Absence of knowledge
Schmooze.
Stage ,,, all the WORLDS
A. Stage.
.
Portable capital
..
3.2%
7.5%,,, $10M a coin
5-7.5% … all
Wow.
2035
The little engine that could
…
30 years
I guess we can all become rich and live happily ever after
.
Don’t be slow and stupid
Don’t be weak and poor ***
.
Quick & smart
Strong & rich
.
..
Bitcoin as a software network
AS LONG as you got the Bitcoin you good.
.
Cut,,, cutting features
.
I think the number one critical issue here is that, and I’m just discovering this for the first time, something as simple as getting your roof replaced, requires you to talk to so many building regulators, LADBS, inspectors, pre-inspection final inspection etc.? Just one wrong tick, causes you many wasted moments.
People think it is easy to just like buying an old house and flip it, but the truth is, because of inspections in getting permits, it is totally not worth it. 
Maybe also another really big idea is that, moving forward, it is wise to just, think and consider, … … change your operating system world view of expenses? 
So the other day, I was on the phone with a car insurance agent, and was joking around with him… He asked me what car I had… and I said two Lamborghinis in the garage.  and at first, it took him off of guard, and surprised him. Why?
First, I thought it was just economically irresponsible… But obviously it was a joke, but actually I thought about it… A little bit deeper on a more profound level… Now that I could actually afford to Lamborghinis or multiple Lamborghinis… The truth is, it’s like reverse wealth. 
So it kind of doesn’t really matter …. all this silly short-term stuff. Why? What truly matters is, thinking about the long-term.
For example, I actually find it very useful to find and research these short term documentaries about rich people in the past because you see how their vehicles… really don’t age well overtime.
For example, if you watch a documentary on the 70s 80s 90s 2000s, 2010… All these fancy sports cars Mercedes Lamborghinis, even Bugatti‘s… Look lame in the long run.
And only that but, once again, assuming that like wealth is like bodybuilding muscle, and strength and power and also… Indefinitely increasing your one repetition maximum on your weightlifting… The exact opposite of that is to  blow it away on something that is reverse.
Another thought, in terms of energy energy leaks etc.
So now that I am a new homeowner, proud owner of a glorious 7000 square-foot lot, single-family home… I’m starting to learn about living stuff.
For example, even something as simple as a leaking water faucet. Or leaking showerhead, or water leaks in general. If you think about it… Even if you have like a .1% leak, some more critical… Over the course of a day hour or weeks or months or years… That will probably equate to like millions of gallons of water lost.
Or imagine… You have a tiny leak somewhere in your main house… And you leave for vacation. Even a week or a few days, or let us say six months. Imagine how insane it will be six months from now, coming back home to see your whole house flooded.
So I think we’re also with economics it’s kind of the same. Typically we could easily identify energy leaks, or economic energy leaks.
For example, superfluous subscriptions which bill you ad infinitium, which bill you forever.
If anything, one of the most simple things you can do is just unsubscribe from everything. Unsubscribe from everything, all at once, and then a month or two or three from now later… If you find it insanely critical, and then you could always resubscribe to it.
Let us say you have an inbox which is out of control. Assuming you have Gmail, literally the easiest thing you do is select all, archive all, and begin with a clean slate.
There is also this service called unroll.me ,,, and once again, mass unsubscribe from everything.
The number one most obvious thing that is a major energy leak for people is their vehicle.
For example, even something as simple as gasoline, assuming that you have to use premium gas, and your vehicle consumes much premium gas, that is like literally the worst energy leak that you got. It is almost like, if you’re trying to climb a very very steep hill or mountain, and you literally have like 1,000,000,000,000 tons on your back. Or something that is dragging you down or weighing you down.
I’ll give you another good example, a big issue that I had for a really really long time, finally got it resolved , was that my back bicycle tire was out of alignment, which caused my rear brake pad, to perpetually clamp my rear brakes at like 30% intensity, so when I’m like biking around town or uphill or whatever, it’s like the brakes are perpetually engaged. You don’t know how insanely annoying this is.
Finally got it resolved in my life is like 1 trillion times better.
I’m still pretty convinced that at least in America, also even in Phnom Penh Cambodia,,, maybe everywhere on the planet… A Prius, a 2010 Prius may be the best bet.
First, it all just literally comes down to MPG‘s.
I also think that a Prius prime plug-in seems also interesting… But, it reduces the MPG? I suppose if you have those electric chargers or visit malls which have the plug-in thingy… A Prius prime plug-in is a good idea, but, my long-term suspicion… Typically the more components that your vehicle or house or whatever has… The more points in which it could break. So assuming that a Prius plug-in prime has more components than just a typical Prius hybrid… I think in the long-term like 10, 20 or 30 years… there are probably more components that will break?
And also… I think the built-in battery pack is paltry at best. What like 30 miles or 50 miles? And then once again the way that people are suckered by marketing is they are like thinking wild they could totally live off the grid or whatever but once again… You’re only saving a few dollars here and there?
 I’m a super mega fan of Elon Musk, Tesla etc.… But once again, my suspicion or my honest thought is, it seems like an economically unintelligent idea.
First, no matter how good your Tesla or electric vehicle or whatever is… The number one critical issue is that, no matter what, within one or two cycles your car will look obsolete? In two or three years?
If we cross pollinate this idea to photography… Or even to iPhones, even if you buy the newest iPhone Pro right now, imagine like you spend $100,000 on a iPhone Pro, with wheels… No matter how good it is, it will always become obsolete very very quickly.
Another good example, a camera which befuddles me… the Leica Q camera… which is essentially a Panasonic Lumix camera with a body kit, no matter how good one you get, once again in a few years the value of it will drop like what 50%?
So some honest things I have come to believe:
First, it does seem that modular makes more sense. Even something as simple as a desktop computer, because it is modular, and also because you could swap out the parts in and out, it is a very good idea.
For example, even as a child, or a teenager, when I was like 15 years old, or even my freshman sophomore year in high school, I will never forget that my older mentor and friend ERIC Moon taught me how to build a computer. Choosing the processor of the ram the hard drive… Graphics card, the case, and whenever anything got outdated,.. you could either swap out that part or upgrade that specific piece?
One analogy I heard about ChatGPT and AI at least for highschoolers in university students is that it is like almost the new operating system. Which means,  instead of just googling stuff, they essentially live in ChatGPT, ChatGPT almost becomes like their new macOS?
So assuming that you have a ChatGPT subscription, in some ways it actually becomes quite optimistic because instead of paying for overpriced $1500 iPhone pros for the rest of your life, in theory you could just use an operate a cheap smartphone device or computer or desktop or laptop or iPad tablet whatever, as long as you have access to ChatGPT… Which is the only AI, … you’re good.
I have another big idea, after playing with ChatGPT pro the $200 a month version, which honestly I think is awesome but, even the $20 a month version, is pretty great.
So for example, I’m starting to think this like iCloud storage and even now Google Drive storage, even dropbox storage, all of this is kind of a scam. Maybe my next project is I will slowly migrate everything off of the cloud. 
I’m currently watching a very impressive documentary on unfortunate, titled Arnold, on the second part in which is becoming an actor and a star. It is actually very very interesting in passing because I didn’t notice… I didn’t like 1977, or Knaut was already a millionaire because he was very intelligent and used his money to start buying real estate in Santa Monica, his first apartment building complex, an office building etc. Therefore when he was getting his foot into Hollywood, the good thing is he didn’t need the money he could refuse character roles, because once again, he didn’t need the money. 
