ANTI FRAGILE BY NASSIM NICHOLAS

Key Points:

• The Triad (Fragile, Robust, Antifragile): Everything in the world falls into one of three categories: the Fragile (hates volatility), the Robust (indifferent to volatility), and the Antifragile (loves volatility).
• The Barbell Strategy: To become antifragile, avoid the "middle" ground. Instead, play it extremely safe in 90% of your life to survive any disaster, while taking many small, high-upside risks with the remaining 10%.
• Via Negativa (Knowledge by Subtraction): We often try to improve things by adding more (more laws, more medicine, more data). Taleb argues that true improvement usually comes from removing the bad, such as cutting out "fragilistas" (experts who cause harm while being protected from it).
• Skin in the Game: Systems become fragile when decision-makers don't suffer the consequences of their mistakes. For a system to be antifragile, those in charge must have "skin in the game" to ensure true accountability.
• Optionality over Prediction: Stop trying to predict the future; humans are notoriously bad at it. Instead, focus on "optionality"—positioning yourself so that you have multiple paths forward, allowing you to benefit from whichever way the wind blows.
• The Power of Small Stressors (Hormesis): Just as vaccines use small doses of poison to build immunity, systems require frequent, small-scale volatility to prevent a massive, system-wide collapse later.