The First Principles Method Explained by Elon Musk

1. 1. Most people reason by analogy, which is mentally easier but limits innovation.
2. 2. First principles thinking involves boiling things down to fundamental truths and reasoning up from there.
3. 3. Elon Musk applied first principles to argue that battery packs can be much cheaper than the historical $600 per kilowatt hour.
4. 4. Reasoning by analogy would have prevented the invention of cars, as people argued horses were sufficient.