Upside at the expense of others

The largest fragilizer of society, and greatest generator of crises, is the absence of "skin in the game."

Some become antifragile at the expense of others by getting the upside, while others get the downside—with no personal risk. For example, banks take massive risks knowing that the government will bail them out if things go wrong. This is the transfer of fragility: they become antifragile because someone else absorbs their harm.

We are witnessing the rise of a new class of inverse heroes: bureaucrats, bankers, Davos-attending members of the I.A.N.D. (International Association of Name Droppers), and academics with too much power and no real downside and/or accountability. They game the system while citizens pay the price.

In the past, people of rank or status were those—and only those—who took risks. Heroes were those who took risks for the sake of others.

Today, we are seeing the exact reverse. At no point in history have so many non-risk-takers, that is, those with no personal exposure, exerted so much control.

The chief ethical rule is this: Thou shalt not have antifragility at the expense of the fragility of others.

Quote from Nassim Taleb's book, Antifragile.