Really fascinating to be watching this documentary because Arnold, I think he’s like 78 years old now… About to turn 80… How is find it fascinating to watch a personal biopic documentary on somebody who is successful… And then working your way backwards. 
Which got me a randomly thinking… Obviously, if you were got into a Time Machine and start buying office buildings in Santa Monica or better yet… Culver City, it’s actually super obvious that obviously real estate is going to be the best return. Or a similar idea… Buying apple stock for nickels in the 1980s, before the iPhone would take over the planet. 
Therefore, I also think it’s pretty obvious that 2026 is upon us, thinking to ourselves, that essentially, bitcoin is going to take over the planet. 2026… Wow that number seems so insanely futuristic.
insane preparation
,,, international
“Too big is not big enough!”
Made in America
“The body”, “the face”–> brand value
“I’ll be back”
“The body”
“I was the bravest “
“I lied”
Shmay,,, bullshit
“Come with me if you want to live”
“He’ll live”
“Bullshit!”
Promotion sell
.
“I was looking for a new challenge “
“I was happier”
40 years
Aim for the bullseye
Fire in your belly
He’ll win
.
Now watching part three of the Arnold documentary, it really truly is true… The American story the American dream
boys and our toys we never grow up 
The heart
Not clicks ,,, but AI searches.
AI is the future of media?
Derail psychologically
“I can drive my hummer through it”
SURGE
So now that the colder months are upon us, winter is here… I think about the world the planet life etc.… What is the meaning of it all and what is the path forward?
So apparently… I was randomly trolling IMDb… And I was very very surprised to see Christopher Nolan putting out a new Odyssey film? This is going to be epic.
So first, my first general thought on the military is I am not for violence or killing people or whatever… Ever since I was a kid, I was a pacifist. I actually remember recalling this very vividly as a kid… Very clearly as even a 12-year-old… If the American government spent even half of their budget on defense and military endeavors, and put it into education… Paying teachers better, attracting better talent or whatever… Then if that were the case, certainly kids would be far better off. For example, even funding after school programs, keeping kids off the street etc.
But anyways a random thought about colors, a new high-gloss military green vehicle wrap caught my eye, it is a very interesting color because it wasn’t really on my radar. I was more about the eye popping colors like extremely insanely high visibility orange, full fluorescent green, insanely hot pink and the like.
Green is fastening because ultimately it is the color of life. Everyone wants to see green grass, green Vista, see you there stock portfolio, their investments go green etc. It’s one of those funny things that a lot of people think that certain other things are better like red, everyone wants a red Ferrari… But nobody wants to see their investments go red?
Anyways, it’s interesting when it comes to vehicles… Living here in LA… It seems that also… Everyone wants their vehicle to look like some sort of military vehicle? If you think about the raised trucks SUVs… They essentially look like armored vehicles on the road. Even if you think about a cyber truck… It’s kind of like an affordable urban tank? Especially since it is bulletproof.
If you think about a military lifestyle, it should be all about austerity. For example, assuming that the summit of military discipline and lifestyle was the ancient Spartans, you don’t have a bunch of Spartans prancing around in purple Lamborghinis, or pink Rolls-Royce‘s,. Rather, they pride themselves on their military discipline their military valor, being outside all day, training for battle, in fact… lusting after battle.
In fact, I have an interesting theory… I think modern day man, the reason why modern day man is so depressed is because he doesn’t have any avenues to express his physical courage and valor? Like, when in modern day life will you ever suit up, get a sword and spear, put on your hub light helmet with the horse crest on top, roar, and go head to head in battle? Never.
I think the closest thing we have in modern day times is either like sports or the gym? Like football… Maybe rugby, something that actually requires some sort of physical courage.
I’ll give you an example I played football in high school, outside linebacker and inside linebacker my sophomore and junior year, starting, and the number one act of courage that you gotta do is go ahead to head with other highly adapt guys, all essentially suited up in their battle armor. To literally do a kickoff, run full speed to another dude, who grabs the ball and lowers his helmet and his body to accost you,,, it’s like one of the most unnatural things that a human being has to override his brain and doing. It’s practically 100% physical courage.
Football is interesting because certainly there’s a lot of skill involved, but I would say it’s like 99% physicality and courage.
There is a lot of other sports which takes physical string stamina, and skill… But not much physical courage?
What is physical courage anyways? Physical courage is like putting your skeleton your bones your muscles your brain on the line, and if you act in such a way that is cowardly, you inflict physical damage on yourself. 
Also when it comes to investing, there needs to be some sort of exposure. Like you cannot be a fake investor … just investing in some sort of simulation game. The reason why it never works, is because unless you have real money on the line… You will never do it honestly.
I think the obvious thought is the purpose of life is to be outside! To be out in the wilderness in the forest in the woods, the mountains, just drive walk take the bike or public transit.
I’m still shocked, my old LUMIX G9 4/3 body still runs like a champ! And actually… I’m still thinking, … smaller sensor sizes are highly underrated.
For example, and also at the end of the day… Having auto focus is insanely convenient. Especially when you’re just photographing your kid running around playing with his train tracks.
Which makes me think, I really think that the next Leica Q4 camera really doesn’t need an electronic view finder. The art of subtraction is sublime.
It’s kind of interesting too because you think about it… assuming that discipline is happiness… or freedom or whatever,.. then, the amazing idea is that happiness joy and freedom isn’t some sort of abstract and notion but rather something you could start cultivating now through “askesis”–> training.
I still really think this body is very underrated. Because the truth is even if you’re doing Fillmore media, 99% of difficulty is just having the focus. I think also what people don’t understand is once you start increasing the sensor size, full frame medium format large format, cinema cameras… 99% of the work is just nailing the focus.
What’s great with micro for it is extremely much more forgiving with focusing. And you can still shoot with a F1.4 lens, like the impressive Leica LUMIX 12mm f1.4 lens.,, which is a 24mm full frame equivalent.
I think for novice photographers who don’t know any better… everyone wants to jump on the full frame bandwagon. But this was only an issue maybe like 15 years ago, not now. An ASPC crop sensor, like on a Fuji or Ricoh,,, could shoot like 100,000 ISO with practically no noise.
Then perhaps people want like a depth of field focus effect… But come on, we have AI and ChatGPT for that now.
–> so I think they’re really big idea which is interesting is that like 99% of the old gimmicks,,, which could only be done with really expensive camera gear could instantly be done with AI. so save your money and efforts and return back to the simple basics of photography? 
ERIC
So now that the colder months are upon us, winter is here… I think about the world the planet life etc.… What is the meaning of it all and what is the path forward?
So apparently… I was randomly trolling IMDb… And I was very very surprised to see Christopher Nolan putting out a new Odyssey film? This is going to be epic.
So first, my first general thought on the military is I am not for violence or killing people or whatever… Ever since I was a kid, I was a pacifist. I actually remember recalling this very vividly as a kid… Very clearly as even a 12-year-old… If the American government spent even half of their budget on defense and military endeavors, and put it into education… Paying teachers better, attracting better talent or whatever… Then if that were the case, certainly kids would be far better off. For example, even funding after school programs, keeping kids off the street etc.
