Fitness also is a broad concept?
Month: November 2023
PHYSIOLOGY, PHOTOGRAPHY & THE FUTURE OF AI.
A quick overview of some recent thoughts, namely, around physiology, our human physiology as well as AI, ART, ETC:
Something I have cared for a lot ever since I was a fat kid in New York, was diet health physiology and everything in between.
Ever since I was 11 to 12 years old, fat with a triple chin, I have literally experimented with every single diet out there, save this nonsensical vegetarian and vegan trend.
Why does this matter?
I met this cool guy the other day, at the Phils coffee shop in downtown Culver City, named Sodi (his website is https://stedmanhalliday.com/).
We had an interesting chat about how fitness is so critical, especially with all of these silicon valley tech utopists who just think of their body as an afterthought.
I vibe with Stedman Halliday because of many different reasons.
First, the focus on recovery as a first thought is a good one. For example, another day when I was really really tired and exhausted, instead of just taking a shower like I typically do, I filled up the bathtub with really really really really really hot water, and had a really really hot bath. It seems that the trend is towards ice baths, ice plunges etc., but also, I think taking insanely hot baths is also a good idea.
Why? To be able to tolerate an insanely hot bath, literally on the edge of boiling hot water, is also an effective bodily turbo charger. To me it is like my MacGyver way of harnessing the power of the hot sauna, without having to go to the gym.
In fact, maybe having a bathtub might be one of the greatest luxuries in your living situation. Rather than thinking of taking a really really hot bath as a frivolous luxury, maybe we should think of it almost like drinking more coffee or caffeine.
Food
Currently what I am doing, and what I have done ever since I was living in Vietnam in 2017, which is almost 6 years now, is simple:
Intermittent fasting throughout the day, this means no breakfast, no lunch, only one massive 100% carnivore dinner.
During the day I only drink tapwater, black coffee, that’s it.
There’s also this funny story in the Walter Isaacson biography of Elon Musk when he was visiting the Twitter office, one of the employees offered him some of the sparkling death sparkling water, and Elon refused and said, “I just drink tapwater”. Haha.
And when I break my fast and eat dinner, which could arrange anywhere in between 6 PM and 10 PM, I strive to eat at least 4 to 5 pounds of beef or lamb.
Achilles and Chiron the centaur
Another great thing I have learned from ChatGPT is how great wonderful and effective ChatGPT is, at least 1 trillion times better than Google. In fact, my current thought is Short Google; ChatGPT is at least 1 billion times more insightful and accurate in terms of being able to accurately Find information about anything.
For example, a simple heuristic:
The best calling card is now, not to tell people to Google you, but instead, to ChatGPT you!
Why? I’m starting to have this low-key suspicion that Google is doing some sort of behind the counter deals with individuals, and somehow tweaking they are all rhythm for subjective ends.
However with ChatGPT, it is less biased, less meddling.
For example, get ChatGPT on your iPhone or iPad, just pay the $20 for the subscription model, you could cancel it anytime, and just ChatGPT:
Who is ERIC KIM?
The new phrase:
Just ChatGPT me bro!
My thoughts and experiments
I think the biggest issue with diet health physiology and nutrition is that people are so subjective, and also, there is far too many politics, ethics and morality behind it.
For example, I never trust anybody who says:
Don’t eat meat, it’s bad for the planet!
What? Do you know what else is bad for the planet? Your Amazon prime subscription, Netflix, YouTube, your iPhone and iPhone Pro, your MacBook pros, your Tesla, your Range Rover etc.
Simple heuristic:
Never trust nobody who makes commentary about the planet and has either a Netflix subscription, Amazon prime subscription, or owns a car, any card, irregardless of gas or electric. Or watches YouTube. Or has an iPhone, iPhone Pro, and has Instagram Facebook, etc.
Honestly it is all bad for the planet.
My immortal and ethical thought is this:
Don’t do what is “best for the planet“, do what you believe is best for you.
Is the planet made for men, or is man-made for the planet?
Body shaming?
I have observed a funny reverse trend; man is not permitted to walk around, topless in public, show off his body and muscles, and also, not allowed to wear short shorts, or show off his crotch bulge.
I find this highly paradoxical, because nowadays, women are permitted to show off all their body parts! Even nowadays in LA, seeing a woman wear some sort of translucent white shirt or tank top, nipples popping through is not really a big deal anymore. I think this is a good train; there’s this weird quote for men and women that this is seen as a taboo, yet, it seems that most men watch pornography and secret, just ask somebody for fun, “When you turn on Google incognito, what do you really look at?”
Or—
What do you think of Maria Ozawa?
Or,
What do you torrent on Pirate Bay, when you turn on your VPN?
The logic of 100% carnivore diet
Some nuances:
First, what is it that Achilles was fed as a child by his personal trainer, Chiron the Centaur? Legend has it that he was fed entrails, which included bone marrow, hearts, and other offal matter.
I also have an orthodox theory that cholesterol, dietary food cholesterol, is a natural steroid.
I believe the new ones here is critical, because people make this foolish calculus:
If I consume more dietary cholesterol, cholesterol in my food, then my blood HDL, bad cholesterol blood levels will go up, and I will eventually have a heart attack and die.
Also fat –
If you consume more dietary fat, or saturated fat, you will put on more body fat.
However, this ain’t true. I think the big issue is that in today’s world, or modern day English, the semantic lexicon issues is confusing.
Just try it out!
Whenever I get to Korean barbecue, all eat Korean barbecue, my favorite food items to consume include all the innards; beef large intestine, beef liver, beef, beef tongue, etc.
People say that eating meat is “bad for you“, but what about organ meats? Are organ meats “meat”?
Training thoughts
So the question is this; what is the best way to train?
My personal thought is towards some sort of ancient spartan, ancient Greek notion. The thoughts I’ve been thinking:
How did or how would the ancient Greeks or Spartan train?
First and foremost, they’re very very interesting thing is that most depictions of these great heroes and demigods is not having super super big chests, therefore the simple thought is that perhaps benchpress is a bad idea.
Also for fun, I’ve been asking ChatGPT to generate me images to visualize what an ancient Greek would look like when they were training; how a demigod would train, how Achilles would train, how Hercules would train etc.
What is more notable about their physiology and stature?
When I observe ancient Greek statues, or visualizations of ancient Greeks, what do I look at?
First, how upright they stand. Second, they never have a shirt on. Third, how massive their legs, back, and shoulders are.
My recent experimentations with training include heavy sandbag training; I ordered a 400 pound sandbag on the roguefitness.com website, and I just been going to the local park and filling it up with playground sand.
Second, Farmer’s Carry. I ordered these farmers carry handles on Titan.fitness, and it is very interesting! The skill is not just picking it up, but walking with it.
For example, it is one thing to lift 4 plates, it is another to farmers walk and carry 4 plates for the distance.
Another thing I have observed about lifting a heavy sand back off the floor, crouching down picking it up, shouldering it, or holding it to my chest with my fingers intertwined, and walking it for a long distance is it really strengthens my triceps, my fingers and my grip and hand strength, my foot strength, my feet, as well as my abs, obliques, and back. In fact I felt more sore carrying around I have sandbag than I did atlas lifting 1000 pounds at the gym.
Train like atlas
One of the big innovations I did while I was in Orange County was my notion of the atlas lift; loading up the barbell with as much weight as you can, and just lifting up and standing up. No squatting involved.
In fact, it looks like that my training style is starting to trend more towards a strongman concept; just lifting really really heavy stuff, and doing it in a more old-school way.
For example, atlas stones. To be able to just lift up a very very very very heavy boulder, and presumably throw it at somebody, is an interesting idea. This is what Achilles did; in some of the fight scenes of the Iliad, Homer would write:
Achilles would lift up a massive stone, that which barely two strong men could lift, throw it at his enemy, and the boulder hit their hip, and black death descended upon them.
Also something I have been observing is that perhaps heavy sandbag training is a good idea because it is “safe”, and also, more accessible. Anyone could buy a cheap sandbag on Amazon, and then just go to a local playground and fill it up with sand.
Now what?
Ever since moving to LA, I’ve become more and more reticent to join the gym. Why?
First, I prefer to be outdoors.
Second, I don’t like wearing a shirt.
Third, hygiene.
Working out at the park, in a parking lot, in your garage, or outside is not ideal, but, it is more interesting and innovative.
A simple thought is to just troll amazon, Titan.fitness, or the roguefitness.com website and buy a lot of fun weight lifting equipment! My simple thought is only procure equipment that you could easily throw in your trunk, because it is fun to be able to just put in your trunk, drive to your local park and work out there.
Now what?
Some more thoughts:
- Bear lifestyle: Apparently bears walk 50 miles a day. What if we humans did the same?
- Photography health and fitness is all connected: why? If you do not feel well, you’ll have no in motivation to make photos. My very simple thought is that first, focus on your health and wellness, and then the guitar will come naturally! Even a simple thought is being able to do a deep “as to grass“ squat is beneficial in photography, to get all the angles.
- If you work in cinema, or cinematography, it seems that handling these camera rigs is insanely arduous and also very physical. If you look like a bodybuilder, and had the strength of a demigod, or look like a strong man, or look like ERIC KIM, certainly wouldn’t this help you be a more capable camera operator?
Photo assignments
Here this is where I think shooting selfies of yourself, topless if you’re a man, or in the sports bra for women is a good idea, because Vitar is a good way to keep you motivated and on track with your fitness diet health and physiology.
These are my very very very very very simple suggestions: mostly via negative.
If you want to lower your body fat percentage, simple things to do which include:
- Don’t eat breakfast or lunch, only dinner. During the day drink lots of tapwater, black coffee with nothing added, or green tea.
- Just experiment; don’t need any fruit or vegetables, starches, leafy greens, etc. No nuts.
- Experiment with 100% carnivore diet, or maybe 100% organ meat diet. Only beef heart, beef intestine, either large or small, beef kidneys, beef liver, beef tongue. If you don’t like organ meats, just eat 100% grass-fed ground beef, get it at Costco or Aldi or somewhere cheap. The percentages which taste good are 80/20 or 75/15– I like the wagyu ground beef at Costco.
- Quit alcohol, weed, beer, drugs, EDM, festivals, bars, restaurants, etc.
- Quit almond butter, avocados, whole grains, fruits, fruit juices, fake sugar supplements, real sugar, starches, coke, Coke Zero, pre workout powder, protein powder etc.
When you break your fast aim for 5-6 pounds of meat a dinner.
How to channel your wellness?
