1: Turning Chaos to Your Advantage: Antifragile by Nassim Taleb

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Sep 13, 2017

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Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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INSIGHT

Antifragility vs. Fragility vs. Robustness

Antifragility is a property of systems that benefit from stressors, unlike fragile systems which are harmed by them.
Robust systems remain unchanged by stressors.

ANECDOTE

Mythological Examples of Antifragility

Taleb uses the Hydra from Greek mythology as an example of antifragility: when one head is cut off, two grow back.
The Phoenix represents robustness: it is reborn from ashes, neither stronger nor weaker.

ANECDOTE

Modern Examples of Antifragility

Weightlifting makes the human body stronger by adding stress.
The human body prepares for future stressors, not just past ones.

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“Perhaps being deprived of poison makes us fragile and the road to robustification starts with a modicum of harm.” - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Antifragile has completely changed how people think about work and life, and the concepts from it can be used daily. It’s not just a modern practical philosophy book, it’s a guide for smart investing, exercising, learning, working, and thinking. Neil and I tried to cover many of the major themes of the book and how to apply them. You’ll learn:

Why you should build up your tangential skills to become more versatile with your work.
The importance of incorporating small, positive lifestyle changes to become more robust in negative situations.
Letting yourself feel negative emotions and experiences for personal growth.
Why you should let your plans be more of a guide, instead of a restriction from other choices.
How you can get luckier through positive luck exposure.
Techniques for turning procrastination into productivity towards other things

Enjoy! And if you want more on Antifragile, be sure to check out Nat’s notes on the book and pick up a copy yourself.

If you enjoy this episode, be sure to check out our other launch episode on Letters from a Stoic, one of the ancient writers who was a big influence on Taleb’s thinking.

Mentioned in the show:

Books mentioned:

People mentioned:

2:20 - Nat and Neil begin to explain the core concepts in Antifragile and discuss various examples of antifragility in today’s culture.

13:05 - Some thoughts on fragile and antifragile work environments.

15:38 - Various fragility contributing risks that you may be exposing yourself to and some lifestyle variables you can improve to promote personal antifragility.

20:40 - Nat and Neil speaking on recognizing potential vulnerabilities in your career. They are also discussing the importance of building up tangential skills to become more robust and versatile with your work.

23:08 - How incorporating small stressors into your life can radically improve everything you do, and Nat touching some on a few of the health benefits from intermittent fasting.

35:24 - The importance of recognizing naive interventionism to allow you and others to experience possible, necessary life stressors to promote personal growth.

50:02 - Why you should try to let yourself feel your emotions naturally to learn and grow, instead of immediately turning towards artificial resolution.

54:57 - Benefiting from moments of procrastination and turning procrastination with one thing into productivity towards other things.

1:00:38 - Nat and Neil talking about Taleb’s barbell strategy; practicing extreme risk aversion or extreme risk loving in various situations, rather than taking consistent moderate risks. Also, going into detail on making wise investments with your wealth.

1:06:49 - Becoming more antifragile with your wealth and peer relationships by applying the barbell strategy to those areas.

1:09:43 - Letting your plans be more of a guide and not letting them restrict you from other opportunities.

1:16:40 - Spending more time experimenting with something and failing, rather than learning about it from a set of rules or someone else before experimenting.

1:21:15 - The importance of having a high optionality in various aspects of life to promote antifragility, especially with having time available for beneficial opportunities.

1:28:36 - Nat and Neil speaking on creating more optionality for yourself by removing the unnecessary and being aware of more naive interventions.

1:42:11 - Some closing thoughts from Nat and Neil on “Skin in the game”, which is making decisions based on if you have exposure to the downsides and upsides of those decisions.

1:45:47 - Wrap up and a quick overview of some healthy stressors you can incorporate into your own life.

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