First principles thinking

When thinking, dig deeper and deeper until we get to the foundational truths of a situation. Keep asking why until all assumptions, social conditioning, and surface-level reasoning fade. Think like a scientist and eliminate all assumptions. Use data profusely. Make questions as the engine for deepening understanding.

Start with questions like What are we absolutely sure is true? What has been proven?

Give that question an answer, ask a question about the answer, rinse and repeat. Do that until you hit the physics—the foundational truths.

But in practice, you don’t have to simplify every problem down to the atomic level. You should stop when you arrive at diminishing returns.

In fact, it is difficult to practice. The primary obstacle is that we tend to focus on the form over the function. What looks like innovation is often an iteration of previous forms rather than an improvement of the core function.

By asking questions, we may innovate on the function, and the form will follow.

Example

“Where are flying cars?”

What is a flying car? A car that can fly. What does a car have? A car has doors, seats, and wheels. What makes a car fly? Thrust makes objects fly. How can we add thrust to a car? Use rotors or wings. Where should we attach the rotor? Because the thrust we need should point downwards, put the rotors on the top. How do you steer it? Use horizontal thrust. Put smaller rotor them on the back using tail.

Now we have helicopters. Helicopters are flying cars.

References

First Principles: Elon Musk on the Power of Thinking for Yourself by James Clear