THE ANTIFRAGILITY of SAYING “F*** YOU” TO FATE

The classical, mostly Stoic, idea is that what matters isn’t the random event itself, but how one responds to it, how one acts when hitting a snag. This was believed by scholars to make people “robust”, that is immune from adversity –since we can control how we respond to events. But the point is, once again, misHarvardified: the classical man was vastly more antifragile than academic & library rats want him to be. He was not withdrawn from the world, but above it. His principal asset was in how much courage and fortitude he put in front of circumstances, how he could say “f*** you” to fate, how he defied reversals of fortune.

If that’s the case, then he is not robust, as academics want him to be, but antifragile, as he wants as much disorder, adversity, and volatility to show off, to say “f*** you” to circumstances. If so, he is long volatility.

The good news is that it takes a certain training. When a certain fellow failed his election bid for the Italian presidency (with an embarassingly low number of votes), as the results of the ballots were being announced, one of the senators was heard telling another: “now watch this man and learn from him how to lose”.

via THE ANTIFRAGILITY… | Facebook.