'Fragility' can be defined as an accelerating sensitivity to a harmful stressor: this response plots as a concave curve and mathematically culminates in more harm than benefit from random events. 'Antifragility' is the opposite, producing a convex response that leads to more benefit than harm.
We can measure fragility by the acceleration of harm. Things that are antifragile become stronger the more they are exposed to stress.
If I were to drop a 1 pound bag on my foot 50 times I am harmed less than if I were to drop a 50 pound weight on my foot 1 time. If the force, or acceleration of harm, is greater than the damage is greater in things that are fragile.
Antifragility is the opposite.
The term anti-fragile refers to anything that improves or strengthens from disorder.
It was popularized by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his now-famous book Antifragile.
An example of something that antifragile is our muscles. As we work out we are breaking down the muscles and then building them back up bigger and stronger. When we engage in our weight lifting routine our muscles thrive from this disorder.
Antifragility is greater than resilience. If you are resilient you can withstand shocks, but the antifragile get better through the disorder.
The difference between resilience and antifragile is leveraging uncertainty.
If you are only resilient then uncertainty is harmful.
An example is insurance companies. They are fragile they are harmed by uncertainty - black swan events like a hurricane that will cause billions of dollars in damage leading to massive insurance payouts.
On the other hand options traders benefit from volatility and can become antifragile by placing bets on extreme outcomes of events and capturing profit from huge uncertainty in the markets.
The key is to look around at your life and find areas where you are fragile and become antifragile.
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