Clemela suddenly opened her small cherry lips slightly, as if she understood something.

Su Ye smiled: "Yes, I broke through the limitations of 'inside the battle', and outside the battle, I found a 'first principle' that can accomplish my goal." This method may not be useful to others, it may not be suitable for everyone, it will be opposed by many people, and it may not even work for me in the future, but for me now, it is the supreme method of fighting. This supreme method is very simple, that is, before the battle, use all your strength to accumulate power, including learning magic, improving status, gaining the attention of masters, meeting partners, building business alliances, exchanging money for magic weapons, strengthening your own magic, and so on to strengthen yourself, and then, with great strength, defeat any enemy in battle. ”

Clemela's eyes widened, "I like this supreme method. Moreover, from the way you think, it seems that you can summarize another method or thinking, that is, if you want to solve something, don't just limit yourself to it, you can also jump out. For example, you obviously want to find a supreme method of fighting, but you end up finding it outside of combat. In this way, it seems that it can also be used as a 'first principle' in a certain field."

Su Ye smiled slightly: "Your acumen and wisdom are amazing. This concept is called disruptive innovation, for example, in ancient times, human beings could only gather wild food, but some sages jumped out of the scope of 'gathering' and began to 'plant'. There are also some sages who jump out of the scope of 'hunting' and complete 'farming'. ”

Su Ye still has many examples of disruptive innovation in his heart, from Euclidean geometry to non-Euclidean geometry, from classical mechanics to quantum mechanics, from horse-drawn carriages to fuel vehicles, from fuel vehicles to electric vehicles, all of which directly jump out of some limitations in the original field, and are all subversive innovations.

"I understand that in the field of 'innovation', this kind of disruptive innovation can be regarded as a kind of 'first principles'. Of course, this is just what I think of as the first principles of the field of innovation, and others can also find their own first principles in the field of innovation. Clemela said.

Su Ye sighed in his heart that this girl was really smart, and continued: "What you said is very correct. In fact, at all times, we cannot do without the generalized first principles. To take the simplest example, there are two mothers, both have children, but in the field of 'taking care of children', the first principles of two people are different, one mother thinks that the most important thing is to protect her children with all her might, that is, the first principle of her love for her children is 'protection'. The other mother, on the other hand, believes that it is more important for her child to get proper frustration and exercise, that is, the first principle of her love for her child is 'exercise'. ”

Well, because the two mothers follow different first principles, they treat their children very differently. By extension, there is one or more 'first principles' in each of our minds, and this first principle governs our speech, actions, thoughts, and so on, and ultimately determines everything we do. ”

"I've always liked to say to myself, if my words, actions, and thoughts were right, then I would have been at the top of my field, but I'm not the top master of magic, so I must not be good enough at something. What is it that is not good enough? It's that I haven't found a better 'first principle' in every field, and even if I've heard of this 'first principle', I haven't followed it, so my words, actions, thoughts, abilities, etc., are not good enough, so I'm not the top master in the wizarding world. ”

"I'm a little confused." Clemera said.

"It's a very esoteric theory, but it seems so simple that we can understand the phrase 'there is a first principle in every field' almost immediately, and we will mistakenly think that we understand, but in fact, as we think deeper, we will find ourselves more and more confused, but if we keep thinking, keep thinking, keep practicing, we will really understand. If anyone thinks that they can fully understand at first glance, either the brain avoids tired thinking and habitually deceives itself, or, like the masters of Socrates and Plato, has truly mastered the first principles and changed the world. You said you didn't understand, and I'm glad because you can recognize yourself. Su Ye said.

"How can you understand first principles thoroughly?" Clemela asked.

"With the theme of 'first principles,' write a book, a book that you can understand, and other people can understand, then it means that you really understand, understand, and master first principles." Su Ye Dao.

"Do you fully understand first principles?" There was a glimmer in the girl's eyes.

"I've only recently discovered the concept of first principles, and if you are arrogant, you can say that it will take you about ten years to master. If I had been humble, I would probably have spent my whole life studying. ”

"So, how do you learn and master first principles?" Clemela asked.

Su Ye smiled: "After talking about the basic concepts of first principles, we need to learn how to use first principles. The first principle is that 'truth dominates truth', and don't use reason to dominate truth. In other words, we should use the truth as the first principle, and not the general principles that everyone says as the first principle. ”

"Can you give an example?" Clemera said.

"When we are doing alchemy or refining potions, it seems that we put all the ingredients in a container, which is similar to cooking, so can we say that alchemy and refining potions are cooking?" Su Ye asked.

"It sounds reasonable, it sounds similar, but I don't think I can say that."

