The Spiral Structure of Knowledge

 

The Circular Being:

Visual thinking makes extensive use of geometric shapes, and the circle is one of the most common. The circle is a geometric form with an immense influence on our lives. The circle, a perfect circular shape, is found everywhere around us, both in nature and in the man-made world.

Gaston Bachelard, in his book "The Poetics of Space," writes that being is circular. Circularity is built and developed in consciousness, becoming its permanent and established form, not as a simple fact but as a phenomenological thought, allowing us to affirm our existence from within.

The central poetic example he provides is that of the bird, which is complete circularity, the circular life. The bird is almost entirely spherical. It is a model of existence. Although the bird is perceived in flight as an arrow shot through the air, in its cosmic state, as a concentration of life protected on all sides, it is the being of circular life. 

The Spiral - From Simple Circle to Complex Form:

The simple yet perfect shape of the circle allows for the creation of a wide variety of more complex geometric shapes, based on a circle with a center. Hurricanes, wheels, propellers, camera lenses, and film reels - these are just a few of the many examples of the various appearances of the centered circle in everyday life.

A Universal Symbol of Growth and Knowledge

The spiral is one of the most important geometric shapes in human culture. It is constructed from a circle that begins at a central point and develops in a continuous line of increasingly larger circles to the outer edges. The unique shape of the spiral represents a unique knowledge structure and is widely used in many fields, such as art, architecture, and science.

From Propellers to Film Reels

Piston-engine propeller planes are an example of the integration between technology and a spiral knowledge structure. The propeller at the front of the plane symbolizes the rotational movement that characterizes the spiral shape. Nowadays, jet engines are common, whose propellers are not visible and are hidden within a casing. The helicopter, on the other hand, with its giant overhead rotor, continues to represent the evolving rotational movement.

The Celluloid Reel

Pre-digital cinema was characterized by large and heavy celluloid film reels that were installed in cameras and projectors. These reels are a representation of the spiral knowledge structure, as they contain ever-evolving content, from the beginning of the reel at its outer edge to its end at its center.

Further Examples of the Spiral Form:

The Ear

In the human body, the ear has a spiral shape. The ear closely resembles the posture of a fetus in its mother's womb.

Bird Thermals

Birds have been an avid subject of research and a source of knowledge since ancient times. Bird thermals have a spiral structure. Heavy birds, such as storks and eagles, need rising warm air currents to progress in their migrations. These warm air currents are created in the late morning hours when the ground heats up. During migration seasons, one can witness huge flocks of birds accumulating vertically and in an ever-growing circular motion until they reach the height where the warm air current ceases. From this point, they glide in the desired direction.

Thermals, as a meteorological phenomenon, were discovered in Germany in the late 1920s by glider pilots in the Rhön Mountains. This discovery made the sport of gliding much more significant. Glider pilots soared for many hours, covering distances of hundreds of kilometers and crossing national borders.

In powered aviation, there are "holding patterns" before landing, where planes circle the runway until, at the appropriate moment, they approach and descend towards it.

In Culture

Spiral labyrinths were known in ancient times. In the Middle Ages, spiral labyrinths were built in churches and served as a means for a symbolic journey to the center of the soul. From the European Renaissance onwards, the spiral labyrinth was constructed in magnificent gardens, composed of intricate paths separated by high hedges. Navigating a complex labyrinth has become a popular form of leisure to this day. Labyrinths are an integral part of the world of computer games and as a method of brain training for problem-solving.

However, although the spiral labyrinth is considered an integral part of culture, only a few books have been written about it. Postmodern thinkers mention the spiral, but they hardly discuss it beyond its basic presentation in various phenomena.

Various national, civilian, and military emblems reference the spiral shape. The rosette form, consisting of three circles of different colors nested within each other, which appears as a symbol on the fuselage of British and French aircraft, simulates the spiral shape. The swastika is another image.

Center-Periphery Relations

Center-periphery relations are a central component of human society. These relationships are also known as the "centripetal-centrifugal" pair of forces. Movement is possible in both directions, from the outside in and vice versa. These relationships exist as verbal and/or visual expressions and are sometimes combined with a distinct vertical dimension, as in the historical social-spatial movement "from village to city," and within the city, from the suburbs to the center.

