What exactly is the "first principle" of Musk's way of thinking?

Musk’s first principles Musk has disruptive innovations in four different fields. PayPal, which he first co-founded, was for financial payments and has now been sold. Three things he is currently doing: 1. Tesla, a hot electric car company; 2. SpaceX, which is very impressive in the field of manned spaceflight. After the retirement of the space shuttle, it is also the main space vehicle in the United States; 3. Sun City, an energy company, was acquired by Tesla last year.

(First principles are basic, essentially self-evident propositions or assumptions that cannot be derived from any other propositions or assumptions). In mathematics, first principles refer to starting from axioms and the most basic assumptions; in physics and other natural sciences, first principles refer to starting from factors that cannot be deduced from other factors, without any Calculation under the conditions of empirical parameters can also be called "ab-initio" in a narrow sense. For example, from the effects of nuclei and electrons of different elements, we can calculate the composition and structure of molecules or ionic crystals, thereby calculating various properties of the corresponding substances, and making judgments and predictions about their macroscopic properties.

First principles have profound and extensive applications and influences in today's computational physics, computational chemistry, materials science and other fields. This philosophical method is closely related to calculation. The origin of the idea can be traced back to the time of Aristotle, but its true scientific application is due to the rapid development of modern computer technology. The powerful computing power of modern computers makes this ancient way of thinking truly a powerful weapon for humans to explore the real world. After reading the above basic explanations of first principles, some non-science students may have already developed the desire to push it to the end. In fact, to sum up, first-principles calculations are calculations that start from the most basic conditions and rules and do not rely on horizontal comparisons and empirical conclusions. First-principles thinking, simply put, can be summarized as “tracing back to the source and reasoning rationally.”