technology in money and cryptocurrencies and life after google. i think you interviewed me about life after google. >> several times. your most recent book, how would you describe "the israel test: how israel's genius enriches and challenges the world"? >> well, it's history. it's philosophy. it's the nature of capitalism. it's the sources of our superabundance. it's -- "the israel test," the new addition is introduced by dennis prager, and dennis has prager university and they have an israel test video that you

can see at prager university, which sums up the book. .. who sell you? and. the six of achieve wealth, intellect? and do envy them and love hate them and try to do that. you that they somehow diminish you or do you emulate and admire them and use them as an inspiration and learn from them and call right with them and. that's the essential israel's nose and do you see israel as a country to be emulated? yes. israel is of the great miracle in the world

a worlds economy. it did come for arabs and jews higher than germany or britain or france or japan. 's it's the sf many of the key technologies that drive the us economy. people often imagine that somehow israel was dependent on us. but it's just as true that the us is dependent on the genius of israel for the most rapid, rapidly growing companies in the us economy. we give our example israel intel is our leading semiconductor company and israel, i mean, intel is really in israel only companies at. its yeah, they invented the end

degraded circuit but the integrated circuit and the microprocessor but they didn't succeed and supporting intel in its early years and its early years intel was sustained by nonvolatile memory. those are flash is what we call flash memory cell e promises they were that were invented by froman who was an israel who was one of the key figures in the early intel group and all of profits for the first several years of intel from these nonvolatile memories. then establish their leading wafer fab, which is intel's chips. leading edge chips are made you factor out god and of israel and

many of their leading microprocessors were designed that there israel design center. of course intel, was an american company. it's also an israeli company. and and google it's, you know, google maps and everything. earth, waze is an is israeli company. that was by google and which makes possible all the features of google maps and google as a side centered intel. i mean sorry, ibm has crucial designs centers in israel. it's it's just and you know, many of our leading medical technologies from pfizer,

astrazeneca, you know, all the various. all are were invented in israel largely. and sdi i was a great advocate of. sdi actually showed ronald reagan, his first microchip and said this would enable of strategic defense to intercept missiles as they in. but the us never really developed sdi is too much bureaucracy, but the israelis were a partner, was in sdi from the beginning. they were the only partners and then they created iron dome and sling and arrow three, the really the strategic defense, a vindication of reagan's vision, of intercept the missiles from

iran and the current war in the middle east. and in fact, you write, when it comes to that issue, if there should ever occur an all out missile attack against the us, israeli technology will be the reason we will likely survive. no, that's george gilder you say that the israelis is also a book about philosophy. what do you mean? well, my my favorite chapter probably is on john von. no, i'm and john von was the originator of information theory, but when von and he was also one of the key figures in, the manhattan project, which saved america during the second world war.

but john norman started as an ally of hilbert, who believed in a determine mathematical model of the universe and von neumann and heard kurt gertz, i'll just give good charles proofs back in 1931 and girdles show that no intellectual system, no conceptual system can actually can function without proposition outside the system that can't be reduced to the system and von neumann was hilbert's chief ally in trying to reduce all science to a single mathematical scheme. and he realized that girdles prove girdle was 20 years old when he offered that no one, no

one in the room really understood its significance except von neumann and von neumann abandoned the hilbert scheme. that was his life pursued and this and decided that distributed com mutation would be possible and you could have as many computers as there were human minds and and and that however that was all ultimately reliant on faith. you couldn't have a system determined a system that exploited everything you couldn't have a singularity as they call it now an artificial intelligence and john von neumann who really invented the von neumann computer model and also the von computer model, is

massively parallel processing that you find error in video and in the data centers. he also invented that model it's called non von, but he also wrote the key paper that explained neural networks, which is the non von model. but anyway, it was essential of understanding that all intellectuals active depends on faith and a man made for the universe and. i tell that story and a chapter of the israel says, quote as one of the world's most profitable economies built on one of the world's most barren territories, israel challenges all those material. superstitions of zero sum

economics based on the distribution of natural resources and the exploited nation of landed labor. yeah, well, this is israel as less land than anybody else. just about 4% of the middle eastern land. and yet it's of economy is worth half a trillion dollars or more. and it's market cap is bigger and it's it's a key force in the world economy. and it shows that ultimately. well, stems from the human mind because here --. 5.4% of the world's population. but seven out of the half the prizes are won by -- of seven out of the top ten of richest men in.

