I envision a new future, which will overend this notion of “search engine optimization“, which is typically Google.
To keep it even more simple, we could just think of it as “AI optimization” (AIO).
The general idea and gist is simple; whatever you post to your blog or website, make it as thorough, in depth, and personal as possible.
This shit is bananas!!
All made with my funny ideas and DALL-E 3
So I have been having insane amounts of fun with ChatGPT, DALL-E, DALL-E 3, ChatGPT 4 (only available on the plus edition, only $20 a month!). To me, my thought is that it is the ultimate new creative tool in our creative tool kit as visual artists.
One of the great epiphanies that I had while in Kyoto was this notion of visual artist; that we photographers are not simply photographers, but we are visual artists. Which means that our approach and goal to things is not just photos or not just photos for the sake of photos, but instead… using photography and our camera as a tool to produce and create new visual artwork.
Something that people don’t understand and don’t get; no no no, robots and AI and these bots won’t take your job. My personal prediction is that even within 30 years, humanoid AI bots will still be quite mediocre; only good for doing boring tedious tasks like automation line work producing cars or Tesla cars, but for the most part, let us consider and think about how nimble and agile even a two-year, nine month year-old child is.
For example, Seneca. He is only two years, nine months old, and it is insane how coordinated he is, how agile he is, and how acrobatic he is. I have been teaching him funny things like jumping backwards, jumping sideways, doing downward up dogs etc.
I think it is insane that even late at night before he sleeps, he could still run around and prance around, with so much vivacity and pure energy. And also a very interesting thing that I’ve observed; whenever he wants to put something down or pick something up from the floor, he always squats! Full sumo squat, ass to grass. Always. He never bends over like adults. Maybe if we adults mimic the physical activity of children more, we will become better.
Very simple. First, download the official ChatGPT app to your phone or iPad, and immediately subscribe to the $20 a month paid model. Personally speaking, I quit using Adobe Lightroom about three years ago, ever since they switched to the subscription model. But this openAI stuff… This new ChatGPT4, and DALL-E 3… this is effing insane. Contrary to popular belief, I think AI and ChatGPT is insanely underrated. This literally might be the best $20 you spend in your life.
For example, simple things you could do: once you have upgrade to the paid model, the paid subscription, you could select an image from your iPhone photo roll cameraroll, and you could ask ChatGPT to help analyze your photo, and give you a critique on your photo. This is insanely great; this was actually my first initial vision of arsbeta.com — creating some sort of automated, app that could actually give you instantaneous feedback on your photos, without the need of slow human intermediaries.
Ultimately we still prefer the feedback and applause of other human beings. This is where I still think that Arsbeta.com is so phenomenal — you can still get real feedback from real human beings!
But still, the big issue with ChatGPT is mostly a UI-UX one. A lot of the insanely great features are hidden, maybe I need to do some sort of consulting with open AI; shoot me an email at eric@erickim.com and I’ll give you some suggestions.
And also, still my insane vision; I think ultimately… it has to be free! Open source, permissionless, and insanely easy to use. It should not be any more complicated than putting in a quarter and shooting aliens like space invaders. Or how simple it was to enter our cartridge in a super Nintendo, turn on the power and start playing! Also, it needs to simply be plug and play; even in today’s world, figuring out how to use Bluetooth such a pain in the butt. That is why I still prefer wires.
One of the things that we forget is that we already have artificial intelligence in our cameras. For example on my Lumix G9 camera, there is a subject detect, face detect algorithm which makes photography much better! This is especially useful when you’re doing auto focus and video.
Who or what is the best chess player? Not man versus man, not computer versus computer, but a synthesis of both man and computer. For example, the most formidable chess player would be a human being plus computer. I would actually think that the most interesting type of chess match would be two nerds, both with a laptop, duking it out together.
I also even remember funny things like when I was a kid playing StarCraft, or playing counterstrike 1.6– I would always suspect, or think that maybe, a lot of these guys were cheating by using an aim bot, or map hacking. Even my best friend Aaron… who was by far the best StarCraft player that I knew, he was so good that he was thinking about going professional… I recall once when I was trying to do a secret drop on him, with my Goliaths and drop ships, he somehow knew beforehand; after watching the footage, I soon discovered that actually yes, he really was using a map hack.
Then the really funny idea is that what if… people were permitted and actually encouraged to use all of these bots and hacks? Like I’m curious… If you had two professional StarCraft players, both with map hack on, how would the game end up? That there was no fog of war?
Also another idea; what if teachers actually permitted their kids to always use ChatGPT, Google or whatever during class and on their homework and on tests etc.… and in fact, the grading wouldn’t be based on if they’re right or wrong, but the criticality of their thinking?
