#NASSAM TALEB THE 10X RULE SKIN#
The minority rule will show us how it all it takes is a small number of intolerant virtuous people with skin in the game, in the form of courage, for society to function properly. The rule we discuss in this chapter is the minority rule. And interactions can obey very simple rules. This is called an “emergent” property of the whole, by which parts and whole differ because what matters is the interactions between such parts. For that, one needs to understand an ant colony as an ant colony, no less, no more, not a collection of ants. Studying individual ants will never (one can safely say never for most such situations), never give us an idea on how the ant colony operates. The interactions matter more than the nature of the units. The main idea behind complex systems is that the ensemble behaves in ways not predicted by the components. If it seems absurd, it is because our scientific intuitions aren’t calibrated for that (fughedabout scientific and academic intuitions and snap judgments they don’t work and your standard intellectualization fails with complex systems, though not your grandmothers’ wisdom). Further, an optical illusion comes with the dominance of the minority: a naive observer would be under the impression that the choices and preferences are those of the majority. It suffices for an intransigent minority –a certain type of intransigent minorities –to reach a minutely small level, say three or four percent of the total population, for the entire population to have to submit to their preferences. The best example I know that gives insights into the functioning of a complex system is with the following situation.
![nassam taleb the 10x rule nassam taleb the 10x rule](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41A7ULxzvbL._AC_SY1000_.jpg)
![nassam taleb the 10x rule nassam taleb the 10x rule](https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/22b6c3ea-90d9-4907-b390-345abd1cbfc2.fecb06d2d7eb0c2bc693dfe1f099bf29.jpeg)
On Medium, Nassim explains how once an intransigent minority reaches a tiny percentage of the total population, the majority of the population will naturally succumb to their preferences: