“So I follow the Lindy effect as a guide in selecting what to read” – Nassim Nicholas
I recently discovered this term and it honestly sent me down a rabbit hole of blog posts, twitter threads, and more so I thought I’d share my discoveries.
What Is The Lindy Effect
The Lindy Effect states the longer has been around the longer it is likely to stick around in the future. I’ll expand on this a bit further.
According to the Lindy Effect, non-perishable items such as ideas increase in life expectancy with every day of their life—unlike perishable items such as humans.
Humans are perishable, food is perishable, animals are perishable, but projects, books, ideas, businesses, etc. are not. Because of this if a company has been around for 50 years you can expect it to be around for another 50 years, It ages in reverse.
Lindy In The News
The daily news might be a blessing but it can also be a curse. Before you know it what everyone was freaking out about yesterday is the last thing on people’s minds today.
If the news talks about something and continues to talk about it, it has staying power.
Lindy In Technology
One good example is the electric engine. Since gas-powered engines have the reputation of being fragile and require upkeep people are more motivated to switch to something that has some staying power.
All Tesla has to do is survive long enough.
Lindy In Books
Everyone always says to read the classics first when it comes to books. The public school system has had the same handful of books on their reading list for years and years.
There are books that have been around for 20+ years and are still referenced today. According to Lindy, this means that most likely they’ll be around for another 20+ years from now.
Conclusion
If you want to know how long a non-perishable will last then you first need to ask how long it has already existed. The older something is the most likely it will survive.
We are surrounded by things that have been around for hundreds of years and will more likely than not be around for hundreds more. New things may come but it takes people a long time to adapt to something new. New things are fragile, they’ve got bugs, bumps, and bruises.
It is a well-known fact that most new things fail, this can’t discourage us from trying, because you might find, invest, or invest in the next best thing.
When it comes to you personally focus on making your ideas Lindy-proof. Even if the cards are not dealt in your favor, trying to accomplish that will get you pretty darn far in life.