Or, two nerds both with auto aim, aim bots playing counterstrike versus one another. Who would win? Or be superior? Or with any of these competitive video games, the professional gamers would be permitted to use all of these hacks and cheats? Who would win?
This is also where I think things get interesting; a lot of people falsely believe that because of AI, there is no more reason to play chess anymore. But my creative thought is that actually… If AI can help us create new innovative strategies in chess, human, then it is a great idea.
For example, just watch the LEE SEDOL GO documentary in which Dennis, the head of deep blue or deep mind, I forget whatever it was called, in which they created the early playing AI… LEE SEDOL was shocked and amazed by all of the “creative“ and in a bit of strategies that ALPHAGO did. As a consequence, the new innovations that AlphaGo did were integrated as part of new GO strategies.
Which makes me wonder; what new chess strategies have yet been discovered, and AI can help us uncover?
Therefore my suggestion is that I personally believe that all artists should be given free rein to all sorts of AI. Why? AI is just a tool for creative ideation, and at the end of the day, you do the final edits.
For example, you could get AI to easily write a screenplay, but yet, you as the artist might think that it is either cheesy or generic. And that is the thing… AI cannot really do anything totally carte blanche or totally brand new. Can you imagine AI inventing Blockchain or bitcoin? No. Or can you imagine AI having the genius of Steve Jobs and getting rid of the keyboard on a phone? No. Or the genius of Steve Jobs, getting rid of all the USB hubs on the iPad or even the original Mac computer?
Or the genius of a Kanye West and how he designed the Yeezy 350 shoes?
AI can only repeat and iterate on the past, it cannot create a new future.
Obviously there are simple ones. People are still going to get married, and people will still want pretty photos of their wedding. It seems that actually, the most useful app here would be some sort of image sorting app.
For example let us say that you’re a wedding photographer and you shoot 10,000 photos of a wedding. To have to review and trudge through all those images will take you a short lifetime. What if instead, you just shot all the photos, and the image sorting AI thing could help you quickly sort and filter all 10,000 images, and quickly get down to the best 50?
If you’re interested in building this with me, send me your résumé at eric@erickim.com
Ultimately, we make photos not because there is some sort of inherent economic value behind it, we do it because it is fun!
Even Seneca at two years, nine months old. He just did the cutest thing; while taking a bath, he figured out how to take the bucket, and put it on top of his head, making it look like a baseball cap, the same one that I wear at home. Then he asked Cindy to call me over to shoot some pictures of him; doing this cute shutter button icon hand gesture that I taught him how to do.
Then afterwards, he wanted to press the playback button to review the photos; and when he saw the photos he laughed so insanely hard and wanted me to keep shooting photos!
Moving forward, my desire is to create and craft more workshops which are just plain fun! The idea is reawakening your own creative spirit, in photography.
My personal suggestion is once again, download the ChatGPT app to your iPhone or iPad, subscribe to the 20 bucks model, upgrade to the period version by clicking the ChatGPT 4 icon in the top right corner.
My suggestion is just experiment with it, have fun, and figure it out as you go! It doesn’t seem there is a right or wrong way to do things; radical experimentation is interesting here.
Once you have upgraded to the subscription paid model, experiment on clicking the Camera icon and photographing stuff in the real world, and asking ChatGPT some questions like “what is going on here?”
Or, click the picture gallery icon, and select up to three images of your art photos and ask ChatGPT to give you feedback.
Of course, if you want real human feedback, upload your photos to arsbeta.com
And also, simpler than ChatGPT; give the why app, Zen of ERIC chat bot a shot. It is designed to relentlessly ask you why? When judging your life goals or decisions. The simple thing:
If you ask yourself the question “why”, at least five times, you gain a deeper truth about things.
Think AI, think art, think hybrid and fusion. It is not zero sum; it is additive.
ERIC
What can you become?
Think AI & photo! The centaur approach; use AI CHATGPT and DALLE3 as a tool to empower your photography!
