Different solutions present themselves at different layers of abstraction. You just need to go one or two levels deeper than most people. In practice, you don’t have to simplify every problem down to the atomic level to get the benefits of first principles thinking. Rene Descartes, the French philosopher and scientist, embraced this approach with a method now called Cartesian Doubt in which he would “systematically doubt everything he could possibly doubt until he was left with what he saw as purely indubitable truths.” 5 In theory, first principles thinking requires you to dig deeper and deeper until you are left with only the foundational truths of a situation. They start with questions like, What are we absolutely sure is true? What has been proven? Over two thousand years ago, Aristotle defined a first principle as “the first basis from which a thing is known.” 4įirst principles thinking is a fancy way of saying “think like a scientist.” Scientists don’t assume anything. Let’s discuss how you can utilize first principles thinking in your life and work.Ī first principle is a basic assumption that cannot be deduced any further. 3įirst principles thinking is the act of boiling a process down to the fundamental parts that you know are true and building up from there.
Musk used first principles thinking to break the situation down to the fundamentals, bypass the high prices of the aerospace industry, and create a more effective solution. Within a few years, SpaceX had cut the price of launching a rocket by nearly 10x while still making a profit. Instead of buying a finished rocket for tens of millions, Musk decided to create his own company, purchase the raw materials for cheap, and build the rockets himself. Then I asked, what is the value of those materials on the commodity market? It turned out that the materials cost of a rocket was around two percent of the typical price.” 2
#DIGGING THEMSELVES IN DEEPER SYNONYM PLUS#
What is a rocket made of? Aerospace-grade aluminum alloys, plus some titanium, copper, and carbon fiber. So I said, okay, let’s look at the first principles. “Physics teaches you to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. “I tend to approach things from a physics framework,” Musk said in an interview. Given the high price, he began to rethink the problem. After visiting a number of aerospace manufacturers around the world, Musk discovered the cost of purchasing a rocket was astronomical-up to $65 million.
He ran into a major challenge right off the bat.
In 2002, Musk began his quest to send the first rocket to Mars-an idea that would eventually become the aerospace company SpaceX. The first principles approach has been used by many great thinkers including inventor Johannes Gutenberg, military strategist John Boyd, and the ancient philosopher Aristotle, but no one embodies the philosophy of first principles thinking more effectively than entrepreneur Elon Musk.
#DIGGING THEMSELVES IN DEEPER SYNONYM HOW TO#
It also might be the single best approach to learn how to think for yourself. First principles thinking, which is sometimes called reasoning from first principles, is one of the most effective strategies you can employ for breaking down complicated problems and generating original solutions.
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