Dear friends, a thought this morning: perhaps the point isn’t the best, but the strongest. Why? That which is strongest is objective, whereas the best is subjective.
For example, perhaps the best fabric is the strongest fabric. The most supreme person at the gym is the strongest person (The person with the biggest deadlift or squat). The best car is the strongest one, which means the fastest 0 to 60 acceleration, which is currently the Tesla model S plaid.
Also, when it comes to computers, the best is the strongest. Strongest as subjective for you whether processing power, battery life, etc.
Will it make you stronger or not?
That which attempts to destroy me will only make me stronger (in the long run). -my take on the Nietzsche quote
When it comes to making certain life decisions, or living, or life, a thought to consider: will it make you stronger or not?
For example, sun exposure. Being in the direct sun will make you stronger. Not using sunblock or sunglasses will make your skin and eyes stronger. But of course, up to a certain point. If you’re in the sub Saharan desert in 140 degree heat, topless for an entire day— perhaps not a good idea.
Or when we go to the gym, and we see you guys with the biggest muscles. Our basic minds believe that he with the biggest muscles is in fact, the physically strongest. But, this is often not true. Often the guys at the gym with the biggest arms and upper body, have the weakest legs. And also, the skill of the bodybuilder is more about their endurance, determination, and ability to do hateful repetitions, rather than pure strength. This is where powerlifting is interesting to me, the purpose is to indefinitely increase your one repetition maximum for a given lift, in effect, ultimately how strong you are.
However the big downside of powerlifting is that I think what happens is people end up trying to game the system. Using steroids, performance-enhancing drugs, “natural“ testosterone supplements, etc. Also, all of the strange supplemental gear like lifting belts, straps, suits, etc.
Rather than thinking about powerlifting then, strength building is perhaps a more robust classification system.
What do you want from our artwork or photos?
Something interesting about architects; it seems that the game is every single architect is trying to one up one another, trying to flex their ingenuity, skill, and power. The name of the game is he or she who could create the most impressive building, which is the most resilient and defiant of gravity, and natural laws.
Then perhaps the purpose of us as artists is driving to become the strongest artist. The artist who could create the most impressive and strong artworks, whether sculpture, images, paintings, music, etc.
The strongest entrepreneurs
That which don’t kill me, only makes me stronger – Kanye via Nietzsche
Even with entrepreneurs, perhaps the best entrepreneur is the strongest. Consider Elon Musk, a titan in both the car industry and the international space technology industry— requires great strength. Or, consider how Jeff Bezos built up Amazon, the strongest logistics and delivery network, and supply chain technology. This is what people do not understand about Amazon; they think it is a store, or a platform that sells stuff, but in fact, their genius and ingenuity comes from their scrappiness, ruthless efficiency, and ability to make the lives of people more convenient. Also, one thing that nobody ever talks about is Amazon Web services, which seems to power most of the web. It seems to be the strongest web hosting platform.
Also, one of the great admirable things about Amazon is how low frills the benefits for their employees are. Perhaps this is good, as it keeps them lean and mean, and spurs them to ambition. Compare this with soft Google employees, who are like happy hens in a cage.
Will it make your kids stronger or not?
Another thought is when it comes to child rearing, the point isn’t necessarily to make your kids happy; otherwise all you’re giving them is fruit juice, YouTube, annoying toys, and other things which pacify them and make them “happyâ€. Rather, the point is to strengthen them.
For example, not to baby them. When they fall down, let them cry, and don’t pick them up. Rather, teach them how to stand up again, and get on with their playing.
Also, when it comes to food and nutrition, optimize for meat consumption, as meat will make them stronger. Anything sweet, or with sugar, whether unnatural or natural, will just damage their insulation regulation hormonal system.
With activities, ideally playing outdoors in the sun. It seems that the most virtuous thing you could do with your kid is physical training; even Seneca at a young age, taking him to the park at least twice a day, having him practice going up and down structures, using his arms and legs, etc.
Stoicism
A thought:
Whenever you bite your tongue and hold in your anger, this makes you stronger, and whenever you give into your anger, it weakens you.
