How to Become a Stoic

STOICISM BY ERIC KIM Download

Quotes

Certainly! Here are some quotes from the text:

“Stoicism, stoic, the stoa in ancient Greece– essentially the stoa was like some sort of portico, patio, pillar, outside, essentially a spot where guys would just hang out, talk shop, talk philosophy, etc.”
“My theory about a lot of modern day antisocial behavior has to do with the structures which enclose us.”
“Cramped indoor spaces promote antisocial behavior.”
“Stoicism — it was originally I think codified by this guy named Zeno, and over time he picked up some followers.”
“What I like about stoicism is how loosey goosey it is.”
“I think philosophy must be practical.”
“Trust no thinker who does drugs!”
“Just imagine it will all go down to zero.”
“The notion of ‘debasing’ the coin or the currency is the general idea that you are not a coward in regards to money.”
“Real life is interaction with other human beings, and social conquest.”
“Perhaps we should just adopt this stoic mindset towards other people; some people are actually physiologically ill, mentally unwell… don’t trust the opinion of nobody.”
“Better to be a gay monster than a sentimental bore!” – Fernandino Galliani, via Nietzsche
“I think the only and the only proper way to lift weights is one repetition maximum training.”
“If you’re interested in stoicism, and have had some interesting thoughts on stoicism, one of the most noble things you could do is start your own blog.”

These quotes reflect the key themes and perspectives on Stoicism as presented in the text.

Summary

Summarizing the provided text into a numbered list:

Introduction to Stoicism: Emphasizes the practicality and everyday applicability of Stoicism, lacking in existing guides.
Concept of Stoicism: Draws parallels between ancient Greek Stoas and modern public spaces like parks for socializing and philosophical discussions.
The New Stoa: Recounts personal experiences of physical fitness and social interactions in public parks during COVID-19.
Open Air, Open Sun Concept: Highlights the benefits of outdoor spaces for socializing and physical well-being.
Philosophy’s Audience: Describes Stoicism’s organic growth from Zeno’s informal gatherings to a wider following.
Nature of Stoicism: Compares Stoicism to Zen and Taoism, focusing on its pragmatic aspects.
Discovery of Stoicism: Mentions learning about Stoicism from Nassim Taleb’s “Antifragile” and delving deep into its literature.
Significance of Seneca: Shares a personal connection with Seneca’s practical and real-world-oriented philosophy.
Seneca’s Practicality: Appreciates Seneca for his accessible and real-world-relevant writings.
Stoic Ideals and Physical Fitness: Envisions a Spartan, physically fit Stoic ideal, stressing the importance of physical health.
Stoicism’s Relevance Today: Discusses Stoicism as a tool for fear conquering in various aspects of life, including entrepreneurship and crypto speculation.
Stoicism and Capitalism: Explores the compatibility of Stoicism with capitalist values and its utility against fear-mongering.
Sex and Stoicism: Argues for the applicability of Stoicism to both sexes in overcoming societal pressures.
Stoic Strategies: Advocates for a departure from conventional ethics and morality, critiquing mainstream philosophical views.
Stoic Training and Modern Ailments: Proposes stoic practices for overcoming contemporary issues like indoor confinement, lack of physical activity, and reliance on conventional therapy.
Real Stoics and Self-Identity: Reflects on the paradox of self-labelling and the true essence of luxury and influence.
Stoicism as a Tool: Advocates for viewing Stoicism as a flexible tool rather than a rigid doctrine, drawing examples from Marcus Aurelius.
The Future of Stoicism: Envisions an evolving, personalized approach to Stoicism, adapted to different environments and living conditions.
Stoicism in Social Contexts: Highlights the importance of human interactions and societal engagement in Stoic philosophy.
More Ideas on Stoicism: Offers additional Stoic strategies for dealing with judgment, mental health, and societal pressures.
Stoicism’s Role in Overcoming Fear: Discusses the role of ethics and morality in shaping fears, particularly in street photography.
Influence of Physical Health on Mood: Draws connections between physical fitness, outdoor exposure, and mental well-being.
Stoic Assignments and Ideals: Suggests practical exercises and lifestyle choices reflecting Stoic values, emphasizing physical fitness and an open, sociable demeanor.
Stoicism and Masculinity: Associates Stoicism with traditionally masculine traits and physical strength.
Real Stoic Qualities: Describes an ideal Stoic as joyful, playful, and unburdened by societal norms.
Adults and Stoicism: Critiques adult pessimism and advocates for maintaining a childlike optimism and cheerfulness.
Stoicism and Carnivorism: Argues controversially for a human-centric view of nature and dismisses animal rights.
End Goals of Stoicism: Aligns Stoicism with entrepreneurship, innovation, art, and design, emphasizing the importance of courage.
Physical Aspects of Stoicism: Recommends maximum effort physical training as a Stoic practice.
Future Actions: Encourages sharing Stoic thoughts through blogging and vlogging, promoting open-source and independent content creation.

STOICISM BY ERIC KIM

Introduction to Stoicism

Something I have been meaning to write or create or do is like some sort of book, ebook, pamphlet, or introductory primer to stoicism. I really think that stoicism is probably one of the most useful and philosophical models to live normal every day real life. Yet, I haven’t really found a good instructional guide on it, especially when I was self teaching it to myself.

Consider this a practical primer, cutting through the BS:

What does stoicism mean?

Stoicism, stoic, the stoa in ancient Greece– essentially the stoa was like some sort of portico, patio, pillar, outside, essentially a spot where guys would just hang out, talk shop, talk philosophy, etc.

I think about the show “Hey Arnold” in which I was raised with… the notion of “stoop kid“, the notion of a stoop is that in a lot of cities, especially the east coast in New York, you have this little stoop or porch, stairs that go outside your front door… and you could just hang out there, engage in social and neighborhood life etc.

The new stoa?

One of my happiest moments was when I was living in Providence Rhode Island, and then COVID-19 hit. Everything was closed, besides the park. I can still go to the park, hang out, workout, do chin ups– I learned how to do muscle ups, more bodyweight calisthenics stuff, and also… I had a lot of fun with this “rock toss“ challenge and workout… in the middle of the park was a huge ass rock and huge ass stone, and every single day I would go there pick it up, and then eventually work out with it; throwing it around for fun, doing overhead presses with it, clean and jerks, squats, and eventually I would just throw it around for fun. Funny enough it might have been the most fit I was in my life… this was the true “functional” fitness.

The inspiration — Hector lifting an insanely massive stone (barely 2 strong men could lift it)… using it to break down the door of the ships of the other side.

Open air, open sun concept

Anyways, the reason why that period of covid was so good is that it was in the middle of beautiful Providence Rhode Island summer, so nice and bright and warm and lovely… and one of the good things was going to the park was like an open forum, a new anatheum for a lot of really cool guys to come, hang out, talk shop, go topless and shirtless, workout and hang out.

I met some really interesting people during that period of time. I met some guys who were really cool. For example, one guy I met was in the US military Navy, I think he was training to be a Navy seal or Delta force or something. Another guy in some sort of ROTC training, another cool guy from the hood, and also I would say I probably met half a dozen friendly drug dealers there. And of course a lot of people who believed in conspiracy theories; really friendly, a little weird, but overall good guys.

Anyways, one of the biggest benefits of hanging out at that outdoor park, open air, nothing but green grass, the beautiful sun and the fitness equipment was that I think having this sort of open air environment is actually very conducive to socializing, thinking and thought, and pro social behavior. My theory about a lot of modern day antisocial behavior has to do with the structures which enclose us. For example, almost universally most guys at the gym are extremely antisocial. Why? My theory is that because most gyms have closed, cramped narrow ceilings, and do not have access to natural light, or outside space.

Cramped indoor spaces promote antisocial behavior.

The only good gym I went to which was interesting was the golds gym in Venice, which has this really big outdoor workout area. I think this is much more natural and more fun and better; to be able to work out directly outside outdoors, with your shirt off.

Who is this philosophy for?

Stoics, stoicism — it was originally I think codified by this guy named Zeno, and over time he picked up some followers. Essentially the whole thing happened organically; Zeno would first share his thinking on philosophy ethics and pragmatic ways to deal with other people and the downsides of life, he built a following, and then his followers would propagate the thoughts and start their own little schools of thoughts, their own little stoic clubs.

What is “real” stoicism?

Would I like about stoicism is how loosey goosey it is. It is kind of like zen, or taoism… it is not really quantified as a religion, or a strict moral order. In fact, a lot of the ancients stoics would meditate on random stuff like cosmology, natural sciences like Seneca, how volcanoes worked or whatever. I think nowadays in today’s world, we focus primarily on the pragmatic side; how to deal with fear, uncertainty, downsides etc.

So how did I discover stoicism?

I think I might’ve first learned about stoicism from Nassim Taleb and his ANTIFRAGILE book. I was curious, and my curiosity went to deep. To quote NASSIM TALEB and the Venetian saying “The ocean goes deeper, the deeper you wade into it.”

I literally consumed every single book I could find on stoicism, even the obscure ones. Funny enough, a lot of the stoic thinkers tried to claim other philosophers as being stoic, like Seneca did with Diogenes the cynic.

Cynic, cynicism, actually comes from the word canine, the dog. Diogenes was considered the “dog” philosopher, first used as a pejorative, but ultimately Diogenes reappropriated that title for fun! He saw dogs as tough, almost like wild wolves, rather than seeing them as a negative thing.

Even Achilles when he was raging against king Agamemnon, he called him “dog faced“ as a heaping insult.

Who is worth reading?

First, Seneca. Seneca the younger, his dad was called Seneca the elder.

In fact, this is such a big deal because Cindy and I named our first son, Seneca, directly after the stoic philosopher. This is true soul in the game; if you name your kid after your favorite philosopher, certainly it is a sign that you really liked that philosopher, or found them impactful.

The reason why I really like Seneca the stoic philosopher is because he had real connections to real reality. What that means is he wasn’t just on the sidelines; he actually existed in the real world, engaged in real politics, was even advisor to the emperor Nero, the bad one, who eventually low-key coerced Seneca to commit suicide, in a manly, dignified manner.

I think this was because maybe… there was actually a plan to overthrow Nero, and essentially Nero found out.

What makes Seneca so good?

I really like Seneca because his writing is accessible, practical and pragmatic, and interesting.

A lot of thinkers tend to lack connections to real reality, I have no tolerance for boring philosophers to talk about metaphysics, which is things which are not physical. Like thoughts ideas, the universe, electricity and energy, strange phenomenon and conspiracy theories on ghosts, “energy” whatever.

For a long time, I would hear the term “metaphysics” being thrown around, and I had zero idea what it actually meant.

Meta– on top of. Or nestled within.

Physics — the physical, physical phenomenon like gravity, first principles.

The reason why metaphysics philosophers tend to be a bunch of losers is that they are all weak and anemic, nerds or geeks or weaklings who seem to have some sort of physiological degeneracy, which encourages them to opine or talk or think about impractical things, superficial things.

Personally speaking, I think philosophy must be practical.

Practical, praxis, practice — to do!

The Spartan, Zen Stoic, demigod ideal

I have a very funny ideal; the general idea is that your body looks like a demigod, and your physiology is out of control. The general idea is one must be tall, strong, highly muscular, low body fat percentage, I’m not exactly sure what my body fat percentage is, but maybe it’s around 5%.

Also, physical fitness is critical to any stoic. My ideal is to walk 50 miles a day, eat 20 pounds of meat like Milo of Croton a day. And also, abstinence from silly things like media, alcohol, drugs, marijuana etc.

Trust no thinker who does drugs!

Even our best friend Nietzsche said that coffee was bad, because it would make people dark and gloomy. He encouraged 100% cocoa powder instead.

You let the drugs talk I let my soul talk ayy! – Kendrick Lamar

Simple technique:

First, look at a picture or a portrait or a full body shot, ideally topless of the artist, philosopher or thinker or individual… then judge their thoughts later.

Why? My theory is this: the thoughts of an individual is hugely affected by their bodily physiology.

