| operations |
| comment | | "parent_author":"",<br>"parent_permlink":"steemit",<br>"author":"theprophet0",<br>"permlink":"reasoning-from-first-principles-15-year-old-content",<br>"title":"Reasoning From First Principles - 15 Year Old Content",<br>"body":"<p><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgsafe.org\/ca14161f2c.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Let's begin this post with the definition of first principles:<\/strong><br \/>\nA first principle is a basic,<br> foundational proposition or assumption that cannot be deduced from any other proposition or assumption.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Easy way to understand first principles:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>First principles are one of the most powerful methods for breaking down complex topics. There are two great ways of thinking of a problem,<br> first,<br> by <strong>analogue<\/strong>. When you are thinking by <strong>analogue<\/strong>,<br> you break down things by the way things currently are,<br> what you\u2019ve seen,<br> and or by what others have done or recommend. An example of this is,<br> trying to understand human behavior in relationships by what you read on a website or see in a movie. Thinking by <strong>analogue<\/strong>\u00a0is most of the time ineffective and rarely leads to true solutions to problems.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0In the <strong>first principles method<\/strong>,<br> you break something down into its most fundamental components. \u00a0So to understand better ,<br> here is a great quote from Elon Musk.\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote><em>\u201cI think it is important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. The normal way we conduct our lives is we reason by analogy. [When reasoning by analogy we are doing this because it\u2019s like something else that was done or it is like what other people are doing \u2014 slight iterations on a theme.<\/em><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><em>First principles is kind of a physics way of looking at the world. You boil things down to the most fundamental truths and say,<br> \u201cWhat are we sure is true?\u201d \u2026 and then reason up from there.<\/em><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><em>Somebody could say,<br> \u201cBattery packs are really expensive and that\u2019s just the way they will always be\u2026 Historically,<br> it has cost $600 per kilowatt hour. It\u2019s not going to be much better than that in the future.<\/em><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><em>\u201dWith first principles,<br> you say,<br> \u201cWhat are the material constituents of the batteries? What is the stock market value of the material constituents?\u201d<\/em><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><em>It\u2019s got cobalt,<br> nickel,<br> aluminum,<br> carbon,<br> some polymers for separation and a seal can. Break that down on a material basis and say,<br> \u201cIf we bought that on the London Metal Exchange what would each of those things cost?\u201d<\/em><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><em>It\u2019s like $80 per kilowatt hour. So clearly you just need to think of clever ways to take those materials and combine them into the shape of a battery cell and you can have batteries that are much,<br> much cheaper than anyone realizes.\u201d \u2014Elon Musk<\/em>\u00a0<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Benefits:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n <li>\u00a0First Principles thinking allows you to innovate in clear leaps,<br> rather than building small improvements onto something that already exists.\u00a0<\/li>\n <li>Seeing solutions that are hidden to people that only reference current market situations.<\/li>\n <li>Through first principles you can understand people in a very fundamental way. This leads you to better thinking around art,<br> business,<br> relationships and more.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Examples of first principles:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Eating healthy and losing weight is hard work. Plus,<br> I have to give up certain foods.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>First principles:<\/strong> What are we sure is true about eating healthy and losing weight? To eat healthy,<br> you need to eat more whole foods to get a good balance of macronutrients and micronutrients. To lose weight,<br> you need fewer overall calories each week. Is it possible to achieve those two things without it being \u201chard work\u201d or requiring you to \u201cgive up certain foods?\u201d Yes,<br> you could hire a meal preparation service to deliver finished meals to you each week. <a href=\"http:\/\/jamesclear.com\/first-principles#\" rel=\"noopener\">\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>2. You have to be a risk-taker if you want to be a successful entrepreneur.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>First principles: <\/strong>What do you need to be an entrepreneur? You need something to sell and a way to get paid. You need something to sell. Does it have to be a risky product or service? No. Many people buy ordinary products and services like pants and shirts and insurance. But what about leaving it all behind and starting your own venture? Isn\u2019t that risky even if you sell something boring? There is no rule that says you have to start as a full-time entrepreneur. In fact,<br> that\u2019s one of the great things about entrepreneurship that there are no rules. Keep your day job and work on nights and weekends or,<br> save up a big emergency fund before jumping in.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When you reason from first principles,<br> you start from some ideas you believe to be true,<br> and then see if you can build a model of some part of the world that might be true. Good reasoning should require that the predictions match the known facts,<br> and also do not predict anything that is clearly untrue.\u00a0 This is applied rigorously in science,<br> much more loosely elsewhere. These were just a few examples I learned but there can possibly be millions of examples. All in all,<br> I hope you enjoyed this read!<\/p>\n<p>Until Next Time!<\/p>\n<p><br \/><\/p>",<br>"json_metadata":" \"tags\":[\"steemit\",<br>\"life\",<br>\"steem\",<br>\"craig-grant\",<br>\"mathematics\" ,<br>\"image\":[\"https:\/\/i.imgsafe.org\/ca14161f2c.png\" ,<br>\"links\":[\"http:\/\/jamesclear.com\/first-principles#\" " | | vote | "voter":"theprophet0",
"author":"theprophet0",
"permlink":"reasoning-from-first-principles-15-year-old-content",
"weight":10000 |
|