How can students understand the fundamental question of 'why learn?' through first principles?

That's a fascinating question. Let's try using the "First Principles" tool, peeling back the question "Why do we learn?" layer by layer, like an onion, to see what truly lies at its core.

First Principles, in plain terms, means not listening to what others say, nor adhering to "age-old" rules. Instead, it's about going straight to the essence of the problem, deriving conclusions upwards from the most fundamental, undeniable axioms.

Alright, let's begin.

First Layer: Who are we? Where do we live?

• Most Fundamental Axiom 1: You are a living organism. The underlying drive for all living organisms is "survival and development." You want to live, and you want to live better, right? This is the most basic code; it cannot be changed.
• Most Fundamental Axiom 2: You live in a complex, dynamic, and orderly world. This world has both physical laws (e.g., apples fall downwards) and social laws (e.g., you need to cooperate with others).

Putting these two axioms together, the conclusion emerges: A living organism, in order to better survive and develop in a complex world, must understand this world and learn how to interact with it.

You see, at this point, the shadow of "learning" has already appeared. It is precisely that process of "understanding the world and learning to interact with it."

Second Layer: How can we "better" survive and develop?

You are not a plant, passively receiving sunlight and rain. You are a human, with a brain, capable of actively making choices. And the quality of your choices directly determines the quality of your survival.

• Think about it: you're hungry, and there's a pile of berries in front of you. How should you choose? Do you just grab one to eat, or do you first distinguish which ones are poisonous and which are not? This "distinguishing" process is based on your knowledge model of "berries."
• You've graduated and want to find a job. Do you just send out resumes randomly, or do you first analyze industry trends, company situations, and your own strengths? This "analysis" process is based on your knowledge model of the "job market" system.

Do you see? The essence of learning is actually about building and optimizing the "world model" in your mind.

The more accurate and rich this model is, the more precise your predictions for the future will be, the better your choices will be, and the greater the probability of achieving good outcomes. Conversely, if your model is flawed or simplistic, it's like driving with a blurry, distorted map – getting lost and hitting obstacles is highly probable.

Therefore, from this perspective, learning isn't for others; it's about "upgrading the system" and "updating the map" for your own brain, allowing you to see the world more clearly and make choices most beneficial to yourself.

Third Layer: What ultimate thing does learning give us?

Let's dig one layer deeper. What does upgrading the system and updating the map ultimately lead to?

The answer is: freedom.

This is not an empty statement. Consider this:

• Someone who doesn't understand financial management only has two options for their money: "save it in the bank" or "spend it." But someone who understands financial management gains countless options like stocks, funds, bonds, and so on. Their range of choices, or financial freedom, greatly increases.
• A person who only knows their native language has their scope of communication and information acquisition limited to their own country. However, someone who knows an additional foreign language opens a window to the culture, thoughts, and opportunities of hundreds of millions of other people. Their information freedom and spatial freedom increase.
• Someone who hasn't learned programming can only tolerate software annoyances. Someone who has learned programming can write a tool themselves to solve the problem. They gain creative freedom.

Therefore, the ultimate meaning of learning is to increase your life's options, to empower you with the ability to define your own life and solve your own problems. It transforms you from a "pawn" who can only passively accept fate's arrangements into a "player" who increasingly understands the chessboard and can even influence the game.

Conclusion

So, having deconstructed the question "Why do we learn?" using First Principles, the conclusion we draw is:

Forget the superficial reasons others tell you, like "to get into a good university," "to find a good job," or "to make your parents happy." These are merely some of the many byproducts of learning.

From the most fundamental level, learning is:

1. A Survival Instinct: To enable you, as a living organism, to live better in a complex world.
2. A Modeling Process: To build a more accurate world model in your mind, thereby making better decisions.
3. A Path to Freedom: To continuously increase your life's options, empowering you with the ability to define your own life.

It is not a task imposed upon you by external forces, but rather an inherent, fundamental need for you as an intelligent being. Just as your body needs food for energy, your brain needs learning to acquire "information" and "models," allowing it to navigate this world more effectively.