Ever since reading Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, my skepticism for anything “new” has grown.
Before reading the book, I usually assumed that new “innovations” were good.
Nassim changed my perspective. In Antifragile, he shares numerous examples from modern life that have made society worse off.
Antifragile is one of the most idea-dense books published in the past ten years, but it can be boiled down to a simple main point.
Humans have spent the last few centuries stripping variability from our systems (economic, social, and human health).
At every turn, we’ve tried to impose order and predictability to our world.
What does this mean?
Instead of only eating when we find food, we eat a steady 3 meals a day.
Instead of earning based on the value we provide in a day (like a cab driver), we earn a flat 50k salary.
We collect our $2,000 bi-weekly paycheck whether we went above and beyond or did the bare minimum.
Removing variation from these systems has lead to unexpected negative consequences. On the flip side, Taleb also diagrams the opposite: systems that benefit from chaos, volatility, randomness, and disorder.
The book is just extrapolations of this core idea.
Today, my exploration of zero-carb diets reminded me of Nassim’s commentary on human health.
I’ll qualify my commentary by saying that I’m no evolutionary biologist and I'm not making any citations here.
The human body is a complicated. It evolved to expect & benefit from certain dietary variations and stressors due to environmental factors.
The grocery store and economic abundance have removed all of that variation.
With food readily available, 3 meals a day, we don’t fast. With surplus crop yields and a global supply chain, we can eat the same meals year-round.
More important than availability and eating scheduling though, is the substance of what we eat and how that has changed.
Our ancestors did not eat seed oils, impossible burgers, naked juice, and hormone-fed livestock.
These new foods are the ones that need to prove themselves. What we’ve been eating for thousands of years do not.
Buy your processed foods with skepticism--or don't buy them at all.
That's my takeaway for today.
I’m going to spend the next few weeks exploring these diets and concepts in greater detail.
I’m looking to Carnivore Aurelius as my early guide, but if you know of great resources please send them my way!
In the meantime, I’m in pursuit of the basics.
Speaking of the basics, a time tested technique for gratitude, happiness, and fulfillment, is the simple practice of keeping a journal.
When you have a great day, make sure to appreciate it.
Here’s my entry for today.
Today in Review
- Fathers day, good to be home
- Woke up to the sound of my dog clanging his bowl into the adjacent wall
- Jumped in the pool to jolt myself awake up
- Made a kick-ass breakfast, non stick pans make a big difference
- Took a bike ride around Henderson, made a figure out pattern. Really enjoyed the sunlight
- Played an hour of ping pong by the pool
- Reinvented “everything but the bagel” by assembling a “mish-mosh” of smoked salmon, fried eggs, tomatoes, onions, and guacamole--literally everything but the bagel
- Read a lot of Carnivore Aurelius’ Blog
- Gave dad his father’s day gift (Las Vegas Raiders' Merch)
- Played 4 games of Jeopardy
- Played with the dogs
- Watched a beautiful Las Vegas sunset
One more thought that didn't fit anywhere
Social media, factory food, blue light, microwaves, and other innovations that have only existed for a brief period of time need to be questioned and studied.
If you enjoyed this please subscribe to my newsletter!