What role does luck play in your life? | Barry Schwartz

Translator: Patricia Marin Reviewer: Antoni Barceló Riera

Hello, everybody.

Hola a tots.

I'm honored to be here to talk to you,

És un plaer estar aquí i parlar amb vosaltres.

and what I'm going to talk about today is luck and justice

Avui us parlaré sobre la sort i la justícia,

and the relation between them.

i de com estan relacionades.

Some years ago,

Fa uns anys,

a former student of mine called me

un antic estudiant meu em va trucar

to talk about his daughter.

per parlar de la seva filla.

It turns out his daughter was a high school senior,

Estava acabant el batxillerat,

was seriously interested in applying to Swarthmore,

volia entrar a Swarthmore,

where I taught,

on jo donava classes,

and he wanted to get my sense of whether she would get in.

i volia saber si jo creia que hi podria accedir.

Swarthmore is an extremely hard school to get into.

Swarthmore és una escola on és molt difícil entrar.

So I said, "Well, tell me about her."

Vaig dir-li: «Explica'm coses sobre ella»,

And he told me about her,

i em va dir

what her grades were like, her board scores,

quines notes treia, les assignatures que feia,

her extracurricular activities.

les activitats extraescolars, etc.

And she just sounded like a superstar,

I tot el que deia sonava perfecte,

wonderful, wonderful kid.

una noia meravellosa.

So I said, "She sounds fabulous.

Vaig dir-li: «Tot el que em dius sona genial.

She sounds like just the kind of student

És el tipus d'estudiant

that Swarthmore would love to have."

que Swarthmore voldria tenir.»

And so he said, "Well, does that mean that she'll get in?"

I em va preguntar: «Això vol dir que hi entraria?»

And I said, "No.

Vaig dir-li: «No.

There just aren't enough spots in the Swarthmore class

No hi ha places suficients a Swarthmore

for everybody who's good.

per a tothom qui és bo.

There aren't enough spots at Harvard or Yale or Princeton or Stanford.

Ni a Harvard, Yale, Princeton o Stanford.

There aren't enough spots at Google or Amazon or Apple.

No hi ha suficients places a Google, Amazon o Apple.

There aren't enough spots at the TED Conference.

No hi ha prou places a les conferències TED.

There are an awful lot of good people,

Hi ha moltíssimes persones molt bones,

and some of them are not going to make it."

però algunes no aconseguiran mai accedir-hi.»

So he said, "Well, what are we supposed to do?"

I em va dir: «Aleshores, què hi podem fer?»

And I said, "That's a very good question."

«És una molt bona pregunta», li vaig respondre.

What are we supposed to do?

Què se suposa que hem de fer?

And I know what colleges and universities have done.

Sé què fan algunes universitats.

In the interest of fairness,

En pro de la justícia,

what they've done is they've kept ratcheting up the standards

apugen els estàndards,

because it doesn't seem fair to admit less qualified people

perquè no és just admetre persones poc qualificades

and reject better qualified people,

i rebutjar-ne de molt qualificades,

so you just keep raising the standards higher and higher

així que s'apugen els estàndards més i més

until they're high enough that you can admit

fins que són tan alts que només admeten

only the number of students that you can fit.

el nombre d'estudiants que hi caben.

And this violates a lot of people's sense of what justice and fairness is.

Això vulnera allò que molta gent considera just.

People in American society have different opinions

A la societat americana hi ha opinions diferents

about what it means to say that some sort of process is just,

sobre què significa que un procés sigui just,

but I think there's one thing that pretty much everyone agrees on,

però crec que la majoria està d'acord en una cosa:

that in a just system, a fair system,

que en un sistema just,

people get what they deserve.

la gent té el que es mereix.

And what I was telling my former student

I el que jo volia dir al meu antic estudiant

is that when it comes to college admissions,

és que, pel que fa a les admissions a les universitats,

it just isn't true that people get what they deserve.

no és cert que la gent té el que es mereix.

Some people get what they deserve, and some people don't,

Alguns ho tenen, però d'altres no.

and that's just the way it is.

Això és així.

When you ratchet up requirements as colleges have done,

Quan apuges tant els estàndards com han fet les universitats,

what you do is you create a crazy competition

es crea una competició boja

among high school kids,

entre els estudiants,

because it's not adequate to be good,

perquè no està bé ser bo,

it's not adequate to be good enough,

no està bé ser suficientment bo,

you have to be better than everybody else who is also applying.

s'ha de ser millor que tots els altres.

And what this has done,

I el que passa,

or what this has contributed to,

el que provoca,

is a kind of epidemic of anxiety and depression

és una mena d'epidèmia d'ansietat i depressió

that is just crushing our teenagers.

entre els adolescents.