The dynamics and energies embedded in the movements between the center and the periphery cause the connection between the two ends to be not in a straight line but rather curved, thus creating a spiral structure. The French Revolution, which occurred following the invention of the hot air balloon, is an example of a social-spatial spiral vortex.

The Spiral and Perspective

The spiral and perspective, seemingly two entirely different geometric shapes, share a hidden but significant connection. The spiral, in its constantly winding and expanding form, symbolizes movement, development, and continuous change. Perspective, on the other hand, creates an illusion of depth and dimension on a two-dimensional surface, representing the human attempt to perceive and understand the three-dimensional world around us. The connection between them lies in the perception of movement and change in space. When we observe perspective, our eye moves along the converging perspective lines, experiencing a sense of movement and depth. Similarly, the spiral, in its constant inward or outward motion, creates a sense of progression and regression in space. Both forms, therefore, reflect how we perceive and interpret the world around us, movement, change, and space, and provide us with visual tools to represent them.

The Labyrinth in the Legend of Daedalus and Icarus

In the story of the legend, there is one element, the labyrinth, that has become detached from the legend itself and has become an important model in its own right. The story of the Cretan labyrinth begins with King Minos' disappointment that his wife gave birth to a monstrous son, the Minotaur. He ordered Daedalus to build a spiral maze, the labyrinth, for him, and from time to time, he would sacrifice young Athenians to it, who were sent into its depths. One of them, Theseus, managed to overcome the maze by tying a thread to its entrance, reaching the Minotaur, killing it, and returning safely. Daedalus, fearing for his life, escaped from the island along with his son Icarus using wings he had built. Although seemingly there is no direct connection between the two events in the legend, they are united by the spiral shape, which expresses a journey to freedom.

In Art

The spiral in art can be positive or negative, visual or verbal, outward or inward-facing, and more. In the world of modern art, there are many works based on spirals, but they are usually unexplained and perceived as personal expressions. The spiral in them is seen as an artistic tool.

Religious Circumambulations and Circle Dances

Another type of spiral thought structure manifests in religious circumambulations and circle dances. A prominent example is the circumambulation around the Kaaba in Mecca, where throngs of believers circle the sacred stone, gradually attempting to approach and touch it while spiraling inwards, and then gradually retreat outwards from the circle. In Judaism, during the Simchat Torah celebrations, the Torah scroll holder stands at the center of the dancing circle, surrounded by rings of dancers, each taking turns to approach the center and kiss the scroll.

Other circumambulatory circle dances are more secular but widely practiced. These include dances around a marrying couple, where those closest to them alternate in the inner circle, or dances in alternative celebrations and joyous events, where the person being celebrated stands at the center, switching places after a certain time.

the ancient "Wheel of Spirits" in the Golan Heights	A spiral-shaped labyrinth in a garden in England
Spiritual spiral in Chartres Cathedral, France	Spiral knowledge structure in modern education

The Spiral Knowledge Structure in Education:

Abstract vs. Concrete Learning

The spiral knowledge structure in education is merely a framework for a predominantly verbal approach. The fundamental visual thinking involved has vanished. This is because the spiral knowledge structure represents abstract thinking, bordering on imagination, and is therefore not suitable for imparting to students within the formal education system.

Building Knowledge Step-by-Step

Educational knowledge structures have the form of a visual spiral ascending upwards. The student begins their studies in small, low circles of knowledge. New and broader circles are added above them, with each one being a continuous extension of the one below it.

Cognitive Constructivism

The organization of human knowledge according to a developing spiral structure is part of the theory of cognitive constructivism in education. The thinkers of this school, John Dewey and Jean Piaget, wisely saw intelligence as a concept that develops according to age, through increasing interaction with the environment. This theory also has moral value, as it identifies deep internalizations of developing knowledge, emotional involvement, and the need for socialization.

From Geography to Medicine

The spiral knowledge structure is very common in the field of pedagogy, but due to its development towards an undefined direction, of infinite knowledge expansion, it is a somewhat vague concept of higher-order thinking. The practical spiral model is mainly implemented in geography studies in field conditions. Such learning begins with a tangible stage of touring the area and ends with an abstract summary in the classroom. It is all done through multidisciplinary dialogue. The model is also applied in medical studies, as it offers, in ascending stages, formal learning, disease recognition, and practical specialization.

