fragility paradox,

originally in biology where a newly evolved complexity tends to appear fragile (if only by having piled on top of the still-present old adaptations) but is actually not, at least not in the current environment: after all, it has outevolved its simpler ancestors. For a classic example, shifting the balance from nature (genome) to nurture (culture) surged human survivability — made the species not only less vulnerable to catastrophic extinctions or (a true motherlode of scares) “cultural resets” but, in the long term, enabled humans to confront intra- and extrabiological threats affecting entire biosystems.

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