For real human feedback, arsbeta.com
Always the EK BLOG >
STREET PHOTO OPEN SOURCE
What is Street Photography? (2.4gb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/83a4s91i0lwi7s5/0.%20What%20is%20Street%20Photography.zip?dl=0
Black and White (2.3gb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l76eh3khc1pxj56/1.%20Black%20and%20White.zip?dl=0
How to Shoot Street Photography (2.2gb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/iloxnstsvnbjxvy/2.%20How%20to%20Shoot%20Street%20Photography.zip?dl=0
Street Portraits 101 (1.9gb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3tbs9g8pwg6gitm/3.%20Street%20Portraits%20101.zip?dl=0
Conquer Your Fears (430mb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6benxn3jwdakt72/4.%20Conquer%20Your%20Fears.zip?dl=0
Composition (460mb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z5l4gyp979o8z45/5.%20Composition.zip?dl=0
Masters (107mb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7z1wahoig2v4s71/6.%20Masters.zip?dl=0
Editing and Post-Processing (1.3gb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/elryenpk99uhpqh/7.%20Editing%20and%20Post-Processing.zip?dl=0
Photography Projects (1.4gb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zbj9c8q304buo0u/8.%20Photography%20Projects.zip?dl=0
Motivation (3.7gb)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/puajt36r2hlcnwx/9.%20Motivation.zip?dl=0
If this sparked even one interesting idea with you, feel free to forward this to a friend!
“We always think we don’t got enough. But what if, we already have too much?” – SENECA
So I have been having insane amounts of fun with ChatGPT, DALL-E, DALL-E 3, ChatGPT 4 (only available on the plus edition, only $20 a month!). To me, my thought is that it is the ultimate new creative tool in our creative tool kit as visual artists.
One of the great epiphanies that I had while in Kyoto was this notion of visual artist; that we photographers are not simply photographers, but we are visual artists. Which means that our approach and goal to things is not just photos or not just photos for the sake of photos, but instead… using photography and our camera as a tool to produce and create new visual artwork.
Something that people don’t understand and don’t get; no no no, robots and AI and these bots won’t take your job. My personal prediction is that even within 30 years, humanoid AI bots will still be quite mediocre; only good for doing boring tedious tasks like automation line work producing cars or Tesla cars, but for the most part, let us consider and think about how nimble and agile even a two-year, nine month year-old child is.
For example, Seneca. He is only two years, nine months old, and it is insane how coordinated he is, how agile he is, and how acrobatic he is. I have been teaching him funny things like jumping backwards, jumping sideways, doing downward up dogs etc.
I think it is insane that even late at night before he sleeps, he could still run around and prance around, with so much vivacity and pure energy. And also a very interesting thing that I’ve observed; whenever he wants to put something down or pick something up from the floor, he always squats! Full sumo squat, ass to grass. Always. He never bends over like adults. Maybe if we adults mimic the physical activity of children more, we will become better.
Very simple. First, download the official ChatGPT app to your phone or iPad, and immediately subscribe to the $20 a month paid model. Personally speaking, I quit using Adobe Lightroom about three years ago, ever since they switched to the subscription model. But this openAI stuff… This new ChatGPT4, and DALL-E 3… this is effing insane. Contrary to popular belief, I think AI and ChatGPT is insanely underrated. This literally might be the best $20 you spend in your life.
For example, simple things you could do: once you have upgrade to the paid model, the paid subscription, you could select an image from your iPhone photo roll cameraroll, and you could ask ChatGPT to help analyze your photo, and give you a critique on your photo. This is insanely great; this was actually my first initial vision of arsbeta.com — creating some sort of automated, app that could actually give you instantaneous feedback on your photos, without the need of slow human intermediaries.
Ultimately we still prefer the feedback and applause of other human beings. This is where I still think that Arsbeta.com is so phenomenal — you can still get real feedback from real human beings!
But still, the big issue with ChatGPT is mostly a UI-UX one. A lot of the insanely great features are hidden, maybe I need to do some sort of consulting with open AI; shoot me an email at eric@erickim.com and I’ll give you some suggestions.
And also, still my insane vision; I think ultimately… it has to be free! Open source, permissionless, and insanely easy to use. It should not be any more complicated than putting in a quarter and shooting aliens like space invaders. Or how simple it was to enter our cartridge in a super Nintendo, turn on the power and start playing! Also, it needs to simply be plug and play; even in today’s world, figuring out how to use Bluetooth such a pain in the butt. That is why I still prefer wires.
One of the things that we forget is that we already have artificial intelligence in our cameras. For example on my Lumix G9 camera, there is a subject detect, face detect algorithm which makes photography much better! This is especially useful when you’re doing auto focus and video.
Who or what is the best chess player? Not man versus man, not computer versus computer, but a synthesis of both man and computer. For example, the most formidable chess player would be a human being plus computer. I would actually think that the most interesting type of chess match would be two nerds, both with a laptop, duking it out together.
I also even remember funny things like when I was a kid playing StarCraft, or playing counterstrike 1.6– I would always suspect, or think that maybe, a lot of these guys were cheating by using an aim bot, or map hacking. Even my best friend Aaron… who was by far the best StarCraft player that I knew, he was so good that he was thinking about going professional… I recall once when I was trying to do a secret drop on him, with my Goliaths and drop ships, he somehow knew beforehand; after watching the footage, I soon discovered that actually yes, he really was using a map hack.
