The Lindy Effect
Origin
In 1964 Albert Goldman observed at New York's Lindy's deli (where Broadway comedians gathered) — a comedian with 100 appearances would do 100 more; one with 200 would do 200 more. Asymmetry: the old persists longer. Mandelbrot (1982) and Taleb ("Antifragile" 2012) generalized it as "Lindy Effect".
Meaning
Shakespeare survived 400 years, so likely 400 more. The Analects survived 2,500 years, so likely 2,500 more. A new book likely won't last one year. In the digital age of fast change, the value of the old — what does not shake — rises again.
Lesson — Meeting Eastern Classics
Analects 2.11: "Review the old, know the new — then you can be a teacher." Confucius's ethic of time. The Lindy Effect is its statistical form — the older, the deeper, the longer.
"久" depicts a person dragging something on their back — to last long. Analects 9.30 lists stages: studying together → walking the Way together → standing together → exercising judgment together. 久 is not preservation but accumulated passage.