But anyways a random thought about colors, a new high-gloss military green vehicle wrap caught my eye, it is a very interesting color because it wasn’t really on my radar. I was more about the eye popping colors like extremely insanely high visibility orange, full fluorescent green, insanely hot pink and the like.
Green is fastening because ultimately it is the color of life. Everyone wants to see green grass, green Vista, see you there stock portfolio, their investments go green etc. It’s one of those funny things that a lot of people think that certain other things are better like red, everyone wants a red Ferrari… But nobody wants to see their investments go red?
Anyways, it’s interesting when it comes to vehicles… Living here in LA… It seems that also… Everyone wants their vehicle to look like some sort of military vehicle? If you think about the raised trucks SUVs… They essentially look like armored vehicles on the road. Even if you think about a cyber truck… It’s kind of like an affordable urban tank? Especially since it is bulletproof.
If you think about a military lifestyle, it should be all about austerity. For example, assuming that the summit of military discipline and lifestyle was the ancient Spartans, you don’t have a bunch of Spartans prancing around in purple Lamborghinis, or pink Rolls-Royce‘s,. Rather, they pride themselves on their military discipline their military valor, being outside all day, training for battle, in fact… lusting after battle.
In fact, I have an interesting theory… I think modern day man, the reason why modern day man is so depressed is because he doesn’t have any avenues to express his physical courage and valor? Like, when in modern day life will you ever suit up, get a sword and spear, put on your hub light helmet with the horse crest on top, roar, and go head to head in battle? Never.
I think the closest thing we have in modern day times is either like sports or the gym? Like football… Maybe rugby, something that actually requires some sort of physical courage.
I’ll give you an example I played football in high school, outside linebacker and inside linebacker my sophomore and junior year, starting, and the number one act of courage that you gotta do is go ahead to head with other highly adapt guys, all essentially suited up in their battle armor. To literally do a kickoff, run full speed to another dude, who grabs the ball and lowers his helmet and his body to accost you,,, it’s like one of the most unnatural things that a human being has to override his brain and doing. It’s practically 100% physical courage.
Football is interesting because certainly there’s a lot of skill involved, but I would say it’s like 99% physicality and courage.
There is a lot of other sports which takes physical string stamina, and skill… But not much physical courage?
What is physical courage anyways? Physical courage is like putting your skeleton your bones your muscles your brain on the line, and if you act in such a way that is cowardly, you inflict physical damage on yourself. 
Also when it comes to investing, there needs to be some sort of exposure. Like you cannot be a fake
So now that the colder months are upon us, winter is here… I think about the world the planet life etc.… What is the meaning of it all and what is the path forward?
So apparently… I was randomly trolling IMDb… And I was very very surprised to see Christopher Nolan putting out a new Odyssey film? This is going to be epic.
So first, my first general thought on the military is I am not for violence or killing people or whatever… Ever since I was a kid, I was a pacifist. I actually remember recalling this very vividly as a kid… Very clearly as even a 12-year-old… If the American government spent even half of their budget on defense and military endeavors, and put it into education… Paying teachers better, attracting better talent or whatever… Then if that were the case, certainly kids would be far better off. For example, even funding after school programs, keeping kids off the street etc.
But anyways a random thought about colors, a new high-gloss military green vehicle wrap caught my eye, it is a very interesting color because it wasn’t really on my radar. I was more about the eye popping colors like extremely insanely high visibility orange, full fluorescent green, insanely hot pink and the like.
Green is fastening because ultimately it is the color of life. Everyone wants to see green grass, green Vista, see you there stock portfolio, their investments go green etc. It’s one of those funny things that a lot of people think that certain other things are better like red, everyone wants a red Ferrari… But nobody wants to see their investments go red?
Anyways, it’s interesting when it comes to vehicles… Living here in LA… It seems that also… Everyone wants their vehicle to look like some sort of military vehicle? If you think about the raised trucks SUVs… They essentially look like armored vehicles on the road. Even if you think about a cyber truck… It’s kind of like an affordable urban tank? Especially since it is bulletproof.
If you think about a military lifestyle, it should be all about austerity. For example, assuming that the summit of military discipline and lifestyle was the ancient Spartans, you don’t have a bunch of Spartans prancing around in purple Lamborghinis, or pink Rolls-Royce‘s,. Rather, they pride themselves on their military discipline their military valor, being outside all day, training for battle, in fact… lusting after battle.
In fact, I have an interesting theory… I think modern day man, the reason why modern day man is so depressed is because he doesn’t have any avenues to express his physical courage and valor? Like, when in modern day life will you ever suit up, get a sword and spear, put on your hub light helmet with the horse crest on top, roar, and go head to head in battle? Never.
I think the closest thing we have in modern day times is either like sports or the gym? Like football… Maybe rugby, something that actually requires some sort of physical courage.
I’ll give you an example I played football in high school, outside linebacker and inside linebacker my sophomore and junior year, starting, and the number one act of courage that you gotta do is go ahead to head with other highly adapt guys, all essentially suited up in their battle armor. To literally do a kickoff, run full speed to another dude, who grabs the ball and lowers his helmet and his body to accost you,,, it’s like one of the most unnatural things that a human being has to override his brain and doing. It’s practically 100% physical courage.
Football is interesting because certainly there’s a lot of skill involved, but I would say it’s like 99% physicality and courage.
There is a lot of other sports which takes physical string stamina, and skill… But not much physical courage?
What is physical courage anyways? Physical courage is like putting your skeleton your bones your muscles your brain on the line, and if you act in such a way that is cowardly, you inflict physical damage on yourself. 
Also when it comes to investing, there needs to be some sort of exposure. Like you cannot be a fake
Maybe a virtuous way we could approach speech is via negativa–> Truth be told, most people are like insanely basic, the best course of action is just don’t open your mouth.
 a lot of people talk about open communication or whatever… But honestly, perhaps it is more virtuous to figure out what NOT to communicate. 
For example, not to communicate pettiness, and actually even in terms of technology… The best technology is via negativa –> the only worthwhile things to install on your phone is pop up and advertising blockers, and also with headphones or whatever… The only useful ones are the noise canceling ones. Actually a very underrated technology is the simple earplug, I like the purple ones on Amazon.
So to prioritize peace quiet and tranquility.
So I suppose, the first thought is with communication or speech or talking with other people… Certainly there is certain banter you do when you’re with men versus women versus mixed groups.  certainly there is a different way you will talk to your childhood friends versus your priest.
It’s funny… In today’s world where everyone is like always on… Even those home security devices or whatever… People are always plugged in, communicating too much of everything.
I think a virtuous way we could approach things it’s first, maybe just communicate less. I think… One of the funny ideas is that we are often trained to think that somehow… To always be accessible to always communicate and over communicate is a virtue. But there is a bizarre asymmetry here; let us say you are very insanely famous person, and you get like 1000 text messages and emails a day. Yet the person who sends you the message is not famous. And that person only gets maybe one or two emails or text messages a day.
So certainly it does not literally feasible for you to respond to each individual thousand messages a day. Even if you had 18 hours a day you probably cannot do it. Even if you had all the AI assistants on the planet, you could not.