the world are --. -- led many of the leading companies all around the world and and and this is why the world faces an israel us. it's whether you admire these people and learn them and collaborate with them and expand your own opportunities in your own horizons or whether you resent them and try to tear them down. and that's really the israel test and that's what my is about. and you write that the central that israel's defenders is to accept the finding of the debate by its enemies whose idea is that peace depends on some marginal but perpetually elusive improvement in israel's behavior. yeah, it's it's just really absurd. when i first this is my latest

version of the israel test. it's revised and updated a lot. it's got a introduction by dennis prager, but and when i first did the first edition, i gave a speech in far rockaway in queens to a synagogue and after it ended the line up, sign the books. and one of the people gave me this little bit of volume of it's published in the. 19 four days by walter loudermilk and he was an agricultural economist. and roosevelt administration and and he was responding the crisis of the dust bowl, which was a real climate catastrophe back in

the 1930s, which was threatening american agriculture production and wreaking havoc the west and and so he went around world for the department of agriculture and and ended up in israel and discovered that just agricultural inventions that made the desert bloom and it's all in what loudermilk burke and it's it's it's expounded the detail with agricultural agronomy and subsisted creation and shows how and this is continue israel still makes the world blown at it leads the world and they sell them as desalination while its economy is increased. it's 60 times that's.

it's productive today by a factor of it it's use of water is actually diminished 10% it's agricultural production is up 16 fold since it was founded. but its use of water is actually down 10%. so israel polls shows that all our fears of a water crisis or a resource crisis. population crisis or whatever are all empty. if you affirm the genius of of human beings inventing new technologies and making the deserts of our lives bloom with no possible.

abilities and capabilities and operating hundred days, new horizons for human creativity. one more quote from the israel test. instead, what we find in the us is not the immense gratitude that israel deserves, but an insidious spate of abusive nonsense detailing the alleged indeed the sins of israel having built the world's preeminent high tech economy on a mere 4% of middle eastern territory, israel is denounced from continental america as somehow big, even staunch israel supporters tend to bend over backwards to conceive that israel deserves intense criticism for much of its behavior. i think it is just an amazing thing to observe. i mean, this is, you know this is israel has been invaded six or seven times over the years

from the same jihadist force and and somehow they're blame for responding to those six and a father or, the six terrorists invasion or the i mean it's really quite incredible particularly when you realize the arabs israel are the richest and the longest living arabs in the world. there are more than 2 million of them. and they are of. are 16% of the workers. and israel high tech industries, they're among the most prosperous people in the world. the arabs of israel george gilder is the author of the israel test how israel's genius

enriches and challenges the world. and he's spent a few minutes with us here on book tv. thank you so much,rainer zitelmn author, german book publisher and a german news editor, 28 books for 929, the 29th book is this vietnam poland and the origins of prosperity. why did you choose vietnam poland to write about this time? so first of all, you maybe this index of economic freedom, the heritage foundation, its rank every year how economically the free countries and i for me it's not so important to compare different countries but to compare over time. and if you do this you'll find no other countries than, poland and vietnam, who increased so much over the last decades. give you an example. the united states they have now,

the worst rankings. they started the index in 1995, lost seven scores. if you compare to 1995, vietnam gains 20 scores. at the same time. and this is important our curious to find out more these countries and what a lot of people don't know vietnam was the first country in the world, 99 to fewer than all african countries across the roster. war not only the world is united states the fathers war with france, japan, china and what was not destroyed. the war was destroyed by the plan the economy. and so they came being the first country in the world in 1990. but they are people then they started with free market reforms, introduced private property, opened the economy for investors. and the result is this is amazing. the number of people living in poverty in vietnam decreased

from 80% in 1990 to less than 5% today. so you can see what free market reforms can do they call themselves socialist today. don't believe it. i've there i had lectures at universities it's it's easier to find remarks in an american university a european university than in vietnam. they know what socialism is but you write in your new book, mr. seidelman today, vietnam, vietnamese economy is one of the most open in the world. at the same time, they're not holding elections correct? that's correct. of course, you have to distinguish between politics on the one hand, it's not a democracy of course. it's a one party system. there's no freedom press. all the newspapers are owned by the government. so you have to distinguish in the economy, they became more and more free, but not unfortunately, in politics. this is true is a difference maybe to to the second country,

poland. poland was one of the first country in europe in the eighties. even in the eighties, people had to 2 hours and hours in long queues to catch something to eat, to get products, sometimes even days in the eighties, not to the fifties. and then there started in 1990 with free market reforms, polish it all, which was a finance minister, an economist who believes that higher emissions and now since three decades poland is growth friendly. but this is the difference. vietnam they have also now democracy. so it goes hand in hand. in poland, capitalist reforms, democracy. this is a difference to vietnam and poland write is more economically than spain. israel or italy. is it due to the finance minister in poland or was there

a sea change in approach to economics? so yes, they started in the nineties with very free market reforms. i'm fortunately, in the last 15 years, not much as i've done on the opposite of the peace party road there they stopped even the nationalized something. so what's happened in the last ten years is not as good. but they did so much. of course they couldn't do more as. but today poland is in a way, on a better way as strongly. i compare it with my country. for example, the growth expectation for germany for this year is 0.1%. in poland 2.8%. so you're seeing why is that? why they are not so ideologically driven? you know, we in germany what we are very ideology trip with climate change and remain to

