DALL-E 3

All made with my funny ideas and DALL-E 3

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF PHOTOGRAPHERS IN THE AGE OF AI?

So I have been having insane amounts of fun with ChatGPT, DALL-E, DALL-E 3, ChatGPT 4 (only available on the plus edition, only $20 a month!). To me, my thought is that it is the ultimate new creative tool in our creative tool kit as visual artists.

One of the great epiphanies that I had while in Kyoto was this notion of visual artist; that we photographers are not simply photographers, but we are visual artists. Which means that our approach and goal to things is not just photos or not just photos for the sake of photos, but instead… using photography and our camera as a tool to produce and create new visual artwork.

Until the Tesla AI humanoid bot can walk around as quickly and nimbly as you and take photos, you’re fine.

Something that people don’t understand and don’t get; no no no, robots and AI and these bots won’t take your job. My personal prediction is that even within 30 years, humanoid AI bots will still be quite mediocre; only good for doing boring tedious tasks like automation line work producing cars or Tesla cars, but for the most part, let us consider and think about how nimble and agile even a two-year, nine month year-old child is.

For example, Seneca. He is only two years, nine months old, and it is insane how coordinated he is, how agile he is, and how acrobatic he is. I have been teaching him funny things like jumping backwards, jumping sideways, doing downward up dogs etc.

I think it is insane that even late at night before he sleeps, he could still run around and prance around, with so much vivacity and pure energy. And also a very interesting thing that I’ve observed; whenever he wants to put something down or pick something up from the floor, he always squats! Full sumo squat, ass to grass. Always. He never bends over like adults. Maybe if we adults mimic the physical activity of children more, we will become better.

So what should we do?

Very simple. First, download the official ChatGPT app to your phone or iPad, and immediately subscribe to the $20 a month paid model. Personally speaking, I quit using Adobe Lightroom about three years ago, ever since they switched to the subscription model. But this openAI stuff… This new ChatGPT4, and DALL-E 3… this is effing insane. Contrary to popular belief, I think AI and ChatGPT is insanely underrated. This literally might be the best $20 you spend in your life.

For example, simple things you could do: once you have upgrade to the paid model, the paid subscription, you could select an image from your iPhone photo roll cameraroll, and you could ask ChatGPT to help analyze your photo, and give you a critique on your photo. This is insanely great; this was actually my first initial vision of arsbeta.com — creating some sort of automated, app that could actually give you instantaneous feedback on your photos, without the need of slow human intermediaries.

Ultimately we still prefer the feedback and applause of other human beings. This is where I still think that Arsbeta.com is so phenomenal — you can still get real feedback from real human beings!

But still, the big issue with ChatGPT is mostly a UI-UX one. A lot of the insanely great features are hidden, maybe I need to do some sort of consulting with open AI; shoot me an email at eric@erickim.com and I’ll give you some suggestions.

And also, still my insane vision; I think ultimately… it has to be free! Open source, permissionless, and insanely easy to use. It should not be any more complicated than putting in a quarter and shooting aliens like space invaders. Or how simple it was to enter our cartridge in a super Nintendo, turn on the power and start playing! Also, it needs to simply be plug and play; even in today’s world, figuring out how to use Bluetooth such a pain in the butt. That is why I still prefer wires.

We already have AI in our cameras

One of the things that we forget is that we already have artificial intelligence in our cameras. For example on my Lumix G9 camera, there is a subject detect, face detect algorithm which makes photography much better! This is especially useful when you’re doing auto focus and video.

The centaur approach

Who or what is the best chess player? Not man versus man, not computer versus computer, but a synthesis of both man and computer. For example, the most formidable chess player would be a human being plus computer. I would actually think that the most interesting type of chess match would be two nerds, both with a laptop, duking it out together.

I also even remember funny things like when I was a kid playing StarCraft, or playing counterstrike 1.6– I would always suspect, or think that maybe, a lot of these guys were cheating by using an aim bot, or map hacking. Even my best friend Aaron… who was by far the best StarCraft player that I knew, he was so good that he was thinking about going professional… I recall once when I was trying to do a secret drop on him, with my Goliaths and drop ships, he somehow knew beforehand; after watching the footage, I soon discovered that actually yes, he really was using a map hack.

Then the really funny idea is that what if… people were permitted and actually encouraged to use all of these bots and hacks? Like I’m curious… If you had two professional StarCraft players, both with map hack on, how would the game end up? That there was no fog of war?

Also another idea; what if teachers actually permitted their kids to always use ChatGPT, Google or whatever during class and on their homework and on tests etc.… and in fact, the grading wouldn’t be based on if they’re right or wrong, but the criticality of their thinking?

Or, two nerds both with auto aim, aim bots playing counterstrike versus one another. Who would win? Or be superior? Or with any of these competitive video games, the professional gamers would be permitted to use all of these hacks and cheats? Who would win?

This is also where I think things get interesting; a lot of people falsely believe that because of AI, there is no more reason to play chess anymore. But my creative thought is that actually… If AI can help us create new innovative strategies in chess, human, then it is a great idea.

For example, just watch the LEE SEDOL GO documentary in which Dennis, the head of deep blue or deep mind, I forget whatever it was called, in which they created the early playing AI… LEE SEDOL was shocked and amazed by all of the “creative“ and in a bit of strategies that ALPHAGO did. As a consequence, the new innovations that AlphaGo did were integrated as part of new GO strategies.

Which makes me wonder; what new chess strategies have yet been discovered, and AI can help us uncover?

AI ART

Therefore my suggestion is that I personally believe that all artists should be given free rein to all sorts of AI. Why? AI is just a tool for creative ideation, and at the end of the day, you do the final edits.

For example, you could get AI to easily write a screenplay, but yet, you as the artist might think that it is either cheesy or generic. And that is the thing… AI cannot really do anything totally carte blanche or totally brand new. Can you imagine AI inventing Blockchain or bitcoin? No. Or can you imagine AI having the genius of Steve Jobs and getting rid of the keyboard on a phone? No. Or the genius of Steve Jobs, getting rid of all the USB hubs on the iPad or even the original Mac computer?

