First Principles Thinking in everyday life

Hey there!

Welcome to my first-ever blog post! Now, I know this blog isn’t only about data science and coding; we’re going to dive into everyday stuff too. So, for starters, I wanted to chat about something that’s not as dry as coding (I mean, I love it, but let’s shake things up a bit, shall we?). Ever heard of first principles thinking? It’s this cool concept that often pops up on YouTube, especially thanks to Elon Musk’s buzz. But hey, if you’re not familiar with it, don’t sweat it. Let me break it down for you.

At its heart, first principles thinking is about breaking problems down into their basic parts, tossing out assumptions, and looking at things from a fresh angle. It’s like taking apart a puzzle to understand how it works, then putting it back together in a whole new way. Think of it as a superpower for coming up with cool ideas and solving tough problems. And it’s not just for big shots like Musk; anyone can use it to shake up the status quo and discover something amazing.

General conceptions

You can find many videos about the general concepts of first principles thinking, but this video summarizes it nicely. Here’s the short summary of general concepts:

First Principles Thinking: Advantages and Potential Downsides

First principles thinking is a powerful mental model that allows us to break down complex systems into their fundamental components. This approach enables us to build a strong foundation for our understanding and avoid being limited by conventional wisdom. However, there are also potential downsides to consider when using this method.

The Benefits of First Principles Thinking

The video highlights the benefits of first principles thinking through the analogy of a rocket scientist. Just like a scientist wouldn’t blindly copy existing designs, this approach encourages us to reason from scratch. By questioning assumptions and going back to the basics, we can potentially arrive at more original and effective solutions.

The Challenges of First Principles Thinking

One of the main drawbacks of this method is the difficulty involved. It requires a significant amount of time and effort to deconstruct complex systems and rebuild them from the ground up. Additionally, completely disregarding existing knowledge can be inefficient. We learn and improve by emulating others, and discarding all knowledge can hinder this process.

Finding the Right Balance

The key to using first principles thinking effectively lies in striking a balance between questioning existing knowledge and using it to inform our decisions. The video uses the example of reusability in rockets to illustrate this point. While NASA’s space shuttle program wasn’t a success in terms of reusability, this doesn’t necessarily mean the concept is entirely flawed. By analyzing the reasons behind the failure, we can learn from NASA’s mistakes and develop more efficient reusable rockets.

In conclusion, first principles thinking is a valuable tool that can help us develop a deeper understanding of complex systems and arrive at creative solutions. However, it’s important to acknowledge the challenges associated with this approach and find the right balance between questioning existing knowledge and using it to inform our decisions.

Elon’s approach

I found this short video from Lex’ podcast, which talks about Elon Musk’s approach to problem-solving, which he calls “first principles thinking”.

First principles thinking is about breaking down a problem to its most fundamental truths and then reasoning up from there. Elon says the key idea is not to rely on what’s been done before but to figure out the absolute best solution and then see how close to that you can get in reality.

Here are some of the key points of Elon Musk’s approach to first principles thinking:

• Reasoning from fundamental truths: Instead of relying on what’s already been done, this approach requires you to go back to the basic laws of physics and chemistry to understand how something works. This way, you can identify any inefficiencies or areas for improvement that may have been missed before.
• Thinking in limits: This involves considering how things would change if you scaled them up or down to extreme sizes. This can help to identify any potential problems or areas for optimization. For example, if something is too expensive to manufacture at low volume, it might be because the design is inherently complex. But if you can simplify the design, it might become much cheaper to produce at high volume.
• Considering the Platonic ideal: This refers to imagining the absolute perfect version of a product or technology. By considering this ideal, you can identify ways to improve the current design.
• Not being limited by existing tools and methods: If you’re stuck using the same tools and methods all the time, you might miss out on better solutions. Instead, you should be willing to consider entirely new approaches.

Elon Musk argues that this way of thinking can be applied to anything and that it is the key to making significant breakthroughs. He mentions that he and Jim Keller applied this thinking to bring down the manufacturing cost of Tesla cars.

In business

Day-1 thinking

Another short video from Lex’ podcast with Jason Calacanis, a venture capitalist, which discusses the concept of first principles thinking and its application in business, most notably used by Jeff Besos.