Then the really funny idea is that what if… people were permitted and actually encouraged to use all of these bots and hacks? Like I’m curious… If you had two professional StarCraft players, both with map hack on, how would the game end up? That there was no fog of war?
Also another idea; what if teachers actually permitted their kids to always use ChatGPT, Google or whatever during class and on their homework and on tests etc.… and in fact, the grading wouldn’t be based on if they’re right or wrong, but the criticality of their thinking?
Or, two nerds both with auto aim, aim bots playing counterstrike versus one another. Who would win? Or be superior? Or with any of these competitive video games, the professional gamers would be permitted to use all of these hacks and cheats? Who would win?
This is also where I think things get interesting; a lot of people falsely believe that because of AI, there is no more reason to play chess anymore. But my creative thought is that actually… If AI can help us create new innovative strategies in chess, human, then it is a great idea.
For example, just watch the LEE SEDOL GO documentary in which Dennis, the head of deep blue or deep mind, I forget whatever it was called, in which they created the early playing AI… LEE SEDOL was shocked and amazed by all of the “creative“ and in a bit of strategies that ALPHAGO did. As a consequence, the new innovations that AlphaGo did were integrated as part of new GO strategies.
Which makes me wonder; what new chess strategies have yet been discovered, and AI can help us uncover?
Therefore my suggestion is that I personally believe that all artists should be given free rein to all sorts of AI. Why? AI is just a tool for creative ideation, and at the end of the day, you do the final edits.
For example, you could get AI to easily write a screenplay, but yet, you as the artist might think that it is either cheesy or generic. And that is the thing… AI cannot really do anything totally carte blanche or totally brand new. Can you imagine AI inventing Blockchain or bitcoin? No. Or can you imagine AI having the genius of Steve Jobs and getting rid of the keyboard on a phone? No. Or the genius of Steve Jobs, getting rid of all the USB hubs on the iPad or even the original Mac computer?
Or the genius of a Kanye West and how he designed the Yeezy 350 shoes?
AI can only repeat and iterate on the past, it cannot create a new future.
Obviously there are simple ones. People are still going to get married, and people will still want pretty photos of their wedding. It seems that actually, the most useful app here would be some sort of image sorting app.
For example let us say that you’re a wedding photographer and you shoot 10,000 photos of a wedding. To have to review and trudge through all those images will take you a short lifetime. What if instead, you just shot all the photos, and the image sorting AI thing could help you quickly sort and filter all 10,000 images, and quickly get down to the best 50?
If you’re interested in building this with me, send me your résumé at eric@erickim.com
Ultimately, we make photos not because there is some sort of inherent economic valley behind it, we do it because it is fun!
Even Seneca at two years, nine months old. He just did the cutest thing; while taking a bath, he figured out how to take the bucket, and put it on top of his head, making it look like a baseball cap, the same one that I wear at home. Then he asked Cindy to call me over to shoot some pictures of him; doing this cute shutter button icon hand gesture that I taught him how to do.
Then afterwards, he wanted to press the playback button to review the photos; and when he saw the photos he laughed so insanely hard and wanted me to keep shooting photos!
Moving forward, my desire is to create and craft more workshops which are just plain fun! The idea is reawakening your own creative spirit, in photography.
My personal suggestion is once again, download the ChatGPT app to your iPhone or iPad, subscribe to the 20 bucks model, upgrade to the period version by clicking the ChatGPT 4 icon in the top right corner.
My suggestion is just experiment with it, have fun, and figure it out as you go! It doesn’t seem there is a right or wrong way to do things; radical experimentation is interesting here.
Once you have upgraded to the subscription paid model, experiment on clicking the Camera icon and photographing stuff in the real world, and asking ChatGPT some questions like “what is going on here?”
Or, click the picture gallery icon, and select up to three images of your art photos and ask ChatGPT to give you feedback.
Of course, if you want real human feedback, upload your photos to arsbeta.com
And also, simpler than ChatGPT; give the why app, Zen of ERIC chat bot a shot. It is designed to relentlessly ask you why? When judging your life goals or decisions. The simple thing:
If you ask yourself the question “why”, at least five times, you gain a deeper truth about things.
Think AI, think art, think hybrid and fusion. It is not zero sum; it is additive.
ERIC
EK AI:
A quick overview of some recent thoughts, namely, around physiology, our human physiology as well as AI, ART, ETC:
Something I have cared for a lot ever since I was a fat kid in New York, was diet health physiology and everything in between.
