## Farnam Street
### Farnam Street
#### Metadata
* Author: [[fs.blog]]
* Full Title: Farnam Street
* Category: #articles
* URL: <https://fs.blog/2018/04/first-principles/>
#### Highlights
* Musk would identify the play stealer as the person who reasons by analogy, and the coach as someone who reasons by first principles.
* Tags: [[favorite]]
* In an interview with Kevin Rose, Musk summarized his approach:
I think it's important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. So the normal way we conduct our lives is, we reason by analogy. We are doing this because it's like something else that was done, or it is like what other people are doing… with slight iterations on a theme. And it's … mentally easier to reason by analogy rather than from first principles. First principles is kind of a physics way of looking at the world, and what that really means is, you … boil things down to the most fundamental truths and say, "okay, what are we sure is true?" … and then reason up from there. That takes a lot more mental energy.[7]
# Farnam Street
## Metadata
- Author: [[fs.blog]]
- Full Title: Farnam Street
- Category: #articles
- URL: https://fs.blog/2018/04/first-principles/
## Highlights
- Musk would identify the play stealer as the person who reasons by analogy, and the coach as someone who reasons by first principles.
- Tags: [[favorite]]
- In an interview with Kevin Rose, Musk summarized his approach:
I think it’s important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. So the normal way we conduct our lives is, we reason by analogy. We are doing this because it’s like something else that was done, or it is like what other people are doing… with slight iterations on a theme. And it’s … mentally easier to reason by analogy rather than from first principles. First principles is kind of a physics way of looking at the world, and what that really means is, you … boil things down to the most fundamental truths and say, “okay, what are we sure is true?” … and then reason up from there. That takes a lot more mental energy.[7]