Principles

What truths guide you when everything else is uncertain?

First principles are bedrock assumptions that cannot be deduced from other propositions. They are the primitives layer of the knowledge stack — first truths discovered by science that protocols sequence into methods and standards scale.

The Disciplines

Multidisciplinary thinking requires principles from multiple domains. Reality doesn't respect academic boundaries.

Ground

What everything else stands on:

Discipline	Focus	Key Principles
Foundations	Epistemic ground	Truth, trust, identity
Goodwill	Social coordination	Trust, consensus, privacy, morals

Source

Timeless truths from nature and human experience:

Discipline	Core Insight	Key Principles
Physics	Laws that govern everything	Conservation, entropy, leverage, feedback
Biology	How living systems work	Evolution, homeostasis, emergence, cycles
Psychology	Human nature across all cultures	Reciprocity, status, loss aversion, habits
Mathematics	Patterns that recur everywhere	Power laws, compounding, probability, networks
Philosophy	Ancient wisdom that survived	Stoicism, Taoism, Aristotelian ethics

Application

Principles applied to specific contexts:

Domain	Focus	Key Principles
Business	Value creation and capture	Leverage, moats, network effects, timing
Crypto	Decentralized coordination	Permissionless, composable, verifiable
Forces	Resources that transform	Data, money, stories, time & energy

Alignment Scorecard

Copy this table into a spreadsheet. Score each principle. The gap between conviction and embeddedness is where your real work lives.

#	Category	Principle	Conviction (1-5)	Understanding (1-5)	Embeddedness (1-5)	Gap	Date
	FOUNDATIONS
1	Foundations	Truth, Trust, Identity
2	Foundations	Capacity
3	Foundations	Power
4	Foundations	Simplicity
5	Foundations	Speed
6	Foundations	The Truth
	GOODWILL
7	Goodwill	Consensus
8	Goodwill	Privacy
9	Goodwill	Security
10	Goodwill	Trust
	PHYSICS
11	Physics	Conservation of Energy
12	Physics	Entropy
13	Physics	Equilibrium
14	Physics	Inertia
15	Physics	Leverage
16	Physics	Feedback Loops
	BIOLOGY
17	Biology	Natural Selection
18	Biology	Homeostasis
19	Biology	Emergence
20	Biology	Compartmentalization
21	Biology	Symbiosis
22	Biology	Life Cycles
23	Biology	Antifragility
	PSYCHOLOGY
24	Psychology	Reciprocity
25	Psychology	Status Hierarchies
26	Psychology	In-Group Favoritism
27	Psychology	Loss Aversion
28	Psychology	Narrative Sense-Making
29	Psychology	Habit Formation
30	Psychology	Social Proof
31	Psychology	Consistency & Commitment
	MATHEMATICS
32	Mathematics	Power Laws (Pareto)
33	Mathematics	Compound Effects
34	Mathematics	Regression to Mean
35	Mathematics	Network Effects
36	Mathematics	Probability & Base Rates
37	Mathematics	Scale Invariance (Fractals)
38	Mathematics	Diminishing Returns
	PHILOSOPHY
39	Philosophy	Dichotomy of Control
40	Philosophy	Virtue as Sufficient
41	Philosophy	Negative Visualization
42	Philosophy	Wu Wei (Non-Action)
43	Philosophy	Yin-Yang
44	Philosophy	The Uncarved Block
45	Philosophy	The Golden Mean
46	Philosophy	First Principles Thinking
47	Philosophy	Eudaimonia (Flourishing)
48	Philosophy	Impermanence
49	Philosophy	The Middle Way
50	Philosophy	Interdependence
	BUSINESS
51	Business	Antifragile
52	Business	Distribution
53	Business	Information Arbitrage
54	Business	Leverage
55	Business	Evolutionary Forces
56	Business	Moat
57	Business	Network Effects
58	Business	Opportunity Cost
59	Business	Snowball Effect
60	Business	Critical Path
61	Business	Innovator's Dilemma
62	Business	Business Timing
63	Business	Unit Economics
64	Business	Value Capture
65	Business	Zero to One
	CRYPTO
66	Crypto	Censorship Resistance
67	Crypto	Code Is Law
68	Crypto	Composability
69	Crypto	Self Sovereign Identity
70	Crypto	Interoperability
71	Crypto	Permissionless
72	Crypto	Verifiable Truth
	FORCES
73	Forces	Data Flow
74	Forces	Money
75	Forces	Stories
76	Forces	The Three Flows
77	Forces	Time and Energy

How to score:

• Conviction — How important is this principle? (1 = irrelevant, 5 = non-negotiable)
• Understanding — How well do you grasp it? (1 = heard of it, 5 = could teach it)
• Embeddedness — How consistently does your org act on it? (1 = ignored, 5 = automatic). See Process Optimisation for how to close the gap between conviction and action.
• Gap — Conviction minus Embeddedness. Positive = you believe it but don't do it. That's where the work is.

Three ways to use this:

1. Personal diagnostic — Score yourself. Sort by gap descending. Work on the biggest gaps first.
2. Team alignment — Everyone scores independently. Compare. Where conviction differs, you have a values conversation. Where embeddedness differs, you have a perception conversation.
3. Prioritization — Sort by conviction descending. Your top 10 are your actual operating principles. If you can't get to 10, you haven't thought hard enough. If you have more than 15, you haven't been honest enough.

The Hierarchy

FOUNDATIONS (what you know is true)
    ↓
GOODWILL (what fuels coordination)
    ↓
PHYSICS (laws that govern everything)
    ↓
BIOLOGY (living systems)
    ↓
PSYCHOLOGY (human nature)
    ↓
ECONOMICS (coordination)
    ↓
APPLICATION (your context)

Each layer constrains the next. You can't violate physics with biology. You can't ignore psychology with economics. You can't build anything without foundations or goodwill.

Decision Filter

When facing a decision:

1. What principles apply here?
2. Do any principles conflict?
3. Which principle takes precedence in this context?
4. What would strict adherence look like?
5. What's the minimum viable compromise?

Reflection

1. Can I articulate my top 5 principles?
2. Do my actions align with my stated principles?
3. When did I last violate a principle? Why?
4. Which principle needs strengthening?
5. What principle am I avoiding?

Context

• Foundations — Epistemic validation and the three buckets test
• Capabilities — Skills that compound from principles
• Work Charts — Where human principles persist vs AI takeover
• Knowledge Stack — How principles become protocols
• Standards — Proven protocols that scale
• The Tight Five — Principles as Question #2