Vertigo - The Spiral of Silence:

The Primal Fear of the Void

According to Gaston Bachelard, the experience of imaginary falling, known in psychology as "vertigo," is a primal truth of the dynamic imagination. However, it does not exist in the aerial imagination as an invitation to a journey. For the most part, it is a journey into the void, the pit of absolute emptiness, the infinite fall, the plunge like a stone into the abyss where there is nothing. This is a primitive fear. It is found as a constant component in fears of different kinds, such as the fear of darkness. The subconscious is drawn to this basic life experience, but due to a lack of mental strength, there are no words to describe it.

Mass Media and the Unspoken

The spiral of silence, which is the fear of conceptual loneliness, is important in the study of mass communication, which is visual, associative, and lacks verbal clarifications. The imaginary fall in it often appears in the form of a vortex or a converging spiral.

The Deadly Grip of Vertigo in Flight

The feeling of terror, paralysis, loss of control, disorientation, and loss of connection with reality is a familiar phenomenon among flight and gliding trainees. In the skies, the trainee sometimes finds himself in sudden panic due to the fear of falling. He becomes fixated, in body and mind, on a flight path, unable to deviate from it in the slightest. As a result, he rapidly loses control of the aircraft and falls to his death, to the shock of those watching him.  

The Spiral Knowledge Structure in Cinema:

Many filmmakers utilize the spiral knowledge structure in their works. Despite this, only a few books exist on the subject.

Paul Virilio wrote that the purpose of cinema is to evoke an effect of vertigo in viewers. He described the vertigo effect as parallel to the effect created by a missile fired at top speed toward a visual target, causing the heads of all those watching it to spin.

"The Gold Rush" (1925) is an American silent comedy film directed, produced, written by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. The film tells the story of the Tramp, who arrives in Alaska during the Gold Rush and tries to find his fortune while encountering a gallery of characters in the town and on the mountain. The plot develops in an expanding spiral structure, repeatedly returning to the narrative and spatial starting point, the town's inn. The film is considered one of the best of all time.

"Vertigo" (1958) is an American psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, which tells the story of a retired police detective, suffering from vertigo, who is hired by his friend to follow the friend's wife and begins to develop an affair with her. The film deals with the struggle between reality and illusion. This film is also considered one of the best of all time.

"Cold Mountain" (2003) is an epic film that tells the story of a Confederate army deserter at the end of the American Civil War, returning to his beloved, at a time when the South is controlled by extremist police militias. The spiral structure of the film is gradually created, from the soldiers' trenches at the front, through life in the rear, to the top of the mountain, where a fateful duel takes place.

"Eye in the Sky" (2015) is the most important of all the films made about drones. The film depicts a military operation conducted remotely using drones and cyberspace. A British colonel seeks to launch a drone missile at a house in Nairobi where terrorists are located, but there is a risk of harming a little girl. The spiral knowledge structure is prominent in the film. Center-periphery relations are presented in the plot as contrasts. The scenes from the center to the periphery and vice versa build the plot's progression. In parallel to the narrative, the cinematography in many scenes is also spiral, with the camera moving in and out between a focal point and open spaces.

The "James Bond" film series begins with a recurring opening sequence where the hero is seen through the barrel of a gun with a spiral groove.

The structure of a classic thriller film script, which begins with a broad presentation of the plot's theme, both verbally and visually, and continues with a search and investigation process from mystery to its resolution, necessitates extensive use of the spiral knowledge structure. The spiral knowledge structure in them, which develops between the concrete and the abstract, compensates for inevitable visual deficiencies.

Spiral labyrinth

The Mirage - an Airplane That Had a State

The Development of Fighter Aircraft in the Context of Long-Term Historical Processes:

Fighter Aircraft - A Mirror of Geopolitical Change

The development of fighter aircraft typically occurs within the framework of an international arms race. This race is influenced by numerous political, economic, and technological factors, and it evolves over time. Military requirements change over time, in accordance with shifts in security perceptions and geopolitical threats. The development of fighter aircraft must adapt to these requirements and is therefore influenced by broader social and political factors.

The High Cost and Long-Term Impact of Fighter Aircraft Development

The development of fighter aircraft is a very expensive project, requiring significant government and industrial investments. The process takes a long time and requires continuous support over many years. It has a significant impact on society and the economy. It leads to the creation of new jobs, drives research and development in other fields, and contributes to overall technological progress. These effects occur over time and are not immediate.

