The Geeks of New Zion

July 1999

When I think of science and technology, I also think of culture and the transformation of a society. When I think of Israeli hi-tech though, my frustrated mind tends to crop up images of pale, glossy eyed engineers who’d rather discuss multi-variable calculus than a good book. Ask anybody – if you’re smart, if you want to make money, become a software engineer. If you can live on Mom and Dad’s credit card, then you can afford to dabble in matters of the soul and live on artsy-fartsy Shenkin (not that I think in stereotypes).

It seems that hi-tech in Israel is from technology, for technology, and by technology. Business people have forgotten that the internet is about empowering people to make a difference, much more than it is an opportunity to come up with superior processing algorithms.

Every industrial area in Israel that focuses on technology is dubbed as the country’s “Silicon Valley”. Why do we want to reform a Californian entity in a mid-eastern image? Because it seems like the original version, where it all started. Because When Israelis think of our fledgling hi-tech industry, we think of success – against all odds and beyond belief. But the culture that conceived each of these two industries is fundamentally different, and in many ways so is the nature of the industry itself.

Israel’s stronghold in the digital economy positions the country as a nation among other technological nations. It is yet another reminder that we are here to stay, that we shall survive and prevail in the global jungle. Israel is not California. When the flower children in San Francisco were singing “Give Peace a Chance” and crying out “Make Love not War” in protest of Vietnam, we were fighting a very different war of our own. We were busy surviving, and had little time to change the world.

Half way across the world, Silicon Valley started out with a small group of technologically oriented idealists who set out to do just that. Then, as the new industry turned global and the rest of the world started to catch on, Israel woke up to a goldmine of innovation. They were changing the world; we were struggling to become a legitimate part of it.

So, we’re harvesting our most precious natural resource – intellectual prowess. And still, we’re missing out on the fun. Technology is no doubt prevalent enough for the country’s entrepreneurial talent to capitalize on the nuts and bolts that run the information age behind the scenes. A large segment of this talent, however, is blind to an entire industry that sets the scene.

New media, the content that’s delivered over the internet, has emerged as such an overwhelming new industry that nobody can afford to ignore it. It’s a triumphant blend of technology, information, and entertainment. Those who are part of the revolution are individuals with a firm understanding of all walks of life – technology, art, culture, and all that makes the world an attractive place to live.

In Israel, new media is far from developing as an industry, and digital culture is still an esoteric topic that appeals to a selected few. On this side of the Atlantic, geek is not sheek. Until science and art are equally mixed into our cultural diet, technology will remain a cold, inhuman realm, and art will have little bearing on real life. If Israel’s image as a booming Silicon Valley is to take shape, we must learn to harness technology, to make it work for us, to go beyond merely creating a new tool.