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Happy Monday!
This week’s Dial covers a recent proposition that I came across called:
First Principles Thinking.
The idea of First Principles comes in hand when faced with difficult and complicated problems. Here is a quick definition to give you an idea:
A "first principle" is a foundational assumption or proposition - it is foundational in that it cannot be deduced from other assumptions or propositions.
Think of a first principle like an element. It cannot be broken down further. It is pure.
The concept of First Principles Thinking requires you to break down a complex problem down to its most basic, fundamental truths and facts.
First Thinking Principles
It involves reverse-engineering a problem, crossing levels until you reach the reason why the problem became a problem in the first place.
Aristotle defined first principles as “the first basis from which a thing is known.”
First Principles leaves you with only the essentials—the indisputable facts, leaving out the impurities of assumptions and predictions.
The problem these days is we people never really question anything.
Take your teachers, or your parents. A majority of what we believe is information from what our parents/teachers said.
…and we tend to not question it since it comes from an authoritative figure, even though the information may not hold true, and sometimes could be even be outright false.
If you question your teachers, you become a problem. We have been taught and instructed to listen to ‘orders’ rather than question why over the years, although I feel the tide has been changing the last few years.
Aspire to be free thinkers. Questioning everything and anything, is the best and purest form of learning.
Elon Musk and SpaceX
It will be a sin leaving out Elon’s own experience of using first principles in the early days of starting SpaceX in this issue.
There is no one more that embodies first principles than Elon Musk.
I think people’s thinking process is too bound by convention or analogy to prior experiences. It’s rare that people try to think of something on a first principles basis. They’ll say, “We’ll do that because it’s always been done that way.” Or they’ll not do it because “Well, nobody’s ever done that, so it must not be good.
But that’s just a ridiculous way to think. You have to build up the reasoning from the ground up—“from the first principles” is the phrase that’s used in physics. You look at the fundamentals and construct your reasoning from that, and then you see if you have a conclusion that works or doesn’t work, and it may or may not be different from what people have done in the past.
Unlike most people, Musk approaches problems starting with the truth, not with what he thinks to be true—his intuition.
He wants to build a rocket. Starting with the first principles of the problem,
“What are the physics of it?”
“How much time will it take?”
“How much will it cost?”
“How much cheaper can I make it?”
But then he realizes that rockets are crazy expensive. This is a problem for Musk because he wants to send people to Mars. So he needs cheaper rockets.
"What is a rocket made of?”
Aerospace-grade aluminum alloys, plus some titanium, copper, and carbon fiber.
“and…what is the value of those materials on the commodity market?”
Turns out the material costs a rocket was 2% of the typical price.”
“So, why the hell does it cost so much to send people up to space?!”
Musk then decides to start SpaceX, building rockets himself from the ground up.
I put the art in fart
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
10:04 AM • Jan 9, 2020
Now, let’s look at two methods on how we can practice thinking in First Principles.
Socratic Questioning
The ‘Socratic Questioning’ method is a good way to seek out first principles in a systemic manner.
Here is a brief description of the process:
Clarifying your thinking and explaining the origins of your ideas (Why do I think this? What exactly do I think?)
Challenging assumptions (How do I know this is true? What if I thought the opposite?)
Looking for evidence (How can I back this up? What are the sources?)
Considering alternative perspectives (What might others think? How do I know I am correct?)
Examining consequences and implications (What if I am wrong? What are the consequences if I am?)
Questioning the original questions (Why did I think that? Was I correct? What conclusions can I draw from the reasoning process?)
Back in the Golden Age of Athens, Socrates was going around the town questioning young men and women on almost everything and anything.
This led to the birth of the Socratic method of Questioning which laid the foundation to Socratic Teaching.
The people in power grew more and more anxious cause Socrates was making people think for themselves. (Free Thinkers)
This eventually led to the execution of Socrates on the charges of “corrupting the youth”, but his teachings stayed behind and was spread nationwide by his most prized student, Plato.
“The Five Whys”
This is another method that help us to get to the bottom of a problem. (a.k.a Root Cause Analysis - RCA)
Children think in first principles.
It’s time to brush our teeth and get ready for bed.”
“Why?”
“Because we need to take care of our bodies, and that means we need sleep.”
“Why do we need sleep?”
“Because we’d die if we never slept.”
“Why would that make us die?”
“I don’t know; let’s go look it up.”
Ask why until you get to the root cause of whatever it you are curious about.
Usually by the third or fourth why, you should start to be annoying to the person opposite you :)
That is when you know you are closer to the answer you are looking for.
Click on this video to learn more about First Principles:
Thank you for your time, and as always—
I hope you have a wonderful week ahead. 🧿
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