Then the simple thought is once you are very well, how do you wish to channel your wellness?
Ultimately, I don’t think it is fitness for the sake of fitness, but rather, the fitter and stronger you become, the more adept you will become as a thinker, writer, creator, photographer etc.
Think more, become more.
Also
Photo ideas
Zen photography assignment: strive to make the most minimalistic Zen photo, and upload your best Zen photo to arsbeta.com
ChatGPT experiments
I love AI. Download ChatGPT to your iPhone or iPad, and upgrade to the paid subscription, an experiment with it for a month.
Upload your photos to it, and ask ChatGPT to give you feedback on your photos, or you could upload three photos, and just ask it which of the three he thinks is the best.
Don’t miss out on AI; this is the biggest thing to hit the planet ever since the Internet!
Diversify
Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket, it is good to have many different baskets. Why? If there is a single chokepoint or a single point of failure, this is not good.
I think the best way to think and approach things is just assume and predict and know that sooner or later, it will break, go down, become inaccessible, etc.
A simple thing that you could do with websites is this: how many different mirrors of your website, on different platforms. For example, build wordpress.org websites on Amazon web services, build it with blue host.com, ionos.com, The only thing I would probably not build on is Google, which always deprecates their old technology, and has a bias to discontinue products.
Also WordPress.com, maybe even Tumblr.
Propagate all the platforms!
Think islands, web, webs, multiple redundancies.
Train with EK
Random — if you live in LA and want to train with me, just shoot me an email at eric@erickim.com
Stoic training, stoicism and physiology?
Another fun idea that I have is that maybe there is in fact a link between stoicism, physiology, and also bodily training.
Why?
First, let us consider our physiological response to stressors environment etc.
Example, when I get angry, it is a physiological response. I feel the cortisol and stress entering my face, and enlarges my eyeballs, I get a huge shot of adrenaline etc.
Therefore, my simple thought is if you want to become a true stoic, the training must be physical, physiological.
Also, fear. What is fear? Fear is also manifested as adrenaline, as well as stress hormones, chemicals in your body, etc.
To conquer fear, and to become a true stoic, I believe it is all about mastering your physiology, mastering your stress hormones and responses etc.
It is all about training
ASKESIS an ancient Greek, the same notion of aesthetic, or aestheticism is rooted in the notion of training. As guesses, becoming harder, becoming stronger.
Even our best friend Nietzsche says ultimately the goal is to become the hammer, the diamond. To not be soft and yielding, but to create, become harder.
Why is it that softness is considered a virtue in today’s world?
A funny observation that I’ve made is that in today’s world, to be soft, yielding, open minded, flexible etc. is seen as a virtue. Yet I find this very paradoxical and little bit contradictory in the sense that it is all context dependent;
For example, racism, Nazis, holocaust deniers, anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic or anti-African-American people; shouldn’t we be maximally intolerant to these people? A zero tolerance rule here is good.
My personal thought is that in order to become more virtuous, we actually must become harder. To become more unyielding, to become more strict, and more harsh.
For myself, even though there is a lot of things about Korean culture which I deem as bad, one of the good things that come out of Korean culture is that the man is expected to be hard, strong, stoic, never showing his emotions or feelings etc.
Why do I believe this is a good thing?
Certainly if you grow up in America, sooner or later you’re going to naturally learn to be open minded, flexible, etc. So I think that we also need the antipodes; do not just be soft and yielding and flexible, but also to become harder and stronger and more staunch.
“Never say no more than once, if you really mean it” – NASSIM TALEB
Child rearing?
Never say “last one”?
Now that Seneca is two years, nine months old, he is an expert negotiator. He knows how to ask for 30 more seconds, one more minute, etc. Essentially he knows how to game the system.
I think from a lexical perspective, we must be very sparing with our words.
For example, it seems that the wise idea is to not just use words, but rather to enforce them.
For example, never tell a kid that something is dangerous if it isn’t really dangerous. What is truly dangerous? Kids running into the street and getting hit by a car and getting killed, falling from a very very very high surface and cracking open their skull and brain, etc. A lot of the time when we tell a kid something is dangerous, you’re just giving them false words.
“Never apologize or say “I am sorry“, unless you really mean it”. – NASSIM TALEB
Now what?
I would say now I’m moving forward, do radical experiments with your health, physiology, well-being, etc. Make this your number one critical priority and I think everything else will follow.
EK EXPERIENCES
Upcoming EK EXPERIENCES HERE >
What is ERIC KIM up to?
- AI: I just built ERICKIM.AI.
- Thinking about the centaur approach, the general idea first came from chess, in which a human player with the assistance of a laptop in a computer made a more formidable opponent than just human or just computer themselves. I think this is very interesting, because a computer plus human will outwit just a computer. or in other words, AI which assists a human being will make a stronger opponent than just computer or just man alone.
- If you’re passion is creativity, photography or art etc., you must download Chi BT to your phone and iPad, and subscribe to the ChatGPT plus plan, which is only 20 bucks a month. I think it is literally the best invention known to mankind as of now. Rather than spending $2000 on a new iPhone Pro, just take the plunge and spend the measly 20 bucks on the greatest invention of all time!
I think one of my current fun things is combining photography AI and creativity. Why? Anything which is a creative stimulus and turbocharger for you is great!
Don’t miss out; this is your opportunity.
In fact, Don and Jose gave me a good idea; maybe I will do some sort of AI art creativity photography workshop in the near future. Stay posted.
How to get started with ChatGPT
Very very simple. Open up the App Store, and search touch GPT and download the official ChatGPT app by open AI. Then, click the ChatGPT for icon in the top right corner, and then subscribe to the paid model which is only 20 bucks a month. Then, click the little slider drop-down thingy, and switch it to the image generation tool which is DALL-E (I think it is named after Wally, the cute little robot from the Pixar movie).
My suggestion is have fun with it! Some creative thoughts:
- Ask it to write a haiku about XYZ
- Ask it to explain a complicated concept to you as if you were five years old
- Ask it to give you a summary of the best ancient quotes about XYZ
- For DALL-E, the image generation AI, make it as hilarious and preposterous as possible! For example, put in a prompt like “Make me a picture of a Spartan demigod deadlifting 1000 pounds of bitcoin, in the spirits of Korean aesthetics”
Market manipulation?
Thinking about FTX, the same guy, as well as the GameStop story, dumb money.
I think what people do not understand about finance is that ultimately, it comes down to human beings. I think the biggest issue though is as Michael Lewis revealed in flash boys, there seems to be weird under the table market manipulations which help some individuals get stupid rich.
Ultimately, the market, the modern day agora, I think it all comes out to speculation not “investing”. And even more than that, pride.
For example, my bitcoin pride. My funny idea is that I no longer care for US dollars, only bitcoin. in fact, now that bitcoin is bouncing back, I envision a third grade rally. I’m thinking about trying to buy more.
So what is the future of AI?
Some of my visions:
AI VISION.
I think i’ve discovered the next $10 trillion industry; AI, artificial intelligence etc.
My vision
I have some grand visions for AI:
First, some sort of photo creation AI, or some sort of AI that helps you cull down your photos. for example, I currently have a backlog of about 10,000 photos, not really sure when I’m going to have the time to look through all of them.
Some sort of AI photo curator division is you could just feed it 10,000 images, JPEG, and have it simply sort and filter it down to your most interesting or best shots. You can give a custom instructions, and it will learn your preferences overtime.
Also, writing. It seems that a lot of writers have issues with “writers block“, which means that they have a vision of what they want to write, but, what holds them back is that somehow they get stuck somewhere.
A very simple solution is having AI help you write more. Some thoughts include more robust and accurate voice recognition models, which allow writers to simply voice dictate their thoughts and write, instead of having to use the agency of a keyboard.
A camera without a shutter button?
Another fun idea that I have is some sort of notion of a camera without a shutter button. Kind of like the narrative clip, or the Google clips; I sent you some sort of device that you have mounted on you, and it automatically shoots photos when it sees something that is significant.
I still think it needs to be some sort of standalone device, because the big issue is with a clip, there are still human concerns about privacy, being creepy etc.
The future for phones?
Whether we like it or not, it looks like we are stuck with this phone analogy. I hesitate calling it a “device”— this doesn’t really mean anything. We should just call it an iPhone; essentially everyone in America at this point has an iPhone.
What should a phone be?
We gotta make AI on phones better.
For example this is where I think Google is doing a very good job, they are actually using AI to try to make her lives more helpful.
For example, this call screening technology. The general idea is that if you get a unknown phone call, I hate picking it up. I hate scammers. It seems that Google AI is very good at screening these annoying phone calls.
What I actually think that the most critical thing about AI in phones is that there needs to be some sort of thing which allows you to know whether a certain phone call is critical or not, at this given moment.
For example, the biggest issue that we have is getting interrupted. Getting distracted, notifications etc.
In fact, I have a bold suggestion for Apple or maybe even Google:
When you first set up your phone, by default have all of the notifications off, and then later, give the user the ability to enable them all.
Or another simple suggestion is when your first setting up your phone, give a prompt to the user asking them whether they would like to have all notifications on or off by default, and or give them the ability to customize which notifications they define important.
For example, all of my notifications on my iPhone are disabled it besides FaceTime. This is a good filter because the only really critical person I need to contact me is Cindy. And she knows that if it is urgent thing, she knows how to FaceTime me.
By default I turn off text message notifications because 99.99% of them are not urgent nor interesting. Also from a pure efficiency and productivity perspective, it is far more efficient and productive to just give someone a phone call or FaceTime instead of texting them back-and-forth.
chatGPT phone
My idea is that open AI and ChatGPT should make their own standalone phone. This might be the next trillion dollar company. Or maybe open AI could collaborate with Microsoft and build their ChatGPT phone on the windows phone platform concept.
Siri is pretty good, but it looks like ChatGPT is at least a quadrillion times better. If you could naturally integrate both ChatGPT directly into the phone, the tight integration of both software and hardware and AI, I think you have hit a gold mine.
For more thoughts email me at eric@erickim.com
Other ways that AI could be very useful
Let me give you another example. Let us say that I recorded a vlog and I want to directly upload it to YouTube and my website, and also extract the audio file, and uploaded to my website and my podcast platform etc. I should be able to do this all via AI script, without the need of any other foreign intercession.
Also, I want an easy way to quickly filter all my photos, and also I want to be able to do it off-line. I think the big Achilles heel of ChatGPT right now is that is pretty much useless without an Internet connection, Wi-Fi, or a mobile 4G or 5G connection.