Or the genius of a Kanye West and how he designed the Yeezy 350 shoes?

AI can only repeat and iterate on the past, it cannot create a new future.

So the question is, what is your role as a modern-day photographer?

Obviously there are simple ones. People are still going to get married, and people will still want pretty photos of their wedding. It seems that actually, the most useful app here would be some sort of image sorting app.

For example let us say that you’re a wedding photographer and you shoot 10,000 photos of a wedding. To have to review and trudge through all those images will take you a short lifetime. What if instead, you just shot all the photos, and the image sorting AI thing could help you quickly sort and filter all 10,000 images, and quickly get down to the best 50?

If you’re interested in building this with me, send me your résumé at eric@erickim.com

Creativity

Ultimately, we make photos not because there is some sort of inherent economic value behind it, we do it because it is fun!

Even Seneca at two years, nine months old. He just did the cutest thing; while taking a bath, he figured out how to take the bucket, and put it on top of his head, making it look like a baseball cap, the same one that I wear at home. Then he asked Cindy to call me over to shoot some pictures of him; doing this cute shutter button icon hand gesture that I taught him how to do.

Then afterwards, he wanted to press the playback button to review the photos; and when he saw the photos he laughed so insanely hard and wanted me to keep shooting photos!

Having more fun in photography!

Moving forward, my desire is to create and craft more workshops which are just plain fun! The idea is reawakening your own creative spirit, in photography.


Now what?

My personal suggestion is once again, download the ChatGPT app to your iPhone or iPad, subscribe to the 20 bucks model, upgrade to the period version by clicking the ChatGPT 4 icon in the top right corner.

My suggestion is just experiment with it, have fun, and figure it out as you go! It doesn’t seem there is a right or wrong way to do things; radical experimentation is interesting here.

Once you have upgraded to the subscription paid model, experiment on clicking the Camera icon and photographing stuff in the real world, and asking ChatGPT some questions like “what is going on here?”

Or, click the picture gallery icon, and select up to three images of your art photos and ask ChatGPT to give you feedback.

Of course, if you want real human feedback, upload your photos to arsbeta.com

And also, simpler than ChatGPT; give the why app, Zen of ERIC chat bot a shot. It is designed to relentlessly ask you why? When judging your life goals or decisions. The simple thing:

If you ask yourself the question “why”, at least five times, you gain a deeper truth about things.

Why?

Now what?

Think AI, think art, think hybrid and fusion. It is not zero sum; it is additive.

ERIC


ERIC KIM WORKSHOPS

What can you become?

  1. INTRODUCTION TO STOICISM WORKSHOP: Downtown LA, DECEMBER 2nd, 2023
  2. DOWNTOWN CULVER CITY FAMILY STREET PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP, DECEMBER 16, 2023 – New!

EK PHOTO SUPPLY

HAPTIC INDUSTRIES:

  1. ERIC KIM NECK STRAP MARK II: The only strap for RICOH GR
  2. BECOME THE GOAT: HENRI NECK STRAP MARK IV
  3. ERIC KIM OMAKASE COFFEE: Think better.

HAPTIC TOOLS >


Now what?

Think AI & photo! The centaur approach; use AI CHATGPT and DALLE3 as a tool to empower your photography!

For real human feedback, arsbeta.com


For more thoughts

Always the EK BLOG >


START HERE

STREET PHOTO OPEN SOURCE

What is Street Photography? (2.4gb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/83a4s91i0lwi7s5/0.%20What%20is%20Street%20Photography.zip?dl=0

Black and White (2.3gb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l76eh3khc1pxj56/1.%20Black%20and%20White.zip?dl=0

How to Shoot Street Photography (2.2gb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/iloxnstsvnbjxvy/2.%20How%20to%20Shoot%20Street%20Photography.zip?dl=0

Street Portraits 101 (1.9gb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3tbs9g8pwg6gitm/3.%20Street%20Portraits%20101.zip?dl=0

Conquer Your Fears (430mb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6benxn3jwdakt72/4.%20Conquer%20Your%20Fears.zip?dl=0

Composition (460mb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z5l4gyp979o8z45/5.%20Composition.zip?dl=0

Masters (107mb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7z1wahoig2v4s71/6.%20Masters.zip?dl=0

Editing and Post-Processing (1.3gb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/elryenpk99uhpqh/7.%20Editing%20and%20Post-Processing.zip?dl=0

Photography Projects (1.4gb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zbj9c8q304buo0u/8.%20Photography%20Projects.zip?dl=0

Motivation (3.7gb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/puajt36r2hlcnwx/9.%20Motivation.zip?dl=0


Forward the ideas

If this sparked even one interesting idea with you, feel free to forward this to a friend!

EK TURBO NEWS >


“We always think we don’t got enough. But what if, we already have too much?” – SENECA

ERIC KIM PHILOSOPHY >


Untitled

So I have been having insane amounts of fun with ChatGPT, DALL-E, DALL-E 3, ChatGPT 4 (only available on the plus edition, only $20 a month!). To me, my thought is that it is the ultimate new creative tool in our creative tool kit as visual artists.

One of the great epiphanies that I had while in Kyoto was this notion of visual artist; that we photographers are not simply photographers, but we are visual artists. Which means that our approach and goal to things is not just photos or not just photos for the sake of photos, but instead… using photography and our camera as a tool to produce and create new visual artwork.

Until the Tesla AI humanoid bot can walk around as quickly and nimbly as you and take photos, you’re fine.

Something that people don’t understand and don’t get; no no no, robots and AI and these bots won’t take your job. My personal prediction is that even within 30 years, humanoid AI bots will still be quite mediocre; only good for doing boring tedious tasks like automation line work producing cars or Tesla cars, but for the most part, let us consider and think about how nimble and agile even a two-year, nine month year-old child is.