For example, an extreme example: if somebody is locked inside a solitary confinement cell, and not permitted to go outside for years, but, he had a pen and pad and would jot down some thoughts… Would be the quality of these thoughts? Certainly dark and morose.

Why does stoicism matter?

In today’s world, why does it matter, what is the significance of stoicism, etc.?

First and foremost, I think we are living in a troubling time, especially with the advent of modern day internet based media and advertising. I think 99% of what is propagated on the internet is fear mongering, and what is hate? Hate is just fear.

The first thought on stoicism is that it is just fear conquering. What I discovered about street photography, is that 99% of it is conquering your fears. Conquering your fears of upsetting other people, getting in some sort of verbal or physical altercation etc. In fact my bread and butter workshop is my conquering your fears and street photography workshop, the workshop which is still interesting to me even after a decade.

Why is this so important? I think it is rooted in almost everything; conquering your fears is rooted in entrepreneurship, innovation, risktaking and real life.

Even my speculation in crypto. 99.9% of crypto speculation is just balls. Having the balls to make big bets, and when things go south, knowing how to master your emotions.

A simple extra I have is this: just imagine it will all go down to zero.

It was useful because when I was in college, my sophomore year I got really into trading stocks, and I eventually lost my whole life savings, maybe around $3500 USD, and some bad penny stock which I actually misread the financials… the whole time I thought the company was making a profit, but actually it was taking a loss. I actually didn’t know that if profits are written in parentheses, it means a loss.

It was funny because my initial start as an investor was back in high school, I bought some Adobe stock when I was a high school junior, and also some mutual funds, which both went up after about 4-5 years.

Also I remember in elementary school computer class, when I was in the sixth grade in Bayside Queens, there was some sort of stock stimulation trading game, and actually it was funny… the kids who made the most money and were the most successful just put 100% of everything into Apple, note this is when we were only 12 years old, and I was born in 1988.

Stoicism and capitalism?

Funny enough, it seems that stoicism actually plays well with capitalism. Why? According to modern day capitalist thinking, the best way to approach life is to be objective, strong, stoic, unemotional, logical and rational.

Also, with modern day media there is so much fear mongering in the news, about some sort of global armageddon, global financial ruin, etc. I call it “fear porn”.

Therefore stoicism as a mindset is useful to think and position your mind in such a way that you could consider that life is all upside, no downside.

In fact, if I could summarize stoicism in one sentence, it is that life is all upside, no downside. Inspired by NASSIM TALEB.

Sex and Stoicism

So, is stoicism useful to you if you’re a man or a woman? Does it matter?

The good thing is I think it could apply to both sexes. Conquering sexism and social pressures is useful if you’re woman, and also if you’re a man.

Also, gender is social. Lot of the expectations set on us by society is socialized and gamed to a certain degree.

Stoic strategies

First, we got to unchain ourselves from modern day ethics and morality. I believe that all modern day philosophy and thinking and ethics and religion is bad.

For example, the notion of turning the other cheek is a patently bad one. Why did Jesus turn his cheek? It is because he lacked on army.

Also, philosophically I think we should put no trust in Socrates. I thought which has puzzled me for a long time was this “Why was Socrates so ugly?

Monster in face, monster in soul.

I think Socrates was a degenerate, and he lacked any sort of real power. Therefore he turned logic and rationality into his terrorizing weapon (via Nietzsche). Back in the day, you didn’t need logic or rationality to have things your way, you simply was able to dictate that which you wanted to pause it, because you had a military force behind you. Just think about Machiavelli and IL PRINCIPE– the reality of being a mercurial prince, king, and military leader is hard, stoic, “immoral”. But ultimately it all comes down to war, conquest, the military.

Trust nobody who uses rationality or logic as their tyrannizing weapon.

In fact, I believe that all should have the body and strength of some sort of super soldier. Essentially look like all the guys from the movie 300, this is our ideal.

Demigod physique.

What has helped me

Allow yourself to be a bad, immortal, “evil” person. When you decide to adopt an unorthodox way of thinking and living, you’re going to rub some feathers the wrong way. And truth be told, even if you act in a strange vibrant way… At worse you’re only “mildly” annoying other people.
For good inspirations, I think the best stoic writers and thinkers include Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius and also the humor of the cynic philosopher Diogenes. I would even posit the idea that one could consider Alexander the Great as a stoic. Why? When you’re trying to create an empire, and you always have your life on the line, certainly this takes a stoic mindset. Also, let us think and consider that Alexander the Great had a copy of the Iliad by his bedstand, it was the only book he traveled with during his military tours.
Imagine the worst possible case scenario, and backtrack: Apparently even NASSIM TALEB would do this when he was a trader; every single day when he would go to his trading desk, he would assume that his investments would all go to zero, and if that wasn’t the case every single day, it was just upside. Therefore for myself, I just think to myself very simple; imagine like I got zero dollars, zero money, and literally all I need is meat, a Wi-Fi connection and I’m good.
Live like a poor person: The notion of “debasing“ the coin or the currency is the general idea that you are not a coward in regards to money. The best way to think about money is like a social tool; I think money is actually just codified labor. If you want people to clean bathrooms, run the cashiers stand, you have to promise them money. Even Seneca said the upsides of simulated poverty; essentially living like a poor person, or even a homeless person when you don’t need to… is the ultimate position to be in. Why? True freedom of spirit and soul; as a philosopher thinker writer or whatever… you cannot be “canceled”, because there is nothing to cancel. As long as you could pay your rent, buy meat at Costco, and publish your thoughts to your own self hosted website blog, and pay your server fee, you have 100% freedom. And also, still… America is the best place to be because there is true freedom of speech and expression, you don’t want to be a trillionaire but not be able to say what’s really on your mind. And I think this is the big issue with entertainers, actors, media people… as long as you’re signed to a contract, you don’t run your own production company, or, you’re still a slave to money… you’re not really going to see what’s really on your mind. Why is it that the Rock cannot say anything bad about China, or Tibet? Because he is still enslaved by the media corporation. New slaves by Kanye West.

And this is the true courage of Kanye West; he literally put everything on the line, and even lost his spouse and I think maybe his kids? All for the sake of revealing inequities.

“I throw these Maybach keys fucking c’est la vie! I know that we the new slaves.”- Ye

Stoic training

The fun thing about stoicism is that you could just make it up as you go, devise your own strategies and whatever.

“Fucking c’est la vie!” My favorite Kanye West line.

Essentially the general idea is that in life, one should not take things too seriously. Laughter is golden, I forget the philosopher who was called the laughing philosopher… Democritus?; better to laugh about the follies of human beings rather than to be dark and morose about it.

Also, thoughts from the Odyssey; if you look far enough into the future, everything becomes comedic and hilarious.

So when you’re in some sort of bad situation, just think to yourself “Perhaps one day, 20 or 30 years from now… I will look back at this and just laugh!” It will just be humorous.

Honestly, laughter, and kind of being able to joke about things might be the best way to live life and deal with setbacks.

Modern day ailments

Problems in modern day life:

Too much time spent indoors, not enough time out in the sun. Perhaps it is better to be out outside all day, and joyful, even with the risk of getting skin cancer or whatever… rather than to be indoors, scared, weak and anemic. Differences between if you’re a man or a woman, but still… the most beautiful skin has a sunkissed, olive color tone; the true privilege is having a full body tan.
Get chatGPT, the paid premium one. And use the image generation AI art tool DALL-E. People pay therapists to just speak their mind, and get some sort of sounding board. I actually think it’s much better to chat with AI instead; because it will not judge you, and ultimately what is a therapist anyways? A therapist is just a mirror, a sounding board for you to verbalize and flesh out your thoughts. Often when we talk about our problems, 90% of the issues go away because once we verbalize it, we feel much better about ourselves. The next thing I’m going to do is build some sort of therapy bot.
Not enough walking: I have never met anybody who walks 30,000 steps a day and is depressed. Even my friend Jimmy, who works as a US postal worker delivering the mail, he walks around 30,000 steps a day and is always bright cherry and jovial. I think this is also where people who hike a lot or walk a lot in nature are so happy; when you’re able to walk around a lot, and zen out… you just feel much better. My simple suggestion is when you go on a hike or a walk in nature or even in the city… leave your phone at home, or locked inside your glove compartment, and don’t bring any headphones or speakers or Apple watches or whatever. Just bring along your camera, and enjoy. My personal ideal is the bear lifestyle; walking 50 miles a day.

Real stoics don’t call themselves Stoics?

A funny thing I have learned is that when you call something something, it isn’t that.

For example, if someone calls something a “luxury car”, it ain’t. For example, a true modern day luxury car is maybe a Tesla, but Tesla never calls itself a luxury car. Also the ultimate luxury technology company is probably Apple… but Apple is very intelligent and not calling themselves a luxury brand.

A pro tip is when it comes to websites, read the alternative text, the header text, the stuff that shows up in the tab of your browser window. If the website, the automotive retailer tries to market themselves as a “luxury” brand, typically it is actually a sign that it isn’t a luxury brand it isn’t luxury brand.

Thought: what are some good examples of true luxury brands which don’t overly calls itself luxury?

In someways, we can think and consider stoicism as our new luxury. In fact, having luxury, luxury of mind and soul… and luxury of freedom of speech, isn’t this the ultimate luxury?

When somebody asked Diogenes the cynic; “What is the best human good”? He said “Freedom of speech, speaking your mind, having the power to see whatever is on your mind.”

In fact, my current joy is becoming more and more free talking, and free riding. What that means is this; I’m ain’t going to censor myself no more, even if I might be politically incorrect insensitive or whatever.

Also, I would prefer to speak my mind and seriously hurt the feelings of others, rather than soften it for the sake of the other person.

Similarly speaking, when people call themselves “influencers”, they are not influencers.

Stoicism as a technique and tool, not the end

Ultimately I think we should think of stoicism just like having another tool inside our tool kit. For example, if you’re a chef, you’re going to have different knives for different purposes. If you’re going to cut a big piece of meat, you probably want a big ass meat cutting knife, not something you would use to slice an apple with. Similarly speaking, if you’re going to scoop out the insides of an avocado, better to use a spoon rather than using a fork, or a knife.

I think the problem is when some people get too into stoicism (I prefer writing stoicism with a lowercase), they think that everything needs to be consistent, and must fit into this nice little neat box of what is considered “stoicism“. This is a bad line of thinking… let us consider that Marcus Aurelius never even mentioned stoicism in his writings, his collections of thoughts, which we moderns call THE MEDITATIONS… it was just essentially his personal diary, to help him conquer his own personal fears and thoughts, I don’t think he ever intended it to be published publicly. I think he just wrote it to himself as self therapy. And I think the only stoic philosopher he even mentions is maybe Epictetus.

The future of stoicism?

For myself, I just come out with certain to work out thoughts and techniques because it helps me, and when I find these tricks or techniques or secret hacks or cheat codes… My passion is to simply share it with others.

And ultimately, things are ever in flux and evolving and changing and adapting.

For example, I’ve discovered the quality of my thinking is different when I am in Culver City Los Angeles, compared to being in the boring suburbs of Orange County.

Also depending on my social environments… my stoic thoughts are different when I am in a gym, vs just working out by myself in my parking spot in the back of my apartment.

Also, the quality of my thoughts is different when living with family members or other people versus just living with myself Cindy and Seneca.

Stoicism is all about living with other people

Assuming you’re not growing your own vegetables and living in the middle of nowhere… you probably have some interaction with other human beings. As long as you have an iPhone, an Android phone, a smartphone, a 4G or 5G internet connection, wifi, a laptop, have to buy groceries somewhere… you’re still going to have to interact with other human beings.

And this is good. There is no other greater joy than other human beings.

In fact, modern-day society is strange because in someways, the ethos is to be antisocial and to be cowardly. But in fact, the best way to think about things is that real life is interaction with other human beings, and social conquest. One can imagine a lot of modern day entrepreneurship as simply a big dick swinging contest. He who is the most masculine confident tall and strong and stoic shall win.

