When people think about Israel they think about war or religion or even
falafel.
But to me when I think about Israel I think of the triumph of the human spirit.
Israel is surrounded by enemies
have turned the desert with hardly any natural resources into a flourishing
productive and caring society
My name is tal ben-shahar and although I was born and bred in Israel I spent much
of my life living and working abroad working in Asia studying in the US and
the UK and touring the world playing professional squash I received my PhD
from Harvard and after completing my studies I went on to teach there.
He teaches Harvard University's most popular class positive psychology
Please welcome to the show tal ben-shahar!
It was very exciting to know that what I
was thinking about, writing about and teaching was having an impact.
In spite of all this I decided to move back to Israel.
the main reason for this move I would say is family.
The Israel I came back to was not the Israel I left.
I was amazed at what
happened here during the fourteen years I was away.
Israel had transformed.
Israel had not only joined the 21st century in many ways it was now leading the way.
When you look at the Nasdaq, companies are listed from around the world.
There's one country though that truly stands out and that is Israel.
Israel is the fastest growing ,
one of the most dynamic entrepreneurial and innovation based
economies on the planet.
The sky is the limit for inventors in Israel.
Israel has been a remarkable achiever in terms of technological innovation.
Israel has developed some of the world's leading technology.
Even if you don't live in Israel,
chances are you have something that was made here
If you just look at it on a
daily basis how much stuff do you use in your daily life that has its origins in
Israel it's rather remarkable.
Many of the micro processors invented by Intel
were designed in Israel.
Nowhere in the world outside of Silicon Valley will you
find more technology startups.
People come from all over the world to look for
Israeli technology.
Warren Buffett shelled out more than four billion
dollars for iskar metalworking the largest purchase that legendary investor
has made outside the United States.
I understand that their facilities are
incredible, but I would expect that.
Intel developed here, HP as a center here
Google is very successful here Microsoft as well as in research and development
if you actually do the math Microsoft is almost as much an Israeli company as we are a US company.
This country has been such a beta site or a laboratory
for solving both national and international problems since its inception
The technology coming out of Israel is being used to connect the world,
green the planet, save lives and have fun.
- Wow!
For instance connects lets me use my body as the controller.
This very cool technology was developed in Israel
and then bought by Microsoft.
In the way Israel is known to everybody as a center of innovation it's a place
where you can find more innovation than anywhere else in the world per capita.
If you look at countries they're represented in the stock exchanges the
ranking today is number one of course the United States
number two is China number three is Israel the US China Israel
Looking at our size how is it that Israel with its seven million people has the third
largest group of companies traded in New York?
This is an amazing fact for a tiny
country to actually eclipse all the nations of Europe and the creativity of
its entrepreneurial leadership
When we were living here in the middle of the desert we really had no choice.
We had to come with something in order to farm in this area.
One of the main
reasons behind the Israelis' ability to lead in innovation to bring about progress,
is the resilience in the face of crucibles like these. Necessity is the
mother of adventure you know when you look around you got sand all over the
place if you gotta start becoming creative.
If you look at just about every
Israeli home, school, park or farm you'll notice something interesting -
an innovative idea that makes the most of Israel's very limited water supply.
Drip irrigation -
People think that this is just a plain hose with a hole in it. This is not the case.
Behind each hole is a very
sophisticated dripper that is pressure compensated that is self-cleaning that
has filters in it there's a lot of Technology and research and development
and innovation so it's certainly not just a hole in the pipe.
With drip irrigation, farmers can grow 40 percent more crops by using only half the
regular amount of water.
This has enabled Israelis to go from surviving in a
desert to thriving as a leading exporter of fresh fruit and vegetables all around the world.
You know when I travel and I see our irrigation systems in remote
places and I see how it helps people to grow more with less I'm very proud of it.
At any given time over 100 million people are confined to wheelchairs and
although wheelchairs have become more sophisticated they've really been the only option.
Amid gopher has the chutzpah to believe that he can change all that.
The initial idea was to make a device that will enable people to function from
morning to night without the need of using wheelchair.
From medical myths to
medical marvels we head to Jerusalem to meet a paraplegic who's walking tall.
It's a breakthrough you're gonna have to see for yourself.
You are witnessing a miracle. The man you see standing up, walking, even
climbing stairs has been paralyzed for more than 20 years.
I never think that I could walk. I only dream I walk.
When I see the impact of the device on a
person it gives me great pleasure
Oh it's the greatest thing cruising down the
hallway oh it's awesome that's why he's been the best thing
since the accident.
This country has become a country with all its
imperfections that sees as part of its purpose looking out for other people.
The Bible says so the Torah the Jewish tradition talks about guiding and helping others.
That's the Jewish DNA that's Israeli hardwiring - religious
or secular makes no difference.
I want to do something good and not just for
myself but I want to do something good for Israel for the society and you know
it feels strange but I think that it's also for the world.
You know we're far from perfect but we're in the game okay we're in there
fighting and helping and trying we're creating cures for cancer and we're
creating new you know cool technology and we're trying to feed the world we're
trying to solve dependence on oil. It really goes to the heart of what being
Israeli is about.
This is what Israel is all about and to be back here to be able to share it all
with my family, this is what life is all about.