February 25, 2025: First Principles: The Building Blocks of True Knowledge
“Life is never stagnation. It is constant movement, un-rhythmic movement, as we as constant change. Things live by moving and gain strength as they go.”
― Bruce Lee
Hi friends,
We hand-picked 3 good pieces of content for you to highlight this week. We hope they’ll help you get new ideas and perspectives.
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📚 3 Good Recommendations
First Principles: The Building Blocks of True Knowledge
by FS Blog (16 mins)
- First-Principles Thinking: This approach involves breaking down complex problems into their fundamental components and reasoning up from those basics. It enables independent thinking, creativity, and innovation by avoiding assumptions and analogies. Thinkers like Aristotle, Elon Musk, and Charlie Munger use this method to uncover new opportunities and solutions.
- Analogy vs. First Principles: Many people reason by analogy—copying existing ideas with slight modifications—rather than by first principles. The difference is illustrated through examples like a coach versus a play stealer in football, or a chef who understands ingredients deeply versus a cook who follows recipes. First-principles thinkers can adapt, innovate, and solve problems more deeply.
- Real-World Applications: Elon Musk applied first-principles thinking to revolutionize industries like aerospace and electric vehicles by questioning assumptions about cost and materials. Companies like BuzzFeed and CD Baby also succeeded by focusing on core principles rather than conventional strategies. This thinking method helps individuals challenge limiting beliefs, adapt to change, and make better decisions in life and business.
4 reasons why you should read old, classic books
by Kevin Dickinson (8 mins)
- Understanding Humanity Across Time: Reading old books helps us grasp universal human struggles, questions, and values that persist across generations. Engaging with historical perspectives broadens our knowledge and allows us to recognize biases without endorsing them.
- Reassessing Modern Assumptions: Classic literature serves as a lens to evaluate contemporary beliefs, revealing the blind spots and biases of both past and present. Immersing ourselves in different eras cultivates intellectual humility and critical thinking.
- Joining the Ongoing Conversation: Older books form the foundation of many modern ideas and debates. Reading them allows us to participate in intellectual traditions that have evolved over centuries, enriching our understanding of literature, philosophy, and culture.
How to Learn: Pretty Much Anything
by Mattias Pilhede (11 mins)
- Overcoming Procrastination & Taking Initiative
Learning something new can feel stressful because it activates the same brain areas as pain, leading to procrastination. The key is to start, as the initial discomfort fades once you're engaged. Avoid distractions and short-term gratification, and instead, focus on long-term rewards. - Effective Learning Strategies
Learning is about strengthening neural connections, which requires repetition, sleep, and breaks. Instead of cramming, focus on what you need now, revisit information when necessary, and mix different topics to reinforce learning. Physical activity and social interaction also help in cognitive development. - Balancing Focus & Creativity
The brain has two learning modes: focused (logical, deep concentration) and diffused (creative, exploratory). Use focused mode for new learning and diffused mode to reinforce concepts. Testing yourself and deliberate practice help prevent over-relying on intuition, ensuring continuous skill improvement.
📣 Community
- 🟦 Introducing Glasp’s Auto-tag Suggestions:
We launched auto-tag suggestions that automatically recommend relevant tags based on your content, making it faster and easier to organize all your saved knowledge. Go to your “My Highlights” page to add tags!
- 🟨 Released the Glasp Obsidian Plugin:
Now you can seamlessly sync all your Glasp highlights to Obsidian for faster, more organized note-taking. Whether you’re researching, studying, or collecting insights, this plugin helps bring everything together in one place for easier knowledge management. Check the tutorial to see how it works 👀
- 🟩 Selected as a speaker at the GSV Summit:
We’re excited to announce that Kazuki has been selected as a speaker at the GSV Summit! We’re honored to share our mission with this audience and will do our best to inspire everyone attending. For more details, check out the event page here. - 🟥 Glasp Talk with Shawn Flynn:
Glasp Talk features intimate interviews with luminaries who reveal their emotions, experiences, and stories. The guest, Shawn Flynn, is the host of The Silicon Valley Podcast. He has interviewed visionary entrepreneurs and leaders, such as Jim McKelvey, co-founder of Square, and Melanie Perkins, co-founder of Canva, covering critical themes like leadership, scaling businesses, and technological innovation.
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👀 Featured Curator on Glasp
Mayank Singh
He learns LLM, generative AI, data, and more! Let’s follow him and learn together 🤝
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❤️ Gratitude
We found some people who mentioned Glasp in their articles and blogs, and we appreciate all the kindness!
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We hope you enjoyed reading this newsletter!
See you next week ;)
Best,
Kei and Kazuki
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