More ideas

Assume that everyone is mentally insane: Have you ever been out in public, and you see some sort of crackhead or strange homeless person who acts radically, smells terrible, and is obviously mentally ill? Do you hate them for it? When they say something weird to you… do you take it personally? No. Why? They are crazy. Perhaps we should just adopt this stoic mindset towards other people; some people are actually physiologically ill, mentally unwell… don’t trust the opinion of nobody.

A lot of people are trying to actually deal with their own inner demons: For example, becoming the successful photographer and street photographer I am today… I’ve dealt with some individuals who would say anonymous bad things about me, and later I found out that their mom just died or something. I cannot imagine what it feels like losing a mother… therefore if somebody spew some hate on me because something bad happened to them, I’m not gonna take it personally.

Self-flagellation: I think a lot of people who are sick, mentally or physiologically self flagellate themselves. Essentially the way that they deal with other people or themselves is some sort of metaphorical self-flagellation.

For example… you know those strange individuals who have the whip and whip themselves, and inflict pain on themselves? I think some people do this metaphorically to themselves and others.

You just want to stay away from them.

Why so scared?

My personal theory on fear is that a lot of it is tied to morality and ethics. I think the general idea is not necessarily that we are afraid of anything… I think the true fear is that we’re afraid that we are some sort of bad evil unethical immoral person.

For example in street photography, the general ethical thought is that it is immoral to take a photo of somebody without their permission, because there is some sort of it inherent evil behind it. Is this true? No. Taking photos and not really a big deal.

Why do people make such a big deal out of small things?

I think it is because some people are just overly sensitive, which once again comes from some sort of physiological weakness.

For example, if you’re a weightlifter who could lift 1000 pounds, assuming you’re not taking any steroids or anything… are small things going to bother you? No. But let us assume that you are a skinny fat man, all you do is drink alcohol and smoke marijuana and watch Netflix, and you spent too much time on Reddit… you are 40% body fat, and have never lifted in your life. And also your testosterone is low and you never go outside. Certainly the quality of your thoughts is going to be different than if you’re a happy gay monster, lifting weights outside in the direct sun, laughing and having fun.

In fact, I’ve actually personally discovered that the reason why a lot of people hate me is because I am so happy jovial and gay. They are secretly suspicious or envious of me?

Weather and mood

Probably one of my worst experiences was this jarring transition; I was super happy insanely happy being in Vietnam in 2017; with a beautiful weather, the beautiful light, the happy people the great amenities etc.… and then that winter Cindy and I went to Europe, in Marseille Berlin and Prague, and maybe London… seriously the worst winter of my life. Why? I wonder if so much miserable feelings and thoughts simply comes from the darkness and lack of light. a lot of Europe is actually quite miserable; dark, unhygienic, morose.

Even Nietzsche had a thought about Schopenhauer; How much of these emo European philosophers came from the fact that it was just complaining about the cold weather in Germany etc.?

For myself, my ideal weather is Southeast Asia; I love being in Phnom Penh Cambodia, Vietnam etc. In the states, am I the only one who loves living in Los Angeles? Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar said that LA was the best for women weed and weather… I would definitely say the biggest upside of living in Los Angeles is the light, the sunlight. It actually does get quite cold here, but usually most reliably even in December during the winter time, the sun will always come up. As long as there is bright sunny light, I will be happy. And I think maybe for myself, considering that I am a photographer, and photography means painting with light… light for me is critical.

I also wonder how much of it is a physiological thing and a genetic trait; for example I could even recall being a young child, and my mom telling me that the most critical thing in finding a home or an apartment was light and natural light. Even now… 90% of my happiness comes from being able to have access to natural light, ideally floor to ceiling windows facing directly the sun, having some sort of modern temperature regulated apartment and home. Even living in our tiny studio minimalistic luxury apartment in Providence Rhode Island, where it was always 75° warm and cozy, and not frigid and damp and cold and dark and humid… I was always good. But moving to an older house, where it always felt damp and cold… this literally lowered my happiness by 1000%.

Therefore, if you’re feeling miserable sad or whatever… I say spend three months living in Hanoi or Saigon in Vietnam, or go to Phnom Penh Cambodia. I wonder if 90% of peoples misery is simply due to the weather.

Stoic assignments

”Better to be a gay monster than a sentimental bore!” – Fernandino Galliani, via Nietzsche

My stoic ideal is somebody who is happy, gay, smiling, no headphones or AirPods on, no sunglasses on, no hat, no facial hair, no baggy oversized clothing, no tint in their car. Somebody who makes great eye contact, laughs, stands up upright, jokes, and fools around. Like an overgrown child.

Also, lift weights at least once every day, ideally in the direct sun. Just buy some weightlifting equipment on Titan.fitness, I like the farmers carry handles, the Olympic loadable dumbbell, and also the Texas power squat bar. Just buy some cheap weights, and or buy a heavy 400 pound sandbag, and just have fun throwing it around.

True stoics are masculine

A true stoic should look something like Hercules or Achilles. Or like ERIC KIM; I have the aesthetic and the physique of Brad Pitt in FIGHT CLUB except with a lot more muscle. Like my friend Soren says, the Adonis physique and proportions.

A real stoic is sexy

I think a real stoic is sexy, happy and fun. Who doesn’t take life too seriously; and think of everything like a fun game. A real stoic would be joyful and cheery like three-year-old child without any adulteration from the outside world.

Why do adults become so dark and morose?

I don’t like talking with or hanging out with adults, uninteresting.

At what point or age do people become so emo?

Typically, highschoolers are very optimistic. Even college students. But I think at least in maybe college in high school nowadays… the bad trend is towards “over concern”, about the world the planet ethics animals etc.

I find a lot of this thinking superficial, performative, and uncritical. I think “animal rights“, “saving the planet” is this new pseudo world religion; which is just capitalism 3.0. I find the whole pet industry the whole dog industry to be insanely bizarre, and I trust nobody who talks about “saving the planet“ who owns an iPhone, owns any sort of car, or has an Amazon prime subscription. Certainly not any vegans.

A real stoic is a carnivore

Animals are animals. They are lower on the hierarchy and totem pole on earth. Man is the apex predator, the apex bully and the apex tyrant.

Should we care for animals or “animal rights”? No. Animals are our slaves.

If you consider even dogs and pets… they are essentially our emotional slaves. People talk a lot about the virtuosity of dogs being loyal or whatever… and giving you unconditional love. This seems like some sort of emotional slavery.

The only dogs I respect are some sort of canine dogs, some sort of attack or defense dogs, or hunting dogs. For example, John Wick 3; Halle Barry and her dogs. An animal should either be a weapon, or nothing.

Why do people care about animals so much?

Essentially it looks like men no longer have a backbone. No more spine.

I trust nobody who owns a dog.

Let us not forget; they call it dog ownership, or “owning a pet”. There is no more concept of “human ownership, or “owning a human.”

End goals

What is the end goal of humanity? To me it is towards entrepreneurship, innovation, art and aesthetics, philosophy etc. Design.

Stoicism should be considered a tool which could aid you in these things.

For example, I think 99% of entrepreneurship is courage. Stoicism could help you with that.

I also think with design, great design is also 99% courage, having the courage to attempt something that won’t sell or be received well… stoicism is all about practical courage. The only designers with courage include Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Elon Musk, Kanye West.

Also, weightlifting. To attempt to lift a certain weight you have never attempted before takes great courage. For example, me atlas lifting 1000 pounds; that is 10 plates and a 25 on each side, this is true stoic training. Why? The fear of injury is what holds most people back; if you had successfully conquered this fear and not injured yourself, this is pure stoic bliss.

The physical

I think the only and the only proper way to lift weights is one repetition maximum training. That is; what is the maximum amount of weight you’re able to successfully lift or move, even half an inch?

To me, the courage is the success. Even if you had the courage to attempt it… that is what is considered success.

Simple exercises to do include the atlas lift, innovated by ERIC KIM, or a one repetition max rack pull.

Or, a high trap bar deadlift, heavy Farmer’s walks, or heavy sandbag carries. Or even a simple thing you could do is go to the park or to the local nature center, find the biggest rock there and just see if you could pick it up.

Now what?

If you’re interested in stoicism, and have had some interesting thoughts on stoicism, one of the most noble things you could do is start your own blog. I think blogs are 1000 times more effective than publishing some sort of static printed book; I think the problem in today’s world is that everyone is seeking some sort of legitimacy by being picked up by some sort of legitimate publisher and getting “published“, and seeing your printed book at Barnes & Noble whatever.

I say it is better to be open source, free and permissionless, decentralized. Just publish your thoughts and book as a free PDF, and just host it on dropbox, Google Drive, or your own web server. Share the link freely, and also just publish the raw text as a big blog post.

Even Sam Bankman-Fried wisely thought; 99.9% of books could just be summarized as big blog posts.

Don’t trust any modern day published book which isn’t free, because… there is some sort of hidden clout chasing somewhere.

Even one of the worst compromises that led to the demise of Ray Dalio was the fact that he took his Principles book, which was essentially a free ebook PDF on his website, and then took it off, because I think he got a book deal with Simon and Schuster. After he did that, he lost my respect.

If you’re already independently wealthy, and you don’t crowd source your self-esteem… why would you need to externally validate yourself by getting some sort of constipated publisher and annoying editor?

Editors are bad.

Now what?

Start your own blog and start blogging your own thoughts on stoic philosophy, and even start a YouTube channel and start vlogging on it. My generalized thought is simple: if your thought your idea your blog post your video or whatever could even impact the life of one other human being on planet earth… it is worth it.

ERIC

What is the secret to the maximum amount of happiness in life? The maximum amount of danger. (Nietzsche).

ERIC

SCAPEGOAT.

Some thoughts on Jewish people:

First, seems that American people are suspicious of Jewish people because they don’t understand Jewish people –their customs their beliefs, their names their clothing, how they talk, their last names, cultural thoughts etc.

For example, Hanukkah. A menorah dreidel etc.… going to the temple? The average Christian, Catholic protestant in America has no idea what Judaism, being Jewish is all about.

I’m speaking from the perspective of being born and raised, baptized Roman Catholic, growing up in a liberal Korean American Catholic circle, and also later becoming Sunday school teacher and even Sunday school principal.

First, at least for Catholic people we don’t really care for Jewish people. We don’t really think about them, nor care, and we don’t criticize or critique them. We don’t even know who Jewish people are what they are, and we really don’t care.

I think for Christian protestants, Lutheran’s Baptists or whatever… also, they don’t really care about Jewish people that much either. There are more interested in leaving Jewish people alone, and trying to proselytize and convert more normal people into their protestant sect.

Catholicism is interesting because we are not rabid religious zealots. We are very tolerant actually; we allow other people to do as they please, even one hot fact that people don’t know, the Catholic Church is actually very open to the LGBTQ community, and being gay. The only thing that the Catholic Church doesn’t like is gay people having intercourse, as the Catholic Church believes the purpose of intercourse is for a man and a woman to get a child, which I get.

So who is anti-Jewish?

I think actually, the African-American community the “black” community is actually the ones who are anti-Jewish. Why? I think there actually is a history of exploitation or perhaps power dynamic issues between powerful and rich Jewish executives in the music rap industry and poor African-American aspiring rapper kids, who come from the hood.

I heard from this one cool African-American guy that I met who’s been to Nigeria Lagos and traveled a bunch and knows history told me that even a lot of the original jazz divas, jazz musicians, James Brown and all of that music was mostly bankrolled by Jewish media executives, even if you read Henry Ford’s anti-Semitic publication, the international Jew, there is actually a section on which it is mentioned that jazz is a Jewish phenomenon.

A funny thought:

Then is rap music, Jewish music?

Even Ben Horowitz, the great Silicon Valley entrepreneur and venture capitalist, who is also Jewish American, put out a rap album as a kid! Even apparently Kanye West has ties with Ben Horowitz.

Who doesn’t care?

