If you try to compete with anyone (besides yourself) you’re gonna lose.

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Who is ERIC KIM? Why is he so opinionated? Where does he come from? What does he want?

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First of all I don’t believe in “white” people. This makes no sense. I’m actually more pale and more “white” in skin tone than many Caucasian people (the more accurate term for a “white” person) as a Korean.

So when I talk about “white washing”, what do I mean? I mean it is like applying bleach to anything which is saucy, interesting, enjoysome and “racy” and “inappropriate” in life to make it acceptable and “wholesome” to essentially placate over-protective parents, paternalistic members of the elite intelligentsia, and also to placate advertisers.

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It seems the pipe dream for everyone is to “make money online” and to gain “passive income” online.

But why? Towards what ends?

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What is one of the most fun things to photograph, shoot, and video? Nature!

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We are addicted to speed. Why? Speed is more fun!

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Auto telic: to do something for the sake of it. Telos— purpose or aim. Auto (done by yourself, pursued by yourself).

Thus if we approached photography from this autotelic perspective, we would be far more happy, creative and productive as photographers and visual artists!

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What is “fake”? It means to rob, swindle, or to “spruce up with artificial means”. Thus in this regard, all news is “fake” news. Yes this includes Google News, New York Times, NPR, The New Yorker, Atlantic and every form of mainstream (and underground) news.

All news is polished and spruced up not for “journalistic integrity” but towards what news agencies really want — more advertising revenue.

Why is change so scary and difficult? Why are we so reticent to change? My thoughts:

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If there is something about the world or society which annoys or upsets you don’t just sit around complaining. Instead become the change which you desire to see manifested in the world. Change it. Fix it! This is the true entrepreneurial spirit. Less talk, more walk and action!

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The very happy and optimistic thought:

The more I go out and shoot and photograph the world, the more beautiful, rich and fuller it becomes.

Isn’t this a great thought?

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Hegemony comes from “hegemon”— leader, guide. Think “Enders Game” (my favorite science fiction book of all time, as audiobook). Or think of the “Dollar Hegemony” (Henry C K Liu).

Typically when people think “hegemony” it is seen as bad and evil. “Hegeomai” (the root word of hegemon, or hegemony) is actually good … it means to lead, go forth, lead the way, guide. It comes from the Proto Indo European “*sehg”: to seek out.

Anyways back to the notion of “Digital Hegemony”— the gist is at this point Google *is* the Internet which means if you desire to be relevant online, best to kowtow and merge with Google and play good with Google, or be left behind.

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It seems right now the best WordPress blogging theme is Newspack.pub by Automaticc (company which runs and owns WordPress.com).

Why? Essentially this is the conspiracy:

WordPress.com and Google “News Initiative” is together in bed, plotting to take over the (news and blog based) internet, to maximize Google’s digital hegemony over advertising (Google Adsense).

Let me explain more in depth:

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If you got nothing to photograph around you, just shoot some flowers!

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A realization about life:

Life is no fun and has no savour unless we expend effort and exercise our skills.

Skill excercisement is fun, challenging and makes life worth it. If everything were handed to you on a silver platter … life loses all zest and interest.

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My honest thought:

There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to approach street photography, just like how there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way a tree grows.

Thus take extreme ownership over street photography. Your street photography. Your rules.

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One of the most under-rated forms of street photography:

Kid street photography.

Honestly at this point; it all goes. With permission, without permission. Photos of your own kids or the kids of others. Photos of kids in public space or private.

I see street photography as more of a technique, approach and ethos. This means there is a ‘street photography style‘ — striving to capture raw human emotions. The technicalities (with permission, without permission, candid or posed, etc) doesn’t matter.

Real thoughts:

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My very pragmatic thoughts towards minimalism:

Minimalism is more convenient, productive, and generative.

Do not pursue minimalist ways for some sort of strange virtue-flexing (I am doing a ‘good’ thing for the environment or planet or whatever). No. Minimalism is about convenience and productivity-maximizing!

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Life is a never-ending journey; this is what makes it so fun and valuable!

All street photo:

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In today’s brave new COVID world, you’re also a brave new street photographer.

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I love kids. Why? In some ways I’m a big kid. I love playing with kids — they speak their mind, they don’t censor themselves and they are typically insanely honest. They love to play, and their spirit is tremendous.

More adults should be like kids, and more adults should have kids (especially if you’re smart, educated, intelligent and want to make the world a better place!)

