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Interlude LXIII: Friction | Resistance, Adaptation, Deliberate Practice, Antifragility, Competence
In this interlude of The Observable Unknown, Dr. Juan Carlos Rey examines one of the most misunderstood conditions of human development: friction.
Modern culture increasingly treats resistance as failure. Discomfort is interpreted as dysfunction. Convenience is mistaken for progress. Yet across biology, psychology, expertise, and civilization itself, the opposite pattern repeatedly emerges.
Systems weaken when friction disappears.
Drawing on the work of Nassim Nicholas Taleb and his theory of antifragility, the episode explores how certain systems do not merely survive stress and volatility…
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