No more iPhone?
I love my iPad Pro to death, but I hit my iPhone with a passion. It really sucks.
It sucks so bad I’m thinking about switching to android, back to android, maybe this time getting a Google pixel phone.
Honestly all the phones are bad, maybe the best solution is just no phone.
Now what?
- Download ChatGPT to your phone or iPad, and subscribe to the $20 a month subscription plan, and start generating images! Have fun with it, the more silly and ridiculous and preposterous, the better!
- The next time you go on a walk, play with your kid at the park etc., just leave your phone at home, or locked inside your glove compartment. I’m starting to think more and more that having a phone, iPhone or a smart phone is bad for your brain. It makes you think poorly. Instead when you’re out and about, just walk around with your iPad Pro! No keyboard or no loser stylus.
- Within reason, spend maximum time in the direct sun, maximum UV absorption, ideally take off your shirt, and wear short shorts. I think the new modern day signal of power and prestige is having a full body tan. Even Elon Musk looks like a bleached whale.
Books to read?
I highly highly highly recommend Elon Musk biography by Walter Isaacson, just download it to your iBooks store, Kindle, by the hardcover or just listen to it as a audiobook! The audiobook option might be interesting if you spend a lot of time in a car and commuting. Lots of lessons here.
I’m starting to read the book “going infinite“, specifically because I am passionate about bitcoin and crypto. Also I think Michael Lewis is just a great writer; his writing is fun, carefree, and also very insightful.
The Jeff Bezos invent and wander book is great. And also zero to one by Peter Thiel still resonates today.
More thoughts to come!
EK
EK NEWS, PRODUCTS, WORKSHOPS, BOOKS, START HERE
If this gave you even one funny thought, feel free to forward to a friend!
ERIC
PHILOSOPHY BY KIM
Essays by KIM
- Time Will Tell
- What is Wisdom?
- LOOK *BEYOND*
- BECOMING MORE IMMORAL?
- ‘LUCK’ VS COURAGE
- ‘SKILL’ VS MERIT?
- Becoming Antifragile
- How to “Improve” Men
- The Art of Virtue
- How to Dominate
- JUST SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES AND WISDOM WITH OTHERS.
- How to Get More Done in a Single Day – MEMENTO MORI PHILOSOPHY
- THINK FOR YOURSELF
- Cruel?
- GO DEMIGOD.
- How to Be Happy: Challenge and Danger Philosophy
- To Become Greater, You Must Become *LESS* Productive!
- Imperfect Beauty
- The Philosophy of Pleasure
- What Interests You?
- Anti Theory of Everything
- Become?
- STRONGER OR NOT?
- Carte Blanche Ideals
- CHOOSE JOY
- Don’t Judge Your Impulses
- On Becoming Less Human
- COWARDICE.
- The Philosophy of Futurism
- PHILOSOPHY IS VALUE-SETTING
- PHILOSOPHY IS NOT LIFESTYLE
- WHY STANDARDIZATION IS BAD.
- YOUR OWN TABLE OF VALUES.
- RETRO IS BAD.
- INSANELY LOFTY THOUGHTS.
- Strive to *Lose* Weight, Not *Gain* Weight
- DIABLO II ANALOGIES FOR REAL LIFE.
- If You Know Your *WHY* You Can Discover Any *HOW*
- Life is Too Short to Be Miserable
- What Consumption Takes Skill?
- OFF THE GRID.
- REALITY IS CRUEL.
- Pain is Information
- WHY REMOVE VULGARITY AND DISORDER FROM OUR EYES?
- AUTOTELIC.
- UNPLUG.
- How to Become a Philosopher
- SUBOPTIMAL IS OPTIMAL
- THE LUST FOR MORE.
- TO DO IS TO BECOME.
- IN PRAISE OF AGGRESSIVE.
- THE PHILOSOPHY OF OPTIMISM
- OUR PHILOSOPHICAL WILL TO EXISTENCE
- Is Hope a Vice?
- MOVE MEAN
- Carte Blanche Ideals
- One Interesting Thought
- What Lasts? What Doesn’t Last?
- A WOUND STIMULATES THE RECUPERATIVE POWERS
- Children & Purpose
- Thoughts on Becoming a Parent
- Where Does Our Desire to Upgrade Come From?
- WE ALWAYS NEED SOMETHING FURTHER TO ASPIRE TO.
- Self-Task Yourself an Awesome Mission in Life
- Differentiation vs Equalization
- My Passion to *Become* Something More
- No Aesthetic or Ethos is Forever
- What is Your Higher Purpose in Life?
- IT WILL NEVER SATISFY YOU.
- How to Decide
- Things You *Want* to Do vs Things You *MUST* Do
- Towards a More Beautiful Mode of Existence and Future
- EXTREME GRATITUDE.
- AMAP (As Much as Possible) or None.
- Why or How Does it Matter?
- The Philosophy of Time and Events
- How *Not* to Resent
- FORWARD LOOKING
- DOMAIN FLEXIBILITY.
- The Miracle of Human Growth
- EXTREME ADAPTATION.
- Why Plan?
- You Don’t Need to Justify Yourself
- The Philosophy of Ego
- True vs False Passions
- How to Achieve Tranquility
- On Making Your Own Philosophy
- The Purpose of Life is to Create New Life
- Think On!
- The Wisdom of Doing Nothing
- Congruency
- My Thoughts on Meditation
- The Philosophy of Purpose
- Emulate Yourself
- Good Fear, Bad Fear
- For the Betterment of Humanity or Just Yourself?
- What you *really* believe in and care for is manifested through your actions (or non-actions)
- Why Culture is Your Enemy
- YOUR EXPERIENCES ARE KING.
- LIFE IS INHERENTLY GOOD.
- Artistic, Physical, and Philosophical Muscles
- All New Experiences are Good Experiences
- What is the Purpose of X?
- UTILITY.
- Philosophy is a Luxury
- The Attempt is More Interesting than the Result
- Joyfulness vs “Happiness”
- Effectiveness Over Happiness
- Self Actualization
- MAXIMAL ENGAGEMENT
- Life & Pain
- On Living Every Day with No Regret
- Learn as if you’re going to live forever, live as if you’re going to die tomorrow
- Live Every Day Like it Were the Last Day of Your Life
- Self-Determination
- FALSE GRATITUDE vs REAL GRATITUDE
- HOW TO LIVE MORE
- THE UPSIDE OF TRAGEDY
- Satisfaction is a Sucker’s Game
- Supreme Repose
- WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF LIFE? According to ERIC KIM
- STUBBORN, FLEXIBLE
- EVERYTHING HAPPENS AS IT *SHOULD* HAVE HAD HAPPENED
- Good Addiction, Bad Addiction?
- What is the Best Life?
- The Philosophy of Thinking
- The Philosophy of Conspiracies
- Conspiracies
- Growth
- Skepticism.
- What Do You Really Want Out of Life?
- Seem or Be?
- Learn Through Pain
- Respect Yourself
- In Praise of Elitism
- Why Independent Thinking?
- I Will Never Die
- Bitter is Better
- The Genesis of Nihilism and Existential Dread
- The Ethics of Personal Enrichment
- Good vs Not Good
- Punished by Privilege
- Abstinence Over Moderation
- Just Leave Others Alone
- You Can Only Critique that Which You Truly Understand and Love
- ERIC KIM Critique of Metaphysics
- Only Trust Philosophers Who Deadlift
- Heuristic: If Someone Talks Shit About Others Behind Their Back, Most Likely They’re Also Talking Shit About You Behind Your Back
- Virtue is a Privilege
- What Are Your Life Goals?
- Honesty
- Why I’m Anti Moderation
- No Spite, No Malice.
- Ascending Life or Descending Life?
- Double Edged Sword
- Ignorance.
- Why I Don’t Trust “Nice Guys”
- Why You Must Share Your Opinion
- Selfish Isn’t Evil
- Wisdom is the Goal
- YOU ARE KING.
- MASTER YOURSELF
- What is “Good” for You is Often what is Bad for You
- Care.
- BITTERSWEET
- ONE REP MAX
- Morality and Ethics is the Snare
- BY HELPING YOURSELF, YOU BEST HELP OTHERS
- Insanity is Good.
- Think Deep.
- PHILOSOPHY IS THE FUTURE.
- Open Mind vs Closed Mind
- ENTHUSIASM IS GENIUS
- Towards a More Critical and Rigorous Line of Thinking
- How to Encourage and a Foster Independent and Free Thinking
- What is the Purpose of Life?
- WHY PHILOSOPHY IS SUPREME.
- Elitism.
- I Cannot Form an Opinion About Somebody Until I’ve Met Them in the Flesh
- ALL GENETICS ARE GOOD GENETICS.
- Happiness vs Freedom
- The Birth of a Hater
- My Way Isn’t the Right Way
- Walking as an Existential Thing
- Why I’m So Tolerant
- Mortal Gods
- THE HUMAN SPECIES
- Why I’m So Skeptical
- Just Follow the Money
- Why Selfish?
- WHY WE CANNOT BLAME OTHERS
- Why Are We So Anti Elitism?
- What Actually Interests You?
- How to Become Yourself
- SELF HATE
- Optimistic Fatalism
- Death is the Ultimate Creative Constraint
- FLUX.
- How to Think for Yourself
- FLESH
- How to Live the Best Life
- Why Live a Life Without Regrets?
- Why Plato Ruined Art and Aesthetics for Us
- Self Respect
- Hypocrite vs Contradict
- Ideals vs Reality
- Spaceship Philosophy
- What is Your Ideal Life?
- MY EXTREME GRATITUDE TOWARDS LIFE AND BEING ALIVE!
- Critique of Utilitarianism
- Don’t Treat Others the Way You Want to Be Treated
- The Eternal Recurrence of Tragedy and Joy in Life
- Elite Asceticism
- Why I Don’t Like Numbers
- Action and Reaction, Cause and Effect
- The Antidote to Nihilism: The Philosophy of Nothingness
- ERIC KIM Notes on Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
- EXPLOIT CHAOS.
- WHY I DON’T BELIEVE IN GENETICS
- Self-Wisdom
- The Future Belongs to the Fearless
- INDIVIDUALISM
- Why Live Forever?
- THIS TOO WILL PASS.
- Why Education?
- How to Become Yourself
- Things Shouldn’t Go Back to the Way They Used to Be
- Why Am I So Cruel?
- The Great Joy of Existence
- Virtue for the Sake of Virtue
- NO DISDAIN.
