I am almost finished reading Anti-fragile, and this is an excellent post that did a good job capturing the struggles I’ve been having with the book.

The Traditionalistm -> Antifragilism -> Rationalism -> Modernism spectrum was a very good explanation; as someone who was previously very rational + modernistic, I have grown to be more jaded by our utopian visions and increasingly favor a decentralized approach to the world, where people take risks but no risk is enough to finish us off.

Antifragile was a light-bulb for me in that sense, but reading his book, I could see Taleb himself sometimes veering into becoming outright traditional (I never drink a beverage that hasn’t been around for 1000 years); and while he never outright condemns scientific research, it was like rational inquiry + scientific discoveries were given the short shrift to traditional values.

It seems like it is natural to conflate Traditionalism + Antifragilism and Rationalism + Modernism. I found myself doing it (for ease of mind + certainty), but I could never truly give up my belief in rationality. I think you’re correct that the best we can do is strike a fine balance between Rationalism + Antifragilism, and work hard to never veer too far into one direction.