How can students use first principles to break down complex disciplines into their fundamental concepts?

Great question! This concept might sound abstract, but in practice, it's very down-to-earth. I'll try my best to explain it in plain language.

Imagine, most of us learn like we're following a ready-made recipe when learning to cook. The recipe says "add three spoons of soy sauce," so we add three spoons, but we rarely stop to think:

• Why add soy sauce? (For saltiness and color)
• What is soy sauce made of? (Fermented soybeans, salt, water)
• Could I use salt for the savory taste and caramel color for the color instead? (Yes, but the flavor would be different)

Following a recipe directly is "analogical reasoning" – doing things the way others do. "First Principles Thinking," on the other hand, tells you not to rush to the recipe, but first understand what the most basic ingredients like salt, sugar, oil, and vinegar truly are and what their functions are. Once you grasp these fundamentals, you won't just be able to follow recipes; you'll be able to create new dishes yourself.

Applying this mindset to learning, it can be broken down into three steps:

Step One: Deconstruct, breaking down the "skyscraper" into "bricks and rebar"

When faced with a complex subject or concept, don't be intimidated by its name. Your task is to dismantle it until it can't be broken down any further. How? Like an overly curious child, grab hold of everything you take for granted and relentlessly ask "why?"

• Example: Learning about "inflation" in economics
  • Q: What is inflation? A: It's when money loses its value, and things become more expensive.
  • Q: Why does money lose its value? A: Because too much money is printed.
  • Q: Why does printing more money make it lose value? A: Imagine a village that originally had 100 units of currency, corresponding to 100 apples. So, one unit of currency bought one apple. Now, suddenly, another 100 units are printed, so the village has 200 units of currency, but there are still only 100 apples. Wouldn't it then take two units of currency to buy one apple?
  • Q: So, the core is the quantitative relationship between "money" and "goods"? A: Exactly! It's an imbalance in the ratio between "money supply" and "total social goods/products."

You see, from the intimidating term "inflation," we deconstructed it all the way down to the most basic, fundamental concepts like "money," "goods," and "quantitative relationship" – like bricks. These are the "first principles" of this knowledge point. You don't need to memorize any definitions; you've already understood its essence.

Step Two: Question, scrutinizing these "bricks" like a "devil's advocate"

Once you've found these basic concepts (bricks), don't rush to accept them. Continue to question them, confirming whether they are truly "bottom-level," self-evident truths.

• Continuing with the example above:
  • Does "money" always have to be paper currency? No, in ancient times it was shells, gold, and now there's digital currency. So, the essence of "money" is a form of "consensus" and "trust."
  • Do "goods" always have to be physical objects like apples? No, services like haircuts and consultations are also "goods." So, the essence of "goods" is "products and services."

Through this step, your understanding will deepen, refining these "bricks" to be purer. The concepts in your mind will no longer be a vague mass, but clear, precise, and solid cornerstones.

Step Three: Reconstruct, building your own "skyscraper" with your "bricks"

Now, you have a pile of the most basic, reliable "bricks" in your hands (e.g., money is trust, goods are products and services, price is the relationship between supply and demand). Next comes the most interesting step: reassembling them to construct your own knowledge system.

You can use these fundamental concepts to explain:

• Why do interest rate hikes/cuts by the Federal Reserve affect the global economy? (They impact the cost and liquidity of "money")
• Why do some antique treasures sell for exorbitant prices? (The extreme scarcity of "goods" and people's "consensus" value placed on them)
• Why does it always feel like wage increases can't keep up with rising prices? (Your "money" has increased, but the total "goods" in society haven't increased, or have increased more slowly)

At this point, you are no longer a mere conveyor of knowledge, but an architect of knowledge. You're not memorizing conclusions; you're deriving them using the most fundamental logic. The knowledge system built through this process is not only firmly retained but also enables you to apply it broadly and even discover new connections and insights where others haven't.

To summarize:

This method is essentially about "breaking the casserole to get to the bottom of it, and then putting the casserole back together yourself." It's somewhat counter-intuitive because we're used to taking shortcuts and getting conclusions directly. However, this "slow" method is precisely the only path to truly "fast" understanding. It helps you break free from reliance on existing knowledge frameworks, empowering you with independent thinking and innovation. Just like Elon Musk building rockets, he didn't think "how can I make existing rockets better?" Instead, he asked, "What are the most basic physical materials needed to build a rocket? How much do these materials cost on the market?" Starting from this fundamental point, he discovered that costs could be reduced to an incredible extent.

So, the next time you encounter a complex subject, don't be afraid. Treat it like a giant LEGO set. Your task is to break it down into its smallest components, and then see what cooler things you can build with those pieces.