- INTELLIGENT IGNORANCE
- A LIFE WITHOUT PAIN, DIFFICULTY OR TRAGEDY ISN’T A LIFE WORTH LIVING
- BITTER IS BETTER.
- EXPLOIT THE BEST FROM TRAGEDY AND LIFE
- DISREGARD FOR SELF-PRESERVATION
- PAIN.
- WHAT IF EVERYTHING IS NOT GONNA BE ALRIGHT?
- Tomorrow is Never
- Life is the Ultimate Creative Constraint
- EMBODIED REALITY
- BLACK SWAN
- THINGS WILL NEVER GO BACK TO THE WAY THEY USED TO BE
- What are you *really* afraid of?
- HAPPINESS ISN’T THE GOAL
- Philosophy is King
- Why is Selfish Evil?
- YOU’RE CONSTANTLY IN A STATE OF BECOMING
- ENTITLEMENT A SIN?
- NARCISSISM
- BE BRUTALLY HONEST WITH YOURSELF
- WHY FREE WILL?
- OBEY YOUR OPINION
- EGO IS GOOD.
- WHY IT IS GOOD TO BE INTO YOURSELF
- Seek the Good Pain
- Anti-Perfection in Photography, Art, and Life
- Can You Become an End into Yourself?
- WHY I LIVE
- Why I Hate Decline
- Why I Eat
- Why am I So Positive and Optimistic?
- EFFORT IS ENJOYMENT
- Never Stop Gaining
- TRUST YOURSELF
- A Life of Maximal Personal Independence
- What Do You Desire to Become?
- What Do I Want from Technology?
- Stratified Society
- Do You Love or Hate Reality?
- On the Brian, Body and Mind
- I’m Maximally Happy, Now What?
- Care over Fame
- ACTIVE NIHILISM
- Never Stop Subtracting
- How to Live a Happier and More Epic Life
- A Risker Life is a Better Life
- Only Work on Things You Can Imagine Doing for Eternity
- How to Maximize Your Happiness
- Influence
- The Gladiator Makes His Plans once He Enters the Ring
- Meditations on Meaning in Life
- There is Nothing More Interesting than Human Beings
- Is Hope a Vice?
- EGO
- Why Be Unique?
- Happiness is Metabolism Health and Strength
- You’re the Hero
- Is Productivity a Virtue or Vice?
- Why Do We Prize the Rare?
- The Joy of Uncertainty
- How Should I Best Use My Time and Life?
- A Life Without Pain or Suffering Isn’t a Life Worth Living
- Free or Unfree?
- What Do You Really Care For in Life?
- Anti-Satisfaction in Life
- Why Think?
- The Eternal Return
- Only Do What is Best for You!
- Truthiness
- Why Be Happy?
- Permissionless Living
- In Praise of Unconventional Wisdom
- Become the Change Which You Wish to See in the World
- Happiness
- Beyond Freedom
- Idolize People, Not Stuff
- What Makes You Stronger? What Makes You Weaker?
- Why Hate?
- The Secret of Happiness
- You’re Constantly in a State of Becoming
- Life is about Choices, Not Obligations
- Anti-Nihilism
- First, Do What is Best for You.
- Live Dynamic
- How to Prosper
- Is the Point of Life to Be Satisfied?
- SUPREME EFFORT OF WILL.
- How to Become more Idealistic
- Thrivival 101
- Create Yourself
- Non-Small
- Inspiration
- How to Live a Heroic Life: Dare the Heights!
- Human Augmentation
- Prune
- Happiness: Do What You Want to Do (And Don’t Do What You Don’t Want to Do)
- Avoid Vain (Empty) Pursuits in Life
- Modern Slavery
- Kill the Leeches
- Wisdom Augmentation
- Why We Need Friction in Life
- Straight Line Philosophy
- What’s Your End-Game in Life?
- Create Your Own Happiness Today
- Desire Both Pain and Pleasure in Life
- Try the Impossible
- SELF-RESPECT
- Anti-Social Extrovert
- Never Blame Anybody But Yourself
- Human Flourishing
- Simpler, Not Better.
- How to be Free
- Embrace the Extremes
- Cultivate Your Own Culture
- COURAGE.
- Thrivival
- Inner Power
- How to Live a Purposeful Life
- My Definition of Happiness
- Why Change is Good
- Why Work?
- How to Live the Happiest Possible Life
- The Two-Pronged Approach to Maximize Joy in Your Life
- You Always Have Another Option!
- INFINITISM
- Never Stop!
- What is Your Self-Directed Purpose in Life?
- Live Today Like it Were Your Last
- Do You Photograph to Live, or Live to Photograph?
- ARTIST-PHILOSOPHER
- Live Life to the Fullest!
- In Praise of Selfishness
- Why You Must Be a YAY-SAYER to Succeed in Entrepreneurship and Life
- Why I Love Walking
- Live Life Like a Video Game!
- Simple Luxuries in Life
- Treat Your Life Like a Fun Experiment!
- Only Prove it to Yourself
- You Don’t Always Need to Feel Joyful to Live a Fulfilling and Meaningful Life
- Life is Too Short to Be Bored!
- Money Cannot Destroy Boredom
- How to Find Inspiration in Life
- Why You Must Ignore Haters to Succeed and Win in Life
- An Active Life is a Happy Life
- My Simple Joys in Life
- Never Stop Striving
- How to Motivate Yourself in Life
- How to Be Optimistic in Life
- How to Dictate Your Purpose in Life
- In Praise of a Dynamic Life
- PURPOSE.
- How to Enjoy Life
- Photography Therapy
- How to Conquer Regret
- Take Your Play Very Seriously.
- How to Prosper
- Memento Vivere
- Destroy in Order to CREATE
- Trust Your Body More Than Your Mind
- Make Photos to Make Meaning in Your Life
- Seek Knowledge, Not Information
- The Purpose of Human Life
- How to Overcome Impedence
- Why I Love Death
- How to Be Centered in the Eternal Now
- How to Be Happy
- Why Do You Care What Others Think of You?
- Why I’m Happy
- Why?
- Why I’m So Prolific
- How to Reduce LAG in Life
Masters of Philosophy »
Personal Philosophy »
Stoicism »
- How to Be a Stoic Street Photographer
- How to Use Photography as Self-Therapy
- How to Free Your Soul From Disturbance
Zen Philosophy »
- How to Be a Zen Street Photographer
- Zen in the Art of Street Photography
- How to Find Tranquility in Your Photography
Life Lessons »
Learn more: Start Here >
STOICISM 101
Become invincible:
- STOIC FLEX.
- Becoming Spartan
- MAKE IT ENTERTAINING FOR YOURSELF!
- Stoic Aesthetics?
- The Philosophy of Ugliness
- Bad Stoicism
- Stoicism 2.0
- Becoming Stoic
- LEMONADE.
- Why Arguments and Confrontations Are Good
- “I’m Over It”
- How to Deal With Miserable People
- How to Become a Stoic
- How to Ignore
- Pretend like you didn’t hear them
- Bad Stoic Strategies
- The Stoic Way of Dealing With Unpleasant or Miserable People
- HOW TO BECOME A STOIC
- Stoicism Stunts Our Power?
- Stoicism is Mental Resistance Training
- STOIC STRATEGIES.
- How to Become Fearless
- Extreme Stoicism
- Ethics are Aesthetic
- Indifference to Pain or Suffering
- When is Stoicism Good? When is Stoicism Bad?
- Why Others Criticize or Insult You
- True Difficulty
- What if Covid Never Goes Away?
- SUPER STOIC
- Anti-Hedonism
- HOW TO CONQUER FEAR
- ANTI FEAR
- It is the Duty of the Strong to Help the Weak
- The Goal is to Become Stronger
- HYPER STOICISM
- HYPER HERO
- TRANSFORM EVERY DOWNSIDE INTO AN UPSIDE
- STOICISM x Child’s Mind
- The Art of Manly Virtue
- Resistance Makes Us Stronger!
- DON’T LIVE IN FEAR
- Emotions are Good
- Conquer Your Anger
- BLACK EAGLE
- DIFFICULTY AWAKENS YOUR INNER-GENIUS.
- STOICISM IS ARMOR FOR THE MIND
- The Spartan-Stoic Lifestyle
- How I Conquered Fear
- HOW TO CURE FEAR.
- LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL.
- The Upside of Poverty
- How I Became Me
- THE WILL TO POWER, OR THE WILL TO FEAR?
- ATTACK REALITY
- Living *THROUGH* History
- How to Fear Less
- Fear is the Ultimate Contagious Disease
- STOICISM FOR DUMMIES
- Don’t Be Scared!
- WHAT CAN YOU CONTROL, WHAT CAN YOU NOT CONTROL?
- HOW YOU CAN CONQUER FEAR
- YOU’RE STRONGER THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE.
- EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
- WHY AREN’T THINGS WORSE?
- My Philosophy on Masculinity
- A Riskier Life is a Better Life #philosophy #stoicism
- How to Creatively Flourish in Life
- Introduction to Stoicism
- How to Become Stronger
- How to Conquer Depression With Photography
- What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger
- How to Respect Yourself
- How to Believe in Yourself
- How to Steer Fear
- How to Conquer Pessimism
- How to Conquer Anxiety
- How to Overcome Your Fear of People
- How to Be Optimistic
- Why I Don’t Take My Anger Seriously
- HOW TO BECOME MORE POWERFUL
- POSITIVITY.
- HOW TO BECOME SUPERHUMAN
- How to Give a Fuck Less
- ALL IN.
- Why I Cut My Dad Out of My Life.
- Your iPhone Only Has 5% Battery Left.
- How not to give a FUCK about your REPUTATION
- WHAT IS A HUMAN?
- HAPPINESS.
- The Regret Minimization Framework in Photography and Life
- How to Be a HERO
- Conquer Your Fears by Making Fear Your Slave
- Rule Circumstances; Don’t Let Your Circumstances Rule You
- How to Love Yourself
- How to Turn Shit into Gold
- Your Parents Fuck You Up
- Immortality
- What Kills You Makes You Stronger
- How to Be Patient
- How to Conquer Anger
- How to Bounce Back in Life
- How to Overcome Resistance
- Nothing Unlimited is Good; Nothing Good is Unlimited
- You Have No Limits
- Can 1’s and 0’s Hurt You?
