Thinking in First Principles

The world's arguably wisest man said several centuries ago.

"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun."

Bold statement if you ask me, but several centuries later, we would struggle to find 0 to 1 creations that aren't derived from fundamental ideas/elements.

We're witnessing an unprecedented shift in this information age powered by technology, most recently artificial intelligence where GPU farms are the newest factories and models are trained on millions of data sets from myriads of sources dating as far back as several centuries ago.?

The speed at which this transformation happens has further increased more than 100X, making it harder to keep track of where it started from.?

This puts us at the risk of hasty conclusions based on the wrong foundations, more importantly, it underlines the need to think in first principles.?

So what does it mean to think in first principles??

What is first principle?

The fundamental assumptions, concepts or theories on which a theory, system or method is built.?

Breaking down complex problems into the most basic factual assumptions that can't be broken down any further (with context to that particular subject matter).?

We have a good reason to believe that we often think in first principles at childhood but as we mature, in a bid to shift towards comfort and avoid stress our mind assumes some things as fundamentals and we continue to layer our thoughts and judgments on these, at the risk of wrong judgment. .?

That's why when you tell Little Sally, "Don't go near a colony of soldier ants" she's definitely going to ask you? "why".?

No assumptions!

So how do we channel our Little Sally back to thinking in first principles?

Here are three major steps. As popularly attributed to Elon Musk.?

Step 1: identify and define your current assumptions .?

What assumptions are you currently making about this problem/idea??

Step 2: Breakdown the problem into its most basic truths.?

How did we get here, what makes it true??

Step 3: create your solutions on these first principles.

If this is the truth, what do we do from here??

The good thing is that these broad steps cut across several spheres and would be useful in digging the fundamental truths in virtually all.?

There are two methods that could be really helpful in this?

They are.?

1.)The Socratic Questioning?

2.)The 5 whys?

The Socratic Questioning method of involves asking thoughtful open ended questions in a bid to get to the root of a problem.?

It involves 6 major steps.?

1. Clarify your current thoughts and explore the origin of your purpose – What do you mean when you say X? Why do I think this way?
2. Challenge your own assumptions – How do I know that my assumptions are true? What if they are not?
3. Backup through evidence – What data do I have to believe in my decision? Do I have enough proof ?
4. Consider alternate viewpoints – What do others think of my decision? Do they have counter arguments to see this another way?
5. Explore implications and consequences – How would this affect someone if it were right or wrong? What are the consequences?
6. Challenging the question itself – Why did I ask this question in the first place? Why is this question important? What are my conclusions?

For best results, it's important to have this conversation with one's self before engaging others in a brainstorming session.?

Following this process in the form of first principles thinking will enable you to make a better decision and build for the?

2.) The 5 Whys?

For the 5 whys, you just keep asking the he question "why" until you arrive at a question that cannot be answered yet , this is where you develop a new solution?

It's not compulsory to use these exact questioning examples, but when used as a framework, they direct you to the fundamental truths you need to create your solutions.?

NB: I've avoided niche specific samples here in order to make it easily adaptable to a wide range of disciplines.?

Benefits of First principles thinking.?

1. Helps in clarifying superstitious beliefs and dogmas?
2. Eliminates distractions in brainstorming and solution thinking?
3. Pivotal in the future of work, job roles like Prompt engineering, prompt design would require fundamental knowledge of subject matter first principles.?
4. Births Contrarian ideas and businesses?

Any ideas/business that would stand the test of time must be built on the solid rock of first principles.?

I'm hopeful these frameworks can help you in asking the right questions as this is more important than getting the right answers.?