# What is First Principles Thinking?

Elon Musk and the Vienna Circle

Greg Coppola

September 27, 2023

# The Concept of First Principles Thinking

The notion of *first principles thinking* has been popularized by Elon Musk (1971—present), the CEO of *X* and *****Tesla*****. About his own conception of the term, he said:

> First principles is kind of a physics way of looking at the world. You boil things down to the fundamental truths and say, “What are we sure is true? Or, as sure as possible is true?” And then reason up from there. (Elon Musk, *Innomind*, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV3sBlRgzTI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV3sBlRgzTI))
> 

However, Elon is assuming that *******physics******* itself is a sufficiently low level of analysis to be considered “first principles”. We do not assume this. We want to explain the scientific method itself. This is a philosophy even more ****meta**** and so more close to “first” than even physics itself. We must go all the way to the most basic level: information theory.

# Vienna Circle

According to the Vienna Circle, *********************meaningful statements********************* were based on two subtypes:

- **meaningful statements** for the **Vienna Circle** (circa 1920’s)
    - ********************scientific statements********************
        - claims about *****************empirical reality*****************
        - subject to the *****************scientific method*****************
        - claims that are ***********falsifiable***********
    - **********************************************mathematical statements**********************************************
        - claims about virtual objects in a virtual space
        - a claim might be either proven true, proven false, or not proven either way
        - the truth or falsity of this system

The Vienna Circle sought to expunge from the University the influence of such allegedly “unproductive” philosophies as that of the Existentialists, like Martin Heidegger (1889—1976), who famously said ********************the nothing nothings********************. There was never any clear meaning to the statement “the nothing nothings”, and this was what the Vienna Circle were criticizing. The Vienna Circle believed that it was unproductive to spend time on questions which were not “meaningful”.

# The Definition of First Principles

For us, we propose the following definition of first principles:

- **components of first principles thinking**
    - reasoning according to either
        - *mathematics*
            - things that are true by definition
        - *science*
            - correctly following the scientific method, to the best extent that it is formalized at the time
            - in 2023, we believe that the philosophy of science must incorporate the mathematics of information theory, especially ****************************minimum description length**************************** and *********************Kolmogorov complexity*********************

In other words, we are proposing the following identity:

- ***first principles thinking and Vienna Circle identity***
    - the definition of first principles thinking is tied to the conclusions of the Vienna Circle
    - in other words
        - the ********meaningful statements********, according to the Vienna Circle, were math and science
        - the *************************first principles thinking************************* disciplines, according to us, are math and science

# Implications

In order to fit with this definition of “first principles thinking”, a theoretical statement must either be true:

1. because it mathematically follows
2. because it is a probabilistic statement about empirically observable data

An example of something which does ***not*** follow from first principles thinking is the **********************************infallibility of the Catholic Pope**********************************. The traditional rationale for this would be something like:

- **rationale for the infallibility of the Catholic Pope**
    - Jesus said to Peter, “on this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18)
    - this statement is interpreted as meaning that Peter is infallible
    - the historical line of Popes form an “apostolic succession”, in which the infallibility is passed between the outgoing and incoming Pope

This is not a first principles statement according to our definition because it neither 1) follows from definitions, nor 2) is an attempt to do empirical science.