topics and you know what they did trump to forbid or phase out nuclear power plants to phase out coal power plants for fracking and now even they ban the registration of cars of the combustion engine so all ideology driven in poland is not so they're all pragmatic also in the migration policy. i think they are better in poland. we, we welcome germany from all over the world. millions have millions in the and state. a lot of them are only on social welfare. and with poland, too, also, they did a lot for people coming from ukraine but not for everyone. and people who come from other countries. they work there. poland, not as it is in germany because they have not such a big state as we have rainer's eidelman if you were going to build a factory to make widgets, what do you rather go to poland where the wages is would be lower and the restrictions less

than in germany is this part of their appeal. absolute. absolutely. and i would prefer to go to poland and the problem this is a problem for. germany, for example, that competition leaving trumka. i give you one example. all the companies that rely heavily on electricity prices like the chemical industry, they are leading. yes. after the biggest chemical company the world. now they go to because this age is bureaucracy. so the shopping china and the electricity is much cheaper. so this is this is a problem foreign direct investment. another topic of your book, how nations escape poverty. what's what's the importance fdi? yes, this is a very good question because i would compare vietnam with another country. i was in the last 20 months, 30 countries, one of these

countries was part they polish one of the ten first countries in the world. and they a lot of restrictions what you cannot invest and this is not welcome and they see foreign investors as an enemy for them. so they have a lot of restriction there. their regulations in vietnam, the opposite. they welcome them. can we attract more foreign investors from asia, from the united states, from europe? so they understood that foreign money will help them. and this is a very marked difference because a lot of also in africa they don't understand. it's it's not bad it's good have to embrace them and and another thing that is the difference in vietnam. you know spoke about the war and the nineties they were so poor they could have blamed the states for their problems because of the war. and you know, if you know, this

number in the in vietnam war, ten times smaller and explosives from the united states fell on vietnam then on many of the second world war. so they could blame the united states, but they didn't do this very important because african countries, you know, they are always like a victim are we are victims of colonialism. slavery, sometimes it's 50 or 100 years ago. they blame countries and then they ask how we more development aid. we are victims. so in vietnam not they never saw them as victims. they saw that they are for their situation. they saw that this was the crazy plan economy. and i think this is the same fault individual then for nation if you want change your life if your playboys are the people for your profits. i'm victim of capitalism through racism, sexist, sexist, whatever. you will not change anything in your life if you take the responsibility for life, then you can change the same for

nations. would you say it's fair comparison to say that vietnam today or in recent history is comparable to germany in the 1950s, post-world two as an economic miracle in a a little bit, of course and some things are different we had a longer tradition before the national socialist with capitalism but they did not have this role as a country with peasants before. but of course, the the approach that economic freedom and private property is what makes us successful. and another thing maybe that they have in common they admire rich people. they admire entrepreneurs. i a poll for this book in vietnam and also in a lot of other countries about the attitudes towards relative and you know in a lot of countries like in france or germany rich people are scapegoats to for all

bad things for them are role models. how can i become rich? everyone want to become rich. and i was invited at the foreign trade university, which is one of the most prestigious of our cities in hanoi. and they read my books, also translated some of my books, and they invited me to workshop with this topic. how can we improve the image of rich people? can you imagine that a university in the united states social science writes me for a workshop? how can we improve image of wealthy people? i was invited in germany to to lecture to a discussion two moments ago, but it was about redistribution. how we take away ball from rich this part of the topic. so you see the attitude is also very poor. this is, by the way, similar in poland in poland. they they wealthy people are very not as scapegoats. this is what both of these

countries a lot of things in common this is the reason why i took both together in the book because they have yeah they had both is touted was i don't know whether you know what a lot of people don't know the second world war more people working killed in poland than in any other country of course adjusted to the population and the numbers across from the soviet union. so they had to wall they had socialism that they tried to reform inside socialist did broke then they started with the reforms and then they started to grow. and so i think a lot of other countries learn a lot from them and hope that a lot of young people in the united at the universities, greek this that if they discuss with their professors and teachers will tell that capitalism is to blame for hunger and poverty. no, it's not right. yeah, you have the fact in this book rainer zitelmann trade deals a difference the us did not sign trade deal with vietnam

but the eu did. i know think they have a free trade deal is the united states with. the united states? yes they have more a free trade agreements than think any other asian countries. so what does that what does that entail? what that mean to have a free trade agreement? yes. that they have. no no or less tariffs and that they have not so much restrictions that even now, if you feel that something is not okay, you can go to an international court and sue them and they will accept it. vietnam, there's a difference in china. you can't do it they will never accept if an international will say this was but they accept it. so this is another thing they are more free than china and china they had also a great story with thanks to helping the eighties their start is the free market reforms but now with chuchu ping it goes back in the wrong direction.

mark less state. and so there's a there's a slogan escape from china and they go to vietnam now because it's small free also freedom of speech of course it's not as it is here in the united states or europe, but it's more free than in china. for example, if you go to vietnam, you can use twitter, you can use facebook at and all this in in china not possible here. it's it's not allowed, is it beneficial in your view for poland be a member of the eu as partly yes partly no. yes because they've got to also to be honest a lot of support. money on the other hand now they we have all this crazy decisions from the commission and house every economy