By TJ Strydom for The Times

Many people wish Lebanese-born American thinker Nassim Taleb would redesign the world economy, rebooting it like a computer, making it more durable to shocks, panic and unforeseen tragedies.

In his new book, Antifragile, he makes it clear that he won’t, and that no one should even try.

He distinguishes between three concepts: fragility, robustness and antifragility. Anyone who has ever dropped an anvil on an iPad knows that the first is robust, and the second is fragile. Fragile things can stop working even if a small part is damaged. Robust things seem able to withstand any assault, but over time a tiny crack or a spot of rust will grow into something devastating.

The only way to stand the test of time, according to Taleb, is to be “antifragile”. It is the term he coins for “a mechanism by which the system regenerates itself continuously by using, rather than suffering from, random events, shocks, stressors and volatility”.

via Handle Without Care: TJ Strydom Reviews Antifragile by Nassim Taleb | Books LIVE.

Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb looks at life according to a Stoic philosophy which is indifferent to pleasure or pain. The concept of antifragility domesticates uncertainty and examines the future with a robust rationality devoid of too much emotional attachment.

The main thrust of antifragility teaches that systems benefit from stress and uncertainty. The Stoic sage transforms fear to prudence and pain to information.

Every good doctor investigates the source of pain. This is true because valuable information can be gleaned in order to arrive at a correct diagnosis and treatment regimen.

Taleb teaches that major systems benefit from stress, disorder, volatility and turmoil. Essentially, the absence of challenge degrades the best performers because they cannot grow due to atrophy from disuse of their talents and skills.

In fact, barricades can enhance strength from the monumental effort needed to break them down. The only problem here is the stress on the individual which extracts costs to society later on.

via Book Review: Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb – Blogcritics Books.

But in Antifragile, Taleb goes beyond this “square peg in a round hole” argument to a larger critique of “soccer moms” (both figurative and literal) who naively attempt to make the world safer by “sucking randomness out to the last drop.” Doing this provides the illusion of safety while actually making us less resilient and more fragile. In other words, not only are scraped knees and bruises ok, they are an essential part of growth.

Many readers misunderstand Taleb’s core message. They assume that because Taleb writes about unseen and improperly calculated risks, his objective must be to reduce or eliminate risk. Nothing could be further from the truth.

If anything, Antifragile is a celebration of risk and randomness and a call to arms to recognize and embrace antifragility. Rather than reduce risk, organize your life, your business or your society in such a way that it benefits from randomness and the occasional Black Swan event.

via Nassim Taleb’s ‘Antifragile’ Celebrates Randomness In People, Markets – Forbes.