Nietzsche once said that anything which strengthens us is good, and anything which weakens us is bad. I think this is a good idea.
The duty of stoicism is to become more virtuous; if you’re a man, this means becoming more manly.
However, the important distinction we must make is stoicism out of strength, or stoicism out of weakness.
For example, if you practice stoicism out of weakness, perhaps turning the other cheek is rather an act of weakness, because the reason you’re not fighting back isn’t becomes you’re stronger, but in fact, you’re too afraid to fight back, and you use the excuse of turning the other cheek as your strength, whereas in reality, it isn’t.
Also, this is the root and genesis of the resentment morality. We feign strength, whereas in reality, you hold in your anger in order to resent the other person. It is like drinking poison, and hoping the other person dies.
One of the most important things I learned about relationships is that the number one root cause of divorce and or bad relationships is resentment. And what causes us to resent other person? The feeling that we’re not being respected, or maybe an inferiority bias towards other person.
Bitcoin as the strongest cryptocurrency
With crypto — it isn’t about the “bestâ€, fastest, or the most scaleable network or blockchain. Perhaps the telos is the strongest cryptocurrency.
What is the strongest? That with the strongest brand-name. For example, I think the reason why people prefer Bitcoin as the apex digital cryptocurrency is because it has the strongest brand-name. Everyone now knows what bitcoin is, nobody knows what Ethereum is.
Also, I think bitcoin actually has the best logo, as it has the strongest color which is orange, the same color that Phil Knight put on Nike shoe boxes. Orange might be the strongest color because it is a combination of both red and yellow, two of the strongest colors. There is a reason why traffic cones are orange, the strongest color for maximum visibility, to prevent road workers from getting killed.
Then perhaps if you want the strongest car color, orange is your best bet.
The best coffee
The world’s strongest coffee — Death Wish Coffee.
Perhaps the reason why I was so powerful while living in Vietnam was in fact, Vietnam has some of the strongest coffee. Robusta has more caffeine content than arabica. And some of the best coffee that I had in Vietnam was a good blend between arabica and robusta. This is something that a lot of coffee snobs don’t understand in America and elsewhere; the best coffee is actually a blend of both arabica and robusta, not 100% arabica. People just aren’t strong enough for robusta.
Also, something that people also don’t understand is that often, the house espresso blend is actually superior than the single origin. Why? First of all, single origin isn’t ordered as frequently at the coffee shop, which often means that it is not well dialed in. Also, if the coffee shop does have a good espresso blend, they handpick the best of the best and all the different regions around the world, to make the best coffee blend. This is the same reason why mixed breed dogs are physiologically stronger than purebred dogs, which are often inbred, dumb, and sickly.
Even with humans, my theory is that mixed race kids have the potential to become physiologically stronger than if you only had kids within your own sub population.
Hybrids are stronger
Also, even though I love Elon Musk and Tesla and the ethos of electric cars, currently, it still seems the best car is a hybrid — a mix of both gas and electric. The best as a plug-in hybrid prime car — in theory, if you just commute a little bit from your house locally, you could always just run it off the electric engine, and charge at home. But if you go on long road trips, you know you’ll always have an easy and convenient gas station close by. Or if you go to the mall or somewhere with limited parking spots, you can always nab one of those electric charging vehicle only spots.
How to make stronger photos
We are photographers, and our unique mode of artistic creation and communication is photography and photos. Then, our purpose is to become a stronger photographer, in order to make stronger photos.
But what is a “stronger“ photo? What does this mean?
Some ways to think about it. First, to me, the strongest photo is the simplest one.
Then, the goal becomes to make the simplest photos possible. How does one do this? I say, just harness black-and-white, and high contrast, as high contrast strengthens the aesthetic of your photos.
If you prefer color, prefer high contrast, and highly saturated colors. This makes for a stronger, more powerful aesthetic.
The strongest photo
Similarly speaking, when you’re reviewing your photos, don’t think, what is my “best“ photo; think, what is my strongest photo?
