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Something I believe deeply in is the future for social skills. Why? First and foremost, the prime consideration for humans is social. Without having other embodied humans around us, nothing is worth it.
This is where modern day capitalism and consumerism is weird; rather than putting the emphasis on other human beings, it puts the emphasis instead on objects, nonhuman things. For example, we become obsessed with watches, cars, clothes, homes, etc. But the ultimate goal is instead, direction maximize our real life face time with other humans.
Even zoom is bad. Why? To communicate with another human being that is not facilitated in the flesh is jarring.
Even something that is interesting in regards to other human beings men and women, when I see them on the screen, versus in the flesh. Why in the flesh you could see subtle things like height. Height matters.
For example, you could see pretty girls on Instagram or social media, or showing off their body parts. Yet, if you see them in real life, and they are very short and small, like 5 feet tall, or 4 foot 11, it is different. Even Aristotle once said, ”Is there such thing as a beautiful small woman?” Or for men,
Short men are never a threat.
For example, I am very fortunate that I am quite tall, around 5 foot 11 if I exaggerate. Realistically I’m more 5 foot 10, maybe 5 foot 10 1/2. But I always like to round up. I think in Korea I’m 180 centimeters, the golden standard.
At the gym, I don’t really care if anyone is more buff or muscular than me, as long as I am taller than them, I still feel dominant.
Something that I have realized is there is a link and a connection between height and social class. Richer and more affluent people, higher class people tend to be taller. More poor working class people, or recent migrants are immigrants tend to be short.
Why is this? My theory:
In the past, there was an evolutionary benefit to height.
For example, not always but often times taller men tend to be bigger and stronger. Therefore, a woman would find a tall and strong man as more powerful and strong and beneficial.
Even for men, a trend that I see is that shorter men, or even medium sized men like the idea of marrying and having children with really really tall supermodels.
Therefore my theory:
A lot of short men tend to have a lot of money, and have the ability to attract really really tall super model women, and therefore their children and future generations of children keep getting taller and taller.
You cannot change your height, but, you can change your posture. To stand upright, tall, shoulders back, chest up, chin up.
For example, even a lot of taller guys who are very very tall I see hunched over, with very poor posture. This looks very unattractive.
I also have another theory is that naturally, when your testosterone and muscle mass is high, and your body fat percentage low, your body will actually naturally assume a more dominant, upright posture.
Even another funny thing that I say is in regards to ego; when I see my testosterone insanely high, when I’m about to hit myself up before a one rep max, let’s see my 940 pound atlas lift, and my half legging compression short short tights are rolled all the way up, exposing my bare demigod thighs, and also my compression shirt is rolled up showing off my midsection and my nipples, and I am in the zone, other men around me… I see their egos deflating. When your testosterone and ego is high, and other men witness this, maybe it is a zero sum thing in which their ego also deflates.
Actually, maybe this is false. Instead, maybe only insecure men find me as a threat to their own masculinity. My new friend at the gym Taylor, insanely buff dude, always congratulate me after a successfully heavy lift. Theory:
If you are a self-confident man, and you witness great feats of strength from other men, you will always congratulate them, rather than feeling small.
At the end of the day, perhaps it is photography which is my Archimedes lever. I am just so insanely good at it, it is intuitive to me, and also, I am endlessly fascinated by it.
A random musing on my mind when I was just randomly driving, what is this:
It isn’t more money, more wealth that we desire, but more power.
For example, whenever you see somebody in some sort of really big SUV, the sports edition, let’s say a BMW X6M, what they are trying to really do is assert their power and dominance. However, does driving a powerful car make you more powerful? It might make you feel more powerful, but does it make you more powerful? No.
I think I got it figured out; the reason why Americans love cars so much is because they are democratic. A car is like your external avatar, and you could assume any sort of avatar you desire, as long as you’re willing to spend the money on it, whether it be purchasing it in all cash, financing it, leasing it, renting it, etc.
