Nobody reads the disclosures that roll down your computer screen. You click 'I agree' but you don't know what you're agreeing to.
Nassim Nicholas TalebRead
Fragility is the quality of things that are vulnerable to volatility.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Fragility refers to the tendency of certain things to be easily affected or harmed by unpredictable changes.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb's quote emphasizes the concept of fragility, highlighting that some entities, be they ideas, systems, or materials, possess an inherent vulnerability to change and chaos. This insight encourages awareness of the nature of fragility and the importance of building resilience against unpredictable events.
Themes
FragilityVulnerabilityVolatilityResilienceChange
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a discussion on risk management in financial markets.
More from Nassim Nicholas Taleb
All quotes βThose who were unlucky in life in spite of their skills would eventually rise. The lucky fool might have benefited from some luck in life; over the longer run he would slowly converge to the state of a less-lucky idiot. Each one would revert to his long-term properties.
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Individuals should think about the worst-case scenarios and plan for them. The world will be crazier than you think it will be. Put money away, and then you can live with much more freedom.
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A good maxim allows you to have the last word without even starting a conversation.
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A Stoic is someone who transforms fear into prudence, pain into transformation, mistakes into initiation, and desire into undertaking.
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They think that intelligence is about noticing things are relevant (detecting patterns); in a complex world, intelligence consists in ignoring things that are irrelevant (avoiding false patterns)
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