Is there a better, existing word for “antifragility”?

Solution 1:

There isn't a better word for antifragile than "antifragile". I suggest that Taleb is more concerned with epistemology than etymology. I doubt there is a true antonym for fragile in English or any other language because few have grasped the idea that something can improve when mishandled or stressed. While "resilient" indicates recovery from adversity it fails to convey the positive effects of stress that are implied by "antifragile". I support using "antifragile" because its novelty may encourage a deeper understanding of how systems actually respond to perturbations. If, over the last decade, companies, economies and financial markets had been assessed as being either fragile, robust or "antifragile", our world might be better.

Solution 2:

It may be difficult to find an existing word in English, since none of the existing ones actually match the concept.

Footnote from Antifrailge by Taleb:

Once again, please, no, itisnotresilience. I am used to facing, at the end of a conference lecture, the question “So what is the difference between robust and antifragile?” or the more unenlightened and even more irritating “Antifragile is resilient, no?” The reaction to my answer is usually “Ah,” with the look “Why didn’t you say that before?” (of course I had said that before). Even the initial referee of the scientific article I wrote on defining and detecting antifragility entirely missed the point, conflating antifragility and robustness—and that was the scientist who pored over my definitions.

It is worth re-explaining the following: the robust or resilient is neither harmed nor helped by volatility and disorder, while the antifragile benefits from them. But it takes some effort for the concept to sink in.

A lot of things people call robust or resilient are just robust or resilient, the other half are antifragile.

(Emphasis added.)