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

Translator: Noa Fontán Reviewer: Xosé María Moreno

Hello, everybody.

Ola a todo o mundo.

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

Hónrame estar aquí falando con vós,

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

hoxe falarei de sorte e xustiza

and the relation between them.

e da relación entre ambas.

Some years ago,

Hai uns anos,

a former student of mine called me

un antigo estudante meu chamoume

to talk about his daughter.

para falar da súa filla.

It turns out his daughter was a high school senior,

Ela era estudante do último ano de bacharelato

was seriously interested in applying to Swarthmore,

e estaba moi interesada en ingresar en Swarthmore

where I taught,

onde eu era profesor,

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

e el quería saber se ela podería entrar.

Swarthmore is an extremely hard school to get into.

Swarthmore é unha univerisdade na que é difícil entrar.

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

Polo que dixen, "Cóntame algo sobre ela".

And he told me about her,

E fíxoo,

what her grades were like, her board scores,

sobre as súas notas e

her extracurricular activities.

as súas actividades extracurriculares.

And she just sounded like a superstar,

E parecía unha súper estrela,

wonderful, wonderful kid.

unha nena marabillosa,.

So I said, "She sounds fabulous.

Polo que l ledixen, "Parece perfecta.

She sounds like just the kind of student

Xusto o tipo de estudante

that Swarthmore would love to have."

que querería ter Swarthmore."

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

El dixo, "Entón, entrará?"

And I said, "No.

E dixen, "Non.

There just aren't enough spots in the Swarthmore class

Non hai suficientes prazas en Swarthmore

for everybody who's good.

para todos os que son bos.

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

Non hai suficientes en Harvard, nin Yale, nin Princeton ou Stanford.

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

Non hai suficientes en Google, nin Amazon, nin Apple

There aren't enough spots at the TED Conference.

Non hai suficientes nas conferencias TED.

There are an awful lot of good people,

Hai moitísima xente boa,

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

e algúns simplemente non o conseguen."

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

El dixo, "Que podemos facer agora?"

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

E dixen, "Boa pregunta."

What are we supposed to do?

Que podemos facer agora?

And I know what colleges and universities have done.

Sei o que as universidades teñen feito.

In the interest of fairness,

Para intentar ser xustos,

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

seguiron subindo os estándares

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

porque non parece xusto admitir a xente menos cualificada

and reject better qualified people,

e rexeitar aos máis cualificados,

so you just keep raising the standards higher and higher

polo que seguen aumentando os estándares máis e máis

until they're high enough that you can admit

ata que son o suficientemente altos como para admitir

only the number of students that you can fit.

ao número de alumnos aos que poden ensinar.

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

E isto viola o que moita xente considera xusto.

People in American society have different opinions

A sociedade americana ten diferentes opinións

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

sobre o qué siginifica que un proceso sea xusto,

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

pero creo que hai algo no que case todos estamos de acordo,

that in a just system, a fair system,

que nun sistema xusto,

people get what they deserve.

a xente recibe o que merece.

And what I was telling my former student

E o que eu lle dicía ao meu antigo estudante

is that when it comes to college admissions,

é que en canto as admisións universitarias,

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

non é certo que a xente reciba o que merece-

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

Algúns recíbeno e outros non,

and that's just the way it is.

simplemente é así.

When you ratchet up requirements as colleges have done,

Cando sobes os requisitos como fixeron as universidades

what you do is you create a crazy competition

o que creas é unha competitivadade de tocos

among high school kids,

entre os nenos de instituto,

because it's not adequate to be good,

porque non vale con ser bo,

it's not adequate to be good enough,

non vale con ser suficientemente bo,

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

tes que ser mellor que calquera outro que se inscriba.

And what this has done,

O que isto conseguíu,

or what this has contributed to,

ou ao que contribuíu,

is a kind of epidemic of anxiety and depression

é a unha epidemia de ansiedade e depresión

that is just crushing our teenagers.

que está acabando cos nosos adolescentes.

