Member-only story
2022: Creating a Lexicon of Future
Field Guide to Flourishing: A is for Anti-Fragile
Brought into the popular language by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book ‘Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder’ in 2012, the antifragile concept has resonated with many people who understand that systems break and that we need to use these breaking points to design stronger systems.
“Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk, and uncertainty. Yet, in spite of the ubiquity of the phenomenon, there is no word for the exact opposite of fragile. Let us call it antifragile. Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better”. ~ Wikipedia
While this term is more common in the sciences & engineering, we’re using it as the framework to test solutions at the neighborhood level, creating places that emerge the natural anti-fragile characteristics of the residents and those with whom they interact.