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Shoot this brave new world:

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Like Juvenal said in Roman times:

The (vulgar) masses are distracted and fleeced by circuses and bread (circecen + panem)

Our modern metaphor:

Our circuses are TV shows, UFC fights, sports, politics, the news (both real and fake) and our bread is high fructose corn syrup, ‘organic’ foods, Coca Cola, cookies, and McDonalds.

Takeaway:

Don’t let the bread and circuses distract, sucker you, or sap your precious attention.

Your attention, focus, and zen above all.

ERIC

Fuck the socials. Fuck social media (Facebook–Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Flickr, etc). The best social media is you; your own website-blog and platform.

Until you own yourself, you cannot be free.

Freedom is our apex goal, and the end-goal for you as a creator, innovator, entrepreneur and thinker. Why build your own empire on the land of another? Why be a digital share-cropper?

No. Make your own site. Be the master of your own domain (web domain). You own it; you own yourself.

ERIC

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A meaningful photo project you can pursue:

Shoot the pandemic, and record your own views, perspective and thoughts via your photos.

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Let us not be suckered; all debt is bad debt.

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Looking at old photos are bitter-sweet. But also they hold us back. How so? The gist:

When you look at old photos and you re-surface old memories … it holds you back from thinking about the present and the FUTURE.

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The greatness of photography has been highly understated. Photography is great — let us make it great(er) again!

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A thought the other day:

What’s underrated in life, and what’s overrated in life?

My thoughts:

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In praise of the freedom of (politically incorrect) speech.

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The best way to get people to comply to mask wearing:

Make it cool, stylish and nice to wear a mask.

Instead of wearing a new Rolex watch, you wear a luxury Louis Vuitton mask. Or wearing a mask makes it easier to breathe in polluted environments and cities and keeps bad smells and dust out of your mouth.

My proposal:

Let’s spam the rapper Future on Twitter to do a song titled, “Mask On” to make mask wearing cool for the youth.

As a sociologist, this is my take on COVID-19 and the societal and economic consequences of the pandemic:

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Losing Body Fat (Adipose Tissue) as Beneficial to Fight COVID-19

COVID-19 is more deadly in overfat individuals, according to a recent Science article. This is my thought:

If you want to protect yourself from catching COVID-19 and potential death from it, losing body fat (adipose tissue) doesn’t hurt.

Let me explain further in depth:

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Not a brave new world, a LAME new world. A lame new world beridden by ads, popups, interruptions, lame distractions, porn, sugar, news, entertainment, media, etc. The future … we are all hopped up on metaphorical “soma” (Brave New World substance), which is just mass distraction for petty profits.

Thus my suggestion and intervention:

Make the future less lame.

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Let us not fool and deceive ourselves:

At this point Google *is* the internet.

What does this mean?

Either merge with Google or be left behind.

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We all have been taught:

Quality over quantity.

I disagree. I believe quantity over quality is supreme.

Why? Some thoughts:

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The internet as the ultimate under-utilized tool. Still insane amounts of disruption, innovation and greatness just waiting for you:

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Whenever we analyze things let us not be suckered. The question (be honest with yourself):

Is this thing a toy or tool?

Toys are fine. But just kid or sucker yourself. We only get suckered when we somehow “justify” our purchases as tools when they’re actually toys.

Let us not lie to ourselves: we buy things for the design, the ethos, the notion. You don’t buy a car for the performance, reliability or whatever. You buy it for the drama, style, sense of showmanship, for your ego, your aesthetics, your ethos, and your personality and the way of life. The car is an external skin of your ego.

In other words, we buy it for the style, aesthetics and design…not for the thing in itself.

When in doubt, just vlog it:

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Something very interesting and bizarre which I came across at my friend Tim’s home: a US Dollar Bill … with something very interesting:

It looked different.

How so?

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We are so obsessed with muscle cars, sports cars, luxury cars, hyper cars, mega cars, electric cars, Tesla cars, Lamborghini cars, whatever. How come we have no interest in impressive humans and men? Mega humans. Hyper humans. Uber humans?

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No design, no life:

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If you value your focus, don’t use FacebookGram, don’t read the news, don’t use any social media or Twitter, don’t go on YouTube, don’t watch Netflix, don’t shop on Amazon.com, don’t entertain weird conspiracy theories etc. Also:

Install as many advertisement and content blocking plugins and tools humanly possible.

For example:

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Shout out to Nassim Taleb:

Often the most pragmatic form of ethics is ‘via negativa’– figuring out what *NOT* to do unto others.