As a thought experiment… Imagine you’re Elon Musk, does he have the time or the brain power or the whatever to respond to every single tweet that he gets on X, and actually another problem… In today’s world it is impossible to know who is a bot vs who is real. I would actually probably say that on social media, close to 90% of people are bots. If I waved a magic wand and magically deleted all the bots from the Internet, you would probably see your Instagram following drop by 90%, same thing goes with YouTube subscribers, as well as Twitter X followers.
There’s all these annoying fake virtues like being kind or whatever… I myself always try to make it a virtue to be friendly and sociable to all these antisocial people that I meet. This includes now… Adults parents, random people on the street at the market etc.

Honestly the only people were talking to are young children. And teenagers. And also maybe college kids. The point in which people start to lose their social edge is typically post college when people start to work for a living or start to take drugs and consume alcohol and start streaming nonsense from their phones.
Certainly before you change the world, best you change yourself.
I suppose the first thing you could do is just remove negative with speech. And also other big ideas:
Even local politics, refrain.
Better to talk about yourself, how you feel.
Also, maybe my New Year’s resolution is to be less friendly?
ERIC
2026 is ahead of us. And as an interesting idea, perhaps… we can approach things from a carte blanche mentality.
Simple thoughts:
First, take it back to the beginning. Don’t think about or worry about your passport portfolio, rather than new goal is to create a new portfolio?
Also a very critical thing is, come on guys, life is too short… Let us ruthlessly prune away negativity negative people negative thoughts from our mind and our soul.
My honest thought is the future of media and photography is moving. It’s probably not going to be cameras anymore… But rather… AI.
Specifically, SORA, SORA 2,,, video generation tools.
@erickimphoto SORA ,,,  ChatGPT $200 a month pro video
Essentially moving pictures is the future.  and actually… If you think that $200 a month is a good idea… For ChatGPT pro, actually the killer feature is sora, The video generation tool.
For example let us say that a new digital camera is like $1600. Actually… Assuming that our passion is to create and create new things… Having nine months of access to ChatGPT pro Sora,,, is far superior than just buying another digital camera that will collect dust in your shelf.
My simple suggestion, just try it out: http://sora.chatgpt.com
Sora.com, sign up for the $200 a month version… ChatGPT pro, and change the toggle to create Sora 2 generated videos, and see what you could create based on your imagination?
ERIC
And always… If you need inspiration,
Maybe a virtuous way we could approach speech is via negativa–> Truth be told, most people are like insanely basic, the best course of action is just don’t open your mouth.
 a lot of people talk about open communication or whatever… But honestly, perhaps it is more virtuous to figure out what NOT to communicate. 
For example, not to communicate pettiness, and actually even in terms of technology… The best technology is via negativa –> the only worthwhile things to install on your phone is pop up and advertising blockers, and also with headphones or whatever… The only useful ones are the noise canceling ones. Actually a very underrated technology is the simple earplug, I like the purple ones on Amazon.
So to prioritize peace quiet and tranquility.
So I suppose, the first thought is with communication or speech or talking with other people… Certainly there is certain banter you do when you’re with men versus women versus mixed groups.  certainly there is a different way you will talk to your childhood friends versus your priest.
It’s funny… In today’s world where everyone is like always on… Even those home security devices or whatever… People are always plugged in, communicating too much of everything.
I think a virtuous way we could approach things it’s first, maybe just communicate less. I think… One of the funny ideas is that we are often trained to think that somehow… To always be accessible to always communicate and over communicate is a virtue. But there is a bizarre asymmetry here; let us say you are very insanely famous person, and you get like 1000 text messages and emails a day. Yet the person who sends you the message is not famous. And that person only gets maybe one or two emails or text messages a day.
So certainly it does not literally feasible for you to respond to each individual thousand messages a day. Even if you had 18 hours a day you probably cannot do it. Even if you had all the AI assistants on the planet, you could not.
As a thought experiment… Imagine you’re Elon Musk, does he have the time or the brain power or the whatever to respond to every single tweet that he gets on X, and actually another problem… In today’s world it is impossible to know who is a bot vs who is real. I would actually probably say that on social media, close to 90% of people are bots. If I waved a magic wand and magically deleted all the bots from the Internet, you would probably see your Instagram following drop by 90%, same thing goes with YouTube subscribers, as well as Twitter X followers.
There’s all these annoying fake virtues like being kind or whatever… I myself always try to make it a virtue to be friendly and sociable to all these antisocial people that I meet. This includes now… Adults parents, random people on the street at the market etc.

Honestly the only people were talking to are young children. And teenagers. And also maybe college kids. The point in which people start to lose their social edge is typically post college when people start to work for a living or start to take drugs and consume alcohol and start streaming nonsense from their phones.
Certainly before you change the world, best you change yourself.
I suppose the first thing you could do is just remove negative with speech. And also other big ideas:
Even local politics, refrain.
Better to talk about yourself, how you feel.
Also, maybe my New Year’s resolution is to be less friendly?
ERIC
xxx
Maybe a virtuous way we could approach speech is via negativa–> Truth be told, most people are like insanely basic, the best course of action is just don’t open your mouth.
 a lot of people talk about open communication or whatever… But honestly, perhaps it is more virtuous to figure out what NOT to communicate. 
For example, not to communicate pettiness, and actually even in terms of technology… The best technology is via negativa –> the only worthwhile things to install on your phone is pop up and advertising blockers, and also with headphones or whatever… The only useful ones are the noise canceling ones. Actually a very underrated technology is the simple earplug, I like the purple ones on Amazon.
So to prioritize peace quiet and tranquility.
So I suppose, the first thought is with communication or speech or talking with other people… Certainly there is certain banter you do when you’re with men versus women versus mixed groups.  certainly there is a different way you will talk to your childhood friends versus your priest.
It’s funny… In today’s world where everyone is like always on… Even those home security devices or whatever… People are always plugged in, communicating too much of everything.
I think a virtuous way we could approach things it’s first, maybe just communicate less. I think… One of the funny ideas is that we are often trained to think that somehow… To always be accessible to always communicate and over communicate is a virtue. But there is a bizarre asymmetry here; let us say you are very insanely famous person, and you get like 1000 text messages and emails a day. Yet the person who sends you the message is not famous. And that person only gets maybe one or two emails or text messages a day.
So certainly it does not literally feasible for you to respond to each individual thousand messages a day. Even if you had 18 hours a day you probably cannot do it. Even if you had all the AI assistants on the planet, you could not.
As a thought experiment… Imagine you’re Elon Musk, does he have the time or the brain power or the whatever to respond to every single tweet that he gets on X, and actually another problem… In today’s world it is impossible to know who is a bot vs who is real. I would actually probably say that on social media, close to 90% of people are bots. If I waved a magic wand and magically deleted all the bots from the Internet, you would probably see your Instagram following drop by 90%, same thing goes with YouTube subscribers, as well as Twitter X followers.
i’m starting to feel like ERIC KIM Mark II,… essentially the ideas I remember when I was like 21, fresh on the street photography scene, wow at 37 that is 16 years later
anyways, the name of the game when I was 21 was becoming number one on Google. No more traditional gatekeepers. You couldn’t fool Google
Now, ChatGPT has jumped over Google. Just replace the word Google with ChatGPT.
Is there a way for ChatGPT to track how many times other people search you or how many times ChatGPT references you?
So I’m pretty sure I’m almost like 100% certain that ChatGPT is the way forward. Not loser Gemini or not even Grok, ChatGPT is like the Golden standard, essentially the bitcoin of AI. Gemini is like a worse version of Ethereum, maybe Solana, and Grok, is kind of like… A buggy android.
