I think it’s important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. The normal way we conduct our lives is we reason by analogy. [With analogy] we are doing this because it’s like something else that was done, or it is like what other people are doing. [With first principles] you boil things down to the most fundamental truths…and then reason up from there. Elon Musk
About This Quote

In this quote, Ayn Rand was arguing that intuition is superior to analogical thinking. Analogy is a process where we take things we already know and apply it to a new problem. For instance, we think about the concept of a triangle and then apply that knowledge to a circle and then apply that knowledge to a square. We know that each of those three shapes has three sides and that they can be filled with different shapes, but we cannot really do anything with those concepts unless we apply them directly to the shapes we are trying to visualize.

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More Quotes By Elon Musk
  1. I do not know what to do with the emotions inside me. I do not know how to be this close to someone and still hold on to myself.
  2. And I dare to believe that it really is. I dare to bet on us again.
  3. I've always known we were two puzzle pieces that fit together in a hollow that is our pain. There was a time when I was certain we were too damaged not to destroy each other. Now I think we are saving each other.
  4. I think it’s the whole ‘bad boy who’s so good but destined to break your heart’ fantasy. Which doesn’t sound like much of a fantasy when you put the broken heart part in the picture, but it is. It so is.
  5. I just gave you permission to fuck me, but be clear: I'm not another notch on your belt. You're a notch on mine.
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