For example, Seneca. He is only two years, nine months old, and it is insane how coordinated he is, how agile he is, and how acrobatic he is. I have been teaching him funny things like jumping backwards, jumping sideways, doing downward up dogs etc.

I think it is insane that even late at night before he sleeps, he could still run around and prance around, with so much vivacity and pure energy. And also a very interesting thing that I’ve observed; whenever he wants to put something down or pick something up from the floor, he always squats! Full sumo squat, ass to grass. Always. He never bends over like adults. Maybe if we adults mimic the physical activity of children more, we will become better.

So what should we do?

Very simple. First, download the official ChatGPT app to your phone or iPad, and immediately subscribe to the $20 a month paid model. Personally speaking, I quit using Adobe Lightroom about three years ago, ever since they switched to the subscription model. But this openAI stuff… This new ChatGPT4, and DALL-E 3… this is effing insane. Contrary to popular belief, I think AI and ChatGPT is insanely underrated. This literally might be the best $20 you spend in your life.

For example, simple things you could do: once you have upgrade to the paid model, the paid subscription, you could select an image from your iPhone photo roll cameraroll, and you could ask ChatGPT to help analyze your photo, and give you a critique on your photo. This is insanely great; this was actually my first initial vision of arsbeta.com — creating some sort of automated, app that could actually give you instantaneous feedback on your photos, without the need of slow human intermediaries.

Ultimately we still prefer the feedback and applause of other human beings. This is where I still think that Arsbeta.com is so phenomenal — you can still get real feedback from real human beings!

But still, the big issue with ChatGPT is mostly a UI-UX one. A lot of the insanely great features are hidden, maybe I need to do some sort of consulting with open AI; shoot me an email at eric@erickim.com and I’ll give you some suggestions.

And also, still my insane vision; I think ultimately… it has to be free! Open source, permissionless, and insanely easy to use. It should not be any more complicated than putting in a quarter and shooting aliens like space invaders. Or how simple it was to enter our cartridge in a super Nintendo, turn on the power and start playing! Also, it needs to simply be plug and play; even in today’s world, figuring out how to use Bluetooth such a pain in the butt. That is why I still prefer wires.

We already have AI in our cameras

One of the things that we forget is that we already have artificial intelligence in our cameras. For example on my Lumix G9 camera, there is a subject detect, face detect algorithm which makes photography much better! This is especially useful when you’re doing auto focus and video.

The centaur approach

Who or what is the best chess player? Not man versus man, not computer versus computer, but a synthesis of both man and computer. For example, the most formidable chess player would be a human being plus computer. I would actually think that the most interesting type of chess match would be two nerds, both with a laptop, duking it out together.

I also even remember funny things like when I was a kid playing StarCraft, or playing counterstrike 1.6– I would always suspect, or think that maybe, a lot of these guys were cheating by using an aim bot, or map hacking. Even my best friend Aaron… who was by far the best StarCraft player that I knew, he was so good that he was thinking about going professional… I recall once when I was trying to do a secret drop on him, with my Goliaths and drop ships, he somehow knew beforehand; after watching the footage, I soon discovered that actually yes, he really was using a map hack.

Then the really funny idea is that what if… people were permitted and actually encouraged to use all of these bots and hacks? Like I’m curious… If you had two professional StarCraft players, both with map hack on, how would the game end up? That there was no fog of war?

Also another idea; what if teachers actually permitted their kids to always use ChatGPT, Google or whatever during class and on their homework and on tests etc.… and in fact, the grading wouldn’t be based on if they’re right or wrong, but the criticality of their thinking?

Or, two nerds both with auto aim, aim bots playing counterstrike versus one another. Who would win? Or be superior? Or with any of these competitive video games, the professional gamers would be permitted to use all of these hacks and cheats? Who would win?

This is also where I think things get interesting; a lot of people falsely believe that because of AI, there is no more reason to play chess anymore. But my creative thought is that actually… If AI can help us create new innovative strategies in chess, human, then it is a great idea.

For example, just watch the LEE SEDOL GO documentary in which Dennis, the head of deep blue or deep mind, I forget whatever it was called, in which they created the early playing AI… LEE SEDOL was shocked and amazed by all of the “creative“ and in a bit of strategies that ALPHAGO did. As a consequence, the new innovations that AlphaGo did were integrated as part of new GO strategies.

Which makes me wonder; what new chess strategies have yet been discovered, and AI can help us uncover?

AI ART

Therefore my suggestion is that I personally believe that all artists should be given free rein to all sorts of AI. Why? AI is just a tool for creative ideation, and at the end of the day, you do the final edits.

For example, you could get AI to easily write a screenplay, but yet, you as the artist might think that it is either cheesy or generic. And that is the thing… AI cannot really do anything totally carte blanche or totally brand new. Can you imagine AI inventing Blockchain or bitcoin? No. Or can you imagine AI having the genius of Steve Jobs and getting rid of the keyboard on a phone? No. Or the genius of Steve Jobs, getting rid of all the USB hubs on the iPad or even the original Mac computer?

Or the genius of a Kanye West and how he designed the Yeezy 350 shoes?

AI can only repeat and iterate on the past, it cannot create a new future.

So the question is, what is your role as a modern-day photographer?

Obviously there are simple ones. People are still going to get married, and people will still want pretty photos of their wedding. It seems that actually, the most useful app here would be some sort of image sorting app.

For example let us say that you’re a wedding photographer and you shoot 10,000 photos of a wedding. To have to review and trudge through all those images will take you a short lifetime. What if instead, you just shot all the photos, and the image sorting AI thing could help you quickly sort and filter all 10,000 images, and quickly get down to the best 50?

If you’re interested in building this with me, send me your résumé at eric@erickim.com

Creativity

Ultimately, we make photos not because there is some sort of inherent economic valley behind it, we do it because it is fun!