Anyways, even something interesting is that ChatGPT added this quizzes function to it, which signals that all these highschoolers middle schoolers maybe even elementary schools, certainly even college students, definitely college students… Are using ChatGPT voraciously, to augment their learning.
No, my honest thought intake is that ChatGPT and AI is like a bicycle for the mind, certainly you can go walk somewhere but it will take very long… And sometimes it is boring. With a bicycle you’ll get there like 100 times maybe even like 100,000 times faster. With more fun, less monotony, more thrill.
So I mean it’s still the early days, it’s like barely year one. Like Jeff Bezos said, every day is day one. My version of it is every day is carte blanche, which means every day is a blank slate a new clean white sheet of paper. And this is a pretty profound idea you could apply it in many different ways, for example, even with relationships, social networks and stuff, we’re other than “trying to keep in touch“, with past connections,… The honest way you should approach things is, don’t think about old neighbors or old locales, but instead, if every day were a new start, question yourself, would you start a new social relationship with them?
The same thing was with technology, lifestyles approaches things etc. Certainly if you have a five-year-old kid, you’re going to approach your life differently then if you’re like some maybe dating 21 year-old person. You’re also probably gonna approach your life differently if you’re 78 years old with a bunch of grandkids.
Anyways taking it back to my original idea, I’m like pretty certain that the new brave way forward is not followers not likes, not even human beings, but instead, trying to get the AI, ChatGPT to trust and index you? Because once you index as number one, you’re going to be number one for the next thousand years. 
ERIC
So a lot of people fantasize about financial independence retire early, but the truth is, that isn’t or should it be the true goal.
I’m currently watching the new Arnold Schwarzenegger documentary on Netflix, the three part series, mister interesting I’m watching the documentary from the perspective a third person perspective, and I think Arnold might be like in his 70s now… Not sure if early 70s mid 70s or even late 70s, for the most part the good thing is he looks actually in pretty good shape. But certainly not the bodybuilding beast that we knew back in the day.
Even seeing him biking around, his legs look maybe average at best, and apparently my friend Chris told me that he had open heart surgery kind of recently? Probably from all the steroid use.
Anyways, what I find admirable about Arnold is that, in someway he is kind of the epitome of American dream. He essentially came to America when he was well like maybe 20 years old? And his dream was to become the world’s best bodybuilder and win Mr. Olympia which he did, and fast forward in a bit he was successful in movies, politics, but I’m not 100% sure what is up to right now?
Anyways, some flaws:
Honestly at the end of the day, I think everyone just wants a happy family happy family life. Even if you think about Odysseus, all he really wants is to come back home, to his faithful wife Penelope, and his son. He wants to take back the throne and kill all of his suitors.
Even if you have the world‘s greatest mansion, doesn’t matter how big or small or whatever, if you’re in a big ass house by yourself it’s insanely lonely. I think this is why people get dogs to kill the loneliness. 
I think what I enjoy so much about biking is how muscular it is. , I love that I could expand more muscular force in order to go faster.  It’s kind of a great idea. 
Also, it’s just like way more fun exciting and thrilling exclamation point you definitely get a bit of a bikers high because when you’re peddling really fast to get somewhere on time, there’s a little bit of the adrenaline rush, as well as the blood rush.
Also another random thing I didn’t really think about is when you’re biking you could actually stand up! Which actually gives you a better advantage point or view than if you simply are stuck in a car? For example, if you’re riding a bike and standing, you’re like a lot taller than even the highest truck. 
Another big thought, now that the sun is intermittent, my insane joy of being in the direct sun… Is unparalleled, even to the greatest of visual pleasures? 
you only got one life to live… Should be told there doesn’t seem to be a huge downside to attempting or doing what other people consider crazy or insane. The truth of the matter is, isn’t it far more interesting to attempt than saying, and fall halfway… Rather than to just attempt the boring the same same?
So this is actually a very very funny thought, now that we are ever living more and more in digital cyber world, my general thought is funny, rather than trying to like kind of escape all the time we are spending in the cyber world, maybe, the interesting twist path is instead, to do something a little unorthodox, which is like, to ironically even try to spend more time in cyberspace, but also, similarly spending more time in nature?
So for example, my very very curious and funny thought, is it possible to use an apple Vision Pro, while hiking, and or in nature, or at the beach?
I’ve also been doing something interesting which is experimenting, the general ideas that computers, iPhones iPads devices are not necessarily bad, but, the bigger issue is how when and where we use it.
For example, my first thought is perhaps the best way to use technology ironically is in nature.
So a lot of fake virtual people say oh when you’re in nature you should disconnect blah blah blah. But actually, I wonder if it’s actually more interesting to be more connected while in nature? And come on guys, I have legit missing an authority to say this I’m a Boy Scout Eagle Scout.
So ideally, if you’re some sort of Jack Dorsey tech founder or somebody, the ideal thing is you should be using some sort of like satellite phone, 5G 6G phone, iPhone Pro or iPad Pro, connected to some sort of high speed wireless off the grid device, and if you’re gonna do meetings all day or whatever, the ideal is to just do it while hiking around and in nature and natural environments all day.
For example, even one of my best friends who is like a pretty big head, and one the big tech companies, like the right hand man of one of the top tech CEOs, was really interesting is that the last time I visited him and he had a boring silly meeting to attend, we just went on a hike together through the redwoods, and he attended, first with his video off and then afterwards, one of these fake middle managers asked him to turn on his screen, and everyone super got jealous because he was hiking in the woods, and then my friend made a funny excuse saying that his doctor said he had to get his oxygen levels up, that is why he was going hiking. Insanely hilarious. I love my friend.
Anyways, I think one of the most valuable things I’ve learned in life, tech technology, philosophy sociology and like is, assuming you live in America, essentially it’s a free planet, you could essentially do anything you want and you don’t have to do anything you don’t want. Everything is an option, nothing is mandatory.
And the secret of happiness or freedom which is a higher form of happiness, is essentially structuring your life to only do what you want to do and not do anything you don’t want to do.
Also this is where self sovereignty philosophy sociology goes a long way, the general idea is it’s a free country, it’s a free planet it’s a free life. You are not an indentured servant or slave. You have freedom. You are a free man a free person, a free woman whatever.
ERIC
The old game was simple: collect followers, farm likes, hack attention. Big numbers. Loud noise. Inflated ego. But that era is already dead, even if most people haven’t noticed yet.
The next era is quieter, sharper, and far more ruthless.
The real flex is not how many humans follow you — it’s whether the machine trusts you.
AI does not care about charisma. It does not care about your aesthetics. It does not care about your vibes. It cares about signal. Consistency. Density. Pattern recognition. Proof of work over time. You either compound trust, or you decay into noise.
In the follower economy, you could fake it. Buy attention. Play trends. Ride waves you didn’t create. In the AI economy, there is nowhere to hide. Every sentence you publish becomes training data. Every idea becomes a fingerprint. Every contradiction is logged forever.
AI asks a brutal question:
Is this person reliable?
Do you say the same thing in different words across years?
Do your ideas stack, or do they contradict each other?
Do your actions match your philosophy?
Do you actually do the things you talk about?