For example, when you see people in some sort of high end muscle car, what is it that they desire to assert? Their manliness, their dominance, etc. However, a fun activity I like to do is whenever I see some people driving a high end sports car, I’m always curious to see who the driver is. Typically, I see them trending to be kind of younger men, trying to look hard. Or sometimes old fat dudes.
The reason why I think cars are so cowardly is because typically, even if you drive a really really loud sports car, a hyper car, a Lamborghini, a Porsche 911 GT3 RS, some sort of high-end muscle car, it looks like the trend is that everyone tints their front windows so dark, almost to limo. Therefore you cannot even see who the driver is. And they also tend to drive with sunglasses on, and often a hat. So you really cannot determine their identity.
I asked my friend Don Dillon, whether we are more interested in the car or the driver, and he laughed and told me, “of course the car!”
Thus the strange paradox:
We want to show off, be loud, assert ourselves and our ego and our dominance, yet, we want our identity to be anonymous? And we don’t want other people to look us directly into the eyes?
Another trend I’ve seen a lot in Southern California is people buying black on black on black Teslas. It could be a “murdered out“ Tesla Model Y, 3, X, S, etc. also a new trend with the black license plate with a yellow lettering, and also the trend for people to apply a matte black wrap to their cars, making it look like some sort of stealth bomber.
The hilarity is whenever I see people step out of their Teslas. I’ve actually seen a lot of men with murdered our Tesla model Y’s, complete with the black license plate and yellow lettering, typically they tend to be skinny fat Asian American men, often with a baby or some kids. And also I think it was my friend Elsa Morgan who told me that in the bay area and in Silicon Valley, a Tesla model X is essentially a glorified minivan for men, who still want to feel masculine, without the stigma of driving a minivan.
My funny thought is better to just fully lean into it; if I buy a new car, it will just be a white Honda Odyssey.
Let’s take it back to photography. What is it that we desire in photography, and out of our photos?
The first I think is we want more power and potency in our photos. The photos we make is our artwork. And what is our artwork? Or artwork or almost like our children; they are some sort of external manifestation of ourselves.
Show me your photos, and I can see who you are.
For example, my aesthetic. I much love extremely high contrast, black-and-white photos, complete with a lot of grit and grit. Perhaps this is some sort of reflection of my own personal mentality of things.
Another big thing that I’ve noticed; I can only effectively review my photos, when I am in great superabundant physiological health. For example, if I only slept two hours last night, certainly I would have no power nor desire to review my huge backlog of about 10,000 photos. However, today, I am great physiological health, I have lots of energy and power, and therefore I was able to quickly review through around 7 to 8000 photos.
Therefore, I think it is critical for us photographers to gain more physiological power. This includes going to the gym, going to yoga, doing hot sauna, taking icy cold showers, sleeping 10 to 12 hours a night, and during the day, allowing yourself to drink both green tea and black coffee. I like green tea from Hadong South Korea, and either arabica coffee from Ethiopia or just robusta coffee from Vietnam.
Also, I think the best way to gain a much bigger physiological rush is through one rep max lifting. Do this with atlas lift, rack pull, one rep max farmers carry’s.
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Greater dangers and risks, the more beautiful and glorious life!
At the end of the day, perhaps it is photography which is my Archimedes lever. I am just so insanely good at it, it is intuitive to me, and also, I am endlessly fascinated by it.
A random musing on my mind when I was just randomly driving, what is this:
It isn’t more money, more wealth that we desire, but more power.
For example, whenever you see somebody in some sort of really big SUV, the sports edition, let’s say a BMW X6M, what they are trying to really do is assert their power and dominance. However, does driving a powerful car make you more powerful? It might make you feel more powerful, but does it make you more powerful? No.
I think I got it figured out; the reason why Americans love cars so much is because they are democratic. A car is like your external avatar, and you could assume any sort of avatar you desire, as long as you’re willing to spend the money on it, whether it be purchasing it in all cash, financing it, leasing it, renting it, etc.