So at least for Asians, Asian Americans, or the new elite rich Asians in Asia, they are unapologetically racist. Also, there is a strict caste system and hierarchy in Asia. Only poor slave like indentured people do the dirty work of sanitation and hygiene, sweeping and mopping at the mall, cooking food, taking care of kids, waiters and waitresses, working at coffee shop etc. The rich just lounge, hang out, drink coffee, wear luxury clothes, and want to be seen. Compare this to funny America where everyone thinks that kind of labor is beneath them — the notion of the benevolent virtue of “work, respect for one’s work” and “career”.

Why so many cultural clashes in America?

America is a very strange hodgepodge of things because in America, we are almost too multicultural.

For example, let us consider that essentially the first founding fathers of America were British people who didn’t like Britain, and fled. The early American settlers came to America and colonized America because it didn’t like the policies of the British monarchy and king, they were essentially the first troublemakers.

Fast forward to today, cultural vestiges of Quakerism, Protestantism, Benjamin Franklin and the protestant work ethic etc.… the new world order and ethos is towards capitalism. Like Kanye said:

White people make money don’t spend it. But I’d rather buy 80 gold chains and go ‘ignant’!

How people profit

One of my workshop attendees when I was in New York told me a funny Jewish or a Yiddish thing; one generation makes the money, the next generation conserves the money, the third generation spoils all the money, and thus, the cycle continues.

Jewish people just want to be left alone

I think the truth is Jewish people just want to be left alone, and like any good immigrant, they were actually very pro assimilation. For example Kirk Douglas, changed his last name because he wanted to “fit in” in Hollywood, and not be stigmatized for his Jewish background. His real name is Issur Danielovitdh. Doesn’t sound as catchy as a good simple “American” sounding name.

Kirk Douglas was the son of Jewish immigrants fro, Belarus, spoke Yiddish growing up and faced poverty and antisemitism early on.

Apparently Walt Disney was very anti-Semitic and anti-Jewish.

Even in today’s world, why is the modern-day American or person so anti-Jewish?

Just look at these podcasts, anybody who has anything bad to say about Jewish people. They tend to be weak, skinny, anemic, probably drink too much vegetable juice or green fruit juice or whatever, don’t eat enough meat, has too low testosterone.

I have a theory that actually, the higher your testosterone, the more tolerant and open minded you are. It seems only low testosterone men are the ones who blame others, hate, etc.

Scapegoating is a tactic of the weak, meek, powerless and castrated.

Solution ideas

First and foremost, I think everybody should do some sort of DNA test, DNA testing or whatever, and find out that their genetic heritage is actually more diverse than they thought it was. For example imagine if you are anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic, and you did a DNA test and you actually found out that you were part Jewish? Even the fun fact, people don’t want you to know this… Japanese people descended from Korean people and the Yayoi people — and also I think Korean people we descended from the Chinese Mongolians? And ultimately if you go back far enough we all came from Africa anyways.
I really do believe that ChatGPT 4, AI can actually make people more tolerant. Why? For example get the paid ChatGPT paid plus premium, and ask it “What are some common misconceptions about Islam“? Or, “What are some common misconceptions about Catholicism?” or, “what are some misconceptions about Judaism?”. To debunk conspiracy theories, myths, and other insane nonsense is critical.

It ain’t my fault you’re so poor!

A lot of people who talk about Jewish people owning the whole banking system international finance whatever, I think these individuals were complaining are because they themselves are poor, in poverty, or have financial problems, and once again they are looking for a scapegoat. Nobody likes to think:

Wow, perhaps I should go back to medical school, law school, become a doctor or lawyer, or do a coding Boot Camp, or go to community college and teach myself computer programming, and get a better pay job as a programmer, etc.

Why don’t people like to take responsibility of themselves?

I think the big issue here is that I don’t know if it is a learned behavior, a cultural behavior or something else?

One of the good things about the immigrant mentality is the ethos, which I think is a good one… That “if you work hard enough“, you will become successful“.

For example just watch fight club, do you remember that scene where Brad Pitt puts a fake gun with no bullets in the barrel against the kids head, telling him to go back to law school or doctor school or whatever? There were no bullets in the gun!

I think maybe the issue is if you were born in the states, to all occasion family, or maybe something else… And there hasn’t really been a history of struggle in your family or your life, there is this “learned helplessness” which occurs and happens.

Instagram, YouTube is to blame?

OK, if you spend too much time on Instagram, or read it, or Google, Wikipedia, YouTube etc.… Sooner or later you all fall into weird weird conspiracy theories.

In fact, my greatest shock is often, the most intelligent people that I know fall into the conspiracy theories.

For example one of my friends who is a PhD graduate from UC Berkeley, theorized that Kanye West was in fact, and the reason why he was so into fashion and going to Paris was to go see his gay romantic partners, and that Kim Kardashian was just a cover-up for his gayness, and that in fact Kim Kardashian was secretly fly on a private jet to Saudi Arabia or the Middle East to have sex with some princes or whatever, for high sums of money etc.

I was so insanely shocked because here is this area date scholar man, well-versed in history, insanely intelligent and critical, falling victim to these weird conspiracy theories?

Also, some thing I have learned about academics, scholars at the Ivy League schools, Harvard Yale Princeton Brown University, UC Berkeley UCLA etc.… They are all addicted to Netflix, checking their Gmail for too many times a day, not eating enough meat, not exercising enough, drinking too much alcohol (it seems that universally all academic scholar professors are either alcoholics, or smoke too much weed). Let us consider the height in Apex of these intelligent scholars; the ones that shape public opinion and policy… If they themselves are the ones who are also physically and mentally sick, what will the public opinion be?

Have you really met these rich famous people in real life in the flesh?

Spending a lot of time in Beverly Hills Holby Hills, Culver City etc.… I have definitely rubbed shoulders with a lot of famous, notable, “beautiful” people. And truth be told, in the flash when you see them face-to-face are not very impressive.

First and foremost, a lot of them are actually quite short. Isn’t Tom Cruise like 5 foot seven or something? Or 5 foot six?

Kanye West I think is also 5 foot seven.

So a lot of these “Shorty guys”, have Napoleon syndrome here; they try to make up for their insecurity of being short through other weird ways like buying an expensive car, whatever?

Even a lot of these “beautiful women“ in LA; if you look at them up close and in person in the flesh, indirect sunlight, in fact, a lot of them look quite repulsive in the flesh because you can tell that they’ve had some weird Botox lip fillers or face fillers or something, they essentially look like Hyenas who had some sort of allergic facial reaction.

Even something that’s becoming more mainstream now, people injecting stuff in their face? Collagen, other things in their face? Even for men in their 50s and 60s, apparently it is popular to Botox surface as well? I think this is a bad idea.

Who to trust?

First and foremost, don’t trust nobody but yourself. Why? You yourself are the center of all intelligence wisdom and critical thinking. To outsource your intelligence wisdom and thinking is base.

Also, even when you meet really intelligent people, a lot of them are also not very critical. They can quote all of these boring old French thinkers until no end, as Nassim Taleb calls them “international Association of named droppers“, they themselves have no true original ideas which is vested in themselves.

Also, it also seems that a lot of these academics spend too much time watching sports – Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors, other sports etc. Into me watching sports on television is almost like the male version of pornography.

Critical thinking

To me critical thinking is being the judge, weighing the information yourself. For example, even if you discover the truth, you gotta ask yourself “Does this even matter?”

“So what?”

For example, let us say all the conspiracy theories are true, we never landed on the moon yada yada yada, Jewish people run the world whatever, you gotta ask yourself:

Does this even matter?

I don’t think so. Why? The joy and the glory of free market capitalism in America is that in theory, you as a sole proprietor can start your business right now, start selling products and services on PayPal, your own woocommerce enabled wordpress.org website, or using Shopify or whatever else — and you could take a profit.

Actually the benefit of having a day job is you could do very very risky entrepreneurial ventures on the side, while still being able to pay your rent.

Certainly having to be employed full-time is hiring, but there are very creative ways you could leverage your time. For example, my pragmatic thought is this:

Do the bare minimum of work necessary without getting fired.

So let us say that you work at a tech company or whatever, Google Amazon Facebook Apple whatever, just show up, click your paycheck, or zoom in, and during all your extra time, build your empire on the side.

Now what?

Just think to yourself, at what point do we scapegoat others?

A funny intervention that I had was thinking; what if in fact I am actually the bad guy? And I was the bad guy all along?

Everyone likes to see themselves as the judicious hero in their own life’s narrative, and everybody else is the bad guy, doing them injustice.

Personally speaking I witness this with my father; he was always blaming other people for everything. Blaming my mom, blaming my grandfather on my mom‘s side, my mom‘s relatives family members etc., yet, he never blamed himself?

Also something really weird; he would always blame other people, all the time, yet, ever since I was two years old, he never had a job?

I think as a child, you are keenly aware of things. Kids are 1 trillion times more intelligent than their parents think. Kids are no fools.

Now what?

This is what I say, fuck it! Lettuce assume that all the conspiracy theories are true, that we never landed on the moon, we never kept it Hitler and he went to some sort of bunker in an article or whatever, and that also, there are some sort of world conspiracy illuminati thing happening. So what? Does it matter?

No. You control your own destiny, you create your own future.

Simple things:

Don’t waste money. We waste money by buying new cars, luxury goods and things, going to debt use credit cards etc. I’m even starting to think that the new millennial trap is buying a house, it looks like this is the new modern day trip, because technically even if you buy a house, you yourself don’t really own that house, the bank owns your house! You never really own it until you have hundred percent paid it all off in cash, or if you bought it with 100% cash offer. But even still, the big issue at hand is you still gotta pay property tax on it! This is literally money you’ll never ever see again, money which is essentially thrown in the gutter. And let us say you own expensive house, and you bought it in all the cash, you might have to still pay it around $1500-$2000 month just in property taxes! Just add another thousand dollars and you got rent money!
Start a website a blog posted on wordpress.org and bluehost.com — what is a quadrillion times cheaper than owning property, buying a new car etc.? Starting a website! It is so easy, so chief, so accessible, the barrier to entry is only entering your credit card information. Consider how less tedious this is than having to go through the whole escrow process of purchasing a house, which can often take up to a year!
Start publishing your thoughts on anything and everything: to me, all ideas are good ideas, as long as they are personally motivated, something you are genuinely interested in, and also something you genuinely care for. The only crime is when you create something or publish something because you think other people like it. To me this is a sign of cowardice.

So what do you want to build?

“I want to build now!” – Cindy

The greatest muse in my life is my wife and partner Cindy. To me, she is an exemplary figure of somebody who has taken the rain by her arms, her hands, and steered and crafted her own unique future.

cindyanguyen.com and mis-reading.com and also hapticindustries.com — her own brain children!

I think the life the ultimate thing to seek is a great creative partner. Somebody who has your creative compliment, part of your own plan, your own party, your own squad.

For example, the personality of me and Cindy differs greatly, yet we are both still committed to being curious, creative, and we both have a passion for the arts, the world, travel etc.

Also, if you’re a man, I just suggest you to go out and look for wifey material. Ignore everything else.

Either find a wife get married and have kids, or stay a bachelor.

Creating your own future

The best way to create your own future is maybe through your art?

The other day Cindy myself and Seneca went to the Getty, in LA, on top of the hill, our minds were blown! Parking is 20 bucks, but admission is free!

We took the tram to the top of the hill, and marveled at these great architectural wonders of the space, the breathtaking view, and also all the great artwork enclosed in the gallery.

It seems at the end of the day, after all the wealth and riches and whatever, whatever everyone loves and inspires for is art. Art, art production, art Curation whether it be paintings photos videos sculpture, drawings, printed matter, objects etc.

To me anything and everything could be art, what I just think is art is simply something that you create with love and care and attention, and put it out into the world, whether digitally or physically or both.

Art profiteering

To make a profit off your art, not a bad thing, but also not critical. Some people think the typical capitalist way; in order to become a legitimate artist, I must sell my artwork for a lot of money, as money as a metric of success in America and beyond.

