Build higher-order cognitive systems only after establishing
Build higher-order cognitive systems only after establishing reliable perception infrastructure, because all downstream processing depends on the quality and completeness of captured input.
Why This Is a Principle
Grounded in No Direct Access to Reality (all knowledge is mediated through processing layers), Goals as Perceptual Filters (goals filter relevance), and Attention as Gate to Conscious Perception (attention is capacity-limited). This principle prescribes architectural ordering: perception first, then decomposition, linking, and reasoning. Firestone & Scholl's research establishes perception as 'causal and informational foundation' for higher cognition.
Source Lessons
Perception is the foundation of all epistemic work
Every system you build for clear thinking, aligned action, and self-correction rests on a single prerequisite: your ability to notice what is happening — in your mind, in your environment, in the gap between them — and externalize it before it disappears.
The cost of staying informed about everything
Every minute spent consuming noise is a minute stolen from depth. The cost of staying informed about everything is understanding nothing well enough to act on it.