For example, when you see people in some sort of high end muscle car, what is it that they desire to assert? Their manliness, their dominance, etc. However, a fun activity I like to do is whenever I see some people driving a high end sports car, I’m always curious to see who the driver is. Typically, I see them trending to be kind of younger men, trying to look hard. Or sometimes old fat dudes.
The reason why I think cars are so cowardly is because typically, even if you drive a really really loud sports car, a hyper car, a Lamborghini, a Porsche 911 GT3 RS, some sort of high-end muscle car, it looks like the trend is that everyone tints their front windows so dark, almost to limo. Therefore you cannot even see who the driver is. And they also tend to drive with sunglasses on, and often a hat. So you really cannot determine their identity.
I asked my friend Don Dillon, whether we are more interested in the car or the driver, and he laughed and told me, “of course the car!”
Thus the strange paradox:
We want to show off, be loud, assert ourselves and our ego and our dominance, yet, we want our identity to be anonymous? And we don’t want other people to look us directly into the eyes?
Another trend I’ve seen a lot in Southern California is people buying black on black on black Teslas. It could be a “murdered out“ Tesla Model Y, 3, X, S, etc. also a new trend with the black license plate with a yellow lettering, and also the trend for people to apply a matte black wrap to their cars, making it look like some sort of stealth bomber.
The hilarity is whenever I see people step out of their Teslas. I’ve actually seen a lot of men with murdered our Tesla model Y’s, complete with the black license plate and yellow lettering, typically they tend to be skinny fat Asian American men, often with a baby or some kids. And also I think it was my friend Elsa Morgan who told me that in the bay area and in Silicon Valley, a Tesla model X is essentially a glorified minivan for men, who still want to feel masculine, without the stigma of driving a minivan.
My funny thought is better to just fully lean into it; if I buy a new car, it will just be a white Honda Odyssey.
Let’s take it back to photography. What is it that we desire in photography, and out of our photos?
The first I think is we want more power and potency in our photos. The photos we make is our artwork. And what is our artwork? Or artwork or almost like our children; they are some sort of external manifestation of ourselves.
Show me your photos, and I can see who you are.
For example, my aesthetic. I much love extremely high contrast, black-and-white photos, complete with a lot of grit and grit. Perhaps this is some sort of reflection of my own personal mentality of things.
One of my current interest in passions, actually for a long time, is regarding stoicism, philosophy, etc.
Why? I think in the realm of philosophy, stoicism may be the only school of thought which actually is useful in every day living. For example, conquering fear doubt and hesitation, how to advance through setbacks, how to deal with other people etc.
Conquer it all:
I think ever since Nassim Taleb, stoicism has gained a new renaissance. Stoicism is now quite mainstream, and interesting to a lot of people.
First and foremost, we must interact with other people. No no no, even if you were a monk in the mountains, you will still make friends with villagers etc. No man has his own island.
I think it is a good idea to be honest here — and we love people. Everybody loves people. The new ones is which types of people we like and we don’t like.
Having the courage to ask why I can be one of the most courageous things we can ask in modern day times. Why? I think in modern-day times, to ask people why is seen as a threat. Or like you’re being critical or judging them in a negative way.
However for me, I am simply curious. I’m curious why people engage in certain behaviors and activities, and it really isn’t from a space of judging, it is more my personal curiosity about human nature, society, sociology etc.
Even in Vietnamese, one thing I learned which was insightful was that the question, “Tại sao?“, (在牢?) is seen as an affront.
tại (“because of; for; to blame”) + sao (“why; how”)
Therefore, when you ask somebody “Why?” You’re seeking someone to blame?
Also in Korean, the funny thing, when a parent calls upon their child, and the kid is slightly annoyed, they respond by saying, “왜?” Weh (왜) means “why?” or “what do you want?” When I was in college, and I would teach English to kids in Korea over the summer, I remember finding it so striking that when I will try to call the attention of a Korean kid, they would respond by saying, “Why?” Instead of the standard English, “What?”
