Middle East feedback loop

Well, here I am and about to let loose with my very first blog entry in the Times.

Let me state right from the outset that I make no claim to any local knowledge of the Middle East nor do I possess special insights relating to Jewish or Arab cultures. Indeed, there have been occasions where I’ve found it hard to distinguish between the two groups; certain similarities in them come to the surface from time to time and that’s when, for me, some of their identities seem to blur into one another.

My area of expertise has been confined mostly to problems of a technical nature: modifications, repairs, machine maintenance and so forth. And, unlikely as it may seem, it is from this background that I now propose to launch my initial foray into the TOI blogosphere.

This is the universal symbol for an Operational Amplifier (Op-Amp). These components have their origin way back in the 20th century and are used today in almost every electronic device imaginable.

To my mind, they also serve to illustrate the mode of operation favoured by this Arab-Israeli conflict, the one that has preoccupied everyone for these many decades past. Some problems, it seems, can be made so much clearer and easier to deal with if they are presented in a more abstract, even minimalist manner.

Let’s say that the letter V here, normally depicting Voltage, can stand for Violence as well. V(1) input represents the day-to-day Israeli stuff and V(2) is its Palestinian counterpart, with V(out) being the end result.

In this type of op-amp, the result, V(out), only becomes zero if both inputs are exactly matched and stay perfectly synchronised, each one at precisely the same value as the other but opposite in polarity. This never happens in the configuration as portrayed since it is far too sensitive to maintain zero output for any discernible length of time.

In Israel and nearby regions, millions of Jews, Christians, Arabs and others have managed to live – and many have died – with the human equivalent of this arrangement in place for all of the last 64 years. Wild oscillations in outcome continue to occur at varying intervals with levels of violence swinging from one extreme to the next. No quiescent state (peace), Vout = 0, lasts for long and this seems to have been the case from the very beginning.

What is it then that provides stability for operational amplifiers in their normal working environment? Is this a condition reproducible within the context of the ongoing Arab-Israeli dispute?

Answer 1: Most operational amplifiers enter service with a feedback loop installed across their circuits. This supplies both stability and purpose to whatever role they play in the system.

Answer 2: Incorporating such a feature into the Israeli-Palestinian dynamic is technically feasible but its introduction would require worldwide acceptance and cooperation. This should present no difficulty if such a modification can demonstrate even a fraction of its full potential. The savings in lives and expenditure would then be unquantifiable, seriously beyond all measure.

Thus, what the entire matter may have always needed from the very start is this one essential item, the acquisition and installation of a suitable feedback loop. My website contains a version described in quite extensive detail. So, if you go there, you have been warned.

How curiously apposite would it be if the method of remedy here might actually have predated the problem itself. In any event, this represents a solution sourced from the very best scientific lineage and backed by years and years of successful application.

What better provenance could there be?.

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Addendum: Operational Amplifier.

Here’s what one looks like for those of you who may wish to know.

A thing of great beauty it is not ; but it works and it does so extremely well. It’s really very efficient.

Op-Amp with feedback loop (Rf) in circuit.