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Let's reason like Elon Musk

8 pointsby kirk21about 12 years ago
Let's make a list of assumptions that are shared in an industry and reason from first principles if they are right. In that way we can determine which industries should be out-innovated.<p>Examples: * Car industry -&#62; combustion engines are the best -&#62; First principles: electric engines are more efficient. =&#62; Tesla Motors * Space industry -&#62; outsourcing makes sense (since we like to wear suits) -&#62; First principles: it is more expensive and not efficient. =&#62; SpaceX

2 comments

kirk21about 12 years ago
* Fusion research -&#62; We should build big experiments (eg. ITER) -&#62; First principles: if it takes years to start the experiment, you'll lose momentum. * Construction industry -&#62; We should reduce the number of lanes so we can work -&#62; First principles: using prefab roadblocks could speed up the work (cfr. comment of Elon Musk in an interview) * Agriculture -&#62; We should produce more -&#62; First principles: the approach should be adjusted to the weather forecasts
lifeisstillgoodabout 12 years ago
Food processing: assumption: people do not want to know what goes into their food. Reality: people want to make an informed decision on the price and provenance of their food<p>-&#62; food tracking systems, starting with farms and migrating from there - probably using invoices to track what goes where? Hard to see a workable solution<p>Others?