Tai can also mean “…because”.
I think sooner or later, a lot of people, once they retire, achieve all these accolades in life, etc., will often meditate on the meaning of their existence, why they exist, the purpose of their life, etc.
However, to meditate on the purpose of your life is simply a steppingstone. It is not the final goal. The final goal is to gain some sort of deeper clarity about the purpose and why of your life, and then, dedicating all of your strength, balls, chutzpah, audacity and courage to attain those goals.
“For the man who knows the why of his life, he will easily discover the how.” – Nietzsche
The funny thing is in life, it seems that everyone desires to be liked. Yet, what if actually, the opposite word to be desired? To become more heated, fear, or disliked?
For example, I might be one of the most hated photographers, street photographers, or photography personalities on the internet. Why? People are befuddled by me. People ask me, “what is up with all of these flexing videos?”
The funny thing is people become indignant when you publish things which are not to their liking. However, this is a funny thing,
It is all free. Also, you have the power to unsubscribe, or just not click on it or look at it.
This is this bizarre sense of entitlement people have with the internet:
“How dare you do things which are against my own personal interests!”
The simple strategy is to stoutly proceed, and keep marching on, just imagine like juggernaut from the X-Men movie, busting through the walls.
Or, another visual is imagine the spartan 300, in the movie 300, pushing the Persians off the cliff.
A lot of people follow me and look up to me. A lot of creators look up to me. I feel like it is my duty, my mission, my missionary duty to empower other people and creators.
I was randomly musing this morning, currently I am 35 years old, born in 1988. When I started traveling the world and doing all this street photography stuff, back in 2010, 2011, I was only 21/22 years old. This means if I do the math, I’ve been in the game for almost 14 or 15 years. Soon this will be 20 years plus.
Also funny enough, I am lucky enough to see the Internet change and evolve. For example when I was just in high school, a sophomore junior in high school, it was all about Xanga in my space. Then I saw the rise and fall of Flickr, and now, The Fall of Facebook, and the overshadowing of TikTok over Instagram.
I was in the car with Cindy, and I was randomly thinking, besides Facebook and Instagram, where else can people share their photos?
arsbeta.com was my first grand mission—
Creating a proof of concept, a double blind experiment in the realm of photography, that is, if the poster of the photo is anonymous, and the commentator is also anonymous, what type of behavior will this facilitate?
What I discovered is that it actually promotes good behavior. Why? People are more genuine and honest.
For example ARS COIN, and ARS BETA RELEASE.
One of the great ideas that I got from Peter Thiel from “zero to one” — this notion, missionary or mercenary?
A mercenary mean somebody who works, fights, or labors for some sort of market-determined price for labor. A missionary is somebody who is on a mission, it doesn’t have to be religious. And you don’t have to be some sort of Friar monk with a bald shaved head.
One of the things which is really inspiring of watching Sergey Nazarov when it comes to his lectures and interviews and presentations is he really doesn’t seem to care for money, he really does care to create something that will change the world for the better.
Compare Sergey with a lot of these other fake entrepreneurs, who simply want to cash out, buy a Lamborghini, and retire on some sort of desert island.
Life goals I have had, and done did —
WHAT CAN YOU BECOME?
Email eric [at] erickim.com
Perhaps my next enterprise.
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One of my current interest in passions, actually for a long time, is regarding stoicism, philosophy, etc.
Why? I think in the realm of philosophy, stoicism may be the only school of thought which actually is useful in every day living. For example, conquering fear doubt and hesitation, how to advance through setbacks, how to deal with other people etc.
I think ever since Nassim Taleb, stoicism has gained a new renaissance. Stoicism is now quite mainstream, and interesting to a lot of people.
First and foremost, we must interact with other people. No no no, even if you were a monk in the mountains, you will still make friends with villagers etc. No man has his own island.