Ever since I was 11 to 12 years old, fat with a triple chin, I have literally experimented with every single diet out there, save this nonsensical vegetarian and vegan trend.
I met this cool guy the other day, at the Phils coffee shop in downtown Culver City, named Sodi (his website is https://stedmanhalliday.com/).
We had an interesting chat about how fitness is so critical, especially with all of these silicon valley tech utopists who just think of their body as an afterthought.
I vibe with Stedman Halliday because of many different reasons.
First, the focus on recovery as a first thought is a good one. For example, another day when I was really really tired and exhausted, instead of just taking a shower like I typically do, I filled up the bathtub with really really really really really hot water, and had a really really hot bath. It seems that the trend is towards ice baths, ice plunges etc., but also, I think taking insanely hot baths is also a good idea.
Why? To be able to tolerate an insanely hot bath, literally on the edge of boiling hot water, is also an effective bodily turbo charger. To me it is like my MacGyver way of harnessing the power of the hot sauna, without having to go to the gym.
In fact, maybe having a bathtub might be one of the greatest luxuries in your living situation. Rather than thinking of taking a really really hot bath as a frivolous luxury, maybe we should think of it almost like drinking more coffee or caffeine.
Currently what I am doing, and what I have done ever since I was living in Vietnam in 2017, which is almost 6 years now, is simple:
Intermittent fasting throughout the day, this means no breakfast, no lunch, only one massive 100% carnivore dinner.
During the day I only drink tapwater, black coffee, that’s it.
There’s also this funny story in the Walter Isaacson biography of Elon Musk when he was visiting the Twitter office, one of the employees offered him some of the sparkling death sparkling water, and Elon refused and said, “I just drink tapwater”. Haha.
And when I break my fast and eat dinner, which could arrange anywhere in between 6 PM and 10 PM, I strive to eat at least 4 to 5 pounds of beef or lamb.
Another great thing I have learned from ChatGPT is how great wonderful and effective ChatGPT is, at least 1 trillion times better than Google. In fact, my current thought is Short Google; ChatGPT is at least 1 billion times more insightful and accurate in terms of being able to accurately Find information about anything.
For example, a simple heuristic:
The best calling card is now, not to tell people to Google you, but instead, to ChatGPT you!
Why? I’m starting to have this low-key suspicion that Google is doing some sort of behind the counter deals with individuals, and somehow tweaking they are all rhythm for subjective ends.
However with ChatGPT, it is less biased, less meddling.
For example, get ChatGPT on your iPhone or iPad, just pay the $20 for the subscription model, you could cancel it anytime, and just ChatGPT:
Who is ERIC KIM?
The new phrase:
Just ChatGPT me bro!
I think the biggest issue with diet health physiology and nutrition is that people are so subjective, and also, there is far too many politics, ethics and morality behind it.
For example, I never trust anybody who says:
Don’t eat meat, it’s bad for the planet!
What? Do you know what else is bad for the planet? Your Amazon prime subscription, Netflix, YouTube, your iPhone and iPhone Pro, your MacBook pros, your Tesla, your Range Rover etc.
Simple heuristic:
Never trust nobody who makes commentary about the planet and has either a Netflix subscription, Amazon prime subscription, or owns a car, any card, irregardless of gas or electric. Or watches YouTube. Or has an iPhone, iPhone Pro, and has Instagram Facebook, etc.
Honestly it is all bad for the planet.
My immortal and ethical thought is this:
Don’t do what is “best for the planet“, do what you believe is best for you.
Is the planet made for men, or is man-made for the planet?
I have observed a funny reverse trend; man is not permitted to walk around, topless in public, show off his body and muscles, and also, not allowed to wear short shorts, or show off his crotch bulge.
I find this highly paradoxical, because nowadays, women are permitted to show off all their body parts! Even nowadays in LA, seeing a woman wear some sort of translucent white shirt or tank top, nipples popping through is not really a big deal anymore. I think this is a good train; there’s this weird quote for men and women that this is seen as a taboo, yet, it seems that most men watch pornography and secret, just ask somebody for fun, “When you turn on Google incognito, what do you really look at?”
Or—
What do you think of Maria Ozawa?
Or,
What do you torrent on Pirate Bay, when you turn on your VPN?
Some nuances:
First, what is it that Achilles was fed as a child by his personal trainer, Chiron the Centaur? Legend has it that he was fed entrails, which included bone marrow, hearts, and other offal matter.
I also have an orthodox theory that cholesterol, dietary food cholesterol, is a natural steroid.
