Antifragile
Also known as Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
Nassim Nicholas Taleb's 2012 book on things that benefit from disorder, the fourth volume of his Incerto.
At a glance
Key ideas
Fragile, robust, antifragile, Skin in the game, Via negativa …
See all 5Reception
Boyd Tonkin, The Independent, David Runciman, The Guardian, Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
See all 3Connections
Nassim Nicholas Taleb and The Black Swan
See all 2
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Taleb defines antifragility as the opposite of fragility: a fragile thing is harmed by disorder, a robust one withstands it, an antifragile one gains from it.
- He treats it as a convex response to stress, linked to Jensen's inequality.
- In a volatile world, he argues, the wise strategy is to protect the downside and take small bets with large possible upside.
- He holds that the modern world is made fragile by debt, technology and fixed obligations.
- He applies the idea to health, economics, policy and ethics.
Why it matters
- It named an idea, antifragility, that has since been applied in fields from risk analysis and engineering to computer science and NASA.
Key facts
- Author
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb1
- Published
- 27 Nov 2012, Random House (US) and Penguin (UK)1
- Series
- The fourth book of the Incerto, his five-volume treatise on uncertainty1
- Followed by
- Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life (2018), which expands some of its ideas1
- Sales
- A New York Times bestseller1
Key ideas
-
Fragile, robust, antifragile1
A wine glass shatters, a block of metal endures, and the Hydra grows two heads for every one cut off.
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Skin in the game1
Whoever makes a forecast or decision should bear the cost when it is wrong; otherwise others pay.
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Via negativa1
Often the best action is removal: what to avoid or stop doing.
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The Lindy effect1
For nonperishable things such as books and technologies, each day survived adds to life expectancy.
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The barbell1
Combine two extremes, one very safe and one speculative, and avoid the middle.
Reception
-
Boyd Tonkin, The Independent1
Disliked the style but, asked whether Taleb is right and whether it matters, answered "Yes, and yes."
-
David Runciman, The Guardian1
Agreed the world is fragile but called antifragility no solution, and antisocial.
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Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times1
Called it maddening, bold, repetitious, erudite, shrewd and pretentious, among other things.
Connections
Links
Sources
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