First principles thinking

• “First principles” thinking:
  • boiling ideas down into their parts and contructing new ideas from those parts
  • “what are the fundamental parts of this idea?”
    • good analogy:
      • bike = handlebars + seat, tank = treads + gun, motorboat with waterskis = hull + motor + skis
      • parts can be put together into a snowmobile (handlebars + seat + treads + hull + motor + skis)