29/09/2016
Shimon Peres was quoted on the radio this morning as having once said that being left wing is nothing new: There was Moses, he apparently stated, and there was Isaiah – and he listed a few other biblical favorites who, in his mind, shared his political and ideological leanings. I’m not going to touch the question of Peres’ politics and how they do or don’t jive with these particular personalities, but I loved Peres’ penchant for pulling things like the book of Isaiah into our contemporary conversation. And as it turns out, this week I’ve been thinking about Isaiah’s prophecies in a modern context, too.
I’ve always been moved by the story of Given Imaging, whose camera-in-a-pill developed from missile defense systems helps doctors spot early signs of colon cancer. My latest post for OurCrowd (http://bit.ly/2cXZtKk) is another, almost-magical transformation of military to medical: Surgical Theater, which uses IDF-developed Virtual Reality flight simulation technology in a sci-fi style application that allows surgeons to “fly” inside a patient’s brain in a “practice flight” prior to surgery.
Re-purposing technologies developed by the IDF for war and applying them to save people’s lives in a medical context is powerful and, to me – particularly, as an Israeli citizen and, now, the mother of a soldier – emotional, moving, maybe even healing. I like to think Peres would’ve agreed with me that it’s a modern application of Isaiah’s famous prophecy: turning swords into plowshares.
On the eve of the funeral of a great Israeli statesman and true Zionist – and, of course, on the eve of Rosh Hashana – I can't help but share my deepest wish for all of us for the New Year: May these technologies always be used in peace.
What does fighter jet flight simulation have to do with neurosurgery? The answer is simple: Surgical Theater – a Cleveland-based startup that uses flight simulator technology for brain surgery – co-founded by former Israeli Air Force officers Moty Avisar and Alon Geri. Surgical Theater actually puts...
