First Principles Thinking • Calix Huang
He was one of the biggest first-principles thinkers I’d ever met. His thought and demeanor was opinionated, assertive, and almost egotistical, yet humble and unassuming. Every question, statement, and opinion he threw at me was holistic, rigorous, and agreeable. Though from the perspective of society his opinions were controversial, in my eyes they were rational. I absorbed so much from that one conversation, I could describe it for hours. But I walked away from it with one thought: how could I become a better thinker? I, like many others, have been told to think from first principles. Though I knew the concept, there is a strong difference between knowing and understanding. That conversation led me to truly consider what first principles thinking is and what it looks like in action. First principles thinking is a framework for approaching ideas and decisions to come to optimal conclusions. It requires breaking down our thoughts into fundamental assumptions and principles to deduce wha
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