[Applause]
[Music]
on the morning of the 10th of November
1989 I was sitting at the breakfast
table of my parents kitchen in Adelaide
eating my 12 weet-bix 12
seriously I had a big appetite the radio
was on as always and we were listening
to live coverage of thousands of East
Germans poring over the Berlin Wall into
West Germany it was desperately exciting
and then at one point a rather
breathless journalist began to speculate
about the end of communism later that
day I asked my primary school teacher
what communism I was obviously going to
become a political philosopher like the
consummate pedagogue that she was she
took the question pretty seriously and
started by painting a picture of the
Communist ideal sounded pretty good to
me a bit like a endless summer holiday
it’s officially good for me to ask her
but then why the Germans getting rid of
it to reach her discouraging but wholly
predictable response was it’s a nice
idea but it just feasible this is my
earliest memory of encountering the
device whereby we reject we’ll try to
get someone else to reject an idea no
matter how desirable or undesirable on
account of being just not feasible I
want you to think for a second about
just how commonly you to encounter this
device that just not feasible device as
I like to call it eradicating poverty
reversing climate change putting shark
nets on all Australian suburban beaches
getting the kids to bed by 6:00 p.m.
these are just some of the countless
ideas that we reject and try to get
others to reject for being just not
feasible a Google search for the
locution not feasible reveals more than
8 million hits and of course that
doesn’t account for the private
conversations that we have and it
doesn’t account for what happens inside
our own heads and it doesn’t account for
when we use they’re just not feasible
device by using other words that’s not
realistic that’s not viable I can’t do
that that’s not an option I suggest to
you that at some point in the last week
and probably in the last day you will
have encountered the just not feasible
device in some shape or form for it is
utterly ubiquitous in argument and in
thought in political and personal life
with respect to matters momentous and
mundane it’s not hard to see why after
all it’s a powerful and valuable tool it
can help us to avoid wastage and
potentially to avert catastrophe indeed
it might strike you as sufficiently
common sensical that no remotely sane
and sensible person could dream of
questioning it and yet that’s exactly
what I’m about to do I want to try to
persuade you that the sanguine attitude
that you probably have to the just not
feasible device is entirely unwarranted
granted that there are real dangers from
which the just not feasible device can
help to protect us there are also very
real dangers associated with using
they’re just not feasible device dangers
that are all too often ignored so what
are these dangers I’m a philosopher so
the dangers that are of most interest to
me are the ones that result from certain
features of our feasibility judgments
themselves I’d like to ask you to
reflect with me about for the
in particular consider first the fact
that our feasibility judgments can be
self-fulfilling prophecies an idea might
be perfectly feasible so long as we
judge it to be first war don’t judge it
to be infeasible but infeasible insofar
as we judge it to be infeasible let me
tell you a story from my own life on the
7th of July 2008 I was surfing on the
New South Wales South Coast and I broke
my neck I was completely on my own a
long way from shore severely concussed
and with life-threatening multiple
displaced unstable fractures to my top
two vertebrae somehow I made it to the
shore I honestly can’t tell you what was
going through my mind but I figured that
I must have thought at some level I can
make it at the very least I must not
have thought I can’t make it suppose
that I had thought I can’t make it
that’s just not feasible in that case my
judgment would have been a
self-fulfilling prophecy and I wouldn’t
be here today so here is a first danger
associated with using the just not
feasible device we may we may reject as
infeasible an idea that is only
infeasible insofar as and because we
judge it to be infeasible a second
danger results from the fact that we
often confuse what’s feasible with other
things
what’s sufficiently likely or what’s not
too costly or what’s not too difficult
and so on let’s focus on what’s
sufficiently likely so think about the
idea of making pharmaceuticals free to
those in the third world this is widely
rejected for being just not feasible why
here’s one reason many of us judge alas
that it’s virtually said not to happen
and that might seem to mean that it’s
just not feasible it’s just not feasible
in as much as and because it’s virtually
certain not to happen that shouldn’t
sound outlandish to you we make
feasibility judgments in that way all
the time and yet it involves a very
serious confusion it’s just not true
that’s something that is virtually
certain not to happen is not feasible it
matters why it’s virtually certain not
to happen so suppose that a child is
drowning in a swimming pool while I’m
sunning myself on the grass suppose that
I’m a perfectly capable swimmer such
that if I were to try to save the child
then I usually succeed but suppose that
I’m virtually certain not to try because
being selfish Pratt I don’t want to get
chlorine on my new swimmers if we equate
what’s feasible with what’s sufficiently
likely we’ll be forced to say that it’s
just not feasible for me to save the
drowning child so here is a second
danger associated with using the just
not feasible device we may reject as
infeasible an idea that is merely
unlikely to happen because we are
unlikely to try to make it happen
there’s a third danger as well this
results from the fact that our
feasibility judgments have a very
complex internal structure that is very
often hidden from view at least in part
for one when we judge that an idea is
feasible not feasible we implicitly have
in mind a certain temporal horizon
within which the idea is to be brought
about to today or this week or this year