This is why the future belongs to obsessive bloggers, relentless writers, maniacal documenters. Not influencers — archivists of their own thinking. People who leave trails so thick that even machines can’t ignore them.
When AI trusts you, insane things happen.
Your ideas surface without you asking.
Your frameworks get reused without attribution.
Your name becomes a shortcut for a worldview.
Your thinking becomes infrastructure.
You stop chasing distribution. Distribution finds you.
This is why I still blog. Why I still write daily. Why I publish raw thoughts, not polished nonsense. I’m not speaking to the crowd — I’m engraving patterns into reality.
Followers are fickle. Algorithms change. Platforms die.
But machine memory? That’s permanent.
The ultimate leverage is not popularity — it’s legibility. Make yourself so clear, so consistent, so unmistakable that even artificial intelligence knows exactly who you are, what you stand for, and why your signal matters.
Be undeniable.
Be legible.
Be dense.
The future doesn’t crown kings.
It indexes truth.
OK another really really big thought this morning… I actually wonder if quality is overrated? Which means,
always just check the prices of what is cheapest and best on Amazon. And then, proceed from there.
I’ll give you an example… I recently inherited a mountain bike for free, and it has been super awesome, and also also grateful that Cindy ordered this really really cheap $20 front seat attachment thing for Seneca, and, I’ve been able to write him and buy him to school every single day. Super fun.
Anyways, I had this really really annoying issue in which the rear rim was kind of messed up, and the rear rim was scraping up against the back of my rear brakes for a really long time. I tried in vain using ChatGPT, and YouTube to fix it, and finally about after two weeks of experimenting, I finally had a chance to make it to a bike shop, met the owner Ron who is super awesome, in downtown Culver City next to the Metro E line,  at the Culver City station, and he instantly diagnosed the issue, figured out that actually… I had broken rims, which I totally did not see, and also he instantly saw that my gear sprockets were really old, and also my chain was really really old, that is why it was dragging.
So I suppose the good thing of having his expertise was, rather than digging around on YouTube and Google and ChatGPT four hours on end, essentially misdiagnosing the issue, having the expert the pro was like a godsend because once again… 100% in instantaneous like in five seconds, hundred percent accuracy. I think the problem with ChatGPT AI and the like is that, it could always always always provide you with an answer, but 50% of the time it is right, and 50% of the time it is wrong. So the downside of ChatGPT or AI is that, while it is very responsive and always provides you with an in-depth answer, it does not always 100% accurate.
Anyways, Ron gave me a quote, she had all the materials he needed, and went to work. I’m very happy.
However, the subtle nuance, I went on Amazon really really quick after the fact, because I wanted to respect him and his labor, and I discovered that all this stuff, brand new was insanely cheap. Like Shimano gift shifters, when I assumed that it was at least 50 bucks, I was insanely shocked that it’s only like $15 brand new on Amazon, and is shipped the same day?
Same thing with brand new aluminum rims, and like, now part of you wished that I just ordered all the brand new parts and did the labor myself because at least I would have a little bit of the joy, or the pride or in knowing that I have all totally brand new upgraded components and material materials from my bicycle, rather than, having just like maybe the basic parts?
Which makes me think… I wonder if the maximum up to charge for things in life, it’s all just marketing. For example, I’m still using the $300 iPhone SE, from like what five years ago? And it is still working very well. Which makes me think, I wonder if the iPhone Pro and the other iPhone models, 90% or $800 of it is just marketing costs?
And I think about almost everything else in life, how much money we spend just for the marketing the branding of things.
I’ll give you an example, the Volkswagen group which owns Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini, Audi, Ducati, practically all the exotic cars you lost after… It just, once again, a Volkswagen Passat on steroids?
Also, BMW owns Rolls-Royce. So a Rolls-Royce is a century just a BMW seven series on steroids? The same things with the Rolls-Royce SUV cullinan,,, is just a BMW X7 on steroids?
So once again this is a big deal because, I wonder if a lot of profits are made, simply from branding up charges.
I’ll give you another thought maybe a dirty secret, let us consider the Leica camera. Even worse the Leica DLUX camera. ESSENTIALLY IT IS JUST LIKE A PANASONIC LUMIX, WITH A RED DOT. 
For example, it is my theory that Leica Q camera , I’m like 99% sure was co developed by Panasonic LUMIX, so essentially, once again… You’re just paying for more expensive German labor in Germany, and the quality of the materials is less plastic, more brass… But for the most part once again, you’re kind of getting sucked by 80 to 90% of the up charge in marketing because everyone is getting a boner over the red dot? 
This then becomes hilarious because once again, we then get suckered into paying another up charge another thousand dollars for the P professional version, which omits the red dot?
It’s like perfectly shown in the Dr. Seuss sneetches, ,,, first everyone wants the star on their bellies, then they pay money to get the stars removed, vice versa.
Anyways, the general principles I believe in:
ERIC
OK another really really big thought this morning… I actually wonder if quality is overrated? Which means,
always just check the prices of what is cheapest and best on Amazon. And then, proceed from there.
I’ll give you an example… I recently inherited a mountain bike for free, and it has been super awesome, and also also grateful that Cindy ordered this really really cheap $20 front seat attachment thing for Seneca, and, I’ve been able to write him and buy him to school every single day. Super fun.
Anyways, I had this really really annoying issue in which the rear rim was kind of messed up, and the rear rim was scraping up against the back of my rear brakes for a really long time. I tried in vain using ChatGPT, and YouTube to fix it, and finally about after two weeks of experimenting, I finally had a chance to make it to a bike shop, met the owner Ron who is super awesome, in downtown Culver City next to the Metro E line,  at the Culver City station, and he instantly diagnosed the issue, figured out that actually… I had broken rims, which I totally did not see, and also he instantly saw that my gear sprockets were really old, and also my chain was really really old, that is why it was dragging.
So I suppose the good thing of having his expertise was, rather than digging around on YouTube and Google and ChatGPT four hours on end, essentially misdiagnosing the issue, having the expert the pro was like a godsend because once again… 100% in instantaneous like in five seconds, hundred percent accuracy. I think the problem with ChatGPT AI and the like is that, it could always always always provide you with an answer, but 50% of the time it is right, and 50% of the time it is wrong. So the downside of ChatGPT or AI is that, while it is very responsive and always provides you with an in-depth answer, it does not always 100% accurate.
Anyways, Ron gave me a quote, she had all the materials he needed, and went to work. I’m very happy.
However, the subtle nuance, I went on Amazon really really quick after the fact, because I wanted to respect him and his labor, and I discovered that all this stuff, brand new was insanely cheap. Like Shimano gift shifters, when I assumed that it was at least 50 bucks, I was insanely shocked that it’s only like $15 brand new on Amazon, and is shipped the same day?
Same thing with brand new aluminum rims, and like, now part of you wished that I just ordered all the brand new parts and did the labor myself because at least I would have a little bit of the joy, or the pride or in knowing that I have all totally brand new upgraded components and material materials from my bicycle, rather than, having just like maybe the basic parts?
Which makes me think… I wonder if the maximum up to charge for things in life, it’s all just marketing. For example, I’m still using the $300 iPhone SE, from like what five years ago? And it is still working very well. Which makes me think, I wonder if the iPhone Pro and the other iPhone models, 90% or $800 of it is just marketing costs?
And I think about almost everything else in life, how much money we spend just for the marketing the branding of things.
