On First Principles
Knowledge is humanity's superpower. It lets us fly through the sky and dive into the oceans. Like a superhero facing new villains, we need to create new knowledge to overcome the negative side-effects of our prior knowledge. For instance, right now we need to figure out how to transition away from fossil fuels and how to develop next generation antibiotics. And of course "with great power comes great responsibility." It is exactly because of the superpower of knowledge that we humans are responsible for the whales, and not the whales for us.
Yet there appears to be so much knowledge in the world that it is easy to feel overwhelmed. The best we can hope for seems to be to spend a lifetime studying a single leaf on one tree in an endless forest.
But is that really so? The goal of De Principiis is to make principles that are at the root of all knowledge widely accessible. Understanding these principles makes it easier to comprehend new knowledge and to appreciate the deep connections between seemingly disparate fields.
Each principle below is illustrated with an interactive experiment. Run them yourself—seeing a principle in action is worth a thousand explanations.