The Multidisciplinary Nature of Fighter Aircraft Development

The design, production, deployment, and upgrading of fighter aircraft are processes based on many fields of knowledge, such as aerodynamics, metallurgy, engines, and electronics. Progress in these fields over time is essential. When an aircraft is successful, its lifespan can span several generations, up to 100 years.

The Long View of History - Understanding Change Over Time

This argument aligns with a theory in historical research that emphasizes the importance of long-term processes and gradual changes in understanding the past. Scholars specializing in this theory use diverse sources, including archival documents alongside statistical data, and they focus on broad structures over time, such as social, economic, and cultural changes. Understanding these processes is crucial for a deeper comprehension of the past and its effects on the present. This theory contrasts with other historical perspectives that focus on specific events and central figures as decisive factors in shaping history.

Mirage 3 - The Key to Air Superiority:

Israel's Guardian Angel

The Mirage 3 reigned supreme in the skies during the 1960s, and Israel acquired a substantial number of them early in that decade. 

This aircraft instilled a sense of security in an entire generation of young Israelis who felt that their existence and future were guaranteed because of it. 

A popular children's film with a romantic touch, "Shmone Ba'Ikvot Echad" ("Eight in Pursuit of One") [1964], was even made about a spy searching for the aircraft's secrets at a military base, and the children of the nearby kibbutz capturing him.

National Miracle

The delta-winged aircraft was the best interceptor of its time in the Middle Eastern skies and gave Israel air superiority. These planes were the spearhead of the Israeli Air Force in the Six-Day War of 1967 and contributed significantly to the resounding victory in that war. The word "Mirage," meaning "desert illusion", became almost synonymous with the victory.

Israel's Aerospace Ambitions - Taking Flight from the Start:

From its earliest days, Israel invested in the indigenous development of aircraft, despite the endeavor being considered a highly expensive and volatile startup. Ben Gurion Airport in Lod became the central hub for the Israeli aerospace industry, which today stands as one of the most advanced in the world.

Mirage 5 Evolution - From Interceptor to Attacker

The Mirage 5 aircraft was designed by the Israeli aerospace industry before the Six-Day War. Israel developed it in collaboration with France, as early as 1966, as an improved version of the Mirage 3, intended for air-to-ground attacks. The Mirage 5s were revolutionary compared to the Mirage 3s, which were primarily designed for interception. The Mirage 5 could carry 4 tons of bombs compared to only one ton carried by the Mirage 3, and it was much cheaper and simpler.

From Embargo to the Birth of the Nesher

On the eve of the Six-Day War, France, which was Israel's sole supplier of aircraft at the time, imposed an embargo on arms shipments to the Middle East, preventing the delivery of the 50 Mirage 5s that Israel had ordered. After the war, Israel managed to obtain, through indirect means, all the aircraft's blueprints and produced it in the early 1970s under the name "Nesher." This was despite the complex moral dilemma involved in manufacturing without obtaining the patents and production rights. 

"Israel is an Airplane" - The Kfir's Legacy

In the second phase, Israel developed a semi-original version of the aircraft, with an American engine, under the name "Kfir." It produced a considerable number of them, based on its security needs, and even exported them to several countries, where some of them are still in service today. The investment in the "Kfir" was enormous and required a reorganization of the aerospace industry. It gave rise to the expression that "Israel is an airplane that has a country."

Mirage of Security:

The Sinai Dream

The phrase "a plane that has a country" held a deeper meaning for Israel. The aspiration to produce a large and powerful fleet of "Nesher" and "Kfir" aircraft, providing the nation with long-term security, merged with a broader political outlook that rejected confronting the complex reality in the territories captured during the Six-Day War. The triangular shape of the Sinai Peninsula seemed to mirror the wings of the Mirage, becoming a sort of "desert mirage."

Military Over Diplomacy

This imagery served as the foundation for official policy, disregarding peace proposals offered by Egypt and the U.S. Without a concrete plan for the future of the territories, Israel relied on its military might, particularly its domestically produced Mirage 5 aircraft with their long-range strike capabilities, as a deterrent against any potential attack.

