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Apparently, the first "first principle" he reached for was the one that shone immediate light on the situation. If that's true, he got amazingly lucky. Reason
by zazen 11y ago
Apparently, the first "first principle" he reached for was the one that shone immediate light on the situation. If that's true, he got amazingly lucky. Reasoning solely from established facts is wonderful when you can do it; but I don't think this article is painting a realistic picture of the difficulties involved. Such reasoning may take time, with many false starts, and it may not get you all the way to the conclusion you need.
- Cthulhu_ 11y agoMaybe they just applied the first principles thing afterwards; I'm sure major decisions like this seem to be a lot more "enlightened" years after the fact, after they've paid off. The computer club which Apple came from is revered as a turning point in history by now, but in reality it was just a fanclub in just a garage.
- zazen 11y agoActually, on re-reading the piece, the author isn't claiming he thought up this argument on the spur of the moment. I got confused because of the dramatic narrative, which started with the meeting already going on before the author started talking about his thought process. I now think the author is saying this "first-principles" reasoning is a good way to credibly explain strategic decisions, which makes a lot more sense than using it to deduce strategic decisions.