I believe the new ones here is critical, because people make this foolish calculus:
If I consume more dietary cholesterol, cholesterol in my food, then my blood HDL, bad cholesterol blood levels will go up, and I will eventually have a heart attack and die.
Also fat –
If you consume more dietary fat, or saturated fat, you will put on more body fat.
However, this ain’t true. I think the big issue is that in today’s world, or modern day English, the semantic lexicon issues is confusing.
Whenever I get to Korean barbecue, all eat Korean barbecue, my favorite food items to consume include all the innards; beef large intestine, beef liver, beef, beef tongue, etc.
People say that eating meat is “bad for you“, but what about organ meats? Are organ meats “meat”?
So the question is this; what is the best way to train?
My personal thought is towards some sort of ancient spartan, ancient Greek notion. The thoughts I’ve been thinking:
How did or how would the ancient Greeks or Spartan train?
First and foremost, they’re very very interesting thing is that most depictions of these great heroes and demigods is not having super super big chests, therefore the simple thought is that perhaps benchpress is a bad idea.
Also for fun, I’ve been asking ChatGPT to generate me images to visualize what an ancient Greek would look like when they were training; how a demigod would train, how Achilles would train, how Hercules would train etc.
When I observe ancient Greek statues, or visualizations of ancient Greeks, what do I look at?
First, how upright they stand. Second, they never have a shirt on. Third, how massive their legs, back, and shoulders are.
My recent experimentations with training include heavy sandbag training; I ordered a 400 pound sandbag on the roguefitness.com website, and I just been going to the local park and filling it up with playground sand.
Second, Farmer’s Carry. I ordered these farmers carry handles on Titan.fitness, and it is very interesting! The skill is not just picking it up, but walking with it.
For example, it is one thing to lift 4 plates, it is another to farmers walk and carry 4 plates for the distance.
Another thing I have observed about lifting a heavy sand back off the floor, crouching down picking it up, shouldering it, or holding it to my chest with my fingers intertwined, and walking it for a long distance is it really strengthens my triceps, my fingers and my grip and hand strength, my foot strength, my feet, as well as my abs, obliques, and back. In fact I felt more sore carrying around I have sandbag than I did atlas lifting 1000 pounds at the gym.
One of the big innovations I did while I was in Orange County was my notion of the atlas lift; loading up the barbell with as much weight as you can, and just lifting up and standing up. No squatting involved.
In fact, it looks like that my training style is starting to trend more towards a strongman concept; just lifting really really heavy stuff, and doing it in a more old-school way.
For example, atlas stones. To be able to just lift up a very very very very heavy boulder, and presumably throw it at somebody, is an interesting idea. This is what Achilles did; in some of the fight scenes of the Iliad, Homer would write:
Achilles would lift up a massive stone, that which barely two strong men could lift, throw it at his enemy, and the boulder hit their hip, and black death descended upon them.
Also something I have been observing is that perhaps heavy sandbag training is a good idea because it is “safe”, and also, more accessible. Anyone could buy a cheap sandbag on Amazon, and then just go to a local playground and fill it up with sand.
Ever since moving to LA, I’ve become more and more reticent to join the gym. Why?
First, I prefer to be outdoors.
Second, I don’t like wearing a shirt.
Third, hygiene.
Working out at the park, in a parking lot, in your garage, or outside is not ideal, but, it is more interesting and innovative.
A simple thought is to just troll amazon, Titan.fitness, or the roguefitness.com website and buy a lot of fun weight lifting equipment! My simple thought is only procure equipment that you could easily throw in your trunk, because it is fun to be able to just put in your trunk, drive to your local park and work out there.
Some more thoughts:
Here this is where I think shooting selfies of yourself, topless if you’re a man, or in the sports bra for women is a good idea, because Vitar is a good way to keep you motivated and on track with your fitness diet health and physiology.
These are my very very very very very simple suggestions: mostly via negative.
If you want to lower your body fat percentage, simple things to do which include:
When you break your fast aim for 5-6 pounds of meat a dinner.
Then the simple thought is once you are very well, how do you wish to channel your wellness?
Ultimately, I don’t think it is fitness for the sake of fitness, but rather, the fitter and stronger you become, the more adept you will become as a thinker, writer, creator, photographer etc.
Also
Zen photography assignment: strive to make the most minimalistic Zen photo, and upload your best Zen photo to arsbeta.com
I love AI. Download ChatGPT to your iPhone or iPad, and upgrade to the paid subscription, an experiment with it for a month.
Upload your photos to it, and ask ChatGPT to give you feedback on your photos, or you could upload three photos, and just ask it which of the three he thinks is the best.
