Becoming Antifragile

Lessons from reading Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (1960 - present).

Skin in the Game argues that many of the world's problems spring from decision-makers unwilling to bear the risks of their ideas. Taleb argues that having skin in the game is necessary in life, commerce, and politics.

Nassim Taleb is a scholar, former options trader, statistician, and risk analyst. Taleb is known for his work on probabilities, randomness, and risk.

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00:00:00 - Dying in battle

00:01:45 - Living with skin in the game

00:05:45 - The Silver Rule

00:07:44 - Hammurabi code

00:10:21 - Why experts don’t have skin in the game

00:12:50 - Intellectual Yet Idiots

00:13:45 - GMO companies vs. scientists

00:14:48 - Bob Rubin & bureaucrats getting rich

00:17:35 - A captain who abandons his ship

00:18:24 - Willing to bear the risk

00:22:35 - Tolstoy and his friends

00:24:45 - The difference between Napoleon and Julian the Apostate

00:26:55 - Corporate slaves vs. entrepreneurs

00:30:27 - Modern universities

00:32:00 - Harrow sparrows and virtue signalling

00:34:10 - Why God must have skin in the game

00:37:24 - The Minority Rule

00:41:40 - Live well

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IJ Makan is a philosopher, designer, and martial artist.

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Instagram ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/ijmakan⁠⁠

Twitter ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/ijmakan⁠⁠

Website ⁠⁠https://becomingantifragile.com⁠⁠

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Lessons from reading Confession, a spiritual-philosophical reflection by Leo Tolstoy (Sep 9, 1828 - Nov 20, 1910) as he struggles with existential despair and the meaning of life.

Leo Tolstoy attained the kind of success only a few reached. He had enormous wealth, an estate that stretched for 16,200 acres, a mansion, 300 horses, two of his books (War & Peace and Anna Karenina) were considered masterpieces, and he was already regarded as one of the greatest novelists.

And it’s here that we pick up 'Confession'. Not a memoir nor a novel, but Tolstoy’s personal spiritual-philosophical reflection as he struggles with existential despair and the question of the meaning of life.

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00:00:00 - The question of life

00:01:48 - The success of Tolstoy

00:02:30 - Living without meaning

00:05:18 - Keeping up appearances

00:06:15 - All is vanity

00:07:20 - Why we’re reading these books

00:08:20 - The 80-year-old version of you

00:08:35 - The Fable

00:12:50 - Is life meaningless?

00:13:50 - Importance of having skin in the game

00:16:40 - Cultivate a strong reputation with yourself

00:20:00 - Tolstoy undermining his ethics

00:23:23 - The breakthrough

00:29:00 - Gaining the world, losing your soul

00:31:18 - Can science and philosophy provide the answer to the question of life

00:37:45 - The people who live with meaning

00:41:30 - Living in community

00:44:00 - Who is more successful: Khabib vs. Conor?

00:46:22 - Face your mortality

00:48:00 - Wealth and craftsmanship

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IJ Makan is a philosopher, designer, and martial artist.

-

Social & Website

Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/ijmakan⁠

Twitter ⁠https://twitter.com/ijmakan⁠

Website ⁠https://becomingantifragile.com⁠

Newsletter ⁠https://ijmakan.substack.com

Lessons from reading Man's Search for Meaning, a memoir by Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor.

The book chronicles his experience in Nazi concentration camps, his psychological insights into human nature at its worst, what motivates people to live even in the worse conditions, and explores his theory of logotherapy.

Frankl earned his M.D. in 1930 and began working at Steinhof Psychiatric Hospital where he led the treatment of suicidal women, before he was sent to the camps.

During the Holocaust his wife died in the Bergen Belsen concentration camp, his father died in the Theresienstadt Ghetto concentration camp, and both his mother and brother died in Auschwitz.

However, it was during his time in the concentration camps that he further developed his theory on the importance of finding meaning in life. He emphasized that discovering meaning is the primary motivation in life. It’s our will to meaning which gives hope in a hopeless world. And if a man loses hope and his will to meaning, then his “strength to carry on… seldom returned.”

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00:00:00 - Introduction & excerpt from Man’s Search for Meaning

00:02:37 - Summary of the memoir & logotherapy

00:04:47 - Getting stripped of all belongings

00:05:30 - Finding meaning

00:06:49 - Frankl’s thought on success

00:08:00 - Become worthy of suffering 

00:13:35 - Changing perspective

00:14:35 - Urbanites suffer from existential anxiety

00:15:35 - Importance of a full inner life 

00:16:57 - Ability to endure horrible conditions

00:18:20 - Nightmares 

00:19:20 - 3 ways to find meaning

00:20:00 - Cigarettes as a sign of impending death

00:21:45 - F—’s Dream of getting rescued

00:24:25 - Meaning is subjective & concrete

00:27:00 - Nietzsche’s ‘Why’

00:31:30 - Live with conviction

00:32:33 - Power of love

00:38:50 - Becoming virtuous

00:40:00 - Why read this book

00:41:00 - Seeking solitude

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IJ Makan is a philosopher, designer, and martial artist.

-

Social & Website

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ijmakan

Twitter https://twitter.com/ijmakan

Website https://becomingantifragile.com

Newsletter https://ijmakan.substack.com