or this parliamentary term for another
we implicitly have in mind certain ways
of bringing about the idea and
implicitly rule out certain others so
those are the only way to save a ship
that’s caught in a storm is to throw all
the passengers overboard
most of us judge that it’s just not
feasible to save the ship that’s because
we’re implicitly ruling out saving the
ship by doing something so
horrid so now think about an idea that’s
a bit closer to home think about the
idea say of a carbon-neutral economy
this too is widely rejected for being
just not feasible how so we on a
charitable interpretation what’s going
on is that we’re judging that a carbon
neutral economy isn’t going to be
brought about anytime soon say within
the next five years perhaps and we
judged that it’s not feasible to bring
it about without incurring certain costs
higher energy prices perhaps higher
taxes higher transition costs a various
kind it’s suppose that’s correct
clearly it doesn’t follow that we’re
entitled to reject the idea of a carbon
neutral economy as such and the most
were entitled to reject the idea of a
carbon neutral economy within a
particular temporal temple horizon
without incurring a certain costs so
here is a third danger associated with
using that just not feasible device we
may reject as infeasible an idea that is
perfectly feasible within a broader
temporal horizon and give them a a more
permissive understanding of the ways in
which it might be brought about this
brings me to a fourth and final danger
this one results from the fact that our
feasibility judgments don’t set all the
question of what we ought to do
infeasible ideas should not always
necessarily be rejected as such think
about the idea of eradicating extreme
poverty let’s grant that this really is
infeasible and let’s grab that this
means that it’s not true so we ought to
bring it about it’s not literally true
that we ought to eradicate extreme
poverty does this mean that we’re
entitled to reject the idea of
eradicating extreme poverty altogether
certainly not
they can be valuing trying to eradicate
extreme poverty doing so can motivate us
and others you can send very powerful
signals extreme poverty is so important
that I’m going to try to eradicate it
even though I realize that I have no
prospects of success there can be value
in approximating this idea and of course
there can be value in using it as a
yardstick with a respect to measure
ourselves and our performance and to
note just how far we’re falling short
for ideals can be important and valuable
not just to what we ought to do but
concerning how things ought to be so
here is the fourth danger associated
with using the just not feasible device
we may reject altogether an idea even if
it is really infeasible that nonetheless
has value and that should somehow be
kept alive I’ve been trying to persuade
you that the just not feasible device
comes with some serious dangers and I
trust you’re all persuaded but you might
reasonably ask what’s the upshot am i
saying that we should get rid of they’re
just not feasible device No
so just not feasible device can misfire
but so can any device social media can
be and has been used to hatch terrorist
plots that doesn’t mean that we should
get rid of social media social media is
also valuable in certain respects and so
is there just not feasible device am i
at least saying that we should revise
and reform the just not feasible device
replace it with a new and improved model
as it were not necessarily a number of
my colleagues and I are in effect
exploring that possibility but it’s
worth bearing in mind that it’s a more
sophisticated device isn’t necessarily
going to be better for us as we actually
are after all more sophisticated devices
can go wrong in more sophisticated ways
the upshot is simply this
the just not feasible device is not
quite as straightforward and not quite
as unproblematic as you might have
thought so next time when you find
yourself tempted to use it or when you
notice someone else using it
pause slow down remember that history is
full of ideas that were mistakenly
rejected for being just not feasible
abolishing slavery franchising women
introducing universal education the
consequences of these mistakes were not
trivial above all be open to the
possibility that those ideas that are
injected in our own time for being just
not feasible might be perfectly feasible
after all and even if they really are
infeasible be open to the possibility
there should be somehow kept alive
rather than rejected altogether for any
feasible ideas can have value there can
be a reminder that the status quo is not
inevitable they can spur creativity
foster empathy and pave the way for
transformation
[Applause]
[Music]
on the morning of the 10th of November
1989 I was sitting at the breakfast
table of my parents kitchen in Adelaide
eating my 12 weet-bix 12
seriously I had a big appetite the radio
was on as always and we were listening
to live coverage of thousands of East
Germans poring over the Berlin Wall into
West Germany it was desperately exciting
and then at one point a rather
breathless journalist began to speculate
about the end of communism later that
day I asked my primary school teacher
what communism I was obviously going to
become a political philosopher like the
consummate pedagogue that she was she
took the question pretty seriously and
started by painting a picture of the
Communist ideal sounded pretty good to
me a bit like a endless summer holiday
it’s officially good for me to ask her
but then why the Germans getting rid of
it to reach her discouraging but wholly
predictable response was it’s a nice
idea but it just feasible this is my
earliest memory of encountering the
device whereby we reject we’ll try to
get someone else to reject an idea no
matter how desirable or undesirable on
account of being just not feasible I
want you to think for a second about
just how commonly you to encounter this
device that just not feasible device as
I like to call it eradicating poverty
reversing climate change putting shark
nets on all Australian suburban beaches
getting the kids to bed by 6:00 p.m.