But is this true? No.

McDonald’s might be the most profitable and most consumed restaurant in the world, but is it of the highest grade? No. Also Starbucks is the number one most consumed coffee beverage in the world, but is Starbucks coffee the apex of great coffee? No.

Technically android is actually more popular than iPhone, there are more android devices in the world than iPhones, but does that make android better than Apple and iPhone? No. The URX of the iPhone is at least 1 trillion times better than android.

Also, iPhone the iPhone camera is the most used camera on the planet, what is it the best quality? No. The best quality would probably be some sort of Rico Pentex camera, or some sort of Panasonic Lumix camera. And let us not forget that Leica cameras essentially used borrow technology from Panasonic Lumix.

The world is inconsistent

I think one of the greatest things I have learned starting sociology philosophy etc. is that the world is very inconsistent.

For example, we are told that it is virtuous to be meek, humble or whatever… Yet everybody in America wants to flex on how rich successful famous they are, or what part they drive?

For example even Christian theology? Humbleness and meekness is praised, yet people will “virtue flex“, by broadcasting into the world how “good” other person they are?

For example, people who post to social media about donating to some sort of cause nonprofit or adopting an animal or whatever. We’re posting Bible scriptures or whatever. I don’t think this is virtuous at all. In fact, isn’t it Jesus that said, when you give to the temple, or you donate to charity, let your left-hand not know what your right hand is doing?

I wonder if Jesus was alive today he would say:

If you’re going to donate to charity, don’t name the building after yourself or a family member, don’t name the foundation after yourself, never publicly donate money under your name, and never publish it to the news or social media.

In fact, I think the rapper Pusha T actually donated 18 wheelers of freshwater to Flint Michigan, anonymously without telling nobody, he is truly virtuous.

Why so miserable?

If you’re dark depressed and EMO or whatever… Just moved to LA, I recommend Culver City, I especially really like the Culver City arts district. I really like the platform park, the new downtown Culver steps area, in front of the Philz Coffee, the whole area.

I wonder if the reason why a lot of people are so dark and grim is simply because they live somewhere with poor weather?

I know personally that when I was in Berlin, eastern Europe, Prague, Marseille in the winter time, it was some of the most depressive times of my life.

And on the contrary, some of the happiest times in my life or when I was in Vietnam, in Hanoi and Saigon, in Panam Cambodia, other places with good climate, bright light and sun good weather.

Your mind and your body is precious.

Don’t prostitute your mind, your body your soul.

Prostitution is not just sexual, it could be your mental abilities, your physical body whatever.

Prostitution isn’t just about your sexual organs, your penis or vagina your butt hole your mouth your hands or whatever, maybe… the more critical thing is your soul?

Your soul not as some hocus-pocus concept. Rather, your soul is a combination of your personality, your thoughts, your body, your opinions your beliefs your thoughts your abilities your capabilities, your skills etc.

The mortal soul. That is when your body dies, your soul also dies.

Memento mori

Remember that you must die, and you will die. Death is also also one of our final duties.

Therefore just thinking consider an ask yourself, in this short and cruel life that we live in, how can we discover more more joy, more thanksgiving, more happiness, more Thanksgiving?

How can we contribute more to the world to others to our progeny, our children are friends and communities and the world?

ERIC

SCAPEGOAT

Some thoughts on Jewish people:

First, seems that American people are suspicious of Jewish people because they don’t understand Jewish people their customs their beliefs, their names their clothing they talk, their last names, cultural thoughts etc.

For example, Hanukkah. A menorah dreidel etc.… A lot, temple? The average Christian, Catholic protestant in America has no idea what Judaism, being Jewish is all about.

I’m speaking from the perspective of being born and raised, baptized Roman Café, growing up in a liberal Korean American Catholic Circle, and also later becoming Sunday school teacher and even Sunday school principal.

I think for Christian protestants, Lutheran’s Baptist or whatever… Also, they don’t really care about Jewish people that much either. There are more interested in leaving Jewish people alone, and trying to proselytize and convert more normal people into their protestant sect.

So who is anti-Jewish?

I think actually, the African-American community the “black” community is actually the ones who are anti-Jewish. Why? I think they’re actually is a history of exploitation or perhaps power dynamic issues between powerful and rich Jewish executives in the music rap industry and poor African-American aspiring rapper kids, who come from the hood.

I heard from this one African-American guy that I met who’s been to Nigeria Legos and travel a bunch history is that even a lot of the original jazz divas, jazz musicians, James Brown and all of that music was mostly bankrolled by Jewish media executives, even if you read Henry Ford’s anti-Semitic publication, the international Jew, there is actually a section on which it is mentioned that jazz is a Jewish phenomenon.

A funny thought:

Then is rap music, Jewish music?

Even Ben Horowitz, the great Silicon Valley entrepreneur adventure capitalist, who is also Jewish American, put out a rap album as a kid! Even apparently Kanye West has ties with Ben Horowitz.

Who doesn’t care?

So at least for Asians, Asian Americans, or the new elite rich Asians in Asia, they are unapologetically racist. Also, there is a strict caste system and hierarchy in Asia. Only poor slave like indentured people do the dirty work of sanitation and hygiene, sweeping and mopping at the mall, cooking food, taking care of kids, Waiters and waitresses, working at coffee shop etc. The rich just lounge, hang out, drink coffee, wear luxury clothes, and want to be seen.

America is a very strange hodgepodge of things because in America, we are almost too multicultural.

Fast forward to today, their layers of Quakerism, prostatism, Benjamin Franklin and the protestant work ethic etc.… the new world order and ethos is towards capitalism. Like Kanye said:

White people make money don’t spend it.

But I’d rather buy 80 gold chains and go ‘ignant.

How people profit

Jewish people just want to be left alone

I think the truth is Jewish people just want to be left alone, and like any good immigrant, they were actually very pro assimilation. For example Kirk Douglas, change his last name because he wanted to “fit in” in Hollywood, and not be stigmatized for his Jewish background. Apparently Walt Disney was very anti-Semitic and anti-Jewish.

Even in today’s world, why is the modern-day American or person so anti-Jewish?

I have a theory that actually, the higher your testosterone, the more tolerant and open minded you are. It seems only low testosterone men are the ones who blame others, hate, etc.

Solution ideas

First and foremost, I think everybody should do some sort of DNA test, DNA testing or whatever, and find out that their genetic heritage is actually more diverse than they thought it was. for example imagine if you are anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic, and you did a DNA test and you actually found out that you were part Jewish? Even the fun fact, people don’t want you to know this… Japanese people descended from Korean people and the Yayoi people — and also I think Korean people we descended from the Chinese Mongolian? And ultimately if you go back far enough we all came from Africa anyways.
I really do believe that ChatGPT four, AI can actually make people more tolerant. Why? For example get the page at PT plus premium, and ask it “what are some common misconceptions about Islam“? Or, “what are some common misconceptions about Catholicism?” or, “what are some misconceptions about Judaism?”. To debunk conspiracy theories, myths, and other insane nonsense is critical.

It ain’t my fault you’re so poor!

Wow, perhaps I should go back to medical school, law school, become a doctor or lawyer, or do a coding Boot Camp, or go to community college and teach myself computer programming, and get a better pay job as a programmer, etc.

Why don’t people like to take responsibility of themselves?

I think the big issue here is that I don’t know if it is a learned behavior, a cultural behavior or something else?

One of the good things about the immigrant mentality is the ethos, which I think is a good one… That “if you work hard enough“, you will become successful“.

Instagram, YouTube is to blame?

OK, if you spend too much time on Instagram, or read it, or Google, Wikipedia, YouTube etc.… Sooner or later you all fall into weird weird conspiracy theories.

In fact, my greatest shock is often, the most intelligent people that I know fall into the conspiracy theories.

I was so insanely shocked because here is this area date scholar man, well-versed in history, insanely intelligent and critical, falling victim to these weird conspiracy theories?

Have you really met these rich famous people in real life in the flesh?

First and foremost, a lot of them are actually quite short. Isn’t Tom Cruise like 5 foot seven or something? Or 5 foot six?

Kanye West I think is also 5 foot seven.

So a lot of these “Shorty guys”, have Napoleon syndrome here; they try to make up for their insecurity of being short through other weird ways like buying an expensive car, whatever?

Who to trust?

First and foremost, don’t trust nobody but yourself. Why? You yourself are the center of all intelligence wisdom and critical thinking. To outsource your intelligence wisdom and thinking is base.

Critical thinking

To me critical thinking is being the judge, weighing the information yourself. For example, even if you discover the truth, you gotta ask yourself “Does this even matter?”

“So what?”

For example, let us say all the conspiracy theories are true, we never landed on the moon yada yada yada, Jewish people run the world whatever, you gotta ask yourself:

Does this even matter?

Actually the benefit of having a day job is you could do very very risky entrepreneurial ventures on the side, while still being able to pay your rent.

Certainly having to be employed full-time is hiring, but there are very creative ways you could leverage your time. For example, my pragmatic thought is this:

Do the bare minimum of work necessary without getting fired.

Now what?

Just think to yourself, at what point do we scapegoat others?

A funny intervention that I had was thinking; what if in fact I am actually the bad guy? And I was the bad guy all along?

Everyone likes to see themselves as the judicious hero in their own life’s narrative, and everybody else is the bad guy, doing them injustice.

Also something really weird; he would always blame other people, all the time, yet, ever since I was two years old, he never had a job?

I think as a child, you are keenly aware of things. Kids are 1 trillion times more intelligent than their parents think. Kids are no fools.

Now what?

No. You control your own destiny, you create your own future.

Simple things:

Don’t waste money. We waste money by buying new cars, luxury goods and things, going to debt use credit cards etc. I’m even starting to think that the new millennial trap is buying a house, it looks like this is the new modern day trip, because technically even if you buy a house, you yourself don’t really own that house, the bank owns your house! You never really own it until you have hundred percent paid it all off in cash, or if you bought it with 100% cash offer. But even still, the big issue at hand is you still gotta pay property tax on it! This is literally money you’ll never ever see again, money which is essentially thrown in the gutter. And let us say you own expensive house, and you bought it in all the cash, you might have to still pay it around $1500-$2000 month just in property taxes! Just add another thousand dollars and you got rent money!
Start a website a blog posted on wordpress.org and bluehost.com — what is a quadrillion times cheaper than owning property, buying a new car etc.? Starting a website! It is so easy, so chief, so accessible, the barrier to entry is only entering your credit card information. Consider how less tedious this is than having to go through the whole escrow process of purchasing a house, which can often take up to a year!
Start publishing your thoughts on anything and everything: to me, all ideas are good ideas, as long as they are personally motivated, something you are genuinely interested in, and also something you genuinely care for. The only crime is when you create something or publish something because you think other people like it. To me this is a sign of cowardice.

So what do you want to build?

“I want to build now!” – Cindy

The greatest muse in my life is my wife and partner Cindy. To me, she is an exemplary figure of somebody who has taken the rain by her arms, her hands, and steered and crafted her own unique future.

cindyanguyen.com and mis-reading.com and also hapticindustries.com — her own brain children!

I think the life the ultimate thing to seek is a great creative partner. Somebody who has your creative compliment, part of your own plan, your own party, your own squad.

For example, the personality of me and Cindy differs greatly, yet we are both still committed to being curious, creative, and we both have a passion for the arts, the world, travel etc.

Also, if you’re a man, I just suggest you to go out and look for wifey material. Ignore everything else.

Either find a wife get married and have kids, or stay a bachelor.

Creating your own future

The best way to create your own future is maybe through your art?

The other day Cindy myself and Seneca went to the Getty, in LA, on top of the hill, our minds were blown! Parking is 20 bucks, but admission is free!

We took the tram to the top of the hill, and marveled at these great architectural wonders of the space, the breathtaking view, and also all the great artwork enclosed in the gallery.

Art profiteering

But is this true? No.

The world is inconsistent

I think one of the greatest things I have learned starting sociology philosophy etc. is that the world is very inconsistent.