- The Envious Moment is Flying Now
- Tomorrow We’ll Sail the Wide Seas Again
- How to Forgive Others
- Focus on Your Actions, Not the Results
- Everything Will Be Alright
- How to Be a Stoic Street Photographer
- How to Be a Spartan Photographer
- How to Overcome Your Fears in Life
- How to Stop Worrying in Life
- How to Use Photography as Self-Therapy
- How to Free Your Soul From Disturbance
- 3 Stoic Techniques that Can Help You Gain Tranquility
- Can People Weaker than You Hurt You?
- Does a Doctor Get Angry at a Crazy Patient?
- Own Nothing
The Stoic Masters
Learn from the master stoics:
Dominate street photography:
STREET PHOTOGRAPHY 101
- HOW TO BECOME A BETTER STREET PHOTOGRAPHER
- Street Photography Mastery
- How I Became the Greatest Street Photographer Alive
- Antifragile Photography
- How to Conquer Your Fears in Street Photography
- INSANELY AUDACIOUS AND BOLD
- 5 Simple Street Photography Techniques
- STREET PHOTOGRAPHER.
- The Street Photographer Ideal
- 50 Street Photography Tips, Techniques and Ideas
- Street Photography Values
- STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DOESN’T NEED TO HAVE PEOPLE IN IT.
- Why Street Photography is So Great
- WHY BECOME A STREET PHOTOGRAPHER?
- Society Photography, Not “Street” Photography
- How to Street Photography
- STREET PHOTOGRAPHY OPTIONALITY.
- 10 Street Photography Tips
- The Street Photographer as the Apex Photographer
- Street Photography & Adrenaline
- STREETTOGS STARTING GUIDE
- 50 Street Photography Tips by ERIC KIM
- What I Wish I Knew If I Started Street Photography All Over Again
- Photograph like it’s not a big deal
- Suburb Street Photography
- What is Our Personal Motivation Behind Street Photography?
- WHY I’M SO PASSIONATE ABOUT STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
- Personal Street Photography
- STREET PHOTOGRAPHY AS A PRACTICE.
- Pandemic Street Photography
- AIRPORT STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
- How to Shoot Street Photography Right Now
- Towards a More Independent Street Photography Approach
- How Street Photography Improves Your Life
- How to Tell Stories in Your Street Photos
- Face Street Photography
- How to Start Shooting Street Photography
- How to Shoot Street Photography During a Pandemic
- 7 Street Photography Assignment Ideas
STREET PHOTOGRAPHY STARTER KIT
Master street photography with STREET PHOTOGRAPHY STARTER KIT.
STREET PHOTOGRAPHY 101
If you’re new to street photography, start here:
- The Ultimate Street Photography Tutorial
- Street Photography 101 Tutorial
- 100 Lessons From the Masters of Street Photography
- How to Shoot Street Photography
Brave New Street Photography
- 10 Lessons I’ve Learned from Street Photography
- SKIN IN THE GAME: STREET PHOTOGRAPHY ETHICS
- The Beauty of Mundane Happenings
- Humans and Environments
- Define Street Photography for Yourself
- Street Photography of People You Know
- Street Photography Composition Ideas
- How to Shoot Political Photography
- Social Photography
- Street Photography Lifestyle
- Why Street Photography is So Fun
- Street Photography for Mental Health
- How to Become a Street Photography Sharpshooter
- How to Shoot Kid Street Photography
- STREET PHOTO MANUAL
- Street Photography is an Approach, a Technique, and an Ethos
Street Photographs
- How to Shoot Street Photography with Dads and Kids
- HOW I BECAME SUCH A GREAT STREET PHOTOGRAPHER
- Use Quarantine as an Opportunity to Pick up Film Photography
- Hong Kong Street Photography by ERIC KIM
Street Photography Philosophy
- Brave New Street Photographer
- How to Talk to Strangers
- How to Shoot More Dynamic Street Photographs
- WHY I LOVE ARCHITECTURE AND STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
- Why Street Photography Brings Me So Much Joy
- How to Shoot Street Photography Video
- How to Shoot Street Photography in the Brave New COVID World
- The Future for Street Photography
- ALL STREET PHOTOGRAPHS ARE GOOD PHOTOGRAPHS.
- AMERICA by KIM
- Street Photography in a Non-Travel World?
- How to Shoot Street Photography During COVID-19
- You’ve Never Shot Photography Until You’ve Shot Street Photography
- Xenophilia: Love of Strangers
- My Street Photography Philosophy
- Why Street Photography is Important for Society
- HOW STREET PHOTOGRAPHY CAN CHANGE THE WORLD
- STREET PHOTOGRAPHY IS ABOUT LOVING ALL PEOPLE
- Real Life People vs Abstract People
- Is it OK to Piss Off or Annoy People in Photography?
- ANTI PURISM IN STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
- Street Photography of People You Know
- Street Photography is Courage
- MY STREET PHOTOGRAPHY PHILOSOPHY
- Street Photography Motivation from ERIC KIM
- I AM STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
- WHY TALK TO STRANGERS?
- Why Street Photography is Supreme
- How to Make Great Street Photos
- Street Photography Ideas by ERIC KIM
- Why Street Photography?
- The Street Photographer’s Soul
- How to Become a Fearless Street Photographer
- Black and White or Color for Travel Street Photography?
- Street Photographers are Adrenaline Junkies
- How to Master Street Photography
- Almost Anything and Everything is Street Photography
- Advice for Aspiring Street Photographers
- Street Photography Sociology
- Why There’s No Right or Wrong Way to Shoot Street Photography
- The Street Photographer as a Soldier-Artist
- Why Street Photography is the Best Photography
- Street Photography is a Way of Life
- How to Conquer Anxiety
- Street Photography is Art with People
Street Photography Articles
- How to Edit and Sequence a Photography Project
- Practical Street Photography Tips
- 5 Simple Street Photography Assignments
- Street Photography Composition Ideas
- 10 Advanced Street Photography Tips and Techniques
- Daredevil Photography
- Lingering Technique: How to Work the Scene in Street Photography
- Why Photograph People?
- No Guilt in Street Photography
- Street Photography is Hard.
- Street Photography Inspiration
- 5 Simple Tips How to Shoot Better Street Photos
- 10 Super Simple Street Photography Tips
- How to Shoot Head-On in Street Photography
- The Decapitation Technique in Street Photography
- Be Brazen in Street Photography
- How to Shoot Better Street Photographs
- Drive-By Technique in Street Photography
- How to Shoot a Wedding Like a Street Photographer
- Street Photography is 80% Risk Taking!
- 10 Simple Street Photography Principles
- 5 Fundamental Street Photography Principles
- 10 Street Photography Assignment Ideas
- How to Tell Stories in Street Photography
Street Photography Techniques
- How to Shoot Head-On Street Photography
- Street Photography Composition Tips
- In Praise of Street Vlogging
- How to Shoot Video Street Photography
- Street Photography Technique: The Stalker Technique
- Photography Technique: Take Photos While Walking!
- New Tokyo GoPro Fusion POV Street Photography YouTube Videos
- ERIC KIM Street Photography Tips and Technique
- The 360 Degree Technique in Street Photography
- How to Work the Scene in Street Photography
- How to Shoot Layers and the Bookend Technique in Street Photography
- Street Photography Technique: GET CLOSE & FILL THE FRAME + GOLDEN DIAGONAL COMPOSITION
- Street Photography Techniques: The 3D Scan/360 Degree Technique (Shooting Head-on) and Holding Your Camera High in the Air and Point Downwards (and Use Your LCD Screen to Frame the Scene)
- The Walking Alongside Someone and Shooting Until They Notice You Street Photography Technique
- SUPER INNOVATIVE NEW GOPRO STREET PHOTOGRAPHY POV EXPERIENCE: Cutoff Technique, Shooting Head-on with Flash, and Slow-Motion on RICOH GR II at 28mm
- How to Shoot a Street Portrait: Tips, Technique, and GoPRO POV Tutorial
- Street Photography Technique/Composition: Leading Lines and Crouching Down Low
- How to Shoot Layers in Street Photography: GoPRO POV Video Composition Tutorial
- How to Shoot Street Photography with a 24mm Lens
- The Cutoff Technique in Street Photography
- THE CUTOFF TECHNIQUE IN STREET PHOTOGRAPHY: GOPRO POV KYOTO ERIC KIM
Street Photography Ideas
- Street Photography is Like Fishing
- Why Do We Feel Nervous Shooting Street Photography?
- Street Photography Philosophy
- Everyday Street Photography
- Why Street Photography?
- Why You Must Follow Your Own Voice in Street Photography
- How to Overcome Guilt in Street Photography
- 5 Dynamic Off-Center Street Photography Compositions
- 5 Night Street Photography Composition Tips
- How to Talk to Strangers
- How to Overcome Fear in Street Photography
- Street Photography Empowerment
- Eric Kim’s Top 30 Street Photography Tips
- How to Shoot Street Photography on a 35mm Lens
- 7 Tips How to Conquer Your Fears of Shooting Street Photography
- Street Photography Lifestyle
- How to Use Tactful Flattery in Street Photography
- How to Conquer Social Anxiety With Street Photography
- Street Photography Secrets Debunked
- 10 Dynamic Street Photography Tips
- The Benefits of Shooting Street Photography
- The Street Photography Manifesto
- My Experience Shooting Digital Medium Format in Street Photography
- Why Do You Feel Guilty Shooting Street Photography?
- Improvise in Street Photography
- Ethics in Street Photography
Street Photography Composition Techniques
- 10 Inspirational Sergio Larrain Compositions
- 5 Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography Composition Lessons
- Street Photography Technique: Overlap
- Street Photography Composition Lesson: Chunking
- The Fishing Technique in Street Photography
STREET NOTES.
Push yourself out of your comfort zone with STREET NOTES: Mobile Edition.
STREET NOTES PAPER EDITION ON AMAZON >
LEARN FROM THE MASTERS OF STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
Timeless wisdom from the masters of street photography.
FUNDAMENTALS OF STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
- The Psychology of Street Photography
- Fundamentals to Street Photography
- How to Conquer Fear in Street Photography
- Street Photography Secrets
- NEO STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
- Street Photography Lenses
- Street Photography Settings
- Street Photography Techniques
- Street Photography Ideas
- CLOSER.
- CLEAN BACKGROUND
Street Photography Inspiration
- How to Enter the Street Photography Zone
- Simple Street Photography Tips
- How to Defuse Confrontations in Street Photography
- How to Make Controversial Street Photographs
- Street Photography Project Ideas
- How to Make Good Street Photos
- Is Defining “STREET PHOTOGRAPHY” a Good Thing?
