First principle

cicero on the nature of gods 1.10 it was the opinion of annex amanda that gods have a beginning at long intervals rising and setting and that they are the innumerable worlds but who of us can think of god except as immortal End of Part 2 Recording by Seven VIII.

ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHER-SCIENTISTS part three fragmented testimonials on annexmenes of melitos translated by arthur fairbanks in the first philosophers of greece fragment of annexmenes of melitos air is the nearest to an immaterial thing for since we are generated in the flow of air it is necessary that it should be infinite and abundant because it is never exhausted testimonials on annexmenes of melitos aristotle meteorology two dot one most of the earlier students of the heavenly bodies believed that the sun did not go underneath the earth but rather round the earth and this region entreated it disappeared from view and produced night because the earth was so high toward the north simplicius comments on aristotle's on the heavens two seventy three b forty five he regarded the first principle as unlimited but not as undefined for he called it air thinking that air had a sufficient adaptability to change simplicius comments on aristotle's physics thirty two r one forty nine thirty two of this one writer alone theoprastos in his account of the physicists uses the words greek of texture the rest of course spoke of greek simplicius comments on aristotle's physics 2,57 v.

Some say that the universe always existed, not that it has always been the same, but rather, it successively changes its character in certain periods of time, as, for instance, Anaxmenes, Enherikles, and Diogenes.

Aristotle, On the Heavens, 2.13, 294 b.

Aristotle, Meteorology, 2.7, 365 Anaxmenes says that the earth was wet, and when it dried it broke hard, and that the earthquakes are due to the breaking and falling of hills.

Accordingly, earthquakes occur in droughts.

and in rainy seasons also they occur in drought as has been said because the earth dries and breaks apart and it also crumbles when it is wet through with waters aristotle metaphysics one dot three nine eighty four five and many regarded air as the first principle plutarch on the principle of cold seven or three according to annex menes the early philosopher we should not neglect either cold or heat in being but should regard them as common experiences of matter which are incident to its changes he says that the compressed and the condensed state of matter is cold while the rarefied and relaxed a word he himself uses state of it is heat whence he says it is not strange that men breathe hot and cold out of the mouth for the breath is cooled as it is compressed and condensed by the lips but when the mouth is relaxed it comes out warm by reason of its rarefaction theophrastus physics six are twenty four comma twenty six an exmenes of meletus son of eurystratus a companion of an exmander agrees with him that the essential nature of things is one and infinite but he regards it not as indeterminate but rather determinate and calls it air the air differs in rarity and in density as the nature of things is different when very actuated it becomes fire when more condensed wind and then cold and when still more condensed water and earth and stone and all other things are composed of these and he regards no motion as eternal and by this changes are produced hippolytus philosopher man seven an ex men he himself a melasian son of eustratus said that the infinite air is the first principle from which arise the things that have come and are coming into existence and the things that will be and gods and divine beings while other things are produced from these and form of air as is follows when it is of very even consistency it is imperceptible to vision but it becomes evident as the result of cold or heat or moisture or when it is moved it is always in motion for things would not change as they do unless it were in motion it has a different appearance when it is made more dense or thinner when it is expanded into thinner state it becomes fire and again winds are condensed air and air becomes cloud by compression and water when it is compressed further and earth and finally stones as it is more condensed so that generation is controlled by the opposites heat and cold and the broad earth and the moon and all the rest of the stars being fiery bodies are supported on the air by their breath and the stars are made of earth since exaltations arise from this and these being accentuated become fire and of this fire when it is raised to the heavens the stars are constituted there are also bodies of an earthly nature in the place occupied by the stars and carried along with them in their motion he says that the stars do not move under the earth as others have supposed but around the earth just as a cap is moved about the head and the sun is hidden not by going underneath the sun but because it is covered by some other higher parts of the earth and because of its greater distance from us the stars do not give forth heat because they are so far away winds are produced when the air that has been attenuated is set in motion and when it comes together and is yet farther condensed clouds are produced and so it changes into water and hail is formed when the water descended from the clouds is frozen and snow when these being yet more filled with moisture become frozen and lightning when clouds are separated by violence of the winds.

For when they are separated, the flash is bright and like fire, and a rainbow is produced when the sun's rays fall on compressed air, and earthquakes are produced when the earth is changed yet more by beating and cooling.

And so it can be real easy to say, "Oh, I could have done that, I could have figured that out," et cetera, et cetera.

And so anyway, so I think that this is where-- this is also where the focus on taking a step back and saying, okay, look, forget about taking the approach of incremental optimization within broken systems and how do we just improve margins and make things a little better, and saying, okay, let's just say we were to start all over, right? Let's take a first principles approach and think about what the best case scenario is if we were to be building this company out of our garage right now, and starting from that landscape and that perspective.

And then from there you can start to figure out where, you know, you need to reshuffle people, where you need to insert technology, how you get them to work together.

And look, and there's gonna be a lot of-- and I think that this is where there's gonna be some tough moments where businesses gotta realize, oh crap, we didn't-- we recognize our business model, but we weren't close enough in understanding enough our business operations.

Okay, so what's actually going on there? Because that's not a normal investment decision.

It's first principles thinking.

He looked at rockets and asked why they cost so much.

And the answer was the manufacturing process, not the materials.