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Comment by ksclk

1 day ago

What is the difference between first principles and higher order thinking?

First principle: How can we accomplish X?

Higher order: What if we accomplished X?

  • Thinking from first principles would likely start with “Do we need X?”

    • Fair point, I'm skipping over the need itself. The titular first principle.

      First principles: "We need X, how can we accomplish that?"

      Higher order: "We need X, what would accomplishing that do for us?"