- STREET PHOTOGRAPHY “RULES” TO BREAK
- Walking Meditation in Street Photography
- 10 COMMANDMENTS OF STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
- Street Photography is Improvisation
- In Praise of Randomness in Street Photography
- How to Become a Fearless Photographer
- How to Make Better Street Photographs
- 12 ERIC KIM Street Photography Assignments
- Meaningful Street Photography
- 25 Street Photography Tips by ERIC KIM
Beginner Street Photography Articles
Get started in street photography:
Definitions in Street Photography
- Visual Sociology Street Photography
- Why Street Photography?
- What is Street Photography?
- Why Shoot Street Photography?
- The History of Street Photography
How to Shoot Street Photography
- How to Shoot Street Photography
- Street Portraits 101 by ERIC KIM
- The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Street Photography
- 70 Street Photography Tips for Beginners
- 15 Street Photography Techniques and Tips
- A Letter to My 18 Year Old Self: If I Started Street Photography All Over Again
Street Photography Equipment
- What is the Best Camera for Street Photography?
- What is the Best Lens for Street Photography?
- What to Consider When Buying a Camera
How to Conquer Your Fears in Street Photography
See all articles to conquer your fears >
Intermediate Street Photography Articles
Take your street photography to the next level:
- How to Become a Stoic Street Photographer
- The 10 Principles of Good Street Photography
- 7 Tips How to Capture “The Decisive Moment” in Street Photography
- The Importance of Social Skills in Street Photography
- The Street Photography Code of Ethics
- “Taking” vs “Making” Photos in Street Photography
- Follow Your Gut in Street Photography
- 10 Reasons Why You Should Never Chimp While Shooting Street Photography
Advanced Street Photography Articles
Find deeper meaning in your street photography:
- How to Master Street Photography
- How to Be a Zen Street Photographer
- Personal Street Photography
- The “Bookend” Technique in Street Photography
- Street Photography is Self-Therapy
- Zen in the Art of Street Photography
- Taoism and Street Photography
- How to Find Your Style in Street Photography
- Follow Your Gut in Street Photography
Street Photography Tips & Technique
Learn how to shoot on the streets:
- 70 Street Photography Tips for Beginners
- 15 Street Photography Techniques and Tips
- Flash Street Photography Guide
- Take More Risks
- Don’t Think About Composition When You’re Shooting Street Photography
- 7 Tips How to Capture “The Decisive Moment” in Street Photography
- 7 Tips How to Make a Great Street Photograph
- Tokyo Street Photography Contact Sheets
- Video: Why it is Important to “Work the Scene” in Street Photography
- Shoot Less, Better
- Make Shitty Photos
- Shoot Effortlessly
- 10 Tips for Candid Street Photography
- 103 Lessons I’ve Learned From Street Photography
See all street photography tips and techniques >
Street Photography Guides
In-depth guides on street photography:
- How to Shoot Candid Street Photography
- How to Shoot Street Portraits with Permission
- How to Shoot Black and White Street Photography
- How to Shoot Color Street Photography
- How to Shoot Street Portraits with Permission
- How to Shoot Layers in Street Photography
- How to Shoot Urban Landscapes
Street Photography Equipment
The best equipment for street photography:
- What is the Best Camera for Street Photography?
- What is the Best Lens for Street Photography?
- Why I Love Cameras with Non-Interchangeable Lenses
- The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide for Cameras in Street Photography
- What to Consider When Buying a Camera for Street Photography
- In Street Photography, The Smaller the Camera, the Better
- Why Sharpness is Overrated in Street Photography
- How to Shoot Street Photography on a DSLR
Street Photography Editing and Workflow
- Video: Introduction to Editing, Processing, and Workflow in Lightroom
- How to Edit (Choose Your Best Photos) in Street Photography
- How Studying Contact Sheets Can Make You a Better Street Photographer
- Debunking the “Myth of the Decisive Moment”
How to Start a Street Photography Project
- Free E-Book: The Street Photography Project Manual
- How to Start Your Own Street Photography Project
- How to Come Up With a Personal Photography Project Idea
Learn From the Masters of Street Photography
“He without a past has no future.”
Start here:
- Why Study the Masters of Photography?
- Great Female Master Photographers
- Cheat Sheet of the Masters of Photography
- 100 Lessons From the Masters of Street Photography
- Beginner’s Guide to the Masters of Street Photography
- Download All Articles >
The Masters of Photography
Classics never die:
- Alfred Stieglitz
- Alec Soth
- Alex Webb
- Alexey Brodovitch
- Anders Petersen
- Andre Kertesz
- Ansel Adams
- Araki
- Blake Andrews
- Bruce Davidson
- Bruce Gilden
- Constantine Manos
- Daido Moriyama
- Dan Winters
- David Alan Harvey
- David Hurn
- Diane Arbus
- Dorothea Lange
- Elliott Erwitt
- Eugene Atget
- Eugene Smith
- Fan Ho
- Garry Winogrand
- Gordon Parks
- Helen Levitt
- Henri Cartier-Bresson
- Irving Penn
- Jacob Aue Sobol
- Jeff Mermelstein
- Joel Meyerowitz
- Joel Sternfeld
- Josef Koudelka / Part 2
- Josh White
- Lee Friedlander
- Lisette Model
- Magnum Contact Sheets
- Magnum Photographers
- Mark Cohen
- Martin Parr
- Martine Franck
- Mary Ellen Mark
- Rene Burri
- Richard Avedon
- Richard Kalvar
- Robert Capa
- Robert Frank
- Saul Leiter
- Sergio Larrain
- Sebastião Salgado
- Shomei Tomatsu
- Stephen Shore
- The History of Street Photography
- Todd Hido
- Tony Ray-Jones
- Trent Parke
- Vivian Maier
- Walker Evans
- Weegee
- William Eggleston
- William Klein
- Zoe Strauss
Free Downloads
Free Street Photography Books
Distilled information on street photography:
- STREET PHOTOGRAPHY MANUAL by ERIC KIM
- The Art of Street Photography
- 100 Lessons From the Masters of Street Photography
- Street Photography Contact Sheets
- Street Photography 101
- Street Photography 102
- Film Street Photography Manual
- The Street Photography Composition Manual
- The Street Portrait Manual
- 31 Days to Overcome Your Fear in Street Photography
- Zen in the Art of Street Photography
For more resources on photography, Start Here >
HOW TO GET JACKED.
You in your prime RIGHT NOW!
Not the past— but today!
AI VISION
I think i’ve discovered the next $10 trillion industry; AI, artificial intelligence etc.
My vision
I have some grand visions for AI:
First, some sort of photo creation AI, or some sort of AI that helps you cull down your photos. for example, I currently have a backlog of about 10,000 photos, not really sure when I’m going to have the time to look through all of them.
Some sort of AI photo curator division is you could just feed it 10,000 images, JPEG, and have it simply sort and filter it down to your most interesting or best shots. You can give a custom instructions, and it will learn your preferences overtime.
Also, writing. It seems that a lot of writers have issues with “writers block“, which means that they have a vision of what they want to write, but, what holds them back is that somehow they get stuck somewhere.
A very simple solution is having AI help you write more. Some thoughts include more robust and accurate voice recognition models, which allow writers to simply voice dictate their thoughts and write, instead of having to use the agency of a keyboard.
A camera without a shutter button?
Another fun idea that I have is some sort of notion of a camera without a shutter button. Kind of like the narrative clip, or the Google clips; I sent you some sort of device that you have mounted on you, and it automatically shoots photos when it sees something that is significant.
I still think it needs to be some sort of standalone device, because the big issue is with a clip, there are still human concerns about privacy, being creepy etc.
The future for phones?
Whether we like it or not, it looks like we are stuck with this phone analogy. I hesitate calling it a “device”— this doesn’t really mean anything. We should just call it an iPhone; essentially everyone in America at this point has an iPhone.
What should a phone be?
We gotta make AI on phones better.
For example this is where I think Google is doing a very good job, they are actually using AI to try to make her lives more helpful.
For example, this call screening technology. The general idea is that if you get a unknown phone call, I hate picking it up. I hate scammers. It seems that Google AI is very good at screening these annoying phone calls.
What I actually think that the most critical thing about AI in phones is that there needs to be some sort of thing which allows you to know whether a certain phone call is critical or not, at this given moment.
For example, the biggest issue that we have is getting interrupted. Getting distracted, notifications etc.
In fact, I have a bold suggestion for Apple or maybe even Google:
When you first set up your phone, by default have all of the notifications off, and then later, give the user the ability to enable them all.
Or another simple suggestion is when your first setting up your phone, give a prompt to the user asking them whether they would like to have all notifications on or off by default, and or give them the ability to customize which notifications they define important.
for example, all of my notifications on my iPhone are disabled it besides FaceTime. This is a good filter because the only really critical person I need to contact me is Cindy. And she knows that if it is urgent thing, she knows how to FaceTime me.
By default I turn off text message notifications because 99.99% of them are not urgent nor interesting. Also from a pure efficiency and productivity perspective, it is far more efficient and productive to just give someone a phone call or FaceTime instead of texting them back-and-forth.
chatGPT phone
My idea is that open AI and ChatGPT should make their own standalone phone. This might be the next trillion dollar company. Or maybe open AI could collaborate with Microsoft and build their ChatGPT phone on the windows phone platform concept.
Siri is pretty good, but it looks like ChatGPT is at least a quadrillion times better. If you could naturally integrate both ChatGPT directly into the phone, the tight integration of both software and hardware and AI, I think you have hit a gold mine.
For more thoughts email me at eric@erickim.com
Other ways that AI could be very useful
Let me give you another example. Let us say that I recorded a vlog and I want to directly upload it to YouTube and my website, and also extract the audio file, and uploaded to my website and my podcast platform etc. I should be able to do this all via AI script, without the need of any other foreign intercession.
EK FLEX
Physiology Thoughts
Something I have cared for a lot ever since I was a fat kid in New York, was diet health physiology and everything in between.
Ever since I was 11 to 12 years old, fat with a triple chin, I have literally experimented with every single diet out there, save this nonsensical vegetarian and vegan trend.
Why does this matter?
I met this cool guy the other day, at the Phils coffee shop in downtown Culver City, named Sodi (his website is https://stedmanhalliday.com/).
We had an interesting chat about how fitness is so critical, especially with all of these silicon valley tech utopists who just think of their body as an afterthought.
I vibe with Stedman Halliday because how many different reasons.
