Right thinking = Right start series

Part 2 -we continue our series in what I believe are the right tools any engineer (or everyone) should develop in life, today we focus on First Principles Thinking, you may have heard of this as it’s the process that Elon is known for implementing and using consistently.

What is First principle thinking?

There is an important note here, which is the difference between knowledge and facts. Facts are drummed into us so that we can repeat it when required, the trouble is while we may know the fact we have little or no understanding why it is a fact, this is knowledge. For example nearly anyone can quote you Einstein’s famous mass equivalent equation E =MC² but do they know how he came about that equation from his happiest thought? Or that via algebra you can derive E = MC²?

Using knowledge that we have learnt and applying it to daily issues is the scientific way, but that knowledge must come from the fundamental truths, or the first principles of science, using these facts to start your understanding of the problem is the tried and tested way that scientists have used for many hundreds of years.

When facing a problem, you must argue it down to its first principles (its known truths, the facts that have stood the test of rigorous scientific analysis and no current hypothesis can prove them wrong) and then reason up from there.

Neil mentions in one of his Star Talk pod casts that using the mind in the right way, we can think correctly and draw conclusions (thus the scientific method). Otherwise we can tend to think the way we are told.

How to use First principles thinking?

Well, start with the assumption that you are given, and then question is that assumption true? What you are after is the truth that cannot be reasoned by any other theory. Many people reason by analogy which is to copy from before and alter it slightly, this has worked but has developed us into lazy thinkers who do not think outside the box.

So, people who reason by analogy in the author’s experience tend to say “That’s the way it’s always been” and they accept that fact then move on because they don’t want to spend the energy questioning it. When a child reaches their “Why?” phase it tends to annoy the parent because the questions they ask are challenging their accepted truth.

Like “Why is water wet?” or “Why is the sky Blue?” our answer in most cases is “Because it is” which is the acceptance and unwillingness to question. Yes, it is hard to think first principles about everything so we must use it where it counts so we are not miss-led.

Let us go back to “That’s the way it’s always been” assumption and ask the following questions to ourselves?

Why has it always been like that?

Has it ever been a different way?

What happened when you tried another way?

What prevented the different way from being successful?

Have things that prevented it in the past now changed?

(Don’t forget 5Y and the Six wise men (Who, What, When, Where, Why and How) can be used here).

Aristotle had 6 types of questions:

1. Clarifying & Understanding
   1. Can you give me an example?
   2. Could you explain that?
   3. Are you saying?
2. Challenging Assumptions
   1. Is that always the case?
   2. Are you assuming____?
   3. How could you verify that?
3. Examining Evidence
   1. Why do you say that?
   2. How do you know?
   3. Why?
4. Considering Alternatives
   1. Are there any alternatives?
5. Implications and Consequences
6. Meta Questions
   1. Was my assumption correct?
   2. What led me to think like that?

(From YouTube Channel Hemlock: First principles thinking explained)

What we are doing here is using the Socratic Method to explore the assumption to see if it stands up against the evidence, if it does not then the assumption is wrong, and we can get to the basic truth before reassembling it to think about a solution. As you can see Einstein was right by saying the large amount of time is in the questioning, as once why is perfectly understood we can quickly solve.

Another example is of the difference between the Doctor and the First aider. Here the first aider is the reason by analogy and can only help someone by applying what they have been shown/taught by another. Once you get to hospital and you see the Doctor who has the intrinsic knowledge of medicines first principles can recommend the correct treatment or devise a new medical procedure to cure or help you recover.

Feynman himself couldn’t understand why people didn’t learn how or why the facts were the facts,

“I don’t know what’s the matter with people: they don’t learn by understanding; they learn by some other way—by rote or something. Their knowledge is so fragile!”

• STEP 1: Identify and define your current assumptions
• STEP 2: Breakdown the problem into its fundamental principles – that which is accepted as the basis to build on.
• STEP 3: Create new solutions from scratch

Resources used

• YouTube Channel Hemlock: First principles thinking explained
• https://fs.blog/first-principles/
• Feynman – A life in science
• Elon Musk: How the billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is shaping our future
• Neil deGrasse Tyson – StarTalk
• YouTube – MasterClass live with Neil deGrasse Tyson
• Aristotle’s First Principles – Terence Irwin

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