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Insane epic detail!!

Better to make *any* photo than no photo:

Currently speaking, we live in an era and time of hyper abundance. I call it “insane abundance.” That is, the amount of abundance we have is astonishing.

For example, consider how we have the most abundance of all resources, energy and supplies known to man.

Some practical examples; I am so insanely grateful for the Costco business Center, for being my meat plug, in terms of beef ribs and beef brisket. I will never run out of meat. The reason why am so infinitely grateful for this is that it is my theory that the more highly nutritious beef I consume, the more myoglobin, the closer the meat is to the bone, for example like beef ribs, the stronger and more powerful I become. For example, when I was in South Korea, before simply too expensive, I had to settle with pork instead. While I do love pork ribs and pork belly, beef ribs and beef belly is superior.

America is great because literally anything you want is easily accessible, and the cheapest in terms of price globally. For example, it is very interesting that Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis cars are actually cheaper in America than they are in Korea. Why? The South Korea government imposes a high driving tax on Korean citizens, because the nation is so small. The South Korean government wants to discourage driving. Whereas in America, almost every single automobile is sold cheaper here than elsewhere.

I’m also really grateful for the gyms here, and just how cheap and easily accessible they are. For example, the local gym I just go to, my only cost maybe 20 or 30 bucks a month. Insanely cheap, with all the way to need to play around. Compare this with other countries where finding a gym is quite hard, especially a gym that is well equipped with power racks, for squat and deadlift etc.

Third, Amazon. Amazon prime is so insanely useful and helpful, even when I was in Japan, having to procure an SD card was both annoying and very expensive. I’m so happy that if I want to order an SD card or micro SD card, I know I could get it on Amazon so cheap and quickly, with the lowest price. For me I like this notion of “fair pricing“, whenever I buy something on Amazon, I know that I’m not getting upcharged somewhere.

Fourth, I think we should be more grateful for the Internet. Why? It is truly the greatest invention known to man thus far. Consider how the Internet has augmented our ability to do anything and everything. I am so grateful for digital photography, and the Internet, because it helped me become a self-employed entrepreneur, and help me make a living from my passion. My mom always reminds me — “Eric, you are so lucky to have been born in the air or the Internet. If it wasn’t for the Internet, there is no way you could’ve turned your passion into a living.”

What should you do with all of this insane abundance?

I think the best thing to do with insane abundance is share your abundance with others. That is, through your ideas thoughts, books resources, etc. Open source, abundance.

Knowing that the pie is not fixed. That when you help others, and the more generous you are with others, the more it actually end up helping you as well in the long run. That uplifting somebody else doesn’t tear you down. On the contrary, it is superadditive, everybody wins even more.

And what is the best way to do that? The Internet.

I just finished Invent and Wander by Jeff Bezos, which is a collection of his annual shareholder letters, as well as some personal essays/speeches he’s given. Insanely good — some lessons I learned:

The first thing that I learned which was really quite inspiring is just how much crazy turmoil Jeff Bezos was able to endure. For example, learning that at the height of the Internet bubble, Amazon was worth $109 a share, and then plummeted to six dollars a share. Ouch. (as said by Jeff). The reason why this was so inspiring was that during that period, so many of these loser pundits predicted the failure of Amazon. Even one fool said that Barnes & Noble would eat Amazons breakfast.

Another thing I love learning was in fact, Jeff Bezos was quite self-made. Also learning that his mom had him when she was 17 years old, and would actually attend her college classes with Jeff, as a young child, with two backpacks. One backpack full of her books, and the second book full of diapers and toys to entertain Jeff during class.

Also something inspiring is when he talks about his father, not his biological father, but his “real” father. How his father was a Cuban immigrant to America, and because his fathers mom thought that America would be cold, she sewed him a jacket made out of spare cleaning rags, the only material she had access to. Apparently they still have that jacket in their living room.

Also, the notion of day one. The idea that every day is day one, which gives you the motivation and spirit to always be scrappy and hungry. To not sit on your laurels.