"Yes, the reason is simple, in this false statement, we only extract 'similarity' or 'sameness', and ignore 'difference' and 'difference', ignoring the great difference in essence. If we always explain phenomena in generalities, we will always fall into the trap of 'understanding' and miss the truth. We can connect the 'truth' with the 'truth' to facilitate memory and learning, but we must also learn to distinguish between them. ”

"The first point is that we 'best' use the solid theories of the basic disciplines as our first principles, rather than using the sayings and truths of life as our first principles." Su Ye Dao.

"Can you give an example?" Clemera said.

Su Ye smiled and said, "Very good, you didn't say that you understood, and you didn't feel embarrassed to ask a question." ”

"For example, we need to find a first principles for the 'learning domain'. I found that there is a way to classify in botany, and we usually place things and classify them. Then, we should choose a more systematic classification method in botany, rather than choosing a classification method in life as our first principle. ”

"For another example, 'equivalent exchange' is the foundation of alchemy, but our daily buying and selling transactions seem to be a kind of equivalent exchange, and there are similarities. If we want to choose between the two first principles, we must choose the equivalent exchange in alchemy, not the buying and selling transactions in life. ”

"I still don't understand, why can't something similar be replaced? I understand that, but I don't understand why. Clemela said.

Su Ye thought for a while and said slowly: "Everyone looks at this truth from different angles, my perspective is, since we want to choose a road, should we choose a road that changes in length, width and narrowness, and topography at any time, or choose a majestic road that will remain unchanged for a long time?" ”

"The latter." Clemera said.

"If we choose a guiding light, will we choose a light that flickers on and off, sometimes big and sometimes small, sometimes and sometimes comes and goes, or does we choose a lamp that is stable, bright, constant, and clear?"

"The latter." Clemera said.

Then, you can find that buying and selling transactions in the market are changing, and there are even those who sell at a loss and those who sell at a high price, and there is no real measure. However, in alchemy, equivalent exchange is irrefutable for the time being, even for quite some time. Then, the concept of equivalent exchange in alchemy is more like the grand avenue and the eternal lamp. Su Ye said.

"The question is, how can we be sure that our own first principles must be the grand avenue, the eternal light?" Clemera said.

Su Ye spread his hands and said: "It is impossible to determine, and even, even the solid theories of various disciplines may change and be subverted, but the solid theories of basic disciplines are 'relatively' closer to the truth than other theories and truths." If there is something closer to the truth, why should we choose something that is far from the truth? Just because something that is far from the truth, close to us, and easy for us to obtain, do we give up the search for the 'more truth'? ”

Clemera was silent for a long time, her eyes darling.

Su Ye continued: "The second point of first principles is to 'pay attention to the boundaries of application', and the areas that can be covered by each first principle are limited. ”

"Each of us has many fields, in my case, there is the field of magic, there is the field of learning, there is the field of business, there is the field of socialization, there is the field of life, there is the field of thinking...... And so on and so forth. Take the social field as an example, this field also needs to be subdivided, such as 'family communication', 'school communication', 'work exchange', etc., and it can continue to be subdivided according to different communication objects. The reason for this segmentation is that it's hard for us to communicate with everyone in the same way. ”

"I'll cite a mistake that everyone makes. When I was in Lion Harbor, I met a small boss who found that if he treated the workers well, the workers would cheat and cheat, but if he was loud and intimidating, the workers would be obedient. For example, when a worker is asked to do something, he threatens to reduce the pay if he doesn't do it well, and beat him if he doesn't do it well. He always spoke in an intimidating tone to the workers, and all the time it went well, and then he became complacent, and even went about proclaiming that he had found a good way to manage the workers, believing that it would solve all problems. Then, his intimidating thinking when he 'communicates with the workers' is his first principle. ”

"Later, I noticed something that made me stunned. He even treated his wife and son in a 'intimidating' way, and his wife and children were often frightened by him, and later his children grew up and began to rebel against him. He is not a person with enough wisdom, he does not know how to reflect, he does not think about why this is happening, he only feels that what he does is effective for the workers, it is also effective for everything, he is not wrong, it must be the child. As a result, his son ran away from home and was killed by a group of thieves. ”

Just when he was desperate, he clashed with a bronze warrior, and he even intimidated the other party. As a result, the Bronze Warrior was annoyed by him, smashed his shop, and often harassed him, eventually bankrupting him. It may sound incredible to us when we talk about it, but in fact, everyone makes similar mistakes. ”

"We can't communicate with different people in the same way, which means we can't use one first principle to govern all areas." Su Ye Dao.