First, the focus on recovery as a first thought is a good one. For example, another day when I was really really tired and exhausted, instead of just taking a shower like I typically do, I filled up the bathtub with really really really really really hot water, and had a really really hot bath. It seems that the trend is towards ice baths, ice plunges etc., but also, I think taking insanely hot baths is also a good idea.
Why? To be able to tolerate an insanely hot bath, literally on the edge of boiling hot water, is also an effective bodily turbo charger. To me it is like my MacGyver way of harnessing the power of the hot sauna, without having to go to the gym.
In fact, maybe having a bathtub might be one of the greatest luxuries in your living situation. Rather than thinking of taking a really really hot bath as a frivolous luxury, maybe we should think of it almost like drinking more coffee or caffeine.
Food
Currently what I am doing, and what I have done ever since I was living in Vietnam in 2017, which is almost 6 years now, is simple:
Intermittent fasting throughout the day, this means no breakfast, no lunch, only one massive 100% carnivore dinner.
During the day I only drink tapwater, black coffee, that’s it.
And when I break my fast and eat dinner, which could arrange anywhere in between 6 PM and 10 PM, I strive to eat at least 4 to 5 pounds of beef or lamb.
Achilles and Chiron the centaur
Another great thing I have learned from ChatGPT is how great wonderful and effective ChatGPT is, at least 1 trillion times better than Google. In fact, my current thought is short google; ChatGPT is at least 1 billion times more insightful and accurate in terms of being able to accurately Find information about anything.
For example, a simple heuristic:
The best calling card is now, not to tell people to Google you, but instead, to ChatGPT you!
Why? I’m starting to have this low-key suspicion that Google is doing some sort of behind the counter deals with individuals, and somehow tweaking they are all rhythm for subjective ends.
However with ChatGPT, it is less biased, less meddling.
For example, get ChatGPT on your iPhone or iPad, just pay the $20 for the subscription model, you could cancel it anytime, and just ChatGPT:
Who is ERIC KIM?
The new phrase:
Just ChatGPT me bro!
My thoughts and experiments
I think the biggest issue with diet health physiology and nutrition is that people are so subjective, and also, there is far too many politics, ethics and morality behind it.
For example, I never trust anybody who says:
Don’t eat meat, it’s bad for the planet!
What? Do you know what else is bad for the planet? Your Amazon prime subscription, Netflix, YouTube, your iPhone and iPhone Pro, your MacBook pros, your Tesla, your Range Rover etc.
Simple heuristic:
Never trust nobody who makes commentary about the planet and has either a Netflix subscription, Amazon prime subscription, or owns a car, any card, irregardless of gas or electric. Or watches YouTube. Or has an iPhone, iPhone Pro, and has Instagram Facebook, etc.
Honestly it is all bad for the planet.
My immortal and ethical thought is this:
Don’t do what is “best for the planet“, do what you believe is best for you.
Is the planet made for men, or is man-made for the planet?
Body shaming?
I have observed a funny reverse trend; man is not permitted to walk around, topless in public, show off his body and muscles, and also, not allowed to wear short shorts, or show off his crotch bulge.
I find this highly paradoxical, because nowadays, women are permitted to show off all their body parts! Even nowadays in LA, seeing a woman wear some sort of translucent white shirt or tank top, nipples popping through is not really a big deal anymore. I think this is a good train; there’s this weird quote for men and women that this is seen as a taboo, yet, it seems that most men watch pornography and secret, just ask somebody for fun, “When you turn on Google incognito, what do you really look at?”
Or—
What do you think of Maria Ozawa?
Or,
What do you torrent on Pirate Bay, when you turn on your VPN?
The logic of 100% carnivore diet
Some nuances:
First, what is it that Achilles was fed as a child by his personal trainer, Chiron the Centaur? Legend has it that he was fed entrails, which included bone marrow, hearts, and other offal matter.
I also have an orthodox theory that cholesterol, dietary food cholesterol, is a natural steroid.
I believe the new ones here is critical, because people make this foolish calculus:
If I consume more dietary cholesterol, cholesterol in my food, then my blood HDL, bad cholesterol blood levels will go up, and I will eventually have a heart attack and die.
Also fat –
if you consume more dietary fat, or saturated fat, you will put on more body fat.
However, this ain’t true. I think the big issue is that in today’s world, or modern day English, the semantic lexicon issues is confusing.
Just try it out!
Whenever I get to Korean barbecue, all eat Korean barbecue, my favorite food items to consume include all the innards; beef large intestine, beef liver, beef, beef tongue, etc.
People say that eating meat is “bad for you“, but what about organ meats? Just think about that.
Training thoughts
So the question is this; what is the best way to train?
My personal thought is towards some sort of Indian spartan, ancient Greek notion. The thoughts I’ve been thinking:
How did or how would the ancient Greeks or Spartan train?
First and foremost, they’re very very interesting thing is that most depictions of these great heroes and demigods is not having super super big chests, therefore the simple thought is that perhaps benchpress is a bad idea.
What is more notable about their physiology and stature?
First, how upright they stand. Second, they never have a shirt on. Third, how massive their legs, back, and shoulders are.
My recent experimentations with training include heavy sandbag training; I ordered a 400 pound sandbag on the roguefitness.com website, and I just been going to the local park and filling it up with playground sand.
Second, Farmer’s Carry. I ordered these farmers carry handles on Titan.fitness, and it is very interesting! The skill is not just picking it up, but walking with it.
For example, it is one thing to lift 4 plates, it is another to farmers walk and carry 4 plates for the distance.
Another thing I have observed about lifting a heavy sand back off the floor, crouching down picking it up, shouldering it, or holding it to my chest with my fingers intertwined, and walking it for a long distance is it really strengthens my triceps, my fingers and my grip and hand strength, my foot strength, my feet, as well as my abs, obliques, and back. In fact I felt more sore carrying around I have sandbag than I did atlas lifting 1000 pounds at the gym.
Train like atlas
One of the big innovations I did while I was in Orange County was my notion of the atlas lift; loading up the barbell with as much weight as you can, and just lifting up and standing up. No squatting involved.
In fact, it looks like that my training style is starting to trend more towards a strongman concept; just lifting really really heavy stuff, and doing it in a more old-school way.
For example, atlas stones. To be able to just lift up a very very very very heavy boulder, and presumably throw it at somebody, is an interesting idea. This is what Achilles did; in some of the fight scenes of the Iliad, Homer would write:
Achilles would lift up a massive stone, that which barely two strong men could lift, throw it at his enemy, and the boulder hit their hip, and black death descended upon them.
Also something I have been observing is that perhaps heavy sandbag training is a good idea because it is “safe”, and also, more accessible. Anyone could buy a cheap sandbag on Amazon, and then just go to a local playground and fill it up with sand.
Now what?
Ever since moving to LA, I’ve become more and more reticent to join the gym. Why?
First, I prefer to be outdoors.
Second, I don’t like wearing a shirt.
Third, hygiene.
Working out at the park, in a parking lot, in your garage, or outside is not ideal, but, it is more interesting and innovative.
A simple thought is to just troll amazon, Titan.fitness, or the roguefitness.com website and buy a lot of fun weight lifting equipment! My simple thought is only procure equipment that you could easily throw in your trunk, because it is fun to be able to just put in your trunk, drive to your local park and work out there.
Now what?
Some more thoughts:
- Bear lifestyle: Apparently bears walk 50 miles a day. What if we humans did the same?
- Photography health and fitness is all connected: why? If you do not feel well, you’ll have no in motivation to make photos. My very simple thought is that first, focus on your health and wellness, and then the guitar will come naturally! Even a simple thought is being able to do a deep “as to grass“ squat is beneficial in photography, to get all the angles.
- If you work in cinema, or cinematography, it seems that handling these camera rigs is insanely arduous and also very physical. If you look like a bodybuilder, and had the strength of a demigod, or look like a strong man, or look like ERIC KIM, certainly wouldn’t this help you be a more capable camera operator?
Photo assignments
Here this is where I think shooting selfies of yourself, topless if you’re a man, or in the sports bra for women is a good idea, because Vitar is a good way to keep you motivated and on track with your fitness diet health and physiology.
These are my very very very very very simple suggestions: mostly via negative.
If you want to lower your body fat percentage, simple things to do which include:
- Don’t need breakfast or lunch, only dinner. During the day drink lots of tapwater, black coffee with nothing added, or green tea.
- Just experiment; don’t need any fruit or vegetables, starches, leafy greens, etc. No nuts.
- Experiment with 100% carnivore diet, or maybe 100% organ meat diet. Only beef heart, beef intestine, either large or small, beef kidneys, beef liver, beef tongue. If you don’t like organ meats, just eat 100% breast-fed ground beef, get it at Costco or Aldi or somewhere cheap. The percentages which taste good are 80/20 or 75/15– I like the wagyu ground beef at Costco.
- Quit alcohol, weed, beer, drugs, EDM, festivals, bars, restaurants, etc.
- Quit almond butter, avocados, whole grains, fruits, fruit juices, fake sugar supplements, real sugar, starches, coke, Coke Zero, pre workout powder, protein powder etc.
When you break your fast aim for 5-6 pounds of meat a dinner.
How to channel your wellness?
Then the simple thought is once you are very well, how do you wish to channel your wellness?
Ultimately, I don’t think it is fitness for the sake of fitness, but rather, the fitter and stronger you become, the more adept you will become as a thinker, writer, creator, photographer etc.
Think more, become more.
Also
Photo ideas
Zen photography assignment: strive to make the most minimalistic Zen photo, and upload your best Zen photo to arsbeta.com
ChatGPT experiments
I love AI. Download ChatGPT to your iPhone or iPad, and upgrade to the paid subscription, an experiment with it for a month.
Upload your photos to it, and ask ChatGPT to give you feedback on your photos, or you could upload three photos, and just ask it which of the three he thinks is the best.
Don’t miss out on AI; this is the biggest thing to hit the planet ever since the Internet!
Diversify
Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket, it is good to have many different baskets. Why? If there is a single chokepoint or a single point of failure, this is not good.
I think the best way to think and approach things is just assume and predict and know that sooner or later, it will break, go down, become inaccessible, etc.
A simple thing that you could do with websites is this: how many different mirrors of your website, on different platforms. For example, build wordpress.org websites on Amazon web services, build it with blue host.com, ionos.com, The only thing I would probably not build on is Google, which always deprecates their old technology, and has a bias to discontinue products.
Also WordPress.com, maybe even Tumblr.
Propagate all the platforms!
Think islands, web, webs, multiple redundancies.
Train with EK
Random — if you live in LA and want to train with me, just shoot me an email at eric@erickim.com
Stoic training, stoicism and physiology?
