Taleb argues that people are often too focused on trying to predict and control the future, and that this can lead to a false sense of security or even a failure to prepare for unexpected events. As an alternative to this way of thinking, he suggests that we should embrace uncertainty and develop strategies that can help us thrive in an increasingly volatile world. Toward this end, Taleb’s book introduces the neologism antifragility. He writes that concepts like resilience in the face of unexpected events only provide a sort of insulation, while antifragility describes an ability to become actually stronger through the experience of systemic stressors. Thus, by embracing uncertainty and allowing for small failures and setbacks along the way, Taleb argues that antifragile systems can become healthier and even more adaptable over time.

Along the way, he argues that traditional techniques for making systems stronger often have the opposite effect, making them more fragile and prone to collapse. An example is dirt and disease: Children who have limited but regular exposure to dirty environments tend to have stronger immune systems than those who are raised in highly interventionist, antiseptic environments. Such interventions produce fragility, Taleb argues, and fragile systems are easily disrupted by unexpected events.