Even Seneca at two years, nine months old. He just did the cutest thing; while taking a bath, he figured out how to take the bucket, and put it on top of his head, making it look like a baseball cap, the same one that I wear at home. Then he asked Cindy to call me over to shoot some pictures of him; doing this cute shutter button icon hand gesture that I taught him how to do.

Then afterwards, he wanted to press the playback button to review the photos; and when he saw the photos he laughed so insanely hard and wanted me to keep shooting photos!

Having more fun in photography!

Moving forward, my desire is to create and craft more workshops which are just plain fun! The idea is reawakening your own creative spirit, in photography.


Now what?

My personal suggestion is once again, download the ChatGPT app to your iPhone or iPad, subscribe to the 20 bucks model, upgrade to the period version by clicking the ChatGPT 4 icon in the top right corner.

My suggestion is just experiment with it, have fun, and figure it out as you go! It doesn’t seem there is a right or wrong way to do things; radical experimentation is interesting here.

Once you have upgraded to the subscription paid model, experiment on clicking the Camera icon and photographing stuff in the real world, and asking ChatGPT some questions like “what is going on here?”

Or, click the picture gallery icon, and select up to three images of your art photos and ask ChatGPT to give you feedback.

Of course, if you want real human feedback, upload your photos to arsbeta.com

And also, simpler than ChatGPT; give the why app, Zen of ERIC chat bot a shot. It is designed to relentlessly ask you why? When judging your life goals or decisions. The simple thing:

If you ask yourself the question “why”, at least five times, you gain a deeper truth about things.

Now what?

Think AI, think art, think hybrid and fusion. It is not zero sum; it is additive.

ERIC


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:

  1. Bear lifestyle: Apparently bears walk 50 miles a day. What if we humans did the same?
  2. 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.
  3. 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:

  1. Don’t eat breakfast or lunch, only dinner. During the day drink lots of tapwater, black coffee with nothing added, or green tea.
  2. Just experiment; don’t need any fruit or vegetables, starches, leafy greens, etc. No nuts.
  3. 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.
  4. Quit alcohol, weed, beer, drugs, EDM, festivals, bars, restaurants, etc.
  5. 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.

START HERE

Also

Books


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?

  1. AI: I just built ERICKIM.AI.
  2. 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.
  3. 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:

  1. Ask it to write a haiku about XYZ
  2. Ask it to explain a complicated concept to you as if you were five years old
  3. Ask it to give you a summary of the best ancient quotes about XYZ
  4. 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?

  1. 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!
  2. 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.
  3. 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