So I’ve been spending a lot of time randomly trolling through alt-right and conservative news platforms, reading a lot of independent bloggers (duckduckgo.com) and the such. In the midst of all this, what I discover what it comes down to:

1. Are you a patriot?
2. Do you want to be faithful to God?
3. Are you loyal to our country or not?

In America, the ethos comes down to patriotism, law, loyalty (I pledge allegiance to the flag), and God (the Judeo-Christian, mostly protestant Quaker-God).

Which gets me down the interesting rabbit hole:

What is a patriot?

And also:

*WHY* be a patriot?

Some of my thoughts:

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My personal aesthetics:

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My honest appraisal of all things German:

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My thought:

The best aesthetic, ethos and approach is a combination of American individualism and risk-loving appetite (entrepreneurship), the wabi-sabi aesthetics of Japan-Kyoto, and the aesthetic harness and precision of German Bauhaus.

The ultimate hybrid and synthesis:

1. American [The American spirit and attitude]
2. German [Berlin, Bauhaus aesthetic]
3. Japanese [Kyoto to be exact]

My honest appraisal and thought:

Currently the best camera brand for both still photos *AND* video is Panasonic-Lumix.

Why? Let me explain:

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The future of websites, Google, blogs, websites, and SEO (search engine optimization) is simple:

Google will become the ultimate news-authority … all websites and blogs shall become assimilated and absorbed by Google.

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Not all distractions are made alike. Some are good, some bad. Why? Good distractions include when you peruse interesting ideas which motivate and inspire you; self-guided intellectual or self curiosity distractions. Bad distractions: companies, Amazon, Apple, Google, Twitter hijack your attention to get you to buy more products, click or see more advertisements or trigger some sort of urge to buy and purchase x, y, z.

Until death do us part.

Does anything really last *forever*?

Techno flow is the goal. To become the ultimate zen–taoist technologist-artist that is one with digital technology. That still retains love of nature, humans, and human ingenuity. To use the computer and technology as a ‘bicycle for the mind’ (Steve Jobs notion from the Whole Earth Catalogue).

As an internet and digital entrepreneur there ain’t that many things in which money can really help you. But one huge thing:

Invest in an insanely fast wifi connection at home (ideally giga-bit, fiber optic, etc).

Why? Let me explain:

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Ironically enough the best way to study marketing, business and entrepreneurship is by *NOT* taking traditional marketing courses, business courses, or entrepreneurship courses. Similarly speaking:

1. Don’t study ‘marketing’ as a major
2. Don’t study ‘business’ as a major
3. Be suspicious of ‘entrepreneurship’ majors … especially if they’re taught by non-entrepreneurs.

Sociology was great to understand marketing, branding, advertising and entrepreneurship because:

1. You understand societal dynamics
2. You understand why people think a certain way, and why society progresses a certain way
3. You think of society as a dynamic and changing organism and culture-complex, rather than the narrow-minded view of economists who see society and humans as static and predictable.

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Why does America run the world? Simple … we have the most lethal military.

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Critics typically say one thing and do another. For example I’ve met soooo many people who are initially anti Lululemon and then eventually buy them. Or people (myself) who are anti Apple, eventually get a MacBook laptop and then never turn back to PC or Windows. Or consider the people who are anti Leica (Fujifilm users) who all secretly want a Leica digital M camera, yet cannot afford it (sour grapes fallacy). Or how Porsche drivers shun Lamborghini cars, yet perhaps they have the Porsche is because the Lamborghini is still more expensive. Or the Android users who shun iPhones because they cannot afford it.

Go luxury or die.

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Defense is key:

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Don’t buy the most expensive option on a budget brand. Also, never buy the most expensive option for a luxury brand.

Simple thinking:

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As you gain new followers, you also shed old followers. This is life!

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The quadrillion dollar question:

How can I get more followers?

Some of my real thoughts:

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The reason why I’m so fascinated with economics and money:

What is money … really?

Also —

If we assume that money sets the whole world in motion, what does this mean towards humanity?

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Simple ideas:

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The problem with digital:

We have a quadrillion photos to look through and choose.

Google Photos has done a pretty good job of suggesting your ‘best’ photos, and making it easier to share. But still … let us assume we want to do a more manual approach, what are we to do?

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What is our life blood as photographers?

Simple — to just keep making new.

What is our life blood as bloggers?

Simple: to just keep blogging!

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The maximal upside of human ingenuity and skills, and computer-machine efficiency and help.

For example with Tesla:

Cars are made mostly by machines and robots, and humans do the final touches.

There will never be 100% pure machine robot automation. It ain’t about a robot taking your job … but a machine making your life easier and better!

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