Hi. Hope you’re doing okay. I am dropping a copy of my book reviews on Goodreads on here just in case Goodreads ceases to exist. Here are 3 recent reviews: 1- Antifragile Since you are a complex biological system, your goal in life should be striving to become Antifragile, the term Taleb coins as he looked and looked and, to no avail, couldn't find it in the lexicon of modern people. Taleb identifies a spectrum he calls the Triad that is composed of Fragile, Robust,and Antifragile. He gives the analogy of the fragile as the package that warns you to "plz, avoid exposing the item to stressors and harm" as opposed to the Antifragile package that begs you to expose it to stressors and volatility. We already know what robust is; something that is immune to stressors and volatility, but,Alas,lacks the ability to gain or benefits from these stressors(disorder). Complex systems, be it biological or man-made need stressors and volatility to thrive in an increasingly uncertain world. The need for stressors is evidenced by the negative black swans( hidden small risks accrued over time) these fragilized systems collapse under. So what modernistic, procrustean-bed type societies are commiting is denying these systems their natural right of having constant exposure to stressors and volatility and this has to change if we want our systems to attract more positive black swans instead of negative ones. The author suggests the barbell strategy, an important mechanism to manage risk and avoid big losses. The strategy goes as follows: on one side of the barbell, you play it extremely safe putting 80% of your resources in safe bets and 20% in speculative type of deals. That way, you are antifragile to big losses, likely incurring high gains. A lot of important terms are worth mentioning here in passing as they help drive the point home further. Iatrogenics, which Taleb expounds on in the part about medicine. The idea is that of harming through unneccessary interventionism( via positiva), instead of doing the right thing and letting things take their natural course, in healing from a mild sickness, say. The second term on our list is Hormesis, exposing the system to stressors( up to a point) to make it immune against harsher conditions in the future. Subtractive knowledge. The idea of knowing more by subtracting(via negativa) instead of adding as more data=more noise and the path to true knowledge is in debunking false theories and exposing the false instead of adding more. Lindy effect. The idea that unperishable stuff( written word, artifact, historical monuments, selfish genes, ideas..) increase in value as they age as opposed to perishable biological systems whose lifetime decrease as thy age. Convex thinking vs concave thinking. I don't think i understood these two terms very well. The way I see it is an Antifragile system is represented on a graph by showing postive convexity effects: Assymetry and nonlinearity over time. For instance, the number of cars on the road with respect to intensity of traffic. Past a certain point, one additional car one the road can have a very non linear/asymetric/exponential ( convex?) effect on the system making traffic non linearly more congested. Overall an enjoyable read with an important central idea that I can now carry over to my individual life in order to become Antifragile. For instance, to become Antifragile as a person, 1-avoid medicine unless the case is severe, 2-use the barbell strategy when taking risks, 3- induce stressors and volatility in your life, for example lift weights, run sprints, eat non linearly( not in 3 meals), fast, walk slowly for hours in a natural habitat as opposed to on a smooth surfaced treadmill, 4- be a rational flaneûr; live a non narrative/ anti tourstificated life. You don't abide by a plan, you update your decisions as you go, based on new information from the environement, 5- Avoid the news(noise), read the classics, avoid sugar, expose yourself to uncertainties. Make small mistakes and learn from them( stressors=information) so that you don't live under the illusion that you're safe(while small,hidden risks b are being accumulated in the background till the day they explode into a prominent black swan and makes you exit the genepool).
24: Antifragile; Gene editing; Why we age
24: Antifragile; Gene editing; Why we age
24: Antifragile; Gene editing; Why we age
Hi. Hope you’re doing okay. I am dropping a copy of my book reviews on Goodreads on here just in case Goodreads ceases to exist. Here are 3 recent reviews: 1- Antifragile Since you are a complex biological system, your goal in life should be striving to become Antifragile, the term Taleb coins as he looked and looked and, to no avail, couldn't find it in the lexicon of modern people. Taleb identifies a spectrum he calls the Triad that is composed of Fragile, Robust,and Antifragile. He gives the analogy of the fragile as the package that warns you to "plz, avoid exposing the item to stressors and harm" as opposed to the Antifragile package that begs you to expose it to stressors and volatility. We already know what robust is; something that is immune to stressors and volatility, but,Alas,lacks the ability to gain or benefits from these stressors(disorder). Complex systems, be it biological or man-made need stressors and volatility to thrive in an increasingly uncertain world. The need for stressors is evidenced by the negative black swans( hidden small risks accrued over time) these fragilized systems collapse under. So what modernistic, procrustean-bed type societies are commiting is denying these systems their natural right of having constant exposure to stressors and volatility and this has to change if we want our systems to attract more positive black swans instead of negative ones. The author suggests the barbell strategy, an important mechanism to manage risk and avoid big losses. The strategy goes as follows: on one side of the barbell, you play it extremely safe putting 80% of your resources in safe bets and 20% in speculative type of deals. That way, you are antifragile to big losses, likely incurring high gains. A lot of important terms are worth mentioning here in passing as they help drive the point home further. Iatrogenics, which Taleb expounds on in the part about medicine. The idea is that of harming through unneccessary interventionism( via positiva), instead of doing the right thing and letting things take their natural course, in healing from a mild sickness, say. The second term on our list is Hormesis, exposing the system to stressors( up to a point) to make it immune against harsher conditions in the future. Subtractive knowledge. The idea of knowing more by subtracting(via negativa) instead of adding as more data=more noise and the path to true knowledge is in debunking false theories and exposing the false instead of adding more. Lindy effect. The idea that unperishable stuff( written word, artifact, historical monuments, selfish genes, ideas..) increase in value as they age as opposed to perishable biological systems whose lifetime decrease as thy age. Convex thinking vs concave thinking. I don't think i understood these two terms very well. The way I see it is an Antifragile system is represented on a graph by showing postive convexity effects: Assymetry and nonlinearity over time. For instance, the number of cars on the road with respect to intensity of traffic. Past a certain point, one additional car one the road can have a very non linear/asymetric/exponential ( convex?) effect on the system making traffic non linearly more congested. Overall an enjoyable read with an important central idea that I can now carry over to my individual life in order to become Antifragile. For instance, to become Antifragile as a person, 1-avoid medicine unless the case is severe, 2-use the barbell strategy when taking risks, 3- induce stressors and volatility in your life, for example lift weights, run sprints, eat non linearly( not in 3 meals), fast, walk slowly for hours in a natural habitat as opposed to on a smooth surfaced treadmill, 4- be a rational flaneûr; live a non narrative/ anti tourstificated life. You don't abide by a plan, you update your decisions as you go, based on new information from the environement, 5- Avoid the news(noise), read the classics, avoid sugar, expose yourself to uncertainties. Make small mistakes and learn from them( stressors=information) so that you don't live under the illusion that you're safe(while small,hidden risks b are being accumulated in the background till the day they explode into a prominent black swan and makes you exit the genepool).