Flawed Intelligence

A small group of senior intelligence officers formulated a "conception" supporting this approach. They argued that as long as Egypt also lacked long-range strike aircraft, it wouldn't dare attack Israel. This notion, based on an illusion of military and territorial superiority, was endorsed by the political leadership and led to a situation where, on the eve of the Yom Kippur War, abstract concepts overshadowed practical considerations in national security perception. The eve of the war, which broke out on October 6, 1973, found Israel in a state of surprising unpreparedness. 

 

The Mirage 5's Legacy:

French Betrayal - Egypt's Armament  with Mirage 5

As early as 1970, a deal was struck between France and Libya, an enemy of Israel and an ally of Egypt, for the supply of 110 Mirage 5 aircraft, an improved copy of the planes Israel itself had designed. Given the precedent of Israel stealing the aircraft's plans, the French likely did this without any qualms. This was despite the fact that these planes were originally intended for Egypt, Israel's arch-enemy. The French embargo on the eve of the Six-Day War also included Egypt. Nevertheless, the planes were gifted to Egypt by Libya, starting in 1972.

Egypt's Military Shift From Soviet to French

Up until then, the Egyptians had relied on Soviet aircraft. They wanted to launch a war against Israel, but the USSR delayed the delivery of modern long-range strike aircraft, such as the MiG and Sukhoi, as it wanted to ensure Egypt's long-term dependence on it. The Egyptians were reluctant to start a war until they had such aircraft, and the Mirage 5s received from Libya became a suitable substitute. The Israeli government and the officers who formulated the "conception" ignored the fact that Egypt was receiving superior strike aircraft from France, in greater quantity and quality than the Soviets had planned to provide.

A Wide Door for Egypt to the West

It's interesting to ponder whether the government and military leaders' disregard for the implications of the deal was intentional. Undoubtedly, it opened a wide door for Egypt to the West, something Israel also desired. 

Hostility had prevailed between Egypt and the Western powers since Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956. 

Consequently, a complacent "wait and see" attitude developed among decision-makers. This attitude was incompatible with the vigilance expected of military personnel towards an enemy.

The Yom Kippur War - Yellow Triangles on Israeli Mirages

Just as the Mirage 3s prompted Israel to launch a surprise attack in the Six-Day War, the Mirage 5s motivated the Egyptians to launch a surprise attack on October 6, 1973. They became a central weapon in their arsenal, and during the war, they used them to strike deep into the Sinai Peninsula. To avoid misidentifying the Egyptian Mirages in the air, the Israeli Air Force had to paint the wings of its own Mirages with yellow triangles, reminiscent of the Star of David patches the Nazis forced Jews to sew onto their clothing.

The Mirage's Lingering and painful Impact

In this war, Israel found itself, to its surprise, in a situation where a sophisticated and powerful aircraft it had developed itself, and which was critical to its security, was gifted, in practically unlimited quantities, to the very enemy for which the plane was developed. Moreover, the businessman behind this roundabout deal, who also planned a similar deal with Saudi Arabia, was an Egyptian who was also Israel's top spy. He was close to Egyptian President Sadat and provided Israel with a hasty, last-minute warning about Egypt's intention to go to war. Nevertheless, Israel was surprised and unprepared for the Egyptian surprise attack. 

The entire affair, in the spirit of the name "Mirage," became a bitter mirage for the Israeli leadership and significantly impacted its intelligence, military, and political actions to this day.

The Shift in Israel's Military Supply to American Reliance:

Nixon's Ultimatum

At the very start of the French embargo, Prime Minister Golda Meir traveled from Jerusalem to Washington to request an immediate replacement for the Mirage 5. The primary source for Israel's fighter jets became the United States, which supplied it with "Phantom" and "Skyhawk" aircraft, which were also of higher quality. Nixon conditioned the supply on the revocation, under the Law of Return, of the Israeli citizenship of Meyer Lansky, the American-Jewish casino magnate who had aided Israel, through Golda, during its difficult times in the War of Independence.

The Lavi's Legacy - A Dream Fade Out

The phrase "a plane that has a country" is even more fitting for the Israeli aircraft designed in the 1980s to replace the "Kfir" - the "Lavi," which was an original Israeli design from start to finish. The United States partnered in its development and funding. At an advanced stage of development, after the prototype had conducted its maiden flights, the Americans decided to halt funding for the project. 