For example, we are told that it is virtuous to be meek, humble or whatever… Yet everybody in America wants to flex on how rich successful famous they are, or what part they drive?

For example even Christian theology? Humbleness and meekness is praised, yet people will “virtue flex“, by broadcasting into the world how “good” other person they are?

I wonder if Jesus was alive today he would say:

If you’re going to donate to charity, don’t name the building after yourself or a family member, don’t name the foundation after yourself, never publicly donate money under your name, and never publish it to the news or social media.

In fact, I think the rapper Pusha T actually donated 18 wheelers of freshwater to Flint Michigan, anonymously without telling nobody, he is truly virtuous.

Why so miserable?

I wonder if the reason why a lot of people are so dark and grim is simply because they live somewhere with poor weather?

I know personally that when I was in Berlin, eastern Europe, Prague, Marseille in the winter time, it was some of the most depressive times of my life.

And on the contrary, some of the happiest times in my life or when I was in Vietnam, in Hanoi and Saigon, in Panam Cambodia, other places with good climate, bright light and sun good weather.

Your mind and your body is precious.

Don’t prostitute your mind, your body your soul.

Prostitution is not just sexual, it could be your mental abilities, your physical body whatever.

Prostitution isn’t just about your sexual organs, your penis or vagina your butt hole your mouth your hands or whatever, maybe… the more critical thing is your soul?

The mortal soul. That is when your body dies, your soul also dies.

Memento mori

Remember that you must die, and you will die. Death is also also one of our final duties.

Therefore just thinking consider an ask yourself, in this short and cruel life that we live in, how can we discover more more joy, more thanksgiving, more happiness, more Thanksgiving?

How can we contribute more to the world to others to our progeny, our children are friends and communities and the world?

ERIC

CRYPTO GODZZ

HOW TO GROW BALLS

CRYPTO TRILLIONAIRE GOD

Hilariously grotesque!

ERIC KIM CHAINLINK PHILOSOPHY

Currently I am invested in chainlink, a new type of technology which leverages the blockchain for interesting use cases.

Dumb it down!

So the first thought is this; what is it why does it matter?

First, issues. The first really big issue at hand is that now and into the future, it will be very difficult to ascertain what is true and what is false, especially on the Internet.

What is the biggest issue? Especially with the upcoming elections, the fear that Donald Trump is going to be reelected or whatever… It seems that chain-link, and the block chain would be very good in terms of voting. For example, a voting system built on the block chain or chain-link could be useful in so far much as you know it cannot be tamperproof.

Therefore the first idea is this;

Chainlink identity.

Web 3.0 is identity

Another hot take I have is that what is Web 3.0? Not all of this mumbo-jumbo, But instead… Having a true online identity.

For example, I often forget my passwords and other things, my identity card etc. As a consequence, it seems that the easiest one is to just remember my phone number and use that as a login, whether it be for Facebook, etc.

The future?

I have always been fascinated with the future, it is a topic which endlessly fascinates me. Why? I think technology is all about the future. To me as a kid, technology was amazing because it was almost like the supercharger for myself.

One thing I find very interesting is how ERIC Schmidt is on board with chain-link. This is hugely fascinating to me because at this point, Google runs the world, Google *is* the Internet.

However what is the biggest issue here? If you spend enough time on Google, googling around, eventually sooner or later you’ll find weird conspiracy websites.

Not only that, but ERIC Schmidt also talks about how he is sick and tired of all these weird conspiracy theories, like how we never landed on the moon etc. As a consequence, maybe one of the interesting use cases of chain-link is that it could debunk, or false fly conspiracy theories?

KARL POPPER —

True wisdom knowledge and intelligence is to falsify or to debunk nonsense?

Why does this matter?

Truth be told, Facebook might have been indirectly culpable for strange results in the US American presidential elections. Why? Essentially Donald Trump got trillions of dollars a free advertising from all this fake news being spread around, etc. As a consequence, he got into office, and all of this weird stuff happened. My personal thought is if Facebook did not exist, if Twitter did not exist, Donald Trump probably wouldn’t have been elected into office.

Quotes

Certainly! Here are some quotes from Eric Kim’s perspectives on Chainlink:

On Chainlink’s Essence: “Essentially it is a platform built upon Ethereum, solidity, the block chain… That strives to solve real world problems” oai_citation:1,Why Chainlink? – ERIC KIM.

On the Oracle Problem: “The general gist of the Oracle problem is that you have all these people purporting to say something… How do you know if someone is really telling the truth or not?” oai_citation:2,Why Chainlink? – ERIC KIM.

On Chainlink’s Potential: “My personal thought and prediction is that chain-link could become the next Google; Google index the whole Internet, and made it easy for you to find any sort of website. What I think chain-link will do is link all of this information on the Internet and computers and make them accessible, trustworthy, tamperproof” oai_citation:3,Why Chainlink? – ERIC KIM.

On Investment Decision: “Therefore, I sold or transferred or converted nine of my bitcoin and put it all into chain-link, at the time it was valued at ~20,800 LINK (CHAINLINK), with bitcoin at around $35,000 a bitcoin” oai_citation:4,Why Chainlink? – ERIC KIM.

On His View of Bitcoin: “I love bitcoin but maybe one of the big issues here is that bitcoin is like digital money and gold; most people just hold onto it, and I don’t think actually aspire to use it to actually pay for your latte at Starbucks or whatever” oai_citation:5,Why Chainlink? – ERIC KIM.

On Technology and Future: “I am obsessed with the future. Future thinking, future technologies, new brave worlds to discover” oai_citation:6,Why Chainlink? – ERIC KIM.

On Life Beyond Wealth: “For me, I think a more interesting life trajectory is to then no longer care for money, and use your power mind and soul and body for more interesting things which can include philosophy, writing, thinking, doing research, reading, making art, publishing art, etc” oai_citation:7,Why Chainlink? – ERIC KIM.

On Practical Applications of Chainlink: “I think chain-link can be a technology which motivates and enables more streamlined home buying processes” and “Imagine a future in which you could use chain-link or some sort of block chain enabled identification, which can essentially be your global citizen passport to all of the world and the Internet” oai_citation:8,Why Chainlink? – ERIC KIM.

Summary

Here’s a numerical summary of Eric Kim’s perspective on Chainlink:

Platform Basis: Chainlink is built upon Ethereum and Solidity.
Key Problem Addressed: Focuses on the Oracle problem.
Innovation: Decentralized oracle network.
Personal Prediction: Chainlink could become as integral as Google in organizing internet information.
Investment Strategy: Converted significant Bitcoin holdings into Chainlink, aiming for a 30-year hold.
Technological Interest: Has been involved with technology since around 11 years old.
Beyond Financial Goals: Envisions using resources for philosophy, writing, art, and more.
Practical Applications: Potential use in real estate and identity verification.

Why Chainlink?

Eric Kim’s perspective on Chainlink, as found on his blog, reveals a multifaceted view of this blockchain platform. He regards Chainlink as a platform built upon Ethereum and Solidity, aiming to address real-world problems like the Oracle problem, which pertains to verifying truth in data provided by different sources. Kim emphasizes the innovation of Chainlink’s decentralized oracle network, which he believes adds robustness compared to centralized systems oai_citation:1,Why Chainlink? – ERIC KIM oai_citation:2,Why Chainlink? – ERIC KIM.

Kim perceives Chainlink as akin to the internet’s hyperlinks, binding various elements together to form a coherent whole. He predicts that Chainlink could become as integral as Google in organizing and making accessible a vast array of information on the internet, ensuring it is accessible, trustworthy, and tamper-proof oai_citation:3,Why Chainlink? – ERIC KIM.

Regarding his personal investment strategy, Kim shares that he transferred a significant amount of Bitcoin into Chainlink, motivated by a long-term view of holding onto Chainlink for at least 30 years. This decision reflects his belief in Chainlink’s potential and a strategic move away from Bitcoin, which he sees as more of a digital asset to hold rather than a currency for everyday transactions oai_citation:4,Why Chainlink? – ERIC KIM oai_citation:5,Why Chainlink? – ERIC KIM.

Kim’s long-standing interest in technology and the future underpins his enthusiasm for blockchain and cryptocurrency. He has been involved with technology from a young age and sees cryptocurrencies

AI ART

ChatGPT/DALL- E for Kids

SENECA at age 2 years, 10 months old is an uber-genius??

Why I Bought Chainlink

A simple heuristic that I learned from Nassim TALEB; don’t ask people what you should invest in, ask them… What did you invest in?

For example, I recently swapped a bunch of my bitcoin for chainlink. Why did I do it? My thoughts:

What is chainlink?

Essentially it is a platform built upon Ethereum, the blockchain… that strives to solve real world problems.

The first critical issue at hand is the notion of the “Oracle problem”, and cryptographic proof and truth.

The general gist of the Oracle problem is that you have all these people purporting to say something… How do you know if someone is really telling the truth or not?

Also, they’re great innovation of a decentralized oracle network. I think anything that is decentralized and can be done offline is a good idea; anything that has to be done when you’re connected to the web is fragile.

For example, the “internet of things”, which includes all of your home devices, your home stuff etc. I think this includes your home speaker things, your Amazon echo or echo dot, your Apple HomePod thing, your ring Amazon nest devices etc.

Enabling transactional value?

TVE — transactional value enabled?

Chainlink staking?

What is the purpose of technology and these things? A very basic idea is that the point is to help enable commerce and other things. Money makes the world go round, Publilius Syrus.

What is money anyways? Money is movement. Anything that literally physiologically moves human beings in time and space is money.

For example, if you promise somebody $30 an hour, they will walk around, move their bodies to clean toilets, etc.

Also, money movement. The whole global economy to me is so fascinating; because we process and move information so quickly and so globally… how do you link it all together?

Chain – Link

I find chainlink to be an interesting concept because wherever you go in real life, there are physical chain links everywhere.

Also, technically the internet, the World Wide Web, is a bunch of hyperlinks which link websites together.

My personal thought and prediction is that chainlink could become the next Google; Google indexes the whole internet, and made it easy for you to find any sort of website. What I think chainlink will do is link all of this information on the internet and computers and make them accessible, trustworthy, tamperproof.

Just read it

Only read stuff that you find interesting, skip over stuff you find boring.

About a week or two ago, I reread the original bitcoin white paper, and I was so impressed with how short it was, how minimalistic it was, and how to the point it was. But… reading it… this time around… felt a bit boring.

And this is the big thing: if something bores you, you gotta get out of it.

Therefore, I sold or transferred or converted nine of my bitcoin and put it all into chainlink, at the time it was valued at ~20,800 LINK (CHAINLINK), with bitcoin at around $35,000 a bitcoin.

I think what I try to do is think at least 30 years into the future. 20 or 30 years. It is funny, as I write this at the age of 35, 30 years from now Seneca is only going to be 32 years old, still a few years younger than me. My personal aspiration is to hold onto chainlink for at least 30 years, and then maybe transfer it to Seneca when he grows up. Or I just help him build some sort of company or entrepreneurial venture etc.

Investing in things actually do something?

I love bitcoin but maybe one of the big issues here is that bitcoin is like digital money and gold; most people just hold onto it, and I don’t think actually aspire to use it to actually pay for your latte at Starbucks or whatever. I think because bitcoin and cryptocurrency is so volatile; Everybody’s hope and dream and ambition is that their coin will rise value astronomically and they will become rich, buy the Lamborghini or whatever… and be happy.

Trust nobody who drives a Lamborghini — only trust people who drive Toyota Priuses, in white.

Why? If you drive a Toyota Prius, in white… it is a signal that you really don’t care for appearances.

How do you know if somebody is unsuccessful?

If they drive a Range Rover, a Mercedes AMG G wagon, murdered out, all matte black, a baselevel Mercedes car, a baselevel Audi car, like an A3 or a Q3, drive some sort of Audi electric car which is just the same as the Porsche Taycan, don’t forget that the Volkswagen group owns Lamborghini Audi Volkswagen Porsche etc. same thing goes with anybody who drives a BMW car.