Our personal ambition is to make photos which will outlive us. The same ethos of having kids; we will die, but our children will continue our legacy.
How to select your strongest photos
For me, I choose what I consider my strongest photos as a combination of these things: a photo which has a darker aesthetic, strong emotional feeling, and strong and minimal composition.
For example, what do we gain the strongest emotional response from? Humans. It is only human; as a human being, we should and must gain more admiration of a beautiful woman, instead of a “beautiful“ tree or landscape. This is also the thing I don’t like about the whole outdoor culture is that it drives to find more beauty in nature, than in human beings.
Even pornography; I think the confused notion is this; I think most men watch porn because they are striving to seek visual stimulation from beautiful women, not necessarily the sexual act and final ejaculation. If this is the case, perhaps looking at Playboy magazines is better; better to look at photos and videos of nude beautiful women, instead of them in the sexual act.
The gym
One of the things I really hate about the modern day gymnasium is that it is indoors. Indoors is bad for your health. In times of ancient Greece, the gymnasium was an open air space, where men lifted weights, performed physical exercises, philosophized, and socialized. Even in the beginning of Covid, and all of the gyms were closed, one of the best discoveries and windfalls of my life was discovering the local park, working out at the park, throwing around rocks, and actually socializing from guys from all different walks of life. It might’ve actually been one of the happiest periods of my life.
One of the coolest things I saw recently was a 24 hour fitness at the mall in San Diego, where there was this open air, fake turf grass area, where you could deadlift, squat, and exercise in the direct sun.
Being indoors is physiologically depressing, and I actually think it weakens you; I actually find it difficult to focus when I’m inside an indoor‘s dark gym. I feel stronger when it is well lit.
Anyways, on the road to becoming a stronger person, strengthen your legs first. Sumo deadlifts and squats.
Even a great new trend I see is that it is actually quite normal for women to lift weights at the gym now. And this is highly encouraged; a women who could squat more and deadlift more will build a more beautiful physique. I actually think that the whole new Kim Kardashian big butt physique notion is a good one; as it motivates women to lift weights. The women with the best physique at the gym are actually the ones who have the biggest deadlifts and squats.
Media which strengthens you, media which weakens you
When it comes to media, I believe the best way we could categorize it is a physiological one. For example, whenever I open up any magazine which has advertisements, I immediately feel a depressing and revolsive physiological reaction and aversion. Same goes with TV, the news, and almost all movies and tv shows.
For me, the only media which is worth experiencing is the one which strengthens you. For example, the movie 300, the first Iron Man movie, the matrix, or any movie which makes you aspire to become physically stronger, more intimidating, or mentally more elevated.
For example, do you remember when the movie 300 first came out, and everybody aspired to look like an insanely ripped Spartan? This was great.
Or, the movie Fight Club. I love the movie because it was like a wake up call for men; to have men to aspire to become more manly, rather than soft.
Strengthening is the goal.
Will it make you stronger or not?
This is the great thought: by thinking of your life as the simple decision making matrix, it changes a lot. For example, purchasing a home will not make you stronger. Purchasing a car won’t make you stronger. Even buying a faster, more menacing car will not make you stronger.
What will make you stronger? Purchasing and consuming more grass fed beef. For your young kids, goat milk. Or consuming more organ meats — beef liver, beef heart, beef intestines.
Tools which make us stronger
iPad Pro. This is the only Apple product I really love. Not worrying about battery life, it feels insanely good in the hand, and the design is perfect. Also, the ability to import, and review my photos. Also, being able to do voice dictation with IA WRITER. Also, the ability to walk around, and compute upright, on my two legs. No more need for a laptop and a standing desk.
For camera, Ricoh GR 3X.
If you want the most strong camera, Pentax 645Z.
What next?
- Express yourself. Make a website blog via bluehost.com and install WordPress.org. This is the strongest platform.
- To make stronger photos, upload to arsbeta.com for honest feedback and constructive critique.
- To build a stronger mind — WHY APP
- Read stoicism, Nietzsche.
You pave the road.
Cut the liquid road! – Horace
MAKE STRONGER PHOTOS
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