The cancellation of the project diverted thousands of engineers to the high-tech industry, creating the foundation for the Israeli "Startup Nation." Today, no fighter jets are developed or manufactured in the Israeli aerospace industry. 

The Lavi and the Mirage 5 are remembered more as mirages. The peace agreement with Egypt, under which Israel returned the entire Sinai Peninsula captured in the Six-Day War, largely contributed to pushing the issue out of historical memory.

Dependence on U.S. Aid

Today, the State of Israel relies on the United States and is entirely dependent on it for the supply of fighter jets. The United States provides it with advanced fighter jets that cost a fortune, and their cost constitutes the majority of the fixed annual military grant to Israel, which amounts to over three billion dollars. The accumulated sum since the grant began, about fifty years ago, reaches hundreds of billions of dollars. It's unknown if and when the tables will turn, and the U.S. administration will decide to reduce or completely eliminate it. The Israeli government and its citizens have become accustomed to taking this grant for granted. If it were to be canceled, the end of the state, as it currently exists, would be swift.

Swift Victories with Lasting Impact

The aerial arms race is expensive and prolonged, but its outcome is often determined within a few hours. The decision is reached based on a slight advantage. In aerial warfare, a slight technological edge, achieved through years of technological effort, is the key to victory. 

One recent example is the victory Israel achieved against Iran in the "Swords of Iron" war: Iran launched hundreds of missiles at Israel within a few hours. About 99 percent of them were intercepted by Israel's air defense systems, developed over approximately 30 years. This swift victory may shape the political future of the region for many years to come. 

The "Kfir" aircraft

Golden Wave in the Sun

 

Blueberry Hill song, 12 Monkeys movie and Vladimir Putin's performance

The essence of the promise of stability, prosperity and security is at the mercy of science and human intelligence. If something still got out of hand, it was because someone was probably negligent, did not perform his task properly, did not turn in time to the appropriate expert - a phenomenon known in modern language as "failure" that requires investigation and examination.

In his book "The Critical Space", the French philosopher Paul Virilio described in detail the striving of rational-scientific thinking to achieve control in the world of phenomena with a tendency to control even the uncontrollable. But capturing the great promise of technology and science will, in his view, lead to an "integral accident" that will not only change the human perception of technology but may even bring an end to the "modern project."

Of course, Virilio did not wish for such an "accident" but warned against it: as great as the promise is, so is the depth of the crisis. Indeed, modern man's expectations of science and the state find themselves repeatedly battered in the face of defiant reality. This time, in the Russia-Ukraine war, we are not just facing a "global accident".

From Gaston Bechelard to Paul Virilio

Gaston Bechelard and Paul Virilio are two of the greatest French philosophers of the twentieth century. They have many similar characteristics: Phenomenological and the anti-structuralist approach. Cognitive fracture as a key for understanding human behavior. Existence of eternal movement, speed and present. Flight and aviation as key amplifiers of consciousness. Importance of material reality and especially architecture. Negation of Post-modrnism. Poetic writing style. Affinity for physics of relativity. Different characteristics are: Purification versus accident. Psychoanalysis versus technology. Classics against Hyper-modernism.

Bechelard [1884 - 1962] was a senior member of the French Academy of Sciences, and greatly influenced postmodern French philosophers. He contributed greatly to the study of the poetics and philosophy of science. He developed the concept of the "cognitive rift", which is essential for the progress of science out of crises. He has extensively developed the concept of "dynamic imagination", according to which the main function of the creative imagination is to refute existing images.

Virilio [1932 - 2018] was a cultural theorist, urbanist and aesthetic philosopher. He is best known for his writings on technology, as it has evolved in relation to speed and power, architecture, the arts, the city and the military. The major concepts he developed are "Dromology" ["Racing"] and "Global Accident". According to them, modern culture, the cyberspace, is instantly virtual. It moves at the maximum speed of light, creating a reality of a uniform world, a huge global city, which is a terminal saturated with detached images and prone to accidents.

For both, fliht and aviation are key to creative thinking. They are  a male-female creature alike and the deity in person. The attributes embodied in these concepts becomes for them, automatically and involuntarily, the creative intuition. This is similar to the reliance of many other creators on these concepts as a starting point for thinking. For example, the issue of UAVs stands out today. It has become a tool through which one can review and summarize any human phenomenon. For Bechelard the UAV is another good conductor, an amplifier, for the imagining mind. For Virilio, it is another link in the de-localization and global accident of humanity.

