The antifragile viewpoint prefers age-tested heuristics to technology based on the scientific method. More specifically, it is deeply skeptical about school-based education compared with uncodifiable, intuitive, or experience-based knowledge. As the noted philosopher Yogi Berra said, “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice; in practice, there is.”

This is why economic models failed during the 2008 meltdown. As an example of how necessity is the best teacher, Taleb argues the fastest way to learn a foreign language is spending a month in jail with people who speak that tongue.

The obsession of economists with the very top and bottom of the income distribution is ironic, as Taleb’s fundamental point is that they don’t properly weigh the “tail risks” at the extreme ends of the probability distribution for highly-disruptive events. Growing income inequality in the U.S. is heralded as a positive sign of an increasing number “of risk-takers crazy enough to have ideas of their own,” striving to create wealth and produce innovations that ultimately benefit all.

Taleb proposes a National Entrepreneur Day to celebrate risk-takers, especially the large number who fail and thereby point the way for others to succeed. Ruined entrepreneurs should be treated by society with almost the same reverence shown for dead soldiers. This shows how the antifragility of a system like the economy requires fragility in its parts — the same idea of learning from mistakes is why airplane safety improves with every crash.

via Philip Cross: Let’s celebrate risk | FP Comment | Financial Post.