Dawn and Ready-to-Hand

Dawn described doing surgery with a "gelled" surgical team in a way that illustrates Heidegger's notion of ready-to-hand Present-to-Hand and Ready-to-Hand.

What makes it cool is the gesture she uses. As she does the surgery she's narrating what she's doing (for the benefit of the students watching). When she needs a new instrument, she waves her hand out to the side in an arc. The instrument magically appears in her hand – seemingly of its own accord – at the furthest part of the arc. Then she completes the gesture, bringing the instrument in and up, then in and down. At the end, we are to imagine the hand holding the instrument plunging into the patient's opened body.