The difference between Gaston Bechelard and Paul Virilio is the difference between the optimist and the pessimist. Bechelard's point of view is personal and intimate, compared to Virilio's global-cosmic point of view. Bechelard observes in space what the near and familiar reality is, on the personal and private scale. Virilio is replacing Bechelard's dream and reverie with technology and media. He looks at the world from the outer and unfamiliar space, on the superpersonal scale and on society as a whole. Bechelard is the desire, the passion and the hope. Virilio is the surrender and defeat, the inevitable global accident. In Bechelard the world is as round as a well. For Virilio, the world is as square as a screen. Bechelard is innocent and Virilio is cynical. In Bechelard the world opens up and in Virilio it is closing.

While Heidegger, Virilio's spiritual teacher, view the radio as superficial and a reduction, Bechelard saw it as a possibility for deepening and uniting hearts, a kind of universal utopia. The conversations in cafes are loud, but in the universal world of radio, everyone hears each other, and everyone can listen comfortably.

Clues to Bechelard's critique of the "distressed philosophy", as he called existentialist philosophy, can be found without difficulty in all his writings. The refusal of distress was inconsistent with the fashion order of his time, but Bechelard remained consistent in his positions. Boldness was needed to write, in the middle of the twentieth century, in France, in the days of the existentialist climax, that "distress is false: we were created to breathe well''.

Many writers note the psychic powers that Bechelard's philosophy imparts to those who come through its gates, the healing quality inherent in his philosophy, in the possibility he offers, in which man and the world are in constant poetic dialogue. There is indeed a lot of loneliness in Bechelard's philosophy. This is, without a doubt, a philosophy of the individual, the loner. But he is not alone, he is always in the company of the world. Moreover, he is in the company of the beauty of the world. The natural destiny of dreaming, Bechelard believed, is to see the beauties of the world. You can not dream of ugliness in a reverie. Beauty is not only aesthetic, it also a need of the cognitive, ethical and mentality of the person.

Virilio is replacing Bechelard's dream and reverie with technology and media. The sorting and comparison based on the classicical writers by Bechelard, alternates with him to the sorting and comparison based on the present reality. Bechelard's point of view is personal. Virilio's perspective is global. According to Virilio, the world has changed. It is not the same world known by classical works and history. It all became a bustling mega city. We can no longer rely on our natural perception. It was completely distorted by the Tele-Media. The original and new poetic image can not exist in the world of electronic consumerism images, which enslave the imagination and cognition. Loneliness is no longer a sacred value. It is mechanical, and stems from the social split into "human points" created by technology.

The words, too, became worthless. Only the oral experience, the continuity that the delay and acceleration in speech are capable of, remained. It is the stops speech can create, by the wisdom of the thinker, in the mind of the listener. Virilio, through his stretched paragraphs, brings back the reader to the beginning of the social consciousness, of the shoutings of primitive man. He does not have a dialogue with the reader, as does Bechelard. There is hom survival for its own sake. No hand caressing. There is a finger that press the destruction button.

Virilio is one of the most prolific and poignant critics of the drama of the modern technological age. The enterprise of his life is an ongoing reflection on the origins, nature, and influences of the technologies that make up the modern  and postmodern world. He was particularly interested in military technology, representation technologies, computer and information technologies and biotechnology. The question of aviation as a dystopia is central to his thinking, as aviation is a key factor in the creation of the visual world and the global city, a world-terminal that is negatively interactive. Although Virilio does not ruling out technology, he radically criticizes the ways in which it changes the world, and even the human race. The criticism towards him is that he has a flawed perception, which is too negative and one-sided, and loses the empowering and democratic aspects of new computer and media technologies.

Sources:

Gaston Bechelard. The poetics of space

John Armitage. Virilio Live: Selected Interviews

Paul Virilio - Camera movement over eighty years

The properties of the element of fire guide Virilio in writing on the subject. Fire is an almost imageless element, except for three: light, heat, immediacy. The light according to Virilio is the light of the camera, the heat is the weapon, the immediacy is the decision making.