We are wrecking a generation with this kind of competition.

Estem marcant una generació amb aquestes competicions.

As I was thinking about this,

Al reflexionar sobre això,

it occurred to me there's a way to fix this problem.

se'm va ocórrer que hi ha una manera d'arreglar-ho.

And here's what we could do:

Podríem fer això:

when people apply to college,

quan la gent vulgui entrar a la universitat,

we distinguish between the applicants who are good enough to be successful

podem diferenciar entre els estudiants que són prou bons per ser exitosos

and the ones who aren't,

i els que no ho són,

and we reject the ones who aren't good enough to be successful,

i rebutjar els que no són prou bons.

and then we take all of the others, and we put their names in a hat,

I aleshores podríem considerar tots els altres noms,

and we just pick them out at random

posar-los dins un barret, triar-los a l'atzar

and admit them.

i admetre'ls.

In other words, we do college admissions by lottery,

És a dir, escollim qui entra per loteria,

and maybe we do job offers at tech companies by lottery,

i podem donar feines per loteria,

and -- perish the thought --

i –quina bogeria, no?–

maybe we even make decisions about who gets invited to talk at TED

potser triar qui fa TED Talks per loteria.

by lottery.

Now, don't misunderstand me,

Però no em malentengueu,

a lottery like this is not going to eliminate the injustice.

una loteria com aquesta no eliminaria pas la injustícia.

There will still be plenty of people who don't get what they deserve.

Encara hi hauria moltíssima gent que no tindria el que es mereix.

But at least it's honest.

Però com a mínim és honest.

It reveals the injustice for what it is instead of pretending otherwise,

Mostra la injustícia tal com és, en comptes de pretendre el contrari,

and it punctures the incredible pressure balloon

i evita aquest increïble globus de pressió

that our high school kids are now living under.

sota el qual viuen els estudiants.

So why is it that this perfectly reasonable proposal,

Per què aquesta proposta,

if I do say so myself,

perfectamente raonable,

doesn't get any serious discussion?

no es considera seriosament?

I think I know why.

Crec que en sé el perquè.

I think it's that we hate the idea

Crec que odiem la idea

that really important things in life might happen by luck or by chance,

que les coses realment importants a la vida passin per atzar o per sort,

that really important things in our lives are not under our control.

que les coses realment importants no estiguin sota el nostre control.

I hate that idea.

Jo odio aquesta idea.

It's not surprising that people hate that idea,

No és sorprenent que la gent també l'odiï,

but it simply is the way things are.

però la cosa funciona així.

First of all, college admissions already is a lottery.

Primer, entrar a les universitats ja és una loteria.

It's just that the admissions officers pretend that it isn't.

Només que els qui decideixen qui hi accedeix

fan veure que no ho és.

So let's be honest about it.

Siguem honestos.

And second,

I segon,

I think if we appreciated that it was a lottery,

si veiéssim que és una loteria,

it would also get us to acknowledge the importance of good fortune

ens faria apreciar la importància de tenir bona sort

in almost every one of our lives.

en les nostres vides.

Take me.

Us explicaré el meu cas.

Almost all the most significant events in my life have occurred,

La major part dels fets més importants a la meva vida

to a large degree,

han estat, en gran part,

as a result of good luck.

el resultat de tenir bona sort.

When I was in seventh grade, my family left New York

Quan anava a l'ESO, la meva família va marxar de Nova York

and went to Westchester County.

i vam anar a Westchester County.

Right at the beginning of school,

Just al començament del curs,

I met a lovely young girl who became my friend,

vaig conèixer una noia i ens vam fer amics,

then she became my best friend,

després vam ser millors amics,

then she became my girlfriend

després va ser la meva parella

and then she became my wife.

i després ens vam casar.

Happily, she's been my wife now

Estem feliçment casats des de fa 52 anys.

for 52 years.

I had very little to do with this. This was a lucky accident.

Jo no vaig tenir gaire a veure amb això. Va ser fortuït.

I went off to college,

Vaig anar a la universitat, i al primer semestre

and in my first semester, I signed up for a class in introduction to psychology.

vaig apuntar-me a una classe d'introducció a la psicologia.

I didn't even know what psychology was,

Jo no sabia què era la psicologia,

but it fit into my schedule and it met requirements,

però encaixava al meu horari i em deixaven fer-la,

so I took it.

així que la vaig agafar.

And by luck, the class was taught

I, per atzar, la classe la donava

by a superstar introductory psychology teacher, a legend.

un professor genial, una llegenda.

Because of that, I became a psychology major.

I per això vaig començar a agafar assignatures de psicologia.

Went off to graduate school.

I em vaig graduar.

I was finishing up.