Don’t miss out on AI; this is the biggest thing to hit the planet ever since the Internet!
Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket, it is good to have many different baskets. Why? If there is a single chokepoint or a single point of failure, this is not good.
I think the best way to think and approach things is just assume and predict and know that sooner or later, it will break, go down, become inaccessible, etc.
A simple thing that you could do with websites is this: how many different mirrors of your website, on different platforms. For example, build wordpress.org websites on Amazon web services, build it with blue host.com, ionos.com, The only thing I would probably not build on is Google, which always deprecates their old technology, and has a bias to discontinue products.
Also WordPress.com, maybe even Tumblr.
Propagate all the platforms!
Think islands, web, webs, multiple redundancies.
Random — if you live in LA and want to train with me, just shoot me an email at eric@erickim.com
Another fun idea that I have is that maybe there is in fact a link between stoicism, physiology, and also bodily training.
Why?
First, let us consider our physiological response to stressors environment etc.
Example, when I get angry, it is a physiological response. I feel the cortisol and stress entering my face, and enlarges my eyeballs, I get a huge shot of adrenaline etc.
Therefore, my simple thought is if you want to become a true stoic, the training must be physical, physiological.
Also, fear. What is fear? Fear is also manifested as adrenaline, as well as stress hormones, chemicals in your body, etc.
To conquer fear, and to become a true stoic, I believe it is all about mastering your physiology, mastering your stress hormones and responses etc.
ASKESIS an ancient Greek, the same notion of aesthetic, or aestheticism is rooted in the notion of training. As guesses, becoming harder, becoming stronger.
Even our best friend Nietzsche says ultimately the goal is to become the hammer, the diamond. To not be soft and yielding, but to create, become harder.
A funny observation that I’ve made is that in today’s world, to be soft, yielding, open minded, flexible etc. is seen as a virtue. Yet I find this very paradoxical and little bit contradictory in the sense that it is all context dependent;
For example, racism, Nazis, holocaust deniers, anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic or anti-African-American people; shouldn’t we be maximally intolerant to these people? A zero tolerance rule here is good.
My personal thought is that in order to become more virtuous, we actually must become harder. To become more unyielding, to become more strict, and more harsh.
For myself, even though there is a lot of things about Korean culture which I deem as bad, one of the good things that come out of Korean culture is that the man is expected to be hard, strong, stoic, never showing his emotions or feelings etc.
Why do I believe this is a good thing?
Certainly if you grow up in America, sooner or later you’re going to naturally learn to be open minded, flexible, etc. So I think that we also need the antipodes; do not just be soft and yielding and flexible, but also to become harder and stronger and more staunch.
“Never say no more than once, if you really mean it” – NASSIM TALEB
Never say “last one”?
Now that Seneca is two years, nine months old, he is an expert negotiator. He knows how to ask for 30 more seconds, one more minute, etc. Essentially he knows how to game the system.
I think from a lexical perspective, we must be very sparing with our words.
For example, it seems that the wise idea is to not just use words, but rather to enforce them.
For example, never tell a kid that something is dangerous if it isn’t really dangerous. What is truly dangerous? Kids running into the street and getting hit by a car and getting killed, falling from a very very very high surface and cracking open their skull and brain, etc. A lot of the time when we tell a kid something is dangerous, you’re just giving them false words.
“Never apologize or say “I am sorry“, unless you really mean it”. – NASSIM TALEB
I would say now I’m moving forward, do radical experiments with your health, physiology, well-being, etc. Make this your number one critical priority and I think everything else will follow.
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I think one of my current fun things is combining photography AI and creativity. Why? Anything which is a creative stimulus and turbocharger for you is great!
Don’t miss out; this is your opportunity.
In fact, Don and Jose gave me a good idea; maybe I will do some sort of AI art creativity photography workshop in the near future. Stay posted.
Very very simple. Open up the App Store, and search touch GPT and download the official ChatGPT app by open AI. Then, click the ChatGPT for icon in the top right corner, and then subscribe to the paid model which is only 20 bucks a month. Then, click the little slider drop-down thingy, and switch it to the image generation tool which is DALL-E (I think it is named after Wally, the cute little robot from the Pixar movie).
My suggestion is have fun with it! Some creative thoughts:
Thinking about FTX, the same guy, as well as the GameStop story, dumb money.
I think what people do not understand about finance is that ultimately, it comes down to human beings. I think the biggest issue though is as Michael Lewis revealed in flash boys, there seems to be weird under the table market manipulations which help some individuals get stupid rich.
Ultimately, the market, the modern day agora, I think it all comes out to speculation not “investing”. And even more than that, pride.