Virilio reviews how the development of the camera was due to the development of the machine gun, and in general how the development of cinematic photography was due to the consequences of various military developments. Observation and visual intelligence are the cornerstone of the military. That is why they have been at the forefront of technology since the dawn of history to the present day. As the weapons became more sophisticated and the slaughter on the battlefield increased, so did the need for more sophisticated means of observation. The observation plane became the most effective means, and in this way the battlefield, and later the whole world, also became cinematic. The war itself became a spectacular visual spectacle, due to the sophistication of the night lights and the intensity of the shells, in parallel with the sophistication of the defenses against them, trenches and fortifications, which created a sense of disconnection.

The function of the camera is first to connect the fragments of the whole that are revealed to it in separate images, into one complete image. Unlike more modern photography, which focuses on details and create resolutions. Nowadays, with the development of means of observation also for the invisible, such as infrared and radar, and other electronic means, the problem is the management of the information that comes from them, which is the most reliable, but also dense. This created the need for computing, and from there it was a short way to make automatic decisions. In this way the war became a nonstop film, and the nonstop time management replaced the management of space. There was also an obsession with stealth weapons, simulations, and electronic deception. As a result, the war became impersonal and intangible.

Because the sense of reality went wrong, so did human reason. The need to filter information under the conditions of human-machine combined activity was first discovered in World War II, with the sophistication of air defense equipment. Thus was founded the science of cybernetics, based on the concept of the system and the feedback, and in particular the negative feedback, which allows for the screening of human errors through practices.

A detached worldview was created as a result, making motion pictures more tangible than reality. Reality, which has been imprisoned and eliminated by the electromagnetic cyber world, is being revived through the worlds of guided imagery of cinema. Movies have become the telescopic rifle through which we look at war in particular, and the world at large.

In World War II, aerial observation, which has become very sophisticated, has become the most important means of feeding raw materials for films designed to portray reality with an objective eye. But the aerial observation also turned the surface into a detached object, as in a laboratory. Everything became too clear and immediate from the air, and repeated evidence was required, as in a laboratory experiment, to confirm any report. This is due to the increasing speed and mobility of the modern ground military movement. The need for a broad verbal interpretation of the outcome of air battles and bombings, has turned silent films into talking films, among viewers in the command rooms. The ability to carry out nocturnal attacks using bright lighting and the use of radar added to the sense of cinematic detachment from reality. The speed of the decision became more important than its correctness. Mobility, the hallmark of the military force, has become a series of means of communication, sent only by the commander-in-chief to any force on the ground. Statistics have become a major tool for him in decision making.

The citizens of the home front have also became partners to the reality of the command rooms. They were attentive to alarms, under the cloud of uncertainty of the bomb approaching them on the one hand, and watched at night the spectacular spectacle of the air defense spotlights and light bombs.

A similar spectacle is currently being experienced by Israeli citizens watching from a protected area in the background during clashes in Gaza, such as in Operation ''Wall Guard'', in which trails of thousands of missiles illuminated the sky. The first Lebanon war is an early and different example of the means of sight taking over the war, using the unmanned aerial vehicles to asist the airplanes.

In World War II, the culmination of the spectacle of light and fire was the atomic bomb. Immediately after the war it was replaced by the exhaust from the jet aircraft engines, and a few years later the fire emitted by the missile engines launched into space. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, which required an immediate response from the United States following fears of launching missiles from the island, expressed the empowerment of the processes that connected the observation, immediacy and weapons, that are a modern incarnation of primodial fire.

In the Vietnam War, unmanned jet aerial vehicles were used for the first time, as part of a sophisticated electronic system of aiming and collecting data from various sensors. The UAVs, and the missiles launched by pilots remotely using the Send and Forget method, contributed to the disengagement of the fighters from the war. What remains is the link between the flash of light and the war. For war as a vision in Vietnam contributed the use of drugs by soldiers. War as a cinema has become a default.

In the 1970s, the advanced flight simulator was developed, which enabled full simulation of operational flight, and became almost its replacement. The flight has become a cinematic misenscene. Strategic deterrence was also practiced through electronic war games. The computerized maps, created using the aerial scan of the surface, created a new world of computer mapping, imaging and navigation. The pilots were given an overhead display, sophisticated helmets, and the ability to fly and launch through speech and eye focus. The flight became automatic. The eye and the weapon merged.