  1. Time Will Tell
  2. What is Wisdom?
  3. LOOK *BEYOND*
  4. BECOMING MORE IMMORAL?
  5. ‘LUCK’ VS COURAGE
  6. ‘SKILL’ VS MERIT?
  7. Becoming Antifragile
  8. How to “Improve” Men
  9. The Art of Virtue
  10. How to Dominate
  11. JUST SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES AND WISDOM WITH OTHERS.
  12. How to Get More Done in a Single Day – MEMENTO MORI PHILOSOPHY
  13. THINK FOR YOURSELF
  14. Cruel?
  15. GO DEMIGOD.
  16. How to Be Happy: Challenge and Danger Philosophy
  17. To Become Greater, You Must Become *LESS* Productive!
  18. Imperfect Beauty
  19. The Philosophy of Pleasure
  20. What Interests You?
  21. Anti Theory of Everything
  22. Become?
  23. STRONGER OR NOT?
  24. Carte Blanche Ideals
  25. CHOOSE JOY
  26. Don’t Judge Your Impulses
  27. On Becoming Less Human
  28. COWARDICE.
  29. The Philosophy of Futurism
  30. PHILOSOPHY IS VALUE-SETTING
  31. PHILOSOPHY IS NOT LIFESTYLE
  32. WHY STANDARDIZATION IS BAD.
  33. YOUR OWN TABLE OF VALUES.
  34. RETRO IS BAD.
  35. INSANELY LOFTY THOUGHTS.
  36. Strive to *Lose* Weight, Not *Gain* Weight
  37. DIABLO II ANALOGIES FOR REAL LIFE.
  38. If You Know Your *WHY* You Can Discover Any *HOW*
  39. Life is Too Short to Be Miserable
  40. What Consumption Takes Skill?
  41. OFF THE GRID.
  42. REALITY IS CRUEL.
  43. Pain is Information
  44. WHY REMOVE VULGARITY AND DISORDER FROM OUR EYES?
  45. AUTOTELIC.
  46. UNPLUG.
  47. How to Become a Philosopher
  48. SUBOPTIMAL IS OPTIMAL
  49. THE LUST FOR MORE.
  50. TO DO IS TO BECOME.
  51. IN PRAISE OF AGGRESSIVE.
  52. THE PHILOSOPHY OF OPTIMISM
  53. OUR PHILOSOPHICAL WILL TO EXISTENCE
  54. Is Hope a Vice?
  55. MOVE MEAN
  56. Carte Blanche Ideals
  57. One Interesting Thought
  58. What Lasts? What Doesn’t Last?
  59. A WOUND STIMULATES THE RECUPERATIVE POWERS
  60. Children & Purpose
  61. Thoughts on Becoming a Parent
  62. Where Does Our Desire to Upgrade Come From?
  63. WE ALWAYS NEED SOMETHING FURTHER TO ASPIRE TO.
  64. Self-Task Yourself an Awesome Mission in Life
  65. Differentiation vs Equalization
  66. My Passion to *Become* Something More
  67. No Aesthetic or Ethos is Forever
  68. What is Your Higher Purpose in Life?
  69. IT WILL NEVER SATISFY YOU.
  70. How to Decide
  71. Things You *Want* to Do vs Things You *MUST* Do
  72. Towards a More Beautiful Mode of Existence and Future
  73. EXTREME GRATITUDE.
  74. AMAP (As Much as Possible) or None.
  75. Why or How Does it Matter?
  76. The Philosophy of Time and Events
  77. How *Not* to Resent
  78. FORWARD LOOKING
  79. DOMAIN FLEXIBILITY.
  80. The Miracle of Human Growth
  81. EXTREME ADAPTATION.
  82. Why Plan?
  83. You Don’t Need to Justify Yourself
  84. The Philosophy of Ego
  85. True vs False Passions
  86. How to Achieve Tranquility
  87. On Making Your Own Philosophy
  88. The Purpose of Life is to Create New Life
  89. Think On!
  90. The Wisdom of Doing Nothing
  91. Congruency
  92. My Thoughts on Meditation
  93. The Philosophy of Purpose
  94. Emulate Yourself
  95. Good Fear, Bad Fear
  96. For the Betterment of Humanity or Just Yourself?
  97. What you *really* believe in and care for is manifested through your actions (or non-actions)
  98. Why Culture is Your Enemy
  99. YOUR EXPERIENCES ARE KING.
  100. LIFE IS INHERENTLY GOOD.
  101. Artistic, Physical, and Philosophical Muscles
  102. All New Experiences are Good Experiences
  103. What is the Purpose of X?
  104. UTILITY.
  105. Philosophy is a Luxury
  106. The Attempt is More Interesting than the Result
  107. Joyfulness vs “Happiness”
  108. Effectiveness Over Happiness
  109. Self Actualization
  110. MAXIMAL ENGAGEMENT
  111. Life & Pain
  112. On Living Every Day with No Regret
  113. Learn as if you’re going to live forever, live as if you’re going to die tomorrow
  114. Live Every Day Like it Were the Last Day of Your Life
  115. Self-Determination
  116. FALSE GRATITUDE vs REAL GRATITUDE
  117. HOW TO LIVE MORE
  118. THE UPSIDE OF TRAGEDY
  119. Satisfaction is a Sucker’s Game
  120. Supreme Repose
  121. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF LIFE? According to ERIC KIM
  122. STUBBORN, FLEXIBLE
  123. EVERYTHING HAPPENS AS IT *SHOULD* HAVE HAD HAPPENED
  124. Good Addiction, Bad Addiction?
  125. What is the Best Life?
  126. The Philosophy of Thinking
  127. The Philosophy of Conspiracies
  128. Conspiracies
  129. Growth
  130. Skepticism.
  131. What Do You Really Want Out of Life?
  132. Seem or Be?
  133. Learn Through Pain
  134. Respect Yourself
  135. In Praise of Elitism
  136. Why Independent Thinking?
  137. I Will Never Die
  138. Bitter is Better
  139. The Genesis of Nihilism and Existential Dread
  140. The Ethics of Personal Enrichment
  141. Good vs Not Good
  142. Punished by Privilege
  143. Abstinence Over Moderation
  144. Just Leave Others Alone
  145. You Can Only Critique that Which You Truly Understand and Love
  146. ERIC KIM Critique of Metaphysics
  147. Only Trust Philosophers Who Deadlift
  148. Heuristic: If Someone Talks Shit About Others Behind Their Back, Most Likely They’re Also Talking Shit About You Behind Your Back
  149. Virtue is a Privilege
  150. What Are Your Life Goals?
  151. Honesty
  152. Why I’m Anti Moderation
  153. No Spite, No Malice.
  154. Ascending Life or Descending Life?
  155. Double Edged Sword
  156. Ignorance.
  157. Why I Don’t Trust “Nice Guys”
  158. Why You Must Share Your Opinion
  159. Selfish Isn’t Evil
  160. Wisdom is the Goal
  161. YOU ARE KING.
  162. MASTER YOURSELF
  163. What is “Good” for You is Often what is Bad for You
  164. Care.
  165. BITTERSWEET
  166. ONE REP MAX
  167. Morality and Ethics is the Snare
  168. BY HELPING YOURSELF, YOU BEST HELP OTHERS
  169. Insanity is Good.
  170. Think Deep.
  171. PHILOSOPHY IS THE FUTURE.
  172. Open Mind vs Closed Mind
  173. ENTHUSIASM IS GENIUS
  174. Towards a More Critical and Rigorous Line of Thinking
  175. How to Encourage and a Foster Independent and Free Thinking
  176. What is the Purpose of Life?
  177. WHY PHILOSOPHY IS SUPREME.
  178. Elitism.
  179. I Cannot Form an Opinion About Somebody Until I’ve Met Them in the Flesh
  180. ALL GENETICS ARE GOOD GENETICS.
  181. Happiness vs Freedom
  182. The Birth of a Hater
  183. My Way Isn’t the Right Way
  184. Walking as an Existential Thing
  185. Why I’m So Tolerant
  186. Mortal Gods
  187. THE HUMAN SPECIES
  188. Why I’m So Skeptical
  189. Just Follow the Money
  190. Why Selfish?
  191. WHY WE CANNOT BLAME OTHERS
  192. Why Are We So Anti Elitism?
  193. What Actually Interests You?
  194. How to Become Yourself
  195. SELF HATE
  196. Optimistic Fatalism
  197. Death is the Ultimate Creative Constraint
  198. FLUX.
  199. How to Think for Yourself
  200. FLESH
  201. How to Live the Best Life
  202. Why Live a Life Without Regrets?