I’ll give you an example, the Volkswagen group which owns Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini, Audi, Ducati, practically all the exotic cars you lost after… It just, once again, a Volkswagen Passat on steroids?
Also, BMW owns Rolls-Royce. So a Rolls-Royce is a century just a BMW seven series on steroids? The same things with the Rolls-Royce SUV cullinan,,, is just a BMW X7 on steroids?
So once again this is a big deal because, I wonder if a lot of profits are made, simply from branding up charges.
I’ll give you another thought maybe a dirty secret, let us consider the Leica camera. Even worse the Leica DLUX camera. ESSENTIALLY IT IS JUST LIKE A PANASONIC LUMIX, WITH A RED DOT. 
For example, it is my theory that Leica Q camera , I’m like 99% sure was co developed by Panasonic LUMIX, so essentially, once again… You’re just paying for more expensive German labor in Germany, and the quality of the materials is less plastic, more brass… But for the most part once again, you’re kind of getting sucked by 80 to 90% of the up charge in marketing because everyone is getting a boner over the red dot? 
This then becomes hilarious because once again, we then get suckered into paying another up charge another thousand dollars for the P professional version, which omits the red dot?
It’s like perfectly shown in the Dr. Seuss sneetches, ,,, first everyone wants the star on their bellies, then they pay money to get the stars removed, vice versa.
Anyways, the general principles I believe in:
ERIC
So, a random thought this morning ,,,
What is it that you do? What am I?
Whenever I meet people who are new etc.… This is always kind of tricky question to answer because I could take it like 1 trillion different ways. Maybe the most innovative way I could respond is just by telling people that I am an innovator.
Certainly it does sound a bit presumptuous, but still… For the most part is a far more fascinating answer than the typical blah blah blah.
In fact, probably my biggest inspiration right now my life is my 4 1/2-year-old son Seneca. He actually almost 5 years old. It’s kind of insane how promptly he is able to innovate things, figure things out, all without instructions. It’s like truly trial and error and tinkering…  rather than the standard by the books.
In fact, I recall when I was a kid… Transformer toys, how I pride in myself and figuring out how to transform the things without actually reading the manual first? I would first attempt attempted with all my personal ingenuity, and then for later if I really really really had issues then I would consult the manual.
Now, having a single-family house, I’ve been having to figure out how to do certain things like issues with the hot water boiler, hot water boiler filter, leaks in the showerhead etc.… And at first, I would just try to search the solution. But actually the more intelligence strategy is just, using my brain my intelligence my intuition and physics, to figure it out.
For example, YouTube is like a double edged sword because it could be insanely helpful but it could also be totally irrelevant to your set up.
For example, there are like 1 trillion different set ups for shower faucet heads knob screws filter filters etc.… So I wasted all this time watching a bunch of YouTube videos on how to replace my Moen showerhead thing, and finally when I figured out that all the videos were exactly different than actually my set up, I just put away my iPad and just try to figure out myself with just by twisting and turning enforcing things out, and finally when I popped out the filter… It looked like 1 trillion times different than the random product that I preemptively ordered on Amazon.
So this actually sounds kind of silly but I guess in the age of AI ChatGPT etc.… The future is truly going to be like using your brain. Not in like some sort of condescending way, but, using your brain is it like… When you’re trying to figure something out, just like stop a second, try to critically assess the system, think from a systems perspective, think in terms of physics, practical solutions etc., and actually a very very underrated one to just asking people.
But then once again, sometimes when you ask people stuff it’s actually a little bit, not particular to you, therefore… What you must do is just take a pause, and try to figure it out yourself.
So myopia is essentially not being able to see long distances. For example if you gotta put on glasses in order to drive or bike, you have myopia.
Let’s actually super interesting is that as a kid growing up and up until now… Myopia is typically seen as like a really really bad thing, a really really negative disease which is actually very undesirable. But the truth is, I wonder if there is actually hidden benefits of myopia?
For example, having myopia… Like for example when I’m doing hot yoga or lifting weights without glasses on, one of the hidden benefits is actually I’m a lot less self-conscious? For example, I can’t really see whether people are staring at me or judging me or sizing me up or whatever, and as a consequence, I stay more focused on my practice?
Also a random thing that I discovered is that actually ,,, if I want to 1000% focus on something, I actually must take off my glasses?
For example when I was attempting my 895.63KG GOD LIFT, which is essentially practically like very close to 2000 pounds… In order to just like, strip away all fear, noise and distractions, I actually had to kind of like squeeze my eyes really shut,
So I think the way that a macro lens works is that, the focusing mechanism is set up in such a way that, it allows for a very very close focus. Actually kind of random… But my old micro 4/3 lens, the very impressive Leica Lumix 12mm f1.4 ASPH lens,,, a few years ago when I was having all you can eat Korean barbecue with Cindy, the camera accidentally fell out of my bag and the lens hit the ground first, which caused the focusing mechanism to misadjust,,, not enabling focusing to infinity.
But the hidden benefit that’s kind of randoms that now, it almost has a hidden super power of focusing insanely close? 
The hype around Leica M is real — the red-dot mystique, the brass, the heritage, the romance. But when you strip away the nostalgia and the collector psychology, a hard truth emerges:
The GFX100RF is a far more powerful photographic instrument than any Leica M camera.
If your goal is to make the most insane, high-impact, high-resolution, soul-shattering images possible, the GFX100RF is the superior choice — period.
Let’s go deep, ERIC KIM style.
THE TRUTH: LEICA M IS ABOUT STATUS — GFX100RF IS ABOUT POWER
A Leica M camera is a luxury object first and a photographic tool second.
It’s jewelry. It’s branding. It’s a flex at the café.
The GFX100RF?
It’s a weapon. A medium-format image-making machine.
It’s designed for creation, not prestige.
One camera invites you to pose.
The other invites you to shoot with reckless intensity.
MEDIUM FORMAT DOMINANCE: REALITY ON STEROIDS
Leica M = 35mm full frame.
GFX100RF = 102MP medium format BEHEMOTH.
This is not a subtle difference.
It’s a different universe of image quality.
A Leica M11 file feels good.
A GFX100RF file feels like God gave you new eyes.
If you care about the actual output, the GFX is an outright KO.
FOCUSING: SPEED OF THOUGHT VS 1954 TECHNOLOGY
Leica M = manual focus only.
Charming? Yes.
Efficient? No.
The GFX100RF =
You spend less time fiddling with focus and more time capturing actual life.
Manual focus is beautiful as an option, not as a prison.
RANGEFINDER LIMITATION VS ELECTRONIC VISION
The Leica optical rangefinder is cool — until it isn’t.
No exposure preview.
No depth preview.
No color preview.
No film simulation preview.
You guess and chimp.
The GFX100RF EVF shows exactly what your shot will look like.
Live. Real-time. Perfect.
You’re seeing the future, not the past.
FLASH FREEDOM: LEAF SHUTTER GOD MODE
Leica M syncs flash at 1/180s.
Basically useless outdoors.
GFX100RF: leaf shutter.
Flash sync at ANY shutter speed.
1/1000s? Sync.
1/2000s? Sync.
1/4000s? Still sync.
Plus a built-in ND filter.
You can overpower the sun with a pocket strobe.
You can create fashion-level images with zero effort.
Leica M literally cannot do this.