We are wrecking a generation with this kind of competition.

Estamos mazando unha xeración con este tipo de competitvidade.

As I was thinking about this,

Mentres cismaba nisto,

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

ocurréuseme unha forma de arranxar este problema.

And here's what we could do:

Isto é o que poderíamos facer:

when people apply to college,

cando a xente solicita unha universidade,

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

distinguimos entre solicitantes que son suficientemente bos para ser exitosos

and the ones who aren't,

e os que non o son,

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

e rexeitamos aos que no son suficientemente bos

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

e logo collemos os outros e poñemos os seus nomes nun sombreiro,

and we just pick them out at random

e collémolos de forma aleatoria

and admit them.

e admitímolos.

In other words, we do college admissions by lottery,

Noutras verbas, escollemos os admitidos por unha lotaría,

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

e quizáis tamén as ofertas de emprego en compañías de tecnoloxía,

and -- perish the thought --

e -- pensade nisto--

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

tamén quen é invitado as charlas TED

by lottery.

por lotaría.

Now, don't misunderstand me,

Non me malinterpretedes,

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

unha lotaría así non eliminaría a inxustiza.

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

Moita xente que o merece non saería escollida.

But at least it's honest.

Pero ao menos é honesto.

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

Revela a inxustiza do que é en vez de ocultalo,

and it punctures the incredible pressure balloon

e punza a incrible burbulla de presión

that our high school kids are now living under.

na que viven os rapaces de insituto.

So why is it that this perfectly reasonable proposal,

Entón, por qué esta proposta razonable,

if I do say so myself,

aínda que o diga eu,

doesn't get any serious discussion?

non se toma en serio?

I think I know why.

Creo que sei o por qué.

I think it's that we hate the idea

Creo que é porque odiamos a idea

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

de que as cousas máis importantes na vida podan pasar por sorte,

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

que as cousas importantes da nosa vida non estean baixo o noso control.

I hate that idea.

Odio esa idea.

It's not surprising that people hate that idea,

Non é sorprendente que a xeite a odie,

but it simply is the way things are.

pero así con as cousas.

First of all, college admissions already is a lottery.

As admisións á universidade xa son unha lotaría.

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

Pero fínxese que non o son.

So let's be honest about it.

Debemos ser honestos sobre isto.

And second,

E segundo,

I think if we appreciated that it was a lottery,

Se apreciamos que é unha lotaría,

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

tamén apreciariamos a importancia da boa sorte

in almost every one of our lives.

en cada momento da nosa vida.

Take me.

Por exemplo: eu

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

Todos os momentos importantes da miña vida ocurriron,

to a large degree,

en gran medida,

as a result of good luck.

grazas a boa sorte.

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

Cando estaba en séptimo, a miña familia mudouse de Nova York

and went to Westchester County.

ao condado de Westchester.

Right at the beginning of school,

Ao comezo das clases,

I met a lovely young girl who became my friend,

coñecín aunha rapariga fermosa que foi a miña amiga,

then she became my best friend,

logo a miña mellor amiga,

then she became my girlfriend

e logo a miña moza,

and then she became my wife.

e logo a miña muller.

Happily, she's been my wife now

Felizmente, xa é a miña muller

for 52 years.

dende hai 52 anos.

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

Non foi cousa miña. Foi unha sorte.

I went off to college,

Marchei á universidade,

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

e no primeiro semestre, apunteime a unha clase de introdución á psicoloxía.

I didn't even know what psychology was,

Non sabía nin o que era a psicoloxía,

but it fit into my schedule and it met requirements,

pero o horario íame ben e cumpría os requisitos

so I took it.

así que collina.

And by luck, the class was taught

E por sorte, o profesor desa clase

by a superstar introductory psychology teacher, a legend.

era un profesor de psicoloxía marabilloso, unha lenda.

Because of that, I became a psychology major.

