Scientific Definition
Systems that gain from disorder.
Plain-English Definition
Systems that gain from disorder.
Feynman Explanation
Robust survives the storm. Antifragile gets stronger because of it.
Core Principle
Systems that gain from disorder.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Systems that gain from disorder.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Designing org structures that strengthen under stress.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Robust survives the storm. Antifragile gets stronger because of it.
Examples
- Immune systems. Open-source projects. Some startups.
- Designing org structures that strengthen under stress.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Build optionality into the system. Stress-test rather than predict-and-protect.
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Build optionality into the system. Stress-test rather than predict-and-protect.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
Approach motivation — pursuit of rewards and goals.
Avoidance motivation — sensitivity to punishment, uncertainty, and threat.
Map reinforcing (R) and balancing (B) feedback loops between variables to see system behavior.
A system with many interacting parts that learn and adapt.
Many interacting parts producing emergent behavior nobody designed.
Single-loop fixes the action. Double-loop questions the goal or model that produced it.
System 1 is fast, automatic, intuitive; System 2 is slow, effortful, deliberate.
Interdependent network of actors evolving together.
The whole has properties that the individual parts do not.
Systems maintain stability by self-regulating around a setpoint.
Subjects often converge to neoclassical predictions only after many rounds of feedback — not on the first try.
Costs or benefits that affect third parties not involved in a transaction.