Reading List · Resilience
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
Beyond robustness - a framework for systems that benefit from volatility and stress
"Wind extinguishes a candle and energizes fire. Likewise with randomness, uncertainty, chaos: you want to use them, not hide from them."
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Why It Matters
Taleb introduces the crucial concept that some things benefit from stress. In biology, this is hormesis - the principle behind exercise, vaccination, and stress-response systems. For organizations, it explains why some companies emerge stronger from crises while others collapse.
Key Ideas
- Some systems gain from disorder, shock, and stress - they're antifragile
- Robustness is not the opposite of fragility - antifragility is
- Small stressors strengthen systems; catastrophic ones destroy them
- Skin in the game is essential for healthy systems
How It Connects to This Framework
Book 8 (Regeneration & Sustainability) and the concept of organizational resilience throughout. The framework's emphasis on stress testing, reserves, and adaptive capacity is directly informed by Taleb's work.