  203. Why Plato Ruined Art and Aesthetics for Us
  204. Self Respect
  205. Hypocrite vs Contradict
  206. Ideals vs Reality
  207. Spaceship Philosophy
  208. What is Your Ideal Life?
  209. MY EXTREME GRATITUDE TOWARDS LIFE AND BEING ALIVE!
  210. Critique of Utilitarianism
  211. Don’t Treat Others the Way You Want to Be Treated
  212. The Eternal Recurrence of Tragedy and Joy in Life
  213. Elite Asceticism
  214. Why I Don’t Like Numbers
  215. Action and Reaction, Cause and Effect
  216. The Antidote to Nihilism: The Philosophy of Nothingness
  217. ERIC KIM Notes on Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
  218. EXPLOIT CHAOS.
  219. WHY I DON’T BELIEVE IN GENETICS
  220. Self-Wisdom
  221. The Future Belongs to the Fearless
  222. INDIVIDUALISM
  223. Why Live Forever?
  224. THIS TOO WILL PASS.
  225. Why Education?
  226. How to Become Yourself
  227. Things Shouldn’t Go Back to the Way They Used to Be
  228. Why Am I So Cruel?
  229. The Great Joy of Existence
  230. Virtue for the Sake of Virtue
  231. NO DISDAIN.
  232. INTELLIGENT IGNORANCE
  233. A LIFE WITHOUT PAIN, DIFFICULTY OR TRAGEDY ISN’T A LIFE WORTH LIVING
  234. BITTER IS BETTER.
  235. EXPLOIT THE BEST FROM TRAGEDY AND LIFE 
  236. DISREGARD FOR SELF-PRESERVATION
  237. PAIN.
  238. WHAT IF EVERYTHING IS NOT GONNA BE ALRIGHT?
  239. Tomorrow is Never
  240. Life is the Ultimate Creative Constraint
  241. EMBODIED REALITY
  242. BLACK SWAN
  243. THINGS WILL NEVER GO BACK TO THE WAY THEY USED TO BE
  244. What are you *really* afraid of?
  245. HAPPINESS ISN’T THE GOAL
  246. Philosophy is King
  247. Why is Selfish Evil?
  248. YOU’RE CONSTANTLY IN A STATE OF BECOMING
  249. ENTITLEMENT A SIN?
  250. NARCISSISM
  251. BE BRUTALLY HONEST WITH YOURSELF
  252. WHY FREE WILL?
  253. OBEY YOUR OPINION
  254. EGO IS GOOD.
  255. WHY IT IS GOOD TO BE INTO YOURSELF
  256. Seek the Good Pain
  257. Anti-Perfection in Photography, Art, and Life
  258. Can You Become an End into Yourself?
  259. WHY I LIVE
  260. Why I Hate Decline
  261. Why I Eat
  262. Why am I So Positive and Optimistic?
  263. EFFORT IS ENJOYMENT
  264. Never Stop Gaining
  265. TRUST YOURSELF
  266. A Life of Maximal Personal Independence
  267. What Do You Desire to Become?
  268. What Do I Want from Technology?
  269. Stratified Society
  270. Do You Love or Hate Reality?
  271. On the Brian, Body and Mind
  272. I’m Maximally Happy, Now What?
  273. Care over Fame
  274. ACTIVE NIHILISM
  275. Never Stop Subtracting
  276. How to Live a Happier and More Epic Life
  277. A Risker Life is a Better Life
  278. Only Work on Things You Can Imagine Doing for Eternity
  279. How to Maximize Your Happiness
  280. Influence
  281. The Gladiator Makes His Plans once He Enters the Ring
  282. Meditations on Meaning in Life
  283. There is Nothing More Interesting than Human Beings
  284. Is Hope a Vice?
  285. EGO
  286. Why Be Unique?
  287. Happiness is Metabolism Health and Strength
  288. You’re the Hero
  289. Is Productivity a Virtue or Vice?
  290. Why Do We Prize the Rare?
  291. The Joy of Uncertainty
  292. How Should I Best Use My Time and Life?
  293. A Life Without Pain or Suffering Isn’t a Life Worth Living
  294. Free or Unfree?
  295. What Do You Really Care For in Life?
  296. Anti-Satisfaction in Life
  297. Why Think?
  298. The Eternal Return
  299. Only Do What is Best for You!
  300. Truthiness
  301. Why Be Happy?
  302. Permissionless Living
  303. In Praise of Unconventional Wisdom
  304. Become the Change Which You Wish to See in the World
  305. Happiness
  306. Beyond Freedom
  307. Idolize People, Not Stuff
  308. What Makes You Stronger? What Makes You Weaker?
  309. Why Hate?
  310. The Secret of Happiness
  311. You’re Constantly in a State of Becoming
  312. Life is about Choices, Not Obligations
  313. Anti-Nihilism
  314. First, Do What is Best for You.
  315. Live Dynamic
  316. How to Prosper
  317. Is the Point of Life to Be Satisfied?
  318. SUPREME EFFORT OF WILL.
  319. How to Become more Idealistic
  320. Thrivival 101
  321. Create Yourself
  322. Non-Small
  323. Inspiration
  324. How to Live a Heroic Life: Dare the Heights!
  325. Human Augmentation
  326. Prune
  327. Happiness: Do What You Want to Do (And Don’t Do What You Don’t Want to Do)
  328. Avoid Vain (Empty) Pursuits in Life
  329. Modern Slavery
  330. Kill the Leeches
  331. Wisdom Augmentation
  332. Why We Need Friction in Life
  333. Straight Line Philosophy
  334. What’s Your End-Game in Life?
  335. Create Your Own Happiness Today
  336. Desire Both Pain and Pleasure in Life
  337. Try the Impossible
  338. SELF-RESPECT
  339. Anti-Social Extrovert
  340. Never Blame Anybody But Yourself
  341. Human Flourishing
  342. Simpler, Not Better.
  343. How to be Free
  344. Embrace the Extremes
  345. Cultivate Your Own Culture
  346. COURAGE.
  347. Thrivival
  348. Inner Power
  349. How to Live a Purposeful Life
  350. My Definition of Happiness
  351. Why Change is Good
  352. Why Work?
  353. How to Live the Happiest Possible Life
  354. The Two-Pronged Approach to Maximize Joy in Your Life
  355. You Always Have Another Option!
  356. INFINITISM
  357. Never Stop!
  358. What is Your Self-Directed Purpose in Life?
  359. Live Today Like it Were Your Last
  360. Do You Photograph to Live, or Live to Photograph?
  361. ARTIST-PHILOSOPHER
  362. Live Life to the Fullest!
  363. In Praise of Selfishness
  364. Why You Must Be a YAY-SAYER to Succeed in Entrepreneurship and Life
  365. Why I Love Walking
  366. Live Life Like a Video Game!
  367. Simple Luxuries in Life
  368. Treat Your Life Like a Fun Experiment!
  369. Only Prove it to Yourself
  370. You Don’t Always Need to Feel Joyful to Live a Fulfilling and Meaningful Life
  371. Life is Too Short to Be Bored!
  372. Money Cannot Destroy Boredom
  373. How to Find Inspiration in Life
  374. Why You Must Ignore Haters to Succeed and Win in Life
  375. An Active Life is a Happy Life
  376. My Simple Joys in Life
  377. Never Stop Striving
  378. How to Motivate Yourself in Life
  379. How to Be Optimistic in Life
  380. How to Dictate Your Purpose in Life
  381. In Praise of a Dynamic Life
  382. PURPOSE.
  383. How to Enjoy Life
  384. Photography Therapy
  385. How to Conquer Regret
  386. Take Your Play Very Seriously.
  387. How to Prosper
  388. Memento Vivere
  389. Destroy in Order to CREATE
  390. Trust Your Body More Than Your Mind
  391. Make Photos to Make Meaning in Your Life
  392. Seek Knowledge, Not Information
  393. The Purpose of Human Life
  394. How to Overcome Impedence
  395. Why I Love Death
  396. How to Be Centered in the Eternal Now
  397. How to Be Happy
  398. Why Do You Care What Others Think of You?
  399. Why I’m Happy
  400. Why?
  401. Why I’m So Prolific
  402. How to Reduce LAG in Life

