

“Two states to two people: One state Jewish with an Arab minority, a second state Arab with a Jewish minority.  BOTH PALESTINIANS.”  Ben Gurion accepted the plan, but the Arabs rejected it.

He pointed out that Israel has no constitution; therefore it is wrong for anyone to claim that it is a constitutional democracy.  He talked about Israel's series of basic laws jokingly saying that Jews have a hard time agreeing on anything, so that is why there was never a constitution.

One of the basic laws from 1992 deals with human dignity, liberty and the right to life.

(If I understand correctly there are no laws dealing with freedom of speech or social and economic rights.)

The main body that keeps law and justice in Israel is the 15 member Supreme Court, the only body that protects human rights and democracy.  It is the Supreme Court that established the democratic facets of the state.  He brought examples of the Supreme Court decisions.

He talked about Israeli Arabs not serving in the army. But the issue is that soldiers who do serve are discriminated to be the only ones protecting the security of Israelis, including orthodox Jews and Arabs who do not serve.  One of the solutions was that those who do not serve in the army would serve in another kind of National service.

Mohammad made a very clever point saying that in that case every Israeli should have a choice how to serve.  This is very clever again.  Legally it makes sense.  But practically this is a trap for IDF.  The power of IDF is that EVERY ISRAELI is a soldier. It is the strength of the whole, the strength of the spirit.

People asked him about the impossibility of a separate Palestinian state and mentioned that withdrawals from Lebanon and Gaza brought in Hezbollah and Hamas.  His answer was that Israel was the one who created Hamas as opposition to PLO.  In addition he claimed that a unilateral withdrawal is not the same as a negotiated withdrawal.

My question to Mohammad and any Arab is: Where do they expect the Jews to live, be independent and have freedom of religion?  I told him I understand his feelings of being a minority.  I mentioned my family’s history from Mashhad where they were forced to convert to Islam, to Israel where they are free as Jews.  It is the only place where Jews can live freely.  Even in the US, the greatest democracy and defender of human rights I am in the minority.  Mohammad had no answer for me.

I want to stress here that I have followed many opinions of moderate Arabs.  They invariably find intelligent informed facts to point out why Jews cannot keep the state of Israel into the foreseeable future:

The Arabs build their homes along the slope of the mountains.  Jews build high rise buildings that stick out of the natural curve of the hill.  They do not belong in this land.

The title of this talk is most ubiquitous: Israel cannot be Jewish and Democratic.  

There are a million ways to prove this point, but I stress: Israel MUST be Jewish and democratic.  It has to be.  There is no other option.  The Arab neighbors of Israel need to accept it, understand it and participate in making sure this is the case.

The continuous efforts of Arabs to criticize everything done by Israel, to demonize it, boycott and sanction it only prolongs the conflict and there will never be any winners.

The announcement about the speaker: 

Since its inception, Israel was established as a constitutional democracy, even in the absence of a constitution, primarily due to the leading role that the Supreme Court has played in this context. In this talk, Professor Wattad will address various perceptions of Jewish democracy, recent changes in Israeli distribution of power, how Israel’s minorities are affected, and how a Jewish democracy will and should play out in Israel’s future. From his unique perspective, he will also discuss the importance of the court system and rights for minorities, as well as current threats to Israel’s democracy.

Professor Mohammed S. Wattad is a legal scholar specializing in international and comparative criminal law, comparative constitutional law, international law, and legal issues surrounding war, torture, and terrorism. A graduate of Haifa University School of Law, Wattad holds a Master of Law degree from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also attended Columbia University as a Fulbright Scholar, where he earned his Juris Doctorate and another Master of Law degree. From 2003-2004, he served as a legal clerk at the Supreme Court of Israel under the supervision of Justice Dalia Dorner. He is currently an assistant professor at Zefat College School of Law in Israel and is editor-in-chief of the Journal 'Medicine and Law'.