Oh also a practical thing is that apparently him and his wife let their kids play with sharp knives ever since they were four years old, and let them play with power tools when they were nine years old. His wife apparently said to naysayers, “I would rather have a resourceful kid with nine fingers, than a kid with 10 fingers who is not resourceful”.

AUDIO

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PODCAST

Things I wish I knew:

Often times, there is hidden wisdom inside your superstitions.

My ultimate goal, to keep indefinitely building my power.

Video

For example, the 2 TB iCloud storage hard cap is not sustainable. Better to do things off-line instead.

The more I read the rhetoric on sustainability stuff, it seems to just be superficial, and smoke and mirrors for big companies or corporations to seem like good guys.

I recently read the headline that Facebook/meta-lost about $21 billion this year investing in Meta, the metaverse, quest and virtual reality. But assuming that Facebook is a 1 trillion dollar company, technically $21 billion is actually not that much money. Also, Mark Zuckerberg is the only person around my age who has founded his company, and stuck with it, and still remains CEO. Much respect to him. Like Jeff Bezos says, Mark Zuckerberg isn’t a missionary who just wanted to build a company, flip it, take a public and make a bunch of money and peace out. Instead he is a missionary, somebody who doesn’t really care for money, but a greater vision.

Perhaps virtual reality, the meta-verse, etc. is a bad idea. But, it is a more fun risky entrepreneurial endeavor to try to build out that space, instead of sticking to the old boring Facebook/Instagram traditional social media approach.

The other day I went to an Apple store, and I am so insanely disappointed. Why? All of the new products are lame, boring, and uninteresting. All of the colorways are lame, they are far too many categories of products now, Apple has lost her initial vision, ala Steve Jobs and Jony Ive.

A really big critique is the iPhone, which is supposed to be humankind’s most important tool. The iPhone Pro has become insanely lame. After using my iPhone SE for so long, and also Cindy‘s iPhone mini, I am insanely shocked to see just how big, bulky, and ugly the iPhone Pro is. Also, even the new deep purple color only went halfway; the color should have been bolder. Even up close, it is difficult to differentiate between the deep purple and the space gray.

My personal vision for the iPhone, or the iPhone pro is the device which is actually the smallest, thinnest, and lightest. A real iPhone Pro is not a camera. An iPhone Pro should rather be like a super mega computer, like an iPad Pro mini mini.

What should the phone be for? My personal vision is that a phone should be your new computer. It should be so light, so unobtrusive, so thin, it should just disappear into your hand. It should just be extension of you.

The hilarity is that 99.9% of people just use their iPhone Pro to text message. And the funny thing that I’ve discovered is the bigger, bulkier and heavier the phone, the more difficult it is to text, and also reduces your texting productivity. The most productive iPhone is the smallest and lightest, either the iPhone SE or the iPhone Mini.

Also from a productivity perspective, any device which is bigger and more powerful but heavier is worse for productivity. Why? Even with the laptop, the biggest benefit of a laptop is that you could just seamlessly move it around so easily. Therefore, your overall productivity will be higher on the MacBook Air than it is on a heavier MacBook Pro. Why? Easier to slip the MacBook Air into your bag or backpack, go to the local coffee shop, or even just move around the house. The heavier 14 inch MacBook Pro is kind of a bizarre device; if it is that big and powerful, you’re probably not gonna move it, so isn’t it better to just get a desktop computer instead? A Mac Mini or maybe the new Mac Studio?

I had a funny thought that instead of thinking of myself as a bodybuilder, or a powerlifter, better for me to think of myself as a “powerbuilder“, that is, my joy and aim is to keep building my power.

Why do I not like the notion of being a “powerlifter“? Because I don’t compete. I don’t want to be put into that category. Also, I do not want to just be restricted to three lifts.

Also from a metaphorical perspective, I like the idea of powerbuilding. That our ultimate end goal in life is to keep building our power. Not for some evil ends, but rather, toward some virtuous ends. I want to become the powerman.

If you have beautiful aesthetics, does it physiologically uplift and empower you? Not 100% sure, but I could say that ugly aesthetics are positively negatively physiologically depressing. Ugly aesthetics can take away your physiological power.

Not bodybuilder or powerlifter, Powerbuilder.