Book 232 - A Year of Magical Learning (Part 1/5)

Reflection Title: SOUL in the Game!

Book – Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Part 1 of 5)

Book Description:

In The Black Swan Taleb outlined a problem, and in Antifragile he offers a definitive solution: how to gain from disorder and chaos while being protected from fragilities and adverse events. For what Taleb calls the "antifragile" is actually beyond the robust, because it benefits from shocks, uncertainty, and stressors, just as human bones get stronger when subjected to stress and tension. The antifragile needs disorder in order to survive and flourish.

Reflection:

Man…Taleb did it again with Antifragile! It was so good!

The Black Swan was already one of my all-time favorite books, and after finishing Antifragile, I feel that I can safely slot this one into that category as well. I still think The Black Swan was better, but Antifragile is a very close second. In The Black Swan, it felt like Taleb was just beginning to really formulate and refine his ideas on randomness and disorder and it comes across in his words as a fun and exploratory conversation, which I appreciated immensely. In Antifragile, it felt like he was ready to take the kid gloves off and hold nothing back while he unloaded on all the areas of our modern life in which our lack of understanding of disorder shines through and makes us terrifyingly vulnerable. I personally appreciated the comparatively gentler exploratory conversation in The Black Swan more than the unleashing of attacks on modernity that we got in Antifragile. His writing felt angry this time, but I liked it. Either way, Antifragile was really enjoyable, I learned a ton, and I would highly recommend it to anyone that wants to give it a try.

Fair warning reader, I’m feeling a multi-part reflection coming on as I try to process all the new ideas unleashed by Taleb and how life can gain from disorder.

It is hard to put into words why I enjoy Taleb’s thoughts and musing on life so much, but I think one of the reasons why I feel a kindred spirit with the author’s words is he walks the walk to back up his talk.

Taleb has spent a lifetime tinkering, learning, evolving, and growing around his beautiful question of randomness, the impact it plays in our world, and what we can do to embrace it and grow from it. I really respect that he is willing to eat his own dog food (if you will), and it comes across in his work. You can tell when someone is a phony, and if there is anything Taleb is NOT, is a phony. He may be 1,000% wrong about everything he says and does in his time on this Earth, but there is no doubt that he truly believes what he says and is willing to use his own life as a laboratory to prove his hypotheses.

Taleb said it best when he referred to this willingness to dedicate your life to practice what you preach by calling it having one’s “Soul in the game”.

Not just skin in the game, as that is table stakes to take someone seriously in a discourse on any topic, but your whole soul in the game. To me, this means everything in your being is on the line and you are willing to risk it for that one beautiful question. Soul in the game means that you believe in something so much that you are willing to sacrifice your own most precious commodity, your time on this planet, to explore this idea until you no longer can’t. Soul in the game means dedicating your ever action and thought to how to make this idea better, describe it to the world, and put it into practice to share with others that are curious to understand themselves.

If you come across someone like that has their whole soul in the game, then listen up! Someone that is willing to put their whole soul in the game for an idea is someone you WILL learn a lot from, there can be no doubt there. Hence why I’m willing to spend my time listening to Taleb as much as I can while he is still able to share his thoughts as he has put his soul into it.

To me, this is the true mark of a great person and one who spent their time well on this Earth. Someone who is on a never-ending quest to chase their beautiful question until they can no more.

When Taleb leaves this Earth, people at his funeral will know what he is all about. When I close my eyes and imagine my own funeral, this is what I hope to see as well for myself. I want to hear people say that Chris honored his promise to his daughter, lived his values in as much as he possible could, and helped others to do the same all in the goal of living a balanced existence.

If I can do that, I will be proud to know that I’ve lived a life with my soul in the game! That means everything to me, because that means that I will have made Emilia proud of her Dad as she watches down over me from heaven.

Question: Is your soul in the game you play?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? - An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb