A Ship in Harbour is Safe

In 2018, Nassim Nicholas Taleb released the fifth book in his Incerto series, Skin in the Game. The main idea is rather simple: it's actually good to have something to lose. True learning occurs only when you have something to lose from your mistakes, what Taleb calls pathemata mathemata. Learning through pain. You have a fire lit under your ass. It burns but you get things done because you don't really have any other option. Taleb was mostly writing about the professional class of advisors, consultants, and intellectuals who profit from appearing to know things without bearing any consequences for being wrong. But I think this applies greatly to creativity. Tucked into the same book is a concept he calls "soul in the game," reserved for a category he calls artisans. Writers, makers, craftspeople, anyone who does things for existential reasons first and financial ones second. The artisan would not sell something defective or even of compromised quality because it hurts. They have…