Israel and Water

In February 2015 I attended a lecture about Israel and water and learned much about the business side of water:

Israel and Water: Collaboration, Innovation, and Global Leadership”

Booky Oren, Chairman and CEO, Booky Oren Global Water Technologies

Water shortages persist as a major issue all over the world. In 2013 however, Israel overcame its water challenges through implementing a variety of technological solutions, making 2013 Israel’s “Water Independence Year.” In this talk, Booky Oren will discuss Israel’s innovative water solutions and how they can be leveraged in a global context to create economic growth while also assisting billions of people worldwide.

Booky Oren is not an engineer but an MBA.

He started the talk with two maps of the Middle East.  One from space.  The second one the underground water flows.  In both maps there were no borders.

(Ah how many of us would like a world without borders...)

In 1912 the British calculated that the water resources in the area of the Palestine mandate can support a population of 2.5 million.  Today there are 14 million people living in the area.  
I would like to stress our human ingenuity, the advances we made in science and technology.  I do not prescribe to any idea of shortages and lack of this or that.  It is in our power to bring abundance into our lives and that of our fellow humans.

Water has been used in war and in peace.  In 1967 Syria tried to block the water resources to Israel as part of their goals in the six day war.  In 1994 Israel signed a peace treaty with Jordan where they promise to provide Jordan with all their water needs.  2013 was marked as the year of water independence for Israel.

Booky Oren is interested in the commercial aspects of water.  He was CFO of Israeli companies such as Mekorot and Netafim.  He is now involved in i2i “Innovation to Implementation.”

He claims water technology can solve many problems around the world.  Like me he is convinced that there is plenty of water, there is abundance!  He has a global perspective and he pointed out that politicians are still using water for political gains.  They will keep the same old infrastructure and red tape in any possible way they can to slow down implementations of new technology.  If there is a drought in one place there is flood in other places so this is where we should allow our ingenuity to take over.  He brought the example of desalination plants in Israel.  For years the budget did not include operation of these plants.  The year there was a drought the operation of the desalination plants was instantly funded.

Israel needs to leverage its technology for partnerships with water utility companies.

In closing the speaker pointed out a list of proven innovative global water technologies that can improve the sector:

Israel: ELTAV www.eltav.com, OUTLOCKS.

Switzerland: Gutermann. 

Canada: viva modeling

Spain: Aqualogy

Germany: HSTsystem

USA: FATHOM http://www.gwfathom.com/

UCLA: NORIA

Ethnicizing Soccer

On Feb 23 I attended a lecture at UCLA Center for Jewish Studies:

People of the Book or People of the (Foot) Ball? Ethnicizing European and Latin American Soccer.

This sounded like such a benign subject.

The first speaker was Raanan Rein from Tel Aviv University.  He talked about soccer in Argentina.

The second speaker, John Efron a historian from UC Berkeley talked about soccer in the UK.  In London the Jews support these soccer teams: Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea.

For some reason Tottenham is considered the only “Yuden” team.  They play in the White Hart Lane stadium.

He described the chanting in the stadium in a scary manner.  Imagine a drum beat and the sound of 40,000 men chanting: YID, YID,  YID, YID,  YID, YID.  This chantings goes on for 90 minutes!

He had a video taken on a London train of a group of men singing:

I got foreskin

I got foreskin

Don’t have you?

Fucking Jew!

The worst chant is the sound of hissing, sssssssssssssss  imitating the sound of gas in the gas chambers.

In the following discussion the differences between the US and  Europe were pointed out: America society is quite violent with many guns everywhere.  At the football stadium people are “better behaved.”  European societies are not as violent, the violence erupts in the football stadiums.  

About the speakers:

John M. Efron (UC Berkeley)

While most historians would agree as to the centrality of sports in general and of soccer in particular in Latin American societies, very little has been written on ethnicity and sports in such immigrant societies as Argentina and Brazil. As far as the historiography of the Jewish experience in Latin America is concerned, hardly any scholarly works exist that are devoted to popular culture, particularly that of unaffiliated Jews.

Raanan Rein examines Argentine football as a space of both prejudice and dialogue. Rein argues that for the first immigrant generation, belonging to this club was a way of becoming Argentines. For the next generation, it was a way of maintaining ethnic Jewish identity, while for the third it has become a family tradition.

