Notes on Anti-Fragility, The Skater Way, and Its Societal Implications

One of the core differentiators between skateboarder philosophy and conventional doctrines of social and personal development is that constant failure is not only acceptable, but desirable. Systems in society and in the methods used to develop individuals are generally designed to avoid any and all such failures, and particularly to punish these failures in a manner that compounds them beyond their natural consequence and even the principles of ethics would dictate.

This is done deliberately instead of promoting these failures to a controllable, mitigated extent and then finding the best path to reduce their impact, or better yet, convert them to outcomes superior to or not achievable by the conventional path. This is the essence of anti-fragility.

The kind of resiliency attained by a skater is possible now in our society for an elite few, whose impunity has created unjust power and repressed the potential that could be unlocked by the anti-fragility of the masses, but if the ecosystem is changed to allow this for as many people as are willing, the potential for progression will become limitless. This path, of course, is not for everyone.

A key to anti-fragility on a societal level is seeing all parts, all stakeholders, all people as having value to be protected against the risks inherent in a changing society. To not do this for everyone, every marginalized group, is to keep society fragile and cause weakness. Support and protection do not cause weakness. They do not always cause strength either. What they do create is an atmosphere where either of those is a possibility. When any part of the ecosystem breaks, all of it can break at a moment’s notice and it can harm anyone, even the strongest person.

Everyone must be able to, if they will to do so, fall and get back up in order for anyone to fly continually.

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