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February 29, 2016

“The boats are so optimized around the present rules that they have lost all resilience. Any change in the rules would render them useless.”

• Donella H. Meadows, Thinking in Systems (2008)

She’s describing yachts that race in the America’s cup. Many other examples come to mind, like bodybuilders training for a competition. With close to zero percent body fat, unsustainable caloric intake, and reliance on constant weight training — although they look strong they are in fact very fragile.