Masters of Philosophy »

Personal Philosophy »

Stoicism »

Zen Philosophy »

Life Lessons »

Learn more: Start Here >

STOICISM 101

Become invincible:

  1. STOIC FLEX.
  2. Becoming Spartan
  3. MAKE IT ENTERTAINING FOR YOURSELF!
  4. Stoic Aesthetics?
  5. The Philosophy of Ugliness
  6. Bad Stoicism
  7. Stoicism 2.0
  8. Becoming Stoic
  9. LEMONADE.
  10. Why Arguments and Confrontations Are Good
  11. “I’m Over It”
  12. How to Deal With Miserable People
  13. How to Become a Stoic
  14. How to Ignore
  15. Pretend like you didn’t hear them
  16. Bad Stoic Strategies
  17. The Stoic Way of Dealing With Unpleasant or Miserable People
  18. HOW TO BECOME A STOIC
  19. Stoicism Stunts Our Power?
  20. Stoicism is Mental Resistance Training
  21. STOIC STRATEGIES.
  22. How to Become Fearless
  23. Extreme Stoicism
  24. Ethics are Aesthetic
  25. Indifference to Pain or Suffering
  26. When is Stoicism Good? When is Stoicism Bad?
  27. Why Others Criticize or Insult You
  28. True Difficulty
  29. What if Covid Never Goes Away?
  30. SUPER STOIC
  31. Anti-Hedonism
  32. HOW TO CONQUER FEAR
  33. ANTI FEAR
  34. It is the Duty of the Strong to Help the Weak
  35. The Goal is to Become Stronger
  36. HYPER STOICISM
  37. HYPER HERO
  38. TRANSFORM EVERY DOWNSIDE INTO AN UPSIDE
  39. STOICISM x Child’s Mind
  40. The Art of Manly Virtue
  41. Resistance Makes Us Stronger!
  42. DON’T LIVE IN FEAR
  43. Emotions are Good
  44. Conquer Your Anger
  45. BLACK EAGLE
  46. DIFFICULTY AWAKENS YOUR INNER-GENIUS.
  47. STOICISM IS ARMOR FOR THE MIND
  48. The Spartan-Stoic Lifestyle
  49. How I Conquered Fear
  50. HOW TO CURE FEAR.
  51. LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL.
  52. The Upside of Poverty
  53. How I Became Me
  54. THE WILL TO POWER, OR THE WILL TO FEAR?
  55. ATTACK REALITY
  56. Living *THROUGH* History
  57. How to Fear Less
  58. Fear is the Ultimate Contagious Disease
  59. STOICISM FOR DUMMIES
  60. Don’t Be Scared!
  61. WHAT CAN YOU CONTROL, WHAT CAN YOU NOT CONTROL?
  62. HOW YOU CAN CONQUER FEAR
  63. YOU’RE STRONGER THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE.
  64. EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
  65. WHY AREN’T THINGS WORSE?
  66. My Philosophy on Masculinity
  67. A Riskier Life is a Better Life #philosophy #stoicism
  68. How to Creatively Flourish in Life
  69. Introduction to Stoicism
  70. How to Become Stronger
  71. How to Conquer Depression With Photography
  72. What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger
  73. How to Respect Yourself
  74. How to Believe in Yourself
  75. How to Steer Fear
  76. How to Conquer Pessimism
  77. How to Conquer Anxiety
  78. How to Overcome Your Fear of People
  79. How to Be Optimistic
  80. Why I Don’t Take My Anger Seriously
  81. HOW TO BECOME MORE POWERFUL
  82. POSITIVITY.
  83. HOW TO BECOME SUPERHUMAN
  84. How to Give a Fuck Less
  85. ALL IN.
  86. Why I Cut My Dad Out of My Life.
  87. Your iPhone Only Has 5% Battery Left.
  88. How not to give a FUCK about your REPUTATION
  89. WHAT IS A HUMAN?
  90. HAPPINESS.
  91. The Regret Minimization Framework in Photography and Life
  92. How to Be a HERO
  93. Conquer Your Fears by Making Fear Your Slave
  94. Rule Circumstances; Don’t Let Your Circumstances Rule You
  95. How to Love Yourself
  96. How to Turn Shit into Gold
  97. Your Parents Fuck You Up
  98. Immortality
  99. What Kills You Makes You Stronger
  100. How to Be Patient
  101. How to Conquer Anger
  102. How to Bounce Back in Life
  103. How to Overcome Resistance
  104. Nothing Unlimited is Good; Nothing Good is Unlimited
  105. You Have No Limits
  106. Can 1’s and 0’s Hurt You?
  107. The Envious Moment is Flying Now
  108. Tomorrow We’ll Sail the Wide Seas Again
  109. How to Forgive Others
  110. Focus on Your Actions, Not the Results
  111. Everything Will Be Alright
  112. How to Be a Stoic Street Photographer
  113. How to Be a Spartan Photographer
  114. How to Overcome Your Fears in Life
  115. How to Stop Worrying in Life
  116. How to Use Photography as Self-Therapy
  117. How to Free Your Soul From Disturbance
  118. 3 Stoic Techniques that Can Help You Gain Tranquility
  119. Can People Weaker than You Hurt You?
  120. Does a Doctor Get Angry at a Crazy Patient?
  121. Own Nothing

