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Photo: Orel Cohen/Calcalist
Yoel Esteron
Photo: Orel Cohen/Calcalist

Brain nation, brainless government

Op-ed: Calcalist founder and publisher, Yoel Esteron, speaks to the gap between the world-renowned Israeli brain and the dim Israeli governance, which is pushing the nation down a slippery slope.

Nir Kalkstein, AKA "The Brain" (who was featured in Calcalist's recent supplement) made millions of dollars in algorithm-trading (algo-trading). 

 

 

He could’ve kicked back and enjoyed the rest of his life in say, the Maldives. But instead, he rolled up his sleeves and with a cadre of brilliant minds like himself, developed a trailblazing algorithm for early detection of terminal illness. "The Brain" is Kalkstein’s nickname, but also an allegory to the Israeli mind power that is revered worldwide, from Silicon Valley and Beijing to Oslo.

 

Israel is more than a "startup nation" – it's a brain nation. A nation that gave rise to Teva Pharmaceuticals – a small family outfit that wisely leveraged a scientific breakthrough at the Weizmann Institute of Science and catapulted itself to become a global pharmaceuticals leviathan.

 

It's the brain nation that gave birth to Check Point and an exciting eco-system of security companies.

 

I would love to stand here and salute the long list of brainchildren our nation produced, the likes of Netafim’s irrigation systems and Mobileye's visionary products. Yet there seems to be another face to the Israeli brain – one that apparently took a leave of absence in the Knesset, such as we learned in the Oren Hazan embarrassment; This unfortunate affair would probably have been relegated to the dustbin of parliamentary history if it were not for his father’s insistence on bequeathing his son to Israel’s politics. This, too, is an allegory for an unpleasant truism: the brain nation is being shepherd by the brainless.

 

That is not to say that all ministers and MKs lack aptitude per se, Heavens forbid. However, the parts managed to create a sum of stupidity that is larger than their collective intelligence. There are some excellent and ethical individuals walking the corridors of power but sadly they are entrapped in a web of interests, represented by corrupt and self-serving politicians. This hodge-podge somehow amassed into a government that seems to be trying its best to be the ruin of our brain nation. Brainless government vs. brain-nation.

 

This discrepancy is hard to reconcile. There is no algorithm that can explain it. Yet somehow, Israel has managed to avoid – for now – paying an exorbitant price for its government’s follies, and while we have not yet lost a war (although in recent years we haven’t actually won any, at least we haven’t been defeated); we’re not yet a complete pariah despite 50 years of blind occupation; the economy is somewhat reasonable (at least compared to Greece), the odds are slowly turning against us and the curve is showing a downward trend towards becoming a third-world nation. Although global diplomatic isolation is tricky to quantify, Finance Ministry data, exposed by Calcalist, foreshadow billions of shekels in losses due to the growing economic boycott.

 

Israel’s economic growth-rate is declining, even compared to Greece, and the economy is heading towards a slowdown. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics last month, growth projection for 2015 is 2.6%, - lower than the MoF outlook – in itself a conservative estimate of 3.1%.

 

Social inequality is alarming – the income ratio of the upper and lower deciles climbed from 12.5 to 14.9, with only Turkey, Chile and the US showing higher numbers. Insofar as global education indices, Israel has taken a nosedive. But then what could be expected from a country that ranks 25 out of 27 OECD members in classroom size? In sciences even Iran overtook us in the number of scientific publications.

 

All this was not caused by some force major – this is plainly the doing of a handful of unqualified individuals who were elected in a haze of incitement to lead our brain nation. They are handling the task without using brains.

 

I’m talking about Israel’s floundering government, and not just Netanyahu’s– it would be too easy and hackneyed to point a finger at his fourth administration. Even his staunch supporters have come to admit that the current administration is dysfunctional, struggling to survive on a shaky foundation of 61 MKs. But to be honest – the opposition isn’t so encouraging either. It’s weak, embarrassing and mainly fails to present any kind of sane and compelling alternative which could shake the public out of its fed-up numbness in the event of early elections in 2016.

 

The result: government paralysis.

 

We are running out of time. The time to act in the political arena is right now. Sadly, even Kalkstein’s brains can’t conjure up an algorithm that could extract politics out of the iron grasp of politicians. So it is up to us, the citizens, to tip the scale and save ourselves from this maleficent government. Not that I’m deluding myself that one morning, our finest scientists, high tech pioneers and intrepid entrepreneurs will get up and march on the Knesset. It won’t happen.

 

But I am posing a question, and a challenge, to our brain-nation’s finest:

 

Do you believe you can continue prospering while your country is under brainless tutelage? What are you going to do about it?

 

I know that you know that Israel needs to heal, to be repaired. I believe you can help this cause. You have the brains for it, and the time has come to do it.

 


פרסום ראשון: 09.01.15, 18:50
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