Klimera thought for a moment and said, "I probably see what you mean. However, there seems to be something else behind this point, infinitely subdivided, as if there is something still hidden. ”

"Very well, you are indeed the spiritual follower of the masters. Divide the large field into the middle field, divide the middle field into the small field, divide the small field into the micro field, and continue to subdivide it to the extent that it is inseparable, for each field, we have to use different thoughts, behaviors or languages, and find our own 'first principles'. This approach is particularly suitable for 'single domain'. For example, if a person only studies 'life-prolonging potions' in his life, he can use this method to study life-prolonging potions to the extreme. What do you think of this method? Please answer, Clemela-san. Su Ye smiled.

"Atomism!" Clemela replied happily.

"That's right! This theory of continuous decomposition is based on the 'atomic theory', but through the atomic theory, a kind of thinking behind the master Democritus is extracted, which is called 'reductionism'. Reductionism is a kind of thinking that is infinitely split. ”

"First principles, on the other hand, are the opposite of reductionism, not finer and deeper, but higher and less. For example, if we want to do well in the 'social sphere', I don't need to think about how many classifications there are, I don't have to think about how many situations there are, I just need to find one or a few supreme methods, one or a few constant minds, under the guidance of these kinds of thinking, to deal with everybody. Some people say, it's impossible, I'll say, it's hard, but I'll try to pursue it! For example, in the social realm, 'win-win thinking' may be considered a first-principle approach. ”

"I like what you say, and besides, I admit my mistake to you. From now on, there is no 'impossible' in my world, only 'I will learn'. "Clemela is like a cheerful little bird.

Her smile and the sparkle in her eyes completely obscured the birthmark on her face.

Su Ye smiled and said: "First principles are a kind of first principles in themselves, and reductionism is also a kind of first principles. ”

Klemela went through the whole sentence in her head, and after thinking about it, she nodded vigorously.

"I understand."

"The third point of first principles is to use it continuously, to use it repeatedly, and only by using it continuously, only by using it with concentration, can we really grasp it and transform it into our ability. Many people will feel that the process of hard work is bitter, but why not imagine the sweetness of the finish? ”

"Your words are like the North Star that guides the way, and like the thunder of the God-King." Clemela's eyes were as bright as the starry sky.

Su Ye smiled slightly, and said, "This is the law I got after studying the experiences of countless masters and sages: they are very lucky to have discovered some kind of powerful first principles since they were young, believed in them, and then have been following their own first principles to do things, and in the end, they have achieved extraordinary achievements and will shine for eternity." I may not be lucky enough, I was very ordinary since I was a child, but as long as I find my first principle and keep doing it, then, I may not be able to become extraordinary, but I will be infinitely close to the extraordinary, and I will be far beyond the original me. ”

"You are lucky and wise." Clemela's eyes were blazing.

"We are all lucky, and the only difference we can make in the future is to accept this luck, or throw it away." Su Ye Dao.

"Because you shine, I have a firm grip!" Clemera clenched her small fists hard.

"What a good boy." Su Ye smiled slightly.

Clemela's eyes wandered, like a small river, and she said softly, "You are only sixteen years old, only four years older than me. ”

Su Ye was stunned for a moment, smiled slightly, and pointed to the line on the blackboard and said: "First principles is the content of my first class, and it is also the first lesson of my dream when I was a child, and it is also the first lesson of my dream life." It's a shame that no one taught me first principles in my first lesson, but since then, I have had no regrets. ”

Clemera stared at Su Ye.

"This day is the luckiest day of my life. I'm sure not that Aristotle, not even Plato or Socrates, could have given me such an important first lesson in life. From now on, you are my eternal teacher. Clemela's crisp voice was full of determination.

Su Ye smiled slightly, and didn't say anything, but he stood on the shoulders of countless giants in this class, far beyond this era. Even Aristotle, who established the "first principle", was only pursuing the one, eternal, and supreme "first principle" between heaven and earth, and did not really expand the first principle. The first principles of later generations are more flourishing than Aristotle's first principles.

After a long while, Clemera asked, "Teacher Su Ye, is there an ultimate first principle, more essential than the essence of magic, the only essence of all worlds, the only first principle?" ”

Su Ye thought for a moment and said, "First of all, we can believe that there is an ultimate first principle in this world, and we can even keep pursuing. ”

Clemera nodded vigorously.

"Secondly, you have to remember the fourth point of learning first principles: 'recognise multiple possibilities, maintain multiple perspectives, believe in all changes, and allow opposites to exist'. We allow, believe, or pursue the ultimate first principles, but we also have to believe that there may not be only one ultimate first principle in this world. ”

Su Ye smiled.

Clemela mused.