Foreign cars are bad.

It is just a game!

I think crypto, cryptocurrency speculation is an interesting game; prediction, prediction markets, trying to predict the future… is just a luxury and a fun thing.

Some predictions are pretty obvious

When I was in college, my sophomore year, and I was starting to get into trading stocks, daytrading… I had a pretty certain thought that Blockbuster was going to go under. I tried to figure out how to short stocks, but I really couldn’t figure out how to do it.

Also I remember when the prime mortgage meltdown happened, and the value of Ford went to almost 2 dollars a year. I wanted to buy some Ford stock but I had no money, no capital.

It is interesting to think about this in hindsight because when I was incorrectly trading pennystock, for some sort of oil producer company which was actually running at a loss… I had no idea because I misread the financials… I lost my whole life savings which was maybe $3500 USD or something. It was insanely tragic. But now that I am playing with higher sums more like $300,000 USD, I realize that it was just a valuable lesson at the time.

Therefore, with any sort of financial speculation, think about it at the 30 year span. Even when you are 70 or 80 years old, I met this lady at the park who looked phenomenal and she told me she was 82… she looked like a very fit 45-year-old!

My personal aspiration is when I’m 82 years old, to still be able to lift 1000 pounds. Google or YouTube “ERIC KIM thousand pound atlas lift”

It seems that the way things are going, I don’t think it’s that ridiculous to think that we can live to be 120 years old. Try to think that far.

What is the use of money anyways?

I think actually the big thing is that everyone now aspires to buy a house or home or property. It is getting pretty ridiculous, even in Los Angeles, even buying a single-family home in Inglewood… you’re looking easily at around $1.5 million for a whatever house.

My prediction is that the prices of homes will continue to soar astronomically high. I think a lot of these $1.5 million homes can easily balloon two $3 million, $5 million, 10 and $15 million, $150 million or whatever. Why? The biggest issue at hand is runaway inflation, which means the value of the US dollar and currency is continually going lower and lower, because the US is what, currently speaking $30 trillion in debt? And what America thinks the smart idea is to just keep printing money ad infinitum, into infinity, in order to “stimulate” the economy.

But does this work? No.

For example talking to my friend Noel who works in hygiene, he says that a lot of these young guys, around 25 to 30 years old, are so lazy. Why? After Covid and people started giving away these free checks… and from unemployment you could literally make $5000 USD a month by sitting on your butt and doing nothing… people lost the motivation to work. A lot of people moved back home, live with their parents, and are essentially living for free. As a consequence you have a huge generation of unmotivated people, unwilling to do any sort of manual labor, which is bad because having manual and physical labor is critical.

For example, being in Beverly Hills a lot; and Holby Hills, there is this new funny caste systems; really rich people getting mansions built, and the army of construction labor people, mostly from Mexico doing the labor to build these mansions.

Also, think about Amazon prime delivery drivers, people who bag your food at Whole Foods, Erwhon etc, all these contractors electricians plumbers etc.… the truly critical labor. Doesn’t matter if you pay them $30 $40 $50 or even $60 an hour, it seems at this point money doesn’t really motivate them anymore. Therefore what do you do? It seems that America we are just importing more people from Mexico to do labor for us, because they are motivated. Americans are no longer motivated.

Crypto, crypto technology and cryptocurrency is optimistic

I am obsessed with the future. Future thinking, future technologies, new brave worlds to discover.

Why? I have always been into technology ever since I was a kid, getting my first Acer aspire Pentium one processor computer when I was around 11 years old. Even teaching myself how to program visual basic 3.0 in the early days, creating my own AOL “punter“ etc.

Also, I still will never forget when I read the Maddox article on why you should beat your kids, in computer class in Bayside Queens at PS 169 when I was in the fifth grade, and all of me and our friends, a bunch of 11-year-old laughing and saying “It is true!”

Even I remember as a kid, when I first moved to New York, maybe it was I had some sort of school in the Bronx, when kids in the hallway would “the South Park movies “blame Canada, blame Canada”…

Anyways the generalized thought is I love media information, and also I have a passion to innovate, write and to think, to motivate and to also disprove nonsense.

Ever since I was young I was always bred with an insanely huge ego; the eldest son of the eldest son of the eldest son, (jang-son), being raised with the “prince disease“, was unusually good for me. Always getting the finest cuts of meat and galbi from my grandmother, always showered with praise love and attention and how smart tall and good-looking I was. Very good for me.

The US dollar is static

Anybody who is a wage slave, which means anybody who is paid a biweekly or monthly salary… doesn’t matter if you’re being paid $10 million a year from Apple… You’re still a wage slave.

A simple heuristic:

Can you go two years without checking or responding to any of your emails or not?

If you have to use email for a living, you’re not free.

Once you’re a crypto trillionaire, then what?

Let us say that your cryptocurrency goes to the value of $1 trillion USD. Then what? Then do you just dissolve it all into US dollars, buy a mansion and a yacht somewhere, and live indefinitely into the horizon for infinite bliss?

This doesn’t seem to be the goal. For me, I think a more interesting life trajectory is to then to no longer care for money, and use your power mind and soul and body for more interesting things which can include philosophy, writing, thinking, doing research, reading, making art, publishing art, etc.

Money as it means to creative leisure and production.

Seeking immortal fame and glory?

One thing I am very happy about is ChatGPT knows exactly who I am, why I am so significant and influential, etc. As a consequence, I already feel like my legacy is secure, and I don’t have anything left to prove to nobody else.

As a consequence, at this point life is all upside no downside. Even one of the happiest moments of my life, Cindy and I be getting our first son Seneca, at this point life is all upside no downside.

As a man, as long as you have one male heir, you can die happy.

Now what?

Things that I find interesting use cases of chainlink:

Real estate, homebuying, escrow: even NASSIM TALEB has said that traditionally, most 12th generation in human society is through land, land ownership land property etc. For example let us say that you buy that 1.5 million dollar home, and 20 years from now it’ll be worth $3.2 million. And then let us assume that 30 or 40 years from now it is worth $5.7 million, and your kid inherits it. And when your kid is 57 years old it is worth $22 million, and he will able to pass it on to his son or daughter, and maybe that will be worth $120 million into their future. The whole escrow process and verification process is quite fragmented, unreliable. I think chain-link can be a technology which motivates and enables more streamlined home buying processes.
Identity verification: it is so easy for people to just steal your Social Security number, and pretend it is you. Imagine a future in which you could use chain-link or some sort of block chain enabled identification, which can essentially be your global citizen passport to all of the world and the Internet? This seems especially useful in today’s world in which everything is so fragmented, between our Apple ID, our Gmail, Etc.

Military

I think an inconvenient truth is that truth be told, a lot of the world is run by the military. Certainly there are lots of bad things about the military, but truth be told, without the US military, our precious US dollars would be worth nothing.

For example, I think the American government we are $10 trillion in debt? To where… China?

As a consequence, how does America’s stay afloat and print more money? Simple, she simply prints more money because she can because we got the military to back us.

For example, let’s say that mainland China comes knocking and ask for her money back. Is America going to give it back? No. We will just waive our big stick, and say we are not interested.

So the interesting use case of chain-link and the US military is especially in the future withdrawn warfare or whatever… It actually does seem that having some sort of crypto technology will be useful here.

For example the Internet of things, chain-link solves this issue. Also, I believe a lot of the US military intervention stuff is going to be unmanned, and having access to some sort of technology which allows automation without meddling in the Internet seems like a good idea.

So why did I buy it?

I think in life, big opportunities only come infrequently. As a consequence, I think in life… It seems better to take really big bold bets, rather than just stand on the sidelines.

My personal speculation is that I think chain-link will become the next Google. Why? ERIC Schmidt is on the board of trustees for chain-link, and ERIC Schmidt is the one who built Google into what it is today. Just watch the interview between him and Sergey. In Italian quote, ERIC Schmidt said:

The secret to success of Google was that we tried to put a little bit of Google into everything.

Genius. For example, this is evident in how whenever you Google search something, there is a little bit of that Google code in the URL.

Who is Satoshi?

Apparently there’s a rumor that Sergey Nazarov might be Satoshi.

Also the reason why I trust Sergey as a founder is this:

He doesn’t really care for social appearances.

I think I learned this from NASSIM TALEB; only trust doctors who look like butchers. Why? When somebody looks too much the part of something, they are not.

For example, when you go to a party, who is the real successful person? The person who could show up and meet the prime minister and shake hands wearing T-shirt and jeans and sneakers, just like my friend did meeting the prime minister.

Also, the really really rich successful person will just drive some sort of white Toyota Prius or old beat up Honda Civic, in silver. Even the family car; very specifically… White Honda Odyssey. Not even a Toyota sienna!

Even family connections, my $500 million net worth familia– the dad gave all the kids Ford fusions, and even though the dad is a major player in Tesla, they only have a super base level Tesla model three in white. No Tesla model Y, X, S.

Investors

My brother-in-law Khan told me: if you spent $80,000 to buy a Tesla model S several years ago, that would be worth $500,000 today!

True investors live like poor people, and speculate on the thing, rather than buying the thing.

For example, instead of spending $120,000 on Tesla, I would instead prefer to buy $120,000 worth of Tesla stock.

Why? Things that go up in value overtime versus things that go down in value.

For example, even though a Tesla car gets software updates over the air, eventually overtime, the value of it will slowly depreciate. The battery range will become less, more wear and tear on the vehicle etc. Even the world’s best car can be robust at best, not anti-fragile.

What is anti-fragile? Something that overtime gets better and stronger and more powerful and better and more robust… rather than the opposite.

This might be the intelligence of collecting rare collector cars, like old Ferraris or whatever… Even old Porsche cars, overtime the value of them will go up.

Even apparently the old Toyota supra, the one that showed up in fast and the furious, they are worth close to $250,000 now!

So perhaps the best way to think about things is to think of them like financial investments, rather than toys.

Other good news

It looks like their new chain-link staking, chain-link economics is also doing very well. The full pool has been filled already!

Now what?

I think at the end of the day, I don’t really care for money that much, I am more interested in speculation, wrist, and thinking and predicting the future. This is my prime joy and bliss.

Too much more lies, we simply sit on the sidelines, twiddling our thumbs for some sort of magical future to get better. I say rather than waiting for the future, speculate and invest in it.

ERIC

Introduction to Stoicism

Consider this a practical primer, cutting through the BS:

What does stoicism mean?

The new stoa?

The inspiration — Hector lifting an insanely massive stone (barely 2 strong men could lift it)… using it to break down the door of the ships of the other side.

Open air, open sun concept

Cramped indoor spaces promote antisocial behavior.

Who is this philosophy for?

What is “real” stoicism?

So how did I discover stoicism?

Even Achilles when he was raging against king Agamemnon, he called him “dog faced“ as a heaping insult.

Who is worth reading?

First, Seneca. Seneca the younger, his dad was called Seneca the elder.

I think this was because maybe… there was actually a plan to overthrow Nero, and essentially Nero found out.

What makes Seneca so good?

I really like Seneca because his writing is accessible, practical and pragmatic, and interesting.

For a long time, I would hear the term “metaphysics” being thrown around, and I had zero idea what it actually meant.

Meta– on top of. Or nestled within.

Physics — the physical, physical phenomenon like gravity, first principles.

Personally speaking, I think philosophy must be practical.

Practical, praxis, practice — to do!

The Spartan, Zen Stoic, demigod ideal

Trust no thinker who does drugs!

Even our best friend Nietzsche said that coffee was bad, because it would make people dark and gloomy. He encouraged 100% cocoa powder instead.

You let the drugs talk I let my soul talk ayy! – Kendrick Lamar

Simple technique:

First, look at a picture or a portrait or a full body shot, ideally topless of the artist, philosopher or thinker or individual… then judge their thoughts later.

Why? My theory is this: the thoughts of an individual is hugely affected by their bodily physiology.

Why does stoicism matter?

