Lindy effect

English

Etymology

In reference to Lindy's delicatessen in New York, where comedians would meet to discuss showbusiness. This was discussed in "Lindy's Law", a 1964 article by Albert Goldman in The New Republic. Goldman described a folkloric belief that the amount of material comedians have is constant, and therefore the frequency of output predicts how long their series will last.

Proper noun

the Lindy effect

1. The hypothesized phenomenon that the future life expectancy of certain nonperishable things (such as a technology or an idea) is proportional to their current age, so that every additional period of survival implies a longer remaining life expectancy.
   • 2018, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, chapter 8, in Skin in the Game‎^[1], Penguin, →ISBN:

     Let me warn the reader: while the Lindy effect is one of the most useful, robust, and universal heuristics I know, Lindy's cheesecake is… much less distinguished. Odds are the deli will not survive, by the Lindy effect.