Antifragile

I am currently reading the book Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder by Nassim Taleb. I am approximately 40% of the way through. So far it is very interesting but rather complicated. The topic of the book is about things that are "antifragile." This is a new concept and there was not a word for it until the author coined the term "antifragile" very recently.

Antifragile is the opposite of fragile. This is not things that are indestructible but rather things that benefit from chaos, volatility, destruction, etc.

Two examples in the book helped me grasp this idea:

1) Imagine you are mailing a glass vase. There is a sticker on the box that reads "Fragile: handle with care." The glass vase is fragile. Now the opposite of this is not what one might initially think - something that does not break. Rather, it is something that benefits from breaking. This is the idea of anitfragility. An antifragile package would have a sticker on the box that reads "Antifragile: shake box." And the object inside would benefit from this.

So this first example is an abstract concept. You are probably wondering what type of object is antifragile because nothing initially comes to mind. Here is the second example that is easier to grasp:

2) Forests that are susceptible to fires are antifragile. Periodic forest fires are needed to clear away the flammable brush that accumulates. Without these occasional fires, material that is particularly flammable will accumulate. As a result, when there finally is a fire, it will be large and out of control, wiping out the entire forest. The forest benefits from periodic fires (disorder) to the extent that it prevents a black swan event (a fire wiping out the entire forest) from happening.

So far I am enjoying reading Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder by Taleb. I have read one of his books in the past, and I think highly of him as an author. I will have another blog post on this book when I am finished.

-Joe