The Lindy Effect

The Lindy Effect states that the longer something non-perishable has survived, the longer it can be expected to continue surviving. Time acts as a filter: fragile or irrelevant things die off, while what endures tends to be robust and valuable.

For software engineers, this means investing in timeless fundamentals — algorithms, core languages, design principles — rather than chasing fleeting frameworks. SQL (1970s) remains essential; COBOL (1959) still runs much of the world's financial infrastructure. Meanwhile, JavaScript frameworks come and go while the underlying language and browser APIs persist.

The term originated at Lindy's Delicatessen in New York, where comedians noticed that a Broadway show's past run predicted its future. Nassim Nicholas Taleb popularized the concept in The Black Swan and Antifragile, applying it to ideas, technologies, and traditions — things that don't decay like living organisms do.

The Lindy Effect serves as a heuristic against "shiny object syndrome," a reminder that most innovations reinvent old ideas and that fundamental concepts in software change slowly.