1/ IMO everyone likes to throw around the term “first-principles thinking” but few _actually_ practice it. It requires lots of hard work & dedication.https://twitter.com/sarthakgh/status/1024754435686187008 …
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2/ True first-principles thinking almost always requires you to go down to the Math / Physics level - not a natural thing to do & highly time consuming. In practice, due to our mental capacity constraints, even the smartest people employ proxies & take shortcuts in thinking.
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3/ The more you detract from Math / Physics the shakier your assumptions & higher your margins of error (e.g.: Econ, Sociology, Psychology). Same thing happens when you use too many proxies (trusting “experts”) or use bad proxies.
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4/ When we employ less-rigorous models of the world in our thinking, it’s easy to forget their shortcomings. Especially dangerous is when you become deeply convinced of their validity purely based on personal feelings & start looking for view points that confirm yours.
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Hugo Nguyen Retweeted
5/ Confirmation bias is a powerful thing. Otherwise Twitter “influencers” would be filled with people who ask intelligent questions, not assert things. People hear what they want to hear.
@mdudas https://twitter.com/mdudas/status/1024255503424282624 …Hugo Nguyen added,
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6/ Social dynamics tend to reward people for making strong, assertive statements, not for expressing doubts. Whoever becomes popular by continuously sprouting doubts? But doubt is one of the cornerstones of understanding.
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7/ Related: the more time you spend on social media, the fewer original thoughts you’ll likely develop. For 2 reasons: - 1st-principles thinking requires time & focus - Social media is push-consumption model, you don’t dictate the things you consume. Scatter shot & little focus
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8/ Of cos, interactions with others is beneficial to the extent that it exposes you to thinking branches you would not have otherwise. There is probably a sweet spot in-between overexposure & underexposure. But IMO we tend to lean strongly towards overexposure.
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9/ Similar dynamics exist between news consumption vs. _self-driven_ book consumption. Read more books, less news.
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