Anti-fragility
Something that benefits from disorder (from uncertainty)
Nicholas Taleb, Naseem, USA
Wind energy can put out candles, but it can make the fire burn more and more.
Nietzsche said, "What can't kill me will only make me stronger."
Some things can benefit from the impact. When exposed to volatility, randomness, chaos and pressure, risk and uncertainty, they can thrive, which is "anti-vulnerability"
For us, we not only hope to survive or overcome uncertainty, but also hope to take the initiative and make decisions in uncertainty. The thinking that can really ensure effective survival must be "fragile", can benefit from constant setbacks, and can deal with uncertainty indefinitely, that is, live like life instead of like a machine.
Everything in the world is divided into three structures: fragile, powerful and anti-fragile.
Fragile things like a peaceful environment, while anti-fragile things grow out of chaos, and tough things don't care about environmental changes.
Understand the vulnerability:
The world is not indestructible. Natural and man-made disasters, diseases and deaths happen all the time, but there is nothing we can do. The world is also full of randomness, which is independent of human will. At the same time, human behavior is unpredictable. The development of modernization, on the one hand, makes the world system more fragile. For example, the city will be paralyzed by a rainstorm, the work will not be carried out because the network is blocked, and how many enterprises will be closed down due to an epidemic? ...
Understanding brittleness resistance:
There are many scenes in life, you will see: fragile, handle with care, but these words can be named anti-fragile.
For the purpose of preventing breakage, glass is fragile and must be handled with care. The paper ball is strong or tough because it won't break. But after the table tennis is thrown on the ground, it won't break, but it can bounce higher. What it has is the ability to resist fragility.
Nature is the master with the strongest anti-vulnerability ability.
All living things or organic individuals similar to living things have limited life and will eventually die. Although methuselah lived for 65,438+0,000 years, and also lived in born to die, the genetic code of future generations is different from that of the previous generation, and the information has been improved. So far, his genetic information still lives in Jerusalem. Life in nature is useless if it is barren (except for special species, such as ants and humans, and grandma can help raise offspring). From this point of view, nature prefers to keep the game going at the information level, that is, through genetic codes. Therefore, organic individuals need to die to ensure the anti-vulnerability of nature-nature is speculative, ruthless and selfish. Evolution plays a major role in fighting against fragile natural forces. I'm thinking, if a nuclear war destroys most of the creatures in the world, but it won't destroy them all, eventually some mice and bacteria will emerge from a corner and start a new story, but we are not in this story. So evolution does not serve an individual, but the whole nature.
What kills me will make others stronger.
Evolution will naturally make the choice of survival of the fittest. In the process of growing up, I want to say thank you for your mistake. Let's learn from other people's mistakes. We often benefit from other people's mistakes. Unfortunately, the beneficiaries are not those who make mistakes, but those who learn from them later. Imagine how we could build more and more ocean-going passenger ships without Titanic, how to further reform the system without repeating plane accidents, and how to leave valuable business experience without the brave attempts of entrepreneurs. Learning from mistakes is an important manifestation of human anti-vulnerability.
The Denial of Modernization to Anti-vulnerability —— Excessive Intervention
If a bird destined to fly in the sky is trapped on the ground, it can only look clumsy and ridiculous, because its wings make it difficult to walk. If the chain reaction of a system is deprived, it will lead to more fluctuations.
Simple human intervention, such as intervention and iatrogenic injury, often leads to shortened life span.
Procrastination is our defensive instinct against nature, which makes things more natural.
In short, the best way to reduce intervention is to provide limited information and obtain it in the most natural way possible.
Methods to improve the anti-vulnerability ability:
1. overcompensate, and present the anti-vulnerability response in a redundant way. Excessive energy released in response to setbacks has made innovation! It's better to hire a bodyguard than to be a bodyguard.
2. Reasonably intervene in prediction and domesticate emotions in it. The purpose of practicing stoicism is to tame emotions, not to eliminate negative emotions. Turn fear into caution, pain into information, mistakes into consciousness, and desires into people with careers.
3. Barbell principle, the first step to resist vulnerability is to reduce unfavorable factors, not to increase favorable factors.
Barbell education: I have forgotten all the knowledge instilled by the school; I still remember the book I decided to read. Nothing is more important than choosing reading according to your hobbies.
4. Understanding vulnerability is nonlinear. Drinking seven bottles of wine at a time is different from drinking seven bottles in seven days. Eat a balanced diet and let running replace walking.
5. Negative method, anti-vulnerability means that the old things are better than the new things, and far better than the new things. Time has sharp teeth that can tear everything. Learn to do subtraction. The more information, the craziness of new things will make life more chaotic. Choose what suits you and regard science as news.
The existence of anti-fragility means that we can understand it, but its charm lies in that we can't really understand it. What I want to do is to embrace uncertainty and pursue the meaning of life.
If there is no hunger, delicacies taste like chewing wax, and if there is no effort, the result is meaningless. Life is beautiful, uncertain, full of opportunities and challenges, and it is also the best textbook, nature, knowledge and education, so that we can know ourselves more clearly in the torrent.