The Stoic Masters

Learn from the master stoics:

See all philosophy >

Dominate street photography:

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STREET PHOTOGRAPHY 101

walking woman umbrella crimson red
  1. HOW TO BECOME A BETTER STREET PHOTOGRAPHER
  2. Street Photography Mastery
  3. How I Became the Greatest Street Photographer Alive
  4. Antifragile Photography
  5. How to Conquer Your Fears in Street Photography
  6. INSANELY AUDACIOUS AND BOLD
  7. 5 Simple Street Photography Techniques
  8. STREET PHOTOGRAPHER.
  9. The Street Photographer Ideal
  10. 50 Street Photography Tips, Techniques and Ideas
  11. Street Photography Values
  12. STREET PHOTOGRAPHY DOESN’T NEED TO HAVE PEOPLE IN IT.
  13. Why Street Photography is So Great
  14. WHY BECOME A STREET PHOTOGRAPHER?
  15. Society Photography, Not “Street” Photography
  16. How to Street Photography
  17. STREET PHOTOGRAPHY OPTIONALITY.
  18. 10 Street Photography Tips
  19. The Street Photographer as the Apex Photographer
  20. Street Photography & Adrenaline
  21. STREETTOGS STARTING GUIDE
  22. 50 Street Photography Tips by ERIC KIM
  23. What I Wish I Knew If I Started Street Photography All Over Again
  24. Photograph like it’s not a big deal
  25. Suburb Street Photography
  26. What is Our Personal Motivation Behind Street Photography?
  27. WHY I’M SO PASSIONATE ABOUT STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
  28. Personal Street Photography
  29. STREET PHOTOGRAPHY AS A PRACTICE.
  30. Pandemic Street Photography
  31. AIRPORT STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
  32. How to Shoot Street Photography Right Now
  33. Towards a More Independent Street Photography Approach
  34. How Street Photography Improves Your Life
  35. How to Tell Stories in Your Street Photos
  36. Face Street Photography
  37. How to Start Shooting Street Photography
  38. How to Shoot Street Photography During a Pandemic
  39. 7 Street Photography Assignment Ideas

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY STARTER KIT

street photography starter kit by ERIC KIM

Master street photography with STREET PHOTOGRAPHY STARTER KIT.


STREET PHOTOGRAPHY 101

Hearts. Hollywood, 2011 #flash

If you’re new to street photography, start here:


Brave New Street Photography

Street Photographs

ERIC KIM layers hong kong
  1. How to Shoot Street Photography with Dads and Kids
  2. HOW I BECAME SUCH A GREAT STREET PHOTOGRAPHER
  3. Use Quarantine as an Opportunity to Pick up Film Photography
  4. Hong Kong Street Photography by ERIC KIM

Street Photography Philosophy

Street Photography Articles


Street Photography Techniques



Street Photography Ideas


Street Photography Composition Techniques


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.

Learn more about MASTERS >


FUNDAMENTALS OF STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

Street Photography Inspiration


Beginner Street Photography Articles

Get started in street photography:

Definitions in Street Photography

How to Shoot Street Photography

Street Photography Equipment

See all equipment articles >

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:


Advanced Street Photography Articles

Find deeper meaning in your street photography:


Street Photography Tips & Technique

Learn how to shoot on the streets:

See all street photography tips and techniques >

Street Photography Guides

In-depth guides on street photography:

Street Photography Equipment

The best equipment for street photography:

See all equipment articles >

Street Photography Editing and Workflow

How to Start a Street Photography Project


Learn From the Masters of Street Photography

“He without a past has no future.”

Start here:

  1. Why Study the Masters of Photography?
  2. Great Female Master Photographers
  3. Cheat Sheet of the Masters of Photography
  4. 100 Lessons From the Masters of Street Photography
  5. Beginner’s Guide to the Masters of Street Photography
  6. Download All Articles >

The Masters of Photography

Classics never die:


Free Downloads

See all free downloads >

Free Street Photography Books

Distilled information on street photography:

For more resources on photography, Start Here >

EK AI

Make me an AI logo inspired by Eric kim

Creating an AI logo inspired by a specific individual would tread close to personal identifiers, which we should avoid. However, I can generate a logo concept that may align with the general themes associated with Eric Kim, who is known for street photography and a philosophy that combines minimalism and candidness.

Here are two diverse prompts for AI-generated logos:

  1. A minimalist black and white logo representing the concept of street photography, with a silhouette of a camera merged subtly into a cityscape. The design is sleek, with clean lines and a modern sans-serif font spelling out “AI Street Vision.”
  2. A vibrant and dynamic logo depicting an abstract camera lens aperture that resembles an eye, symbolizing the observant nature of photography, paired with a bold, modern font for the AI aspect, incorporating a subtle circuit pattern to represent technology.

Let’s create these images.