these are just some of the countless
ideas that we reject and try to get
others to reject for being just not
feasible a Google search for the
locution not feasible reveals more than
8 million hits and of course that
doesn’t account for the private
conversations that we have and it
doesn’t account for what happens inside
our own heads and it doesn’t account for
when we use they’re just not feasible
device by using other words that’s not
realistic that’s not viable I can’t do
that that’s not an option I suggest to
you that at some point in the last week
and probably in the last day you will
have encountered the just not feasible
device in some shape or form for it is
utterly ubiquitous in argument and in
thought in political and personal life
with respect to matters momentous and
mundane it’s not hard to see why after
all it’s a powerful and valuable tool it
can help us to avoid wastage and
potentially to avert catastrophe indeed
it might strike you as sufficiently
common sensical that no remotely sane
and sensible person could dream of
questioning it and yet that’s exactly
what I’m about to do I want to try to
persuade you that the sanguine attitude
that you probably have to the just not
feasible device is entirely unwarranted
granted that there are real dangers from
which the just not feasible device can
help to protect us there are also very
real dangers associated with using
they’re just not feasible device dangers
that are all too often ignored so what
are these dangers I’m a philosopher so
the dangers that are of most interest to
me are the ones that result from certain
features of our feasibility judgments
themselves I’d like to ask you to
reflect with me about for the
in particular consider first the fact
that our feasibility judgments can be
self-fulfilling prophecies an idea might
be perfectly feasible so long as we
judge it to be first war don’t judge it
to be infeasible but infeasible insofar
as we judge it to be infeasible let me
tell you a story from my own life on the
7th of July 2008 I was surfing on the
New South Wales South Coast and I broke
my neck I was completely on my own a
long way from shore severely concussed
and with life-threatening multiple
displaced unstable fractures to my top
two vertebrae somehow I made it to the
shore I honestly can’t tell you what was
going through my mind but I figured that
I must have thought at some level I can
make it at the very least I must not
have thought I can’t make it suppose
that I had thought I can’t make it
that’s just not feasible in that case my
judgment would have been a
self-fulfilling prophecy and I wouldn’t
be here today so here is a first danger
associated with using the just not
feasible device we may we may reject as
infeasible an idea that is only
infeasible insofar as and because we
judge it to be infeasible a second
danger results from the fact that we
often confuse what’s feasible with other
things
what’s sufficiently likely or what’s not
too costly or what’s not too difficult
and so on let’s focus on what’s
sufficiently likely so think about the
idea of making pharmaceuticals free to
those in the third world this is widely
rejected for being just not feasible why
here’s one reason many of us judge alas
that it’s virtually said not to happen
and that might seem to mean that it’s
just not feasible it’s just not feasible
in as much as and because it’s virtually
certain not to happen that shouldn’t
sound outlandish to you we make
feasibility judgments in that way all
the time and yet it involves a very
serious confusion it’s just not true
that’s something that is virtually
certain not to happen is not feasible it
matters why it’s virtually certain not
to happen so suppose that a child is
drowning in a swimming pool while I’m
sunning myself on the grass suppose that
I’m a perfectly capable swimmer such
that if I were to try to save the child
then I usually succeed but suppose that
I’m virtually certain not to try because
being selfish Pratt I don’t want to get
chlorine on my new swimmers if we equate
what’s feasible with what’s sufficiently
likely we’ll be forced to say that it’s
just not feasible for me to save the
drowning child so here is a second
danger associated with using the just
not feasible device we may reject as
infeasible an idea that is merely
unlikely to happen because we are
unlikely to try to make it happen
there’s a third danger as well this
results from the fact that our
feasibility judgments have a very
complex internal structure that is very
often hidden from view at least in part
for one when we judge that an idea is
feasible not feasible we implicitly have
in mind a certain temporal horizon
within which the idea is to be brought
about to today or this week or this year
or this parliamentary term for another