First Principles Thinking: Reimagining Problems for Better Solutions

The core idea behind first principles thinking is to approach problems with a fresh perspective. Great entrepreneurs, like Jeff Bezos, consistently use this approach. Bezos refers to it as “day one thinking” which means pretending it’s the first day your company is operating and you’re building everything from scratch.

This approach encourages you to ask fundamental questions: What is the root cause of the problem? What are the underlying assumptions? By challenging assumptions and thinking creatively, you can arrive at better solutions.

Calacanis cautions that it’s possible to get stuck overthinking and never launching a product. There needs to be a balance between innovative thinking and practicality.

One example of first principles thinking is Amazon’s two-day shipping. This audacious goal forced Amazon to completely rethink their fulfillment process. The result was a game-changer for the e-commerce industry.

The blog post also discusses Amazon Prime. While most people think of Prime as a fast shipping option, Calacanis argues that the true genius behind Prime is getting people to subscribe to the service. For a relatively low monthly fee, users get access to a variety of benefits, including free two-day shipping. This subscription model has been a major driver of Amazon’s success.

In conclusion, first principles thinking is a powerful tool for entrepreneurs and businesses alike. By approaching problems with a fresh perspective and challenging assumptions, you can arrive at innovative solutions that drive success.

In Programming

First principles thinking is great in being productive and inovative in problem solving, but is it useful in a more rigid environment like programming? This video from ArjanCodes, argues that by applying first principle thinking, you can improve your problem-solving skills and write better code. Here are the five ways he discusses:

1. Identify and define fundamental truths: This means understanding the core elements of the problem you’re trying to solve. What are the needs of your users? What is the software supposed to do? What limitations do you have? By taking the time to answer these questions upfront, you can avoid making mistakes later on.
2. Break down problems to their core: Don’t just jump into coding right away. Instead, take some time to dissect the problem and understand its core components. This will help you to come up with more elegant and efficient solutions. For example, if you’re tasked with creating a system that analyzes stock portfolios, you might realize that this is essentially a data pipeline problem. Once you understand this, you can use existing data pipeline tools to build your solution.
3. Reassemble elements innovatively: Once you understand the basic building blocks of a problem, you can start to put them back together in new and innovative ways. This is where true breakthroughs can happen. The iPhone is a great example of this - it combined separate technologies like a phone, a pod player, and an internet browser into a single device.
4. Validate your assumptions regularly: As you’re developing software, it’s important to constantly question your assumptions. Are you sure that your solution is really necessary? Could you be making things more complex than they need to be? By validating your assumptions regularly, you can avoid wasting time and effort on features that nobody needs.
5. Focus on simplicity and functionality: Always strive to keep your code simple and functional. Complex code is difficult to test, maintain, and understand. Start with a simple solution and only add complexity if it actually solves a problem.

The speaker also emphasizes the importance of continuous learning. By staying up-to-date with the latest technologies and best practices, you can continue to improve your first principle thinking skills.

In conclusion, first principle thinking is a valuable approach for software developers. By following the tips in this video, you can learn to identify the core elements of a problem, break it down into smaller pieces, and come up with creative solutions.

In money management

I’ve tried to find another video that would be interesting for most of you readers who want to get rich becoming a senior developer for a FANNG company (which is my goal as well), so I found a video which discusses using the first principles in improving your money management, or at least how not to get poor.

According to the video, first principles are important in money management because they help you get to the root of what matters most to you with your money, and then build a plan to achieve it. The video says that people often ask questions about tactics and products, like what app to use or whether to invest in cryptocurrency, but these are like the leaves on a tree. The roots of the tree are your values, and from those roots come your philosophy of life, your goals, and then your strategies and tactics.

The video uses the example of financial independence (FI) to illustrate this point. FI is the point at which your passive income covers your basic bills. When you frame personal finance in the context of delayed gratification so that you can have more money when you’re 75 years old, it’s not very motivating. But when you reframe it as FI and the freedom it allows, it becomes much more enticing. The video says that the pursuit of FI is for everyone, but the first steps you take will differ depending on where you are in your journey.This is a sample blog post. Lorem ipsum I can’t remember the rest of lorem ipsum and don’t have an internet connection right now. Testing testing testing this blog post. Blog posts are cool.