An Antifragile system benefits from randomness. Meaning, it can not only take a few punches, but welcomes them because it comes out stronger on the other side. Like a Hydra (How to fight a Hydra).

However, this comes with a less often touted caveat. This "benefits from chaos" superpower only works up to a threshold. Beyond that threshold, the chaotic input is too strong for the system and negative consequences occur.

This reminds me of the entire premise of the book Grow or Die, where it's shown that biological systems are built to ingest (random) things as a function of living. Everything from single celled organisms to complex mammals must consume external things or they will die.

But similar to the antifragility threshold, there is also a consumption threshold (consumption threshold #citation). The two are very similar feeling.

Essentially, if the foreign object that the organism is trying to consume is too complicated/large for the organism, then it ends up causing damage - so protection mechanisms are put in place to avoid that damage.

In the case of a single celled organism, that might be something too large for itself to digest (Antibodies and NECs guard your health). For a human, that might be too complicated of a concept to internalize. In any case, there is a threshold under which an organism can safely consume a foreign (chaotic) something without problems. But above the threshold, there are negative repercussions.

• Antibodies help fight off body invaders

#toolong