Another fun idea that I have is that maybe there is in fact a link between stoicism, physiology, and also bodily training.
Why?
First, let us consider our physiological response to stressors environment etc.
Example, when I get angry, it is a physiological response. I feel the cortisol and stress entering my face, and enlarges my eyeballs, I get a huge shot of adrenaline etc.
Therefore, my simple thought is if you want to become a true stoic, the training must be physical, physiological.
Also, fear. What is fear? Fear is also manifested as adrenaline, as well as stress hormones, chemicals in your body, etc.
To conquer fear, and to become a true stoic, I believe it is all about mastering your physiology, mastering your stress hormones and responses etc.
It is all about training
ASKESIS an ancient Greek, the same notion of aesthetic, or aestheticism is rooted in the notion of training. As guesses, becoming harder, becoming stronger
Even our best friend Frederick Nita says ultimately the goal is to become the hammer, the diamond. To not be soft and yielding, but to create, become harder.
Why is it that softness is considered a virtue in today’s world?
A funny observation that I’ve made is that in today’s world, to be soft, yielding, open minded, flexible etc. is seen as a virtue. Yet I find this very paradoxical and little bit contradictory in the sense that it is all context dependent;
For example, racism, Nazis, holocaust deniers, anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic or anti-African-American people; shouldn’t we be maximally intolerant to these people? A zero tolerance rule here is good.
My personal thought is that in order to become more virtuous, we actually must become harder. To become more unyielding, to become more strict, and more harsh.
For myself, even though there is a lot of things about Korean culture which I deem as bad, one of the good things that come out of Korean culture is that the man is expected to be hard, strong, stoic, never showing his emotions or feelings etc.
Why do I believe this is a good thing?
Certainly if you grow up in America, sooner or later you’re going to naturally learn to be open minded, flexible, etc. So I think that we also need the antipodes; do not just be soft and yielding and flexible, but also to become harder and stronger and more staunch.
“Never say no more than once, if you really mean it” – NASSIM TALEB
Physiology Thoughts
Something I have cared for a lot ever since I was a fat kid in New York, was diet health physiology and everything in between.
Ever since I was 11 to 12 years old, that with a triple chin, I have literally experimented with every single diet out there, save this nonsensical vegetarian and vegan trend.
Why does this matter?
I met this cool guy the other day, at the Phils coffee shop in downtown Culver City, named Sodi (his website is https://stedmanhalliday.com/).
We had an interesting chat about how fitness is so critical, especially with all of these silicon valley tech utopists who just think of their body as an afterthought.
I vibe with Stedman Halliday because how many different reasons.
First, the focus on recovery as a first thought is a good one. For example, another day when I was really really tired and exhausted, instead of just taking a shower like I typically do, I filled up the bathtub with really really really really really hot water, and had a really really hot bath. It seems that the trend is towards ice baths, ice plunges etc., but also, I think taking insanely hot baths is also a good idea.
Why? To be able to tolerate an insanely hot bath, literally on the edge of boiling hot water, is also an effective bodily turbo charger. To me it is like my MacGyver way of harnessing the power of the hot sauna, without having to go to the gym.
In fact, maybe having a bathtub might be one of the greatest luxuries in your living situation. Rather than thinking of taking a really really hot bath as a frivolous luxury, maybe we should think of it almost like drinking more coffee or caffeine.
Food
Currently what I am doing, and what I have done ever since I was living in Vietnam in 2017, which is almost 6 years now, is simple:
Intermittent fasting throughout the day, this means no breakfast, no lunch, only one massive 100% carnivore dinner.
During the day I only drink tapwater, black coffee, that’s it.
And when I break my fast and eat dinner, which could arrange anywhere in between 6 PM and 10 PM, I strive to eat at least 4 to 5 pounds of beef or lamb.
Achilles and Chiron the centaur
Another great thing I have learned from ChatGPT is how great wonderful and effective ChatGPT is, at least 1 trillion times better than Google. In fact, my current thought is short google; ChatGPT is at least 1 billion times more insightful and accurate in terms of being able to accurately Find information about anything.
For example, a simple heuristic:
The best calling card is now, not to tell people to Google you, but instead, to ChatGPT you!
Why? I’m starting to have this low-key suspicion that Google is doing some sort of behind the counter deals with individuals, and somehow tweaking they are all rhythm for subjective ends.
However with ChatGPT, it is less biased, less meddling.
For example, get ChatGPT on your iPhone or iPad, just pay the $20 for the subscription model, you could cancel it anytime, and just ChatGPT:
Who is ERIC KIM?
The new phrase:
Just ChatGPT me bro!
My thoughts and experiments
I think the biggest issue with diet health physiology and nutrition is that people are so subjective, and also, there is far too many politics, ethics and morality behind it.
For example, I never trust anybody who says:
Don’t eat meat, it’s bad for the planet!
What? Do you know what else is bad for the planet? Your Amazon prime subscription, Netflix, YouTube, your iPhone and iPhone Pro, your MacBook pros, your Tesla, your Range Rover etc.
Simple heuristic:
Never trust nobody who makes commentary about the planet and has either a Netflix subscription, Amazon prime subscription, or owns a car, any card, irregardless of gas or electric. Or watches YouTube. Or has an iPhone, iPhone Pro, and has Instagram Facebook, etc.
Honestly it is all bad for the planet.
My immortal and ethical thought is this:
Don’t do what is “best for the planet“, do what you believe is best for you.
Is the planet made for men, or is man-made for the planet?
Body shaming?
I have observed a funny reverse trend; man is not permitted to walk around, topless in public, show off his body and muscles, and also, not allowed to wear short shorts, or show off his crotch bulge.
I find this highly paradoxical, because nowadays, women are permitted to show off all their body parts! Even nowadays in LA, seeing a woman wear some sort of translucent white shirt or tank top, nipples popping through is not really a big deal anymore. I think this is a good train; there’s this weird quote for men and women that this is seen as a taboo, yet, it seems that most men watch pornography and secret, just ask somebody for fun, “When you turn on Google incognito, what do you really look at?”
Or—
What do you think of Maria Ozawa?
Or,
What do you torrent on Pirate Bay, when you turn on your VPN?
The logic of 100% carnivore diet
Some nuances:
First, what is it that Achilles was fed as a child by his personal trainer, Chiron the Centaur? Legend has it that he was fed entrails, which included bone marrow, hearts, and other offal matter.
I also have an orthodox theory that cholesterol, dietary food cholesterol, is a natural steroid.
I believe the new ones here is critical, because people make this foolish calculus:
If I consume more dietary cholesterol, cholesterol in my food, then my blood HDL, bad cholesterol blood levels will go up, and I will eventually have a heart attack and die.
Also fat –
if you consume more dietary fat, or saturated fat, you will put on more body fat.
However, this ain’t true. I think the big issue is that in today’s world, or modern day English, the semantic lexicon issues is confusing.
Just try it out!
Whenever I get to Korean barbecue, all eat Korean barbecue, my favorite food items to consume include all the innards; beef large intestine, beef liver, beef, beef tongue, etc.
People say that eating meat is “bad for you“, but what about organ meats? Just think about that.
Training thoughts
So the question is this; what is the best way to train?
My personal thought is towards some sort of Indian spartan, ancient Greek notion. The thoughts I’ve been thinking:
How did or how would the ancient Greeks or Spartan train?
First and foremost, they’re very very interesting thing is that most depictions of these great heroes and demigods is not having super super big chests, therefore the simple thought is that perhaps benchpress is a bad idea.
What is more notable about their physiology and stature?
First, how upright they stand. Second, they never have a shirt on. Third, how massive their legs, back, and shoulders are.
My recent experimentations with training include heavy sandbag training; I ordered a 400 pound sandbag on the roguefitness.com website, and I just been going to the local park and filling it up with playground sand.
Second, Farmer’s Carry. I ordered these farmers carry handles on Titan.fitness, and it is very interesting! The skill is not just picking it up, but walking with it.
For example, it is one thing to lift 4 plates, it is another to farmers walk and carry 4 plates for the distance.
Another thing I have observed about lifting a heavy sand back off the floor, crouching down picking it up, shouldering it, or holding it to my chest with my fingers intertwined, and walking it for a long distance is it really strengthens my triceps, my fingers and my grip and hand strength, my foot strength, my feet, as well as my abs, obliques, and back. In fact I felt more sore carrying around I have sandbag than I did atlas lifting 1000 pounds at the gym.
Train like atlas
One of the big innovations I did while I was in Orange County was my notion of the atlas lift; loading up the barbell with as much weight as you can, and just lifting up and standing up. No squatting involved.
In fact, it looks like that my training style is starting to trend more towards a strongman concept; just lifting really really heavy stuff, and doing it in a more old-school way.
For example, atlas stones. To be able to just lift up a very very very very heavy boulder, and presumably throw it at somebody, is an interesting idea. This is what Achilles did; in some of the fight scenes of the Iliad, Homer would write:
Achilles would lift up a massive stone, that which barely two strong men could lift, throw it at his enemy, and the boulder hit their hip, and black death descended upon them.
Also something I have been observing is that perhaps heavy sandbag training is a good idea because it is “safe”, and also, more accessible. Anyone could buy a cheap sandbag on Amazon, and then just go to a local playground and fill it up with sand.
Now what?
Ever since moving to LA, I’ve become more and more reticent to join the gym. Why?
First, I prefer to be outdoors.
Second, I don’t like wearing a shirt.
Third, hygiene.
Working out at the park, in a parking lot, in your garage, or outside is not ideal, but, it is more interesting and innovative.
A simple thought is to just troll amazon, Titan.fitness, or the roguefitness.com website and buy a lot of fun weight lifting equipment! My simple thought is only procure equipment that you could easily throw in your trunk, because it is fun to be able to just put in your trunk, drive to your local park and work out there.
Now what?
Some more thoughts:
- Bear lifestyle: Apparently bears walk 50 miles a day. What if we humans did the same?
- Photography health and fitness is all connected: why? If you do not feel well, you’ll have no in motivation to make photos. My very simple thought is that first, focus on your health and wellness, and then the guitar will come naturally! Even a simple thought is being able to do a deep “as to grass“ squat is beneficial in photography, to get all the angles.
- If you work in cinema, or cinematography, it seems that handling these camera rigs is insanely arduous and also very physical. If you look like a bodybuilder, and had the strength of a demigod, or look like a strong man, or look like ERIC KIM, certainly wouldn’t this help you be a more capable camera operator?