Por iso, especialiceime en psicoloxía.

Went off to graduate school.

Gradueime.

I was finishing up.

Estaba a acabar.

A friend of mine who taught at Swarthmore decided

Un amigo que ensinaba en Swarthmore deicidiu

he didn't want to be a professor anymore,

que non quería seguir sendo profesor,

and so he quit to go to medical school.

marchou e comezou medicina.

The job that he occupied opened up,

O seu posto quedou libre,

I applied for it, I got it,

soliciteino e obtíveno,

the only job I've ever applied for.

o único traballo que solicitei.

I spent 45 years teaching at Swarthmore,

Pasei 45 anos ensinando en Swarthmore,

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

unha institución que deu forma á miña carreira.

And to just give one last example,

E para darvos un último exemplo,

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

estaba dando unha charla sobre o meu traballo en Nova York

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

é unha persoa do público veu falar comigo tras a charla.

He introduced himself.

Presentouse.

He said, "My name is Chris.

Dixo "Chámome Chris.

Would you like to give a talk at TED?"

Gustaríache dar unha charla TED?"

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

E dixen, qué é TED?"

Well, I mean, he told me,

E díxome o que era,

and TED then wasn't what it is now.

daquela non era o que é hoxe.

But in the intervening years,

Non anos vindeiros,

the talks I've given at TED have been watched

as charlas que dei para TED víronas

by more than 20 million people.

máis de 20 millóns de persoas.

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

A conclusión é que son un home con sorte.

I'm lucky about my marriage.

Sorte co matrimonio.

I'm lucky about my education.

Sorte coa educación.

I'm lucky about my career.

Sorte co meu traballo.

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

Sorte de ter voz nunha plataforma coma TED.

Did I deserve the success I've had?

Merezo todo este éxito?

Sure I deserve that success,

Merezo éxito, claro

just as you probably deserve your success.

coma seguramente o merecedes vós.

But lots of people also deserve successes like ours

Pero moita outra xente tamén merece éxito

who haven't had it.

e non o tiveron.

So do people get what they deserve?

A xente recibe o que merece?

Is society just?

A sociedade é xusta?

Of course not.

Claro que non.

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

Traballar duro e seguir as normas non garante nada.

If we appreciate the inevitability of this kind of injustice

Se apreciamos a inestabilidade deste tipo de inxustiza

and the centrality of good fortune,

e a centralidade da boa sorte,

we might ask ourselves

quizáis nos preguntemos

what responsibilities do we have

que responsabilidades temos

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

coa xente que agora vemos coma heroes nesta época de pandemia

when a serious illness befalls their family

cando unha enfermidade seria cae na súa familia

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

para asegurarse de que se manteñen e que as súas vidas non se arruínan

by the cost of dealing with the illness?

co costo de tratar coa enfermidade?

What do we owe people who struggle,

Que debemos á xente que lle custa,

work hard and are less lucky than we are?

traballa duro e ten menos sorte ca nós?

About a half century ago,

Hai medio século.

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

o filósofo John Rawls escribiu un libro chamado "A teoría da xustiza,"

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

nese libro, introduciu o concepto do "veo da ignorancia."

The question he posed was:

A pregunta era:

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

Se non soubeses cal ía ser a túa posición na sociedade,

what kind of a society would you want to create?

que tipo de sociedade che gustaría ter?

And what he suggested

E suxeriu

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

que cando non sabemos onde imos caer socialmente

at the top or at the bottom,

ao comezo ou ao final,

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

desexamos unha sociedade igualitaria,

so that even the unlucky

para que incluso os non afortunados

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

poidan vivir unha vida decente, con sentido e satisfactoria.

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

Devolvede todo ás vosas comunidades, vós a xente con sorte e exitosa,

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

e facede todo o que poidades para honrar e coidar

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

a xente que merece o éxito tanto coma nós

but just not as lucky.

pero non teñen tanta sorte.

Thank you.

Grazas.