For example, my bitcoin pride. My funny idea is that I no longer care for US dollars, only bitcoin. in fact, now that bitcoin is bouncing back, I envision a third grade rally. I’m thinking about trying to buy more.
Some of my visions:
I think i’ve discovered the next $10 trillion industry; AI, artificial intelligence etc.
I have some grand visions for AI:
First, some sort of photo creation AI, or some sort of AI that helps you cull down your photos. for example, I currently have a backlog of about 10,000 photos, not really sure when I’m going to have the time to look through all of them.
Some sort of AI photo curator division is you could just feed it 10,000 images, JPEG, and have it simply sort and filter it down to your most interesting or best shots. You can give a custom instructions, and it will learn your preferences overtime.
Also, writing. It seems that a lot of writers have issues with “writers block“, which means that they have a vision of what they want to write, but, what holds them back is that somehow they get stuck somewhere.
A very simple solution is having AI help you write more. Some thoughts include more robust and accurate voice recognition models, which allow writers to simply voice dictate their thoughts and write, instead of having to use the agency of a keyboard.
Another fun idea that I have is some sort of notion of a camera without a shutter button. Kind of like the narrative clip, or the Google clips; I sent you some sort of device that you have mounted on you, and it automatically shoots photos when it sees something that is significant.
I still think it needs to be some sort of standalone device, because the big issue is with a clip, there are still human concerns about privacy, being creepy etc.
Whether we like it or not, it looks like we are stuck with this phone analogy. I hesitate calling it a “device”— this doesn’t really mean anything. We should just call it an iPhone; essentially everyone in America at this point has an iPhone.
We gotta make AI on phones better.
For example this is where I think Google is doing a very good job, they are actually using AI to try to make her lives more helpful.
For example, this call screening technology. The general idea is that if you get a unknown phone call, I hate picking it up. I hate scammers. It seems that Google AI is very good at screening these annoying phone calls.
What I actually think that the most critical thing about AI in phones is that there needs to be some sort of thing which allows you to know whether a certain phone call is critical or not, at this given moment.
For example, the biggest issue that we have is getting interrupted. Getting distracted, notifications etc.
In fact, I have a bold suggestion for Apple or maybe even Google:
When you first set up your phone, by default have all of the notifications off, and then later, give the user the ability to enable them all.
Or another simple suggestion is when your first setting up your phone, give a prompt to the user asking them whether they would like to have all notifications on or off by default, and or give them the ability to customize which notifications they define important.
For example, all of my notifications on my iPhone are disabled it besides FaceTime. This is a good filter because the only really critical person I need to contact me is Cindy. And she knows that if it is urgent thing, she knows how to FaceTime me.
By default I turn off text message notifications because 99.99% of them are not urgent nor interesting. Also from a pure efficiency and productivity perspective, it is far more efficient and productive to just give someone a phone call or FaceTime instead of texting them back-and-forth.
My idea is that open AI and ChatGPT should make their own standalone phone. This might be the next trillion dollar company. Or maybe open AI could collaborate with Microsoft and build their ChatGPT phone on the windows phone platform concept.
Siri is pretty good, but it looks like ChatGPT is at least a quadrillion times better. If you could naturally integrate both ChatGPT directly into the phone, the tight integration of both software and hardware and AI, I think you have hit a gold mine.
For more thoughts email me at eric@erickim.com
Let me give you another example. Let us say that I recorded a vlog and I want to directly upload it to YouTube and my website, and also extract the audio file, and uploaded to my website and my podcast platform etc. I should be able to do this all via AI script, without the need of any other foreign intercession.
Also, I want an easy way to quickly filter all my photos, and also I want to be able to do it off-line. I think the big Achilles heel of ChatGPT right now is that is pretty much useless without an Internet connection, Wi-Fi, or a mobile 4G or 5G connection.
I love my iPad Pro to death, but I hit my iPhone with a passion. It really sucks.
It sucks so bad I’m thinking about switching to android, back to android, maybe this time getting a Google pixel phone.
Honestly all the phones are bad, maybe the best solution is just no phone.
I highly highly highly recommend Elon Musk biography by Walter Isaacson, just download it to your iBooks store, Kindle, by the hardcover or just listen to it as a audiobook! The audiobook option might be interesting if you spend a lot of time in a car and commuting. Lots of lessons here.
I’m starting to read the book “going infinite“, specifically because I am passionate about bitcoin and crypto. Also I think Michael Lewis is just a great writer; his writing is fun, carefree, and also very insightful.
The Jeff Bezos invent and wander book is great. And also zero to one by Peter Thiel still resonates today.
More thoughts to come!
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ERIC
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