I think it is a good idea to be honest here — and we love people. Everybody loves people. The new ones is which types of people we like and we don’t like.
Having the courage to ask why I can be one of the most courageous things we can ask in modern day times. Why? I think in modern-day times, to ask people why is seen as a threat. Or like you’re being critical or judging them in a negative way.
However for me, I am simply curious. I’m curious why people engage in certain behaviors and activities, and it really isn’t from a space of judging, it is more my personal curiosity about human nature, society, sociology etc.
Even in Vietnamese, one thing I learned which was insightful was that the question, “Tại sao?“, (在牢?) is seen as an affront.
tại (“because of; for; to blame”) + sao (“why; how”)
Therefore, when you ask somebody “Why?” You’re seeking someone to blame?
Also in Korean, the funny thing, when a parent calls upon their child, and the kid is slightly annoyed, they respond by saying, “왜?” Weh (왜) means “why?” or “what do you want?” When I was in college, and I would teach English to kids in Korea over the summer, I remember finding it so striking that when I will try to call the attention of a Korean kid, they would respond by saying, “Why?” Instead of the standard English, “What?”
Tai can also mean “…because”.
I think sooner or later, a lot of people, once they retire, achieve all these accolades in life, etc., will often meditate on the meaning of their existence, why they exist, the purpose of their life, etc.
However, to meditate on the purpose of your life is simply a steppingstone. It is not the final goal. The final goal is to gain some sort of deeper clarity about the purpose and why of your life, and then, dedicating all of your strength, balls, chutzpah, audacity and courage to attain those goals.
“For the man who knows the why of his life, he will easily discover the how.” – Nietzsche
The funny thing is in life, it seems that everyone desires to be liked. Yet, what if actually, the opposite word to be desired? To become more heated, fear, or disliked?
For example, I might be one of the most hated photographers, street photographers, or photography personalities on the internet. Why? People are befuddled by me. People ask me, “what is up with all of these flexing videos?”
The funny thing is people become indignant when you publish things which are not to their liking. However, this is a funny thing,
It is all free. Also, you have the power to unsubscribe, or just not click on it or look at it.
This is this bizarre sense of entitlement people have with the internet:
“How dare you do things which are against my own personal interests!”
The simple strategy is to stoutly proceed, and keep marching on, just imagine like juggernaut from the X-Men movie, busting through the walls.
Or, another visual is imagine the spartan 300, in the movie 300, pushing the Persians off the cliff.
A lot of people follow me and look up to me. A lot of creators look up to me. I feel like it is my duty, my mission, my missionary duty to empower other people and creators.
I was randomly musing this morning, currently I am 35 years old, born in 1988. When I started traveling the world and doing all this street photography stuff, back in 2010, 2011, I was only 21/22 years old. This means if I do the math, I’ve been in the game for almost 14 or 15 years. Soon this will be 20 years plus.
Also funny enough, I am lucky enough to see the Internet change and evolve. For example when I was just in high school, a sophomore junior in high school, it was all about Xanga in my space. Then I saw the rise and fall of Flickr, and now, The Fall of Facebook, and the overshadowing of TikTok over Instagram.
I was in the car with Cindy, and I was randomly thinking, besides Facebook and Instagram, where else can people share their photos?
arsbeta.com was my first grand mission—
Creating a proof of concept, a double blind experiment in the realm of photography, that is, if the poster of the photo is anonymous, and the commentator is also anonymous, what type of behavior will this facilitate?
What I discovered is that it actually promotes good behavior. Why? People are more genuine and honest.
For example ARS COIN, and ARS BETA RELEASE.
One of the great ideas that I got from Peter Thiel from “zero to one” — this notion, missionary or mercenary?
A mercenary mean somebody who works, fights, or laborers for some sort of market determined price on labor. A missionary is somebody who is on a mission, it doesn’t have to be religious. And you don’t have to be some sort of Friar monk with a bald shaved head.