Feasibility
I am a big fan of Steven Den Beste, and he doesn’t disappoint with this post discussing the differences between feasibility and desirability. One of the many reasons I like Den Beste’s writing is this point that lays at the heart of his essay:
“We engineers have an aphorism: The fact that something is desirable doesn’t mean it is feasible.”
The older I get, the more I realize that the art of becoming smarter or wiser is learning to tell the difference between dreams and reality, or as Den Beste plainly puts it, between desirability and feasibility. There’s even a glimpse of this in the Serenity Prayer that many of us have chanted at tough times:
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.
The essence of that prayer is recognizing the dichotomy between desirability and feasibility. At the times when I’ve been able to do this, I have achieved a level of understanding and peace that is as powerful as it is ethereal and fleeting.
Den Beste uses the dichotomy to discuss why infilitrating Al-Qaeda is a desirable goal, but one that isn’t feasible. He also compares it to such empty slogans as “winning without war”. I would add that you could use this recognition of the differences between desirability and feasibility for just about anything.
Get out of debt fast without declaring bankruptcy? How many of us would love to do that. Too bad it’s not feasible. Lose weight without exercise or changing your diet? Riiiight… Achieve fusion at room temperature? End our dependence on foreign oil? Fix the health care system?
All of these are desirable goals – but none are feasible.
On the personal level, how many of us get frustrated with ideas or dreams that aren’t feasible? Instead of focusing on the dreams, why not change them to match what is feasible? For example, I have dreamed about seeing a book I authored in print. I even wrote a work of fiction, edited it and re-edited it, but when all was said and done – it sucked. Writing a work of fiction wasn’t feasible for me.
But non-fiction? Well I recently tried that as well – and while I didn’t get anything published, I learned that it was feasible. I could write decent, salable non-fiction – just not with the idea I had.
Feasibility also lays at the heart of this website, since Occam’s razor was all about the quest for Truth, and what is Truth but a desire made real?
Oooooh, too philosophical this early on a Monday. Brain hurting… Must… find… humor…