Estava acabant la carrera,

A friend of mine who taught at Swarthmore decided

i un amic que treballava a Swarthmore

he didn't want to be a professor anymore,

va decidir abandonar la docència,

and so he quit to go to medical school.

ho va deixar per començar medicina.

The job that he occupied opened up,

La seva plaça va quedar lliure,

I applied for it, I got it,

la vaig sol·licitar, i em van donar la feina,

the only job I've ever applied for.

l'única entrevista de feina que he fet mai.

I spent 45 years teaching at Swarthmore,

He estat 45 anys donant classes a Swarthmore,

an institution that had an enormous impact on the shape that my career took.

una institució que ha marcat molt la meva carrera.

And to just give one last example,

I, per donar un altre exemple,

I was giving a talk about some of my work in New York,

vaig fer una xerrada a Nova York

and there was somebody in the audience who came up to me after my talk.

i algú del públic va venir a parlar-me a l'acabar.

He introduced himself.

Es va presentar.

He said, "My name is Chris.

«Em dic Chris.

Would you like to give a talk at TED?"

Voldries fer una xerrada a TED?»

And my response was, "What's TED?"

I jo vaig respondre-li: «Què és TED?»

Well, I mean, he told me,

M'ho va explicar.

and TED then wasn't what it is now.

Aleshores, TED no era el que és ara.

But in the intervening years,

Però en els anys següents,

the talks I've given at TED have been watched

més de 20 milions de persones

han vist les xerrades que he donat a TED

by more than 20 million people.

So the conclusion is, I'm a lucky man.

Així que la conclusió és que sóc un home amb sort.

I'm lucky about my marriage.

He tingut sort amb el meu matrimoni,

I'm lucky about my education.

amb els meus estudis,

I'm lucky about my career.

amb la meva carrera professional.

And I'm lucky to have had a platform and a voice at something like TED.

I tinc sort d'haver tingut veu a una plataforma com TED.

Did I deserve the success I've had?

Em mereixo l'èxit que he tingut?

Sure I deserve that success,

Segurament que sí,

just as you probably deserve your success.

igual que vosaltres mereixeu el vostre.

But lots of people also deserve successes like ours

Però molta altra gent també se'l mereix

who haven't had it.

i no l'ha tingut.

So do people get what they deserve?

Les persones tenim el que ens mereixem?

Is society just?

La societat és justa?

Of course not.

És clar que no.

Working hard and playing by the rules is just no guarantee of anything.

Treballar de valent i seguir les normes no és garantia de res.

If we appreciate the inevitability of this kind of injustice

Si valorem com son d'inevitables aquestes injustícies

and the centrality of good fortune,

i com és de vital tenir bona sort,

we might ask ourselves

ens podem preguntar:

what responsibilities do we have

quines responsabilitats tenim

to the people we are now celebrating as heroes in this time of the pandemic

cap als qui ara durant la pandèmia veiem com a herois,

when a serious illness befalls their family

quan una malaltia greu cau sobre les seves famílies

to make sure that they remain whole and their lives aren't ruined

per assegurar-nos que resisteixen i les seves vides no s'escapcen

by the cost of dealing with the illness?

pel cost de fer front a la malaltia?

What do we owe people who struggle,

Què devem a les persones que ho passen malament,

work hard and are less lucky than we are?

treballen intensament però tenen menys sort que nosaltres?

About a half century ago,

Fa 50 anys,

the philosopher John Rawls wrote a book called "A Theory of Justice,"

el filòsof John Rawls va escriure el llibre 'Teoria de la justícia',

and in that book, he introduced a concept that he called "the veil of ignorance."

en què parlava del concepte del vel de la ignorància.

The question he posed was:

Es feia la pregunta següent:

If you didn't know what your position in society was going to be,

si no sabessis quina serà la teva posició a la societat,

what kind of a society would you want to create?

quina societat voldries crear?

And what he suggested

I suggeria que,

is that when we don't know whether we're going to enter society

quan no sabem si, dintre de la societat,

at the top or at the bottom,

ocuparem una posició alta o baixa,

what we want is a society that is pretty damn equal,

el que voldrem és una societat igualitària al màxim,

so that even the unlucky

en la qual els qui no tinguin sort

will be able to live decent, meaningful and satisfying lives.

puguin viure vides riques i decents.

So bring this back, all of you lucky, successful people, to your communities,

Per tant, els qui tenim sort i èxit, apliquem això a les nostres comunitats

and do what you can to make sure that we honor and take care of

i fem el que puguem per cuidar i honorar

people who are just as deserving of success as we are,

les persones que es mereixen tant èxit com nosaltres

but just not as lucky.

però no han tingut tanta sort.

Thank you.

Gràcies.