Raanan Rein

The Death of Leonard Nemoy

Balance of cerebral vs imaginative

Star trek’s Mr. Spock, a human/Vulcan hybrid, featured in the imagination of every American since the sixties.  The death of the star Leonard Nemoy was all over the news: Radio, TV and internet.  This was all clear to me after living in LA for over forty years. 

This morning I listened to my favorite Israeli radio program: “World Sabbath” a weekly review of the world’s newspapers and magazines.  Dr. Yitzhak Noy is knowledgeable and informative.  I always like the analysis in his reporting.  He mentioned that Leonard Nemoy’s death was in the headlines of every European newspaper.  He didn't get it.  Why is it so important?  He had nothing to say.

I have heard many people who consider themselves intellectuals claim that TV is a waste land.  I am often referred to as “too cerebral.”  But in my ongoing search for a balance in life I try to understand what made the Star Trek story so popular for all these decades.  Seventy nine episodes just in the original series all are still popular on Netflix!  Followed by books and movies and a whole culture.

I am amazed by the imagination of humans.  We can reach out into the stars and make up stories of creatures and languages and travels into distant stars.  We are surrounded by negative news all over, wars and killings in one part of the world, economic struggles, rich and poor, conservative and liberal.  It is so simple to just let your mind leave the real world and make up a world where you feel happy and safe.  Nobody can take that away from us.  Our creativity imagination resourcefulness will always be with us.

I have never been too imaginative, but a ten year old child Mona came into my life.  She is giving me a most valuable lesson about the power of imagination.  She loves animals and knows more about them than anyone I know.  She comes over to dinner with drawings of wings taped on her hands along with a beak and a tail.  She is a bird.  Or she is a dog jumping up and down on hands and feet for a whole evening. 

I was fortunate to have Mona’s company for 3 days, driving to Malibu and celebrating New Year with a group of friends, international folk dancers.  This yearly tradition is now including a group of grandkids who come from other states to spend the New Year party with their grandparents.  I knew that Mona would love to hang around with the other kids.  On the drive up P.C.H. we talked about Mona’s wish to fly like a bird.  It is an all-encompassing wish that never leaves her.  I suggested that maybe she could think about being a bird in her next life.  She was very surprised and incredulous: Is it possible?  I told her that many people believe you have a few lives, and your soul goes from one body to another.  No body really knows if this is possible.  But nothing can stop her from imagining it.  So we agreed to run with our imagination and think about what kind of bird she is going to be.  Mona thought a bit and decided she would like to be a rain forest parrot.  She knew these birds live the longest lives: 85 years!  They are smart and they can talk.  It was settled.  We arrived in camp and anyone who asked how was our drive we told them about Mona’s next life.

Mona had a wonderful time with the kids outside running up and down the hills and playing in the grass.  At the same time the grandparents were singing and dancing in the dining hall.  Suddenly the kids and Mona are coming in with a shoe box holding a dead bird.  Mona walked around with a sad face and showed the dead bird to everyone.  The kids announced that they are going to bury the bird later at sunset.  Sometime later one of the kids riding a bike comes across a dead monarch butterfly.  He calls up to Mona, they pick the butterfly and place it next to the bird.  The burial ceremony was very moving with a 15 y old reading a eulogy.

The next morning we stood under a tall tree watching the hundreds of butterflies hanging on around the leaves, slowly waking up and flying away on their yearly migration to Mexico.  It was an amazing sight.

On our drive home Mona asked me what would I like to be in my next life.  I told her I would like to be a Monarch butterfly because it is so beautiful.  She said but it leaves such a short life.  I said but that means I could be so many other things at the same time that she has just one life as a rain forest parrot.  She considered this and then asked: “Do you think we could be butterflies at the same time?”  This was such a stretch, but my immediate reaction was of course!  It seemed almost inevitable.  For all I know we could have known each other in many of our past lives.

The human imagination has no boundaries.  We can observe it in art and culture, movies books and music.  It is instrument of our inventiveness. Without imagination there would be no scientific discoveries or technological tools that make our lives different and easier than any time in the past.    

The bird and the butterfly