When you grow up, you are led to believe that the world is the way it is and that things are the way they are and that is that. Older people know better, always listen to experts and get an education before you do anything in a particular field.

This is the biggest bullshit there is. Let’s elaborate.

Level I: You don’t know shit

It’s humbling to begin to understand that you don’t know shit. You don’t know anything about the real world and you have to run your own experiments to see what is true. (not talking about science and history here, but ‘general beliefs’,‘what is considered normal’,’social defaults’). Once you step of your pedestal thinking you know anything, you start to ask questions. Very simple why questions. The questions kids ask a lot (why this, why that?)and adults reply to with: ‘because I say so.’

This is what we call first principles thinking. You start with what you absolutely know is true (gravity exists, the earth goes around the sun, humans need energy to survive,…) and from there you build up a model of the world based on the answers you can formulate to the ‘why’ questions. When you can’t formulate an answer, your curiosity takes over and you try to find out -> you learn something.

Level II: Nobody knows shit

The best part is when you get to level II and realize, not only you, but nobody knows shit. Nobody knows what they’re doing or where they’re going or has it all figured out. A lot in life is random and experts in fields where there are a lot of moving parts are worthless (stock markets, court judges, cryptocurrencies, etc). Anybody who acts like they do have it all figured out is just pretending. They haven’t reached level I yet.

When you reach these first two levels the world becomes a massive playground where you get to experiment. You stop caring about what anybody thinks. You feel like you secretly gained a superpower you’re ought to hide from others.

Level III: cook up your own model of the world

This is Grand Theft Life. You can try things, think in new ways and find new answers to new questions. This is very EXCITING. The general beliefs a lot of people have start to sound very very stupid at this stage.

This is why the big scientists and entrepreneurs (Einstein, Tesla, Da Vinci, Musk, Ford,…) did such cray stuff in the eyes of the general population. They reasoned from first principles and executed.

Understanding this and seeing the world through this lens takes some work and is very humbling, but very powerful. Make it your superpower.