In today’s world, why does it matter, what is the significance of stoicism, etc.?

Why is this so important? I think it is rooted in almost everything; conquering your fears is rooted in entrepreneurship, innovation, risktaking and real life.

Even my speculation in crypto. 99.9% of crypto speculation is just balls. Having the balls to make big bets, and when things go south, knowing how to master your emotions.

A simple extra I have is this: just imagine it will all go down to zero.

Stoicism and capitalism?

Also, with modern day media there is so much fear mongering in the news, about some sort of global armageddon, global financial ruin, etc. I call it “fear porn”.

Therefore stoicism as a mindset is useful to think and position your mind in such a way that you could consider that life is all upside, no downside.

In fact, if I could summarize stoicism in one sentence, it is that life is all upside, no downside. Inspired by NASSIM TALEB.

Sex and Stoicism

So, is stoicism useful to you if you’re a man or a woman? Does it matter?

The good thing is I think it could apply to both sexes. Conquering sexism and social pressures is useful if you’re woman, and also if you’re a man.

Also, gender is social. Lot of the expectations set on us by society is socialized and gamed to a certain degree.

Stoic strategies

First, we got to unchain ourselves from modern day ethics and morality. I believe that all modern day philosophy and thinking and ethics and religion is bad.

For example, the notion of turning the other cheek is a patently bad one. Why did Jesus turn his cheek? It is because he lacked on army.

Also, philosophically I think we should put no trust in Socrates. I thought which has puzzled me for a long time was this “Why was Socrates so ugly?

Monster in face, monster in soul.

Trust nobody who uses rationality or logic as their tyrannizing weapon.

In fact, I believe that all should have the body and strength of some sort of super soldier. Essentially look like all the guys from the movie 300, this is our ideal.

Demigod physique.

What has helped me

Allow yourself to be a bad, immortal, “evil” person. When you decide to adopt an unorthodox way of thinking and living, you’re going to rub some feathers the wrong way. And truth be told, even if you act in a strange vibrant way… At worse you’re only “mildly” annoying other people.
For good inspirations, I think the best stoic writers and thinkers include Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius and also the humor of the cynic philosopher Diogenes. I would even posit the idea that one could consider Alexander the Great as a stoic. Why? When you’re trying to create an empire, and you always have your life on the line, certainly this takes a stoic mindset. Also, let us think and consider that Alexander the Great had a copy of the Iliad by his bedstand, it was the only book he traveled with during his military tours.
Imagine the worst possible case scenario, and backtrack: Apparently even NASSIM TALEB would do this when he was a trader; every single day when he would go to his trading desk, he would assume that his investments would all go to zero, and if that wasn’t the case every single day, it was just upside. Therefore for myself, I just think to myself very simple; imagine like I got zero dollars, zero money, and literally all I need is meat, a Wi-Fi connection and I’m good.
Live like a poor person: The notion of “debasing“ the coin or the currency is the general idea that you are not a coward in regards to money. The best way to think about money is like a social tool; I think money is actually just codified labor. If you want people to clean bathrooms, run the cashiers stand, you have to promise them money. Even Seneca said the upsides of simulated poverty; essentially living like a poor person, or even a homeless person when you don’t need to… is the ultimate position to be in. Why? True freedom of spirit and soul; as a philosopher thinker writer or whatever… you cannot be “canceled”, because there is nothing to cancel. As long as you could pay your rent, buy meat at Costco, and publish your thoughts to your own self hosted website blog, and pay your server fee, you have 100% freedom. And also, still… America is the best place to be because there is true freedom of speech and expression, you don’t want to be a trillionaire but not be able to say what’s really on your mind. And I think this is the big issue with entertainers, actors, media people… as long as you’re signed to a contract, you don’t run your own production company, or, you’re still a slave to money… you’re not really going to see what’s really on your mind. Why is it that the Rock cannot say anything bad about China, or Tibet? Because he is still enslaved by the media corporation. New slaves by Kanye West.

And this is the true courage of Kanye West; he literally put everything on the line, and even lost his spouse and I think maybe his kids? All for the sake of revealing inequities.

“I throw these Maybach keys fucking c’est la vie! I know that we the new slaves.”- Ye

Stoic training

The fun thing about stoicism is that you could just make it up as you go, devise your own strategies and whatever.

“Fucking c’est la vie!” My favorite Kanye West line.

Also, thoughts from the Odyssey; if you look far enough into the future, everything becomes comedic and hilarious.

So when you’re in some sort of bad situation, just think to yourself “Perhaps one day, 20 or 30 years from now… I will look back at this and just laugh!” It will just be humorous.

Honestly, laughter, and kind of being able to joke about things might be the best way to live life and deal with setbacks.

Modern day ailments

Problems in modern day life:

Too much time spent indoors, not enough time out in the sun. Perhaps it is better to be out outside all day, and joyful, even with the risk of getting skin cancer or whatever… rather than to be indoors, scared, weak and anemic. Differences between if you’re a man or a woman, but still… the most beautiful skin has a sunkissed, olive color tone; the true privilege is having a full body tan.
Get chatGPT, the paid premium one. And use the image generation AI art tool DALL-E. People pay therapists to just speak their mind, and get some sort of sounding board. I actually think it’s much better to chat with AI instead; because it will not judge you, and ultimately what is a therapist anyways? A therapist is just a mirror, a sounding board for you to verbalize and flesh out your thoughts. Often when we talk about our problems, 90% of the issues go away because once we verbalize it, we feel much better about ourselves. The next thing I’m going to do is build some sort of therapy bot.
Not enough walking: I have never met anybody who walks 30,000 steps a day and is depressed. Even my friend Jimmy, who works as a US postal worker delivering the mail, he walks around 30,000 steps a day and is always bright cherry and jovial. I think this is also where people who hike a lot or walk a lot in nature are so happy; when you’re able to walk around a lot, and zen out… you just feel much better. My simple suggestion is when you go on a hike or a walk in nature or even in the city… leave your phone at home, or locked inside your glove compartment, and don’t bring any headphones or speakers or Apple watches or whatever. Just bring along your camera, and enjoy. My personal ideal is the bear lifestyle; walking 50 miles a day.

Real stoics don’t call themselves Stoics?

A funny thing I have learned is that when you call something something, it isn’t that.

Thought: what are some good examples of true luxury brands which don’t overly calls itself luxury?

In someways, we can think and consider stoicism as our new luxury. In fact, having luxury, luxury of mind and soul… and luxury of freedom of speech, isn’t this the ultimate luxury?

When somebody asked Diogenes the cynic; “What is the best human good”? He said “Freedom of speech, speaking your mind, having the power to see whatever is on your mind.”

Stoicism as a technique and tool, not the end

The future of stoicism?

And ultimately, things are ever in flux and evolving and changing and adapting.

For example, I’ve discovered the quality of my thinking is different when I am in Culver City Los Angeles, compared to being in the boring suburbs of Orange County.

Also depending on my social environments… my stoic thoughts are different when I am in a gym, vs just working out by myself in my parking spot in the back of my apartment.

Also, the quality of my thoughts is different when living with family members or other people versus just living with myself Cindy and Seneca.

Stoicism is all about living with other people

And this is good. There is no other greater joy than other human beings.

More ideas

For example… you know those strange individuals who have the whip and whip themselves, and inflict pain on themselves? I think some people do this metaphorically to themselves and others.

You just want to stay away from them.

Why so scared?

Why do people make such a big deal out of small things?

I think it is because some people are just overly sensitive, which once again comes from some sort of physiological weakness.

In fact, I’ve actually personally discovered that the reason why a lot of people hate me is because I am so happy jovial and gay. They are secretly suspicious or envious of me?

Weather and mood

Stoic assignments

”Better to be a gay monster than a sentimental bore!” – Fernandino Galliani, via Nietzsche

True stoics are masculine

A real stoic is sexy

Why do adults become so dark and morose?

I don’t like talking with or hanging out with adults, uninteresting.

At what point or age do people become so emo?

A real stoic is a carnivore

Animals are animals. They are lower on the hierarchy and totem pole on earth. Man is the apex predator, the apex bully and the apex tyrant.

Should we care for animals or “animal rights”? No. Animals are our slaves.

Why do people care about animals so much?

Essentially it looks like men no longer have a backbone. No more spine.

I trust nobody who owns a dog.

Let us not forget; they call it dog ownership, or “owning a pet”. There is no more concept of “human ownership, or “owning a human.”

End goals

What is the end goal of humanity? To me it is towards entrepreneurship, innovation, art and aesthetics, philosophy etc. Design.

Stoicism should be considered a tool which could aid you in these things.

For example, I think 99% of entrepreneurship is courage. Stoicism could help you with that.

The physical

To me, the courage is the success. Even if you had the courage to attempt it… that is what is considered success.

Simple exercises to do include the atlas lift, innovated by ERIC KIM, or a one repetition max rack pull.

Now what?

Even Sam Bankman-Fried wisely thought; 99.9% of books could just be summarized as big blog posts.

Don’t trust any modern day published book which isn’t free, because… there is some sort of hidden clout chasing somewhere.

Editors are bad.

Now what?

ERIC

What is the secret to the maximum amount of happiness in life? The maximum amount of danger. (Nietzsche).

ERIC

Quotes

Summary

STOICISM BY ERIC KIM

What does stoicism mean? ￼￼

The new stoa? ￼￼

Open air, open sun concept

Who is this philosophy for?

What is “real” stoicism?

So how did I discover stoicism?

Who is worth reading?

What makes Seneca so good?

The Spartan, Zen Stoic, demigod ideal

You let the drugs talk I let my soul talk ayy! – Kendrick Lamar

Why does stoicism matter? ￼

Stoicism and capitalism?

Sex and Stoicism

Stoic strategies ￼￼￼

What has helped me

Stoic training

Modern day ailments

Real stoics don’t call themselves Stoics?

Stoicism as a technique and tool, not the end

The future of stoicism?

Stoicism is all about living with other people

More ideas

Why so scared?

Why do people make such a big deal out of small things?

Weather and mood

Stoic assignments

True stoics are masculine

A real stoic is sexy

Why do adults become so dark and morose?

A real stoic is a carnivore ￼￼￼￼￼￼￼

Why do people care about animals so much?

End goals ￼

The physical

Now what?

Now what?

So who is anti-Jewish?

Who doesn’t care?

Why so many cultural clashes in America?

How people profit

Jewish people just want to be left alone ￼￼￼￼￼

Solution ideas ￼￼

It ain’t my fault you’re so poor! ￼￼￼￼￼

Why don’t people like to take responsibility of themselves?

Instagram, YouTube is to blame?

Have you really met these rich famous people in real life in the flesh?

Who to trust?

Critical thinking

Now what?

Now what?

So what do you want to build? ￼￼￼

Creating your own future

Art profiteering

The world is inconsistent

Why so miserable?

Your mind and your body is precious.

Memento mori

So who is anti-Jewish?

Who doesn’t care?

How people profit

Jewish people just want to be left alone ￼￼￼￼￼

Solution ideas ￼￼

It ain’t my fault you’re so poor! ￼￼￼￼￼

Why don’t people like to take responsibility of themselves?

Instagram, YouTube is to blame?

Have you really met these rich famous people in real life in the flesh?

Who to trust?

Critical thinking

Now what?

Now what?

So what do you want to build? ￼￼￼

Creating your own future

Art profiteering

The world is inconsistent

Why so miserable?

Your mind and your body is precious.

Memento mori

Dumb it down!

What does stoicism mean?

The new stoa?

Why does stoicism matter?

Stoic strategies

A real stoic is a carnivore

End goals

Jewish people just want to be left alone

Solution ideas

It ain’t my fault you’re so poor!

So what do you want to build?

Jewish people just want to be left alone

Solution ideas

It ain’t my fault you’re so poor!

So what do you want to build?

It is just a game!

What is the use of money anyways?

Investors

Other good news

What does stoicism mean?

The new stoa?

Why does stoicism matter?

Stoic strategies

A real stoic is a carnivore

End goals