perils of iatrogenics

A very powerful idea I came across was that of antifragility - a term coined by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his popular book ‘Antifragile’. He provides a very intriguing assessment of the world and underlying systems in its present state and its contrast with that of historical times. A key insight on present systems was its fragile nature due to incremental complexities as a result of over-intervention (or iatrogenics in terms of a medical analogy) by humans away from the natural course of being. The reasoning behind this insight is that over-intervention as an attempt to ease human life devoids that very life of stressors which are crucial for positive development. Physical or mental growth in humans occurs as a reaction to experiencing stressors which ignites necessary structural transformation to help survive much like evolution. Intervention to remove stressors where the adverse effects are extreme is beneficial and makes perfect sense. However, the present systems of the world are being increasingly designed in a way that tries remove stressors of any magnitude through over-intervention making humans more fragile. A few examples of fragilizing interventions include : increased consumption of processed foods, healthcare that is excessively dependent on medicines, conscious adoption of risk-averse paths of living, economies that facilitate the accumulation of unsustainable debt which eventually end up collapsing. Over-intervention may reduce odds of calamity but it comes at the cost of reduced resistance to breakage if and when the calamity does happen to fall. Antifragile systems on other hand are incrementally built in reaction to various stressors and positively feeds on calamities i.e. post-traumatic growth rather than post-traumatic distress. Antifragile systems are powerful and lasting. The idea of antifragility can be applied to different aspects of the world and life i.e. from medicine where immunity is built by inducing mild harm to Nietzsche’s famous quote for embracing adversity in life - ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’. There is beauty in how the idea of antifragility coherently connects with science and philosophy.