All right… I’m back in the fucking game:
Phnom Penh state of mind
Back in Cambodia just for about a month… Then a week in Hong Kong and also Tokyo… If you want a private 1:1 hit me up at eric@erickim.com
no limits
So the first very interesting thought about Cambodia is… There’s like no limits. Like a 90 minute massage is only like 20 bucks, you don’t really need to tip, but even five dollars more than enough… All good in services are affordable.
What’s also interesting is… There’s no real additional upside to capital accumulation here. For the most part… Once you got your apartment building that you’re living in… And, your kids in school or whatever… And you got enough food, you got your coffee… There’s no real tangible upside to having additional money here.
The big downside of America… No matter how much wealth you got you’re always going to feel poor. Because there are no caps to wealth there. 
Like for example… Here, you could call a tuktuk a mini motorcycle carriage taxi that takes you anywhere in the city for like a dollar. It’s the preferred motive transit because you don’t get stuck in traffic, and also… You don’t have to drive yourself. What’s interesting is in America… It seems that we all want to purchase an expensive vehicle, but here… You never really think about your vehicle because first it is not practical nor does it offer you any real utility.
a new mindset
I think I first had this epiphany when I was in Vietnam, in which I realized I would never run out of money, living expenses were only like $500 a month. This is the first time I was able to devote myself fully to philosophy, thinking writing, art. 
Living here, there are fewer distractions, which means, you can finally focus focus on greater order things rather than your survival and wealth accumulation?
philosophy and art
I think these are the two domains which are like kind of 100% in your realm of possibility. That irregardless of the outside world… You can focus on these things.
Also being here in Phnom Penh Cambodia , it is like essentially a photography and street photography paradise because, you’re like walking at at least 15,000 steps a day… Always camera around your neck, and there’s like a quadrillion interesting things happening every single moment of the day?
why this matters
I think the stoic idea is, you cannot change the outside external world… But you could change your internal mindset and internal world. 
I think stoicism is all about becoming less emotional about things, and actually… Experiencing the deepest abysses ,,, like the loss of a child, I think this happened a lot to Marcus Aurelius ,,, and still in the midst of that… To be happy and joyful.
Sour grapes?
This is something that I’m trying to think about, to have true insight rather than sour grapes fallacy?
I’m trying to think about this critically… How much of our thinking is based on a way that your mind is just trying to trick you to feel better versus, feeling a deeper joy and gratitude?
mindset and AI
what’s interesting about AI is that it kind of becomes like a virtual sounding board. And the truth is… AI will never give you a satisfactory answer because, it knows nothing. Only a human could think, I think AI is just very good at processing information.
How does one thing? Walking three hours a day… Letting your mind go empty.
Also… If you think about it, maybe a philosopher is just a walking thinking machine. That the more he walks, the more he thinks, and the more interesting thoughts are given birth. 
Also, this is where street photography is so fascinating because you could kill like three birds with one stone, you think, you create artwork, you interact and engage with the world, etc.
The globe
To live in America, for the rest of your life is tragic, but also… To never have the privilege of being in America is also disadvantageous.
I think the true inside is… A true Hybrid, and barbell between America and Asia, the east and the west… The Yin Yang Tao ,,, is supremely desirable.
Spending too much time in America does weird things to your brain, but also… Assuming that the supreme motive force in life is ambition… To simply live in Cambodia for the rest of your life… There are upper ceilings.
This is why, I’ve been kind of curious more to perhaps visit mainland, China, Shanghai, Beijing, etc.… Maybe for some sort of Autotelic entrepreneurship -> sort of opportunity seeking?