”Boiling things down to the most fundamental truths”.
Clever engineering
Cost effective solutions!
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General Summary
Elon Musk credits his background in physics with shaping how he tackles problems. He insists on reasoning from first principles – breaking issues down to basic truths rather than relying on analogies or conventions. As Musk explains, he tries to ignore “how things have always been done” and instead asks what components or laws must hold true . For instance, when founding SpaceX he deconstructed the cost of rockets into fundamental parts: “What is a rocket made of? Aerospace-grade aluminum alloys, plus some titanium, copper, and carbon fiber” . By checking commodity prices he discovered these raw materials were only about 2% of a typical rocket’s price . This led him to build rockets in-house and slash launch costs.
Musk has applied the same approach at Tesla and elsewhere. He questions assumed limits by “boiling things down to the most fundamental truths” . For example, people claimed batteries would always cost ~$600 per kWh, but Musk instead listed a battery’s material constituents and their market prices. He found that the basic materials cost roughly $80 per kWh – far below industry estimates – suggesting that clever engineering could dramatically lower battery prices. In interviews and talks he emphasizes that first-principles thinking takes more effort but often yields breakthrough solutions. Overall, Musk’s decision-making follows this pattern: ignore conventional wisdom, analyze the essential ingredients of a problem, and then “reason up” to novel, cost-effective solutions .
Notable Quotes and Examples
- First Principles vs Analogy: Musk often contrasts first principles thinking with reasoning by analogy. In a 2012 interview he said: “I think it’s important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy.” He elaborated: “The normal way we conduct our lives is we reason by analogy… [with first principles] you boil things down to the most fundamental truths…and then reason up from there.” . (In other words, he avoids simply copying existing solutions and instead questions basic assumptions.)
- SpaceX Rocket Cost: Describing the birth of SpaceX, Musk recounted how he broke down rocket costs to materials: “Physics teaches you to reason from first principles… So I said, okay, let’s look at the first principles. What is a rocket made of? … Then I asked, what is the value of those materials…? It turned out that the materials cost of a rocket was around two percent of the typical price.” . This reasoning led SpaceX to build rockets from cheap raw materials, cutting launch costs roughly tenfold .
- Tesla Battery Example: Musk has used batteries to illustrate first principles thinking. He imagined skeptics saying, “Battery packs are really expensive and that’s just the way they will always be… Historically, it has cost $600 per kilowatt-hour.” . Rather than accept this, Musk asked: “What are the material constituents of the batteries? What is the spot market value of the material constituents? … Break that down on a materials basis…what would each of these things cost?” . His calculation showed the materials (steel, aluminum, carbon, nickel, etc.) totaled about $80/kWh, implying far cheaper batteries were possible.
These examples show Musk explicitly describing and using first-principles reasoning to solve problems. By “reasoning from the physics” rather than defaulting to conventional assumptions, he has repeatedly arrived at innovative, low-cost solutions .
Sources: Musk’s own interviews and speeches , as reported by reliable outlets.