we implicitly have in mind certain ways
of bringing about the idea and
implicitly rule out certain others so
those are the only way to save a ship
that’s caught in a storm is to throw all
the passengers overboard
most of us judge that it’s just not
feasible to save the ship that’s because
we’re implicitly ruling out saving the
ship by doing something so
horrid so now think about an idea that’s
a bit closer to home think about the
idea say of a carbon-neutral economy
this too is widely rejected for being
just not feasible how so we on a
charitable interpretation what’s going
on is that we’re judging that a carbon
neutral economy isn’t going to be
brought about anytime soon say within
the next five years perhaps and we
judged that it’s not feasible to bring
it about without incurring certain costs
higher energy prices perhaps higher
taxes higher transition costs a various
kind it’s suppose that’s correct
clearly it doesn’t follow that we’re
entitled to reject the idea of a carbon
neutral economy as such and the most
were entitled to reject the idea of a
carbon neutral economy within a
particular temporal temple horizon
without incurring a certain costs so
here is a third danger associated with
using that just not feasible device we
may reject as infeasible an idea that is
perfectly feasible within a broader
temporal horizon and give them a a more
permissive understanding of the ways in
which it might be brought about this
brings me to a fourth and final danger
this one results from the fact that our
feasibility judgments don’t set all the
question of what we ought to do
infeasible ideas should not always
necessarily be rejected as such think
about the idea of eradicating extreme
poverty let’s grant that this really is
infeasible and let’s grab that this
means that it’s not true so we ought to
bring it about it’s not literally true
that we ought to eradicate extreme
poverty does this mean that we’re
entitled to reject the idea of
eradicating extreme poverty altogether
certainly not
they can be valuing trying to eradicate
extreme poverty doing so can motivate us
and others you can send very powerful
signals extreme poverty is so important
that I’m going to try to eradicate it
even though I realize that I have no
prospects of success there can be value
in approximating this idea and of course
there can be value in using it as a
yardstick with a respect to measure
ourselves and our performance and to
note just how far we’re falling short
for ideals can be important and valuable
not just to what we ought to do but
concerning how things ought to be so
here is the fourth danger associated
with using the just not feasible device
we may reject altogether an idea even if
it is really infeasible that nonetheless
has value and that should somehow be
kept alive I’ve been trying to persuade
you that the just not feasible device
comes with some serious dangers and I
trust you’re all persuaded but you might
reasonably ask what’s the upshot am i
saying that we should get rid of they’re
just not feasible device No
so just not feasible device can misfire
but so can any device social media can
be and has been used to hatch terrorist
plots that doesn’t mean that we should
get rid of social media social media is
also valuable in certain respects and so
is there just not feasible device am i
at least saying that we should revise
and reform the just not feasible device
replace it with a new and improved model
as it were not necessarily a number of
my colleagues and I are in effect
exploring that possibility but it’s
worth bearing in mind that it’s a more
sophisticated device isn’t necessarily
going to be better for us as we actually
are after all more sophisticated devices
can go wrong in more sophisticated ways
the upshot is simply this
the just not feasible device is not
quite as straightforward and not quite
as unproblematic as you might have
thought so next time when you find
yourself tempted to use it or when you
notice someone else using it
pause slow down remember that history is
full of ideas that were mistakenly
rejected for being just not feasible
abolishing slavery franchising women
introducing universal education the
consequences of these mistakes were not
trivial above all be open to the
possibility that those ideas that are
injected in our own time for being just
not feasible might be perfectly feasible
after all and even if they really are
infeasible be open to the possibility
there should be somehow kept alive
rather than rejected altogether for any
feasible ideas can have value there can
be a reminder that the status quo is not
inevitable they can spur creativity
foster empathy and pave the way for
transformation
[Applause]
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