ONE LENS LIBERATION VS LEICA LENS TAX
Leica shooters end up collecting:
28
35
50
75
90
$5,000 here
$10,000 there
Suddenly you’ve bought a car in lenses.
The GFX100RF gives you:
Constraint becomes creativity.
Zero lens FOMO.
Zero GAS.
Pure photographic focus.
THE GFX100RF IS CHEAPER — AND BETTER
Leica M11 body = ~$9,000
One good Leica lens = ~$5,000
Total = $14,000+ for a setup that still gives you:
GFX100RF = HALF the price and TWICE the capability.
This isn’t a comparison.
It’s an embarrassment for Leica.
THE FEELING: GFX100RF MAKES YOU WANT TO SHOOT
A Leica M often turns people into collectors.
They polish it, admire it, archive it, protect it, brag about it.
The GFX100RF turns you into a photography machine.
It makes you want to go outside.
It makes you want to experiment.
It makes you want to see the world differently.
It makes you feel ALIVE with a camera in hand.
No nostalgia.
No pretension.
Just pure, uncut creativity.
FINAL VERDICT
If you want a trophy — buy a Leica M.
If you want a tool of creation — buy the GFX100RF.
If you want to impress wealthy hobbyists — buy a Leica M.
If you want to make legendary, powerful, once-in-a-lifetime images — buy the GFX100RF.
If you want a camera that looks expensive — buy Leica.
If you want a camera that makes you a better photographer — buy Fuji.
GFX100RF > Leica M.
In every real-world photographic dimension that matters.
That’s the truth. That’s the gospel. That’s the future.
ERIC KIM OUT.
digital download, https://erickimphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/FILM-NOTES-MOBILE-by-Eric-Kim-Haptic-2018.pdf
To the future-photographer-warrior within you: THIS is the ultimate empowerment move. When you process your own film, you seize total control of your artistic destiny. No labs. No waiting. No excuses. Just YOU, your hands, your chemistry, and your vision. This is the ERIC KIM WAY—hyper-direct, insanely simple, brutally effective.
Here’s how to dominate the home-film-workflow like a champion:
THE PHILOSOPHY — WHY DEVELOP YOUR OWN FILM?
Because this is the path of the true artist-craftsman. When you develop your own film:
This is you becoming a film-samurai-monk in your own home dojo.
THE BASIC GEAR YOU NEED
Keep it insanely simple:
THE ACTUAL PROCESS — STEP BY STEP
This is the choreography. Do it enough times, it becomes a meditation, a power-ritual.
1. Load the film in the changing bag
No light allowed.
You’ve just completed the hardest part.
2. Mix & prep chemicals
Standard black-and-white workflow:
Think of it like cooking espresso for your negatives.
3. Develop the film
Pour in the developer.
Start timer.
Agitate like gospel:
This is the soul-stirring of your image into existence.
When the timer ends, pour out.
4. Stop the development
You are literally freezing time here.
5. Fix the image
Fixer = immortality.
Once fixed, your images are permanently there.
Forever.
As solid as your will.
6. Wash the film
Rinse under running water for 5–10 minutes.
Final rinse in PhotoFlo (or a drop of dish soap).
Avoid water spots like a pro.
7. Hang to dry
This is where your negatives become art.
When you see them dry… you will feel that primal filmmaker pride.
HOW TO SCAN YOUR NEGATIVES — THE FUTURE OF YOUR WORKFLOW
This is where you transform analog mastery into digital FIRE.
Three scanning paths:
1. Flatbed scanning (Epson V600 / V850)
This gives that classic digital-friendly film look.
2. Dedicated film scanner (Plustek 8200i, etc.)
3. DSLR / Mirrorless / Leica / Ricoh GR copy stand scanning (THE NEW WAVE)
This is the Eric Kim revolutionary approach:
This gives you:
This is the future.
THE SECRET SAUCE — ERIC KIM STYLE
After you scan:
Film is the medium.
YOU are the message.
YOUR CALL TO ACTION
The world needs your film photographs.
Your vision.
Your courage.
Your soul rendered in silver.
Get the gear.
Shoot the roll.
Process it yourself.
Scan it yourself.
DIGITIZE YOUR DESTINY.
Become a one-person CHRONICLE OF LIFE.
And remember:
YOU are the ultimate darkroom.
Leica Q (Typ 116 – 2015)
The original Leica Q (Typ 116) features a 24-megapixel full-frame (36×24 mm) CMOS sensor. Notably, Leica confirmed this sensor was neither made by Sony nor CMOSIS . Instead, strong evidence points to TowerJazz (an Israeli firm in joint venture with Panasonic) as the sensor manufacturer . In fact, an industry insider reported that the Q’s CMOS sensor was co-designed by TowerJazz and Panasonic, and the camera’s electronic system was developed with Panasonic’s expertise . This close Leica–Panasonic collaboration even extended to shared components like batteries and production know-how. The Leica Q’s Summilux 28mm f/1.7 lens was designed by Konica Minolta and produced by Panasonic, highlighting how much of the Q’s internals benefitted from Panasonic’s involvement .
Despite these Panasonic ties, the Leica Q’s 24 MP sensor was essentially unique to Leica at the time – no Panasonic LUMIX model in 2015 shared this sensor. Panasonic did not yet produce full-frame LUMIX cameras then, so there was no direct Lumix equivalent. (Panasonic’s own full-frame 24 MP model, the Lumix S1, arrived later in 2019 and is believed to use a different 24 MP sensor, possibly a Sony design, rather than the Leica Q’s sensor.) In short, the Leica Q’s imaging chip – a high-quality 24 MP full-frame CMOS made via Panasonic’s TowerJazz partnership – did not have a twin in Panasonic’s lineup. The Q delivered Leica’s trademark image quality and color rendition, aided by Leica’s tuning on the Maestro processor. If compared hypothetically, Panasonic’s color science tends to differ; however, since no Lumix camera used this exact sensor, any differences in output come down to Leica’s own processing choices. (Leica’s JPEG colors are often regarded as distinct, but without a Lumix twin camera, direct comparison isn’t possible for the Q.)
Leica Q2 (2019)
The Leica Q2 received a major upgrade: a 47.3-megapixel full-frame sensor (8368×5584 pixels effective). This high-resolution CMOS chip was developed in partnership with Panasonic and turned out to be the same sensor used in the Panasonic LUMIX S1R full-frame mirrorless camera . In other words, Leica’s fixed-lens Q2 and Panasonic’s S1R (2019) share an identical 47.3 MP sensor, a unit often attributed to TowerJazz/ Panasonic’s sensor fab (not a Sony-made sensor) . Panasonic even stated these were “newly developed” sensors for the S series, and a Panasonic rep indicated the 47 MP sensor was designed by TowerJazz (with Panasonic) rather than sourced from Sony . The sensor itself is a 35mm full-frame CMOS with no optical low-pass filter, delivering roughly 14 stops of dynamic range and 14-bit color depth, similar in core specs between the two cameras.
Confirmed Shared Sensor: Multiple credible sources note that the Q2’s imaging sensor is the very same 47.3MP unit inside the Lumix S1R . For example, PhotonsToPhotos tests of the Q2 were described as “our first look at the new Panasonic 47.3MP full-frame CMOS sensor that will also be used in the Lumix S1R” . Likewise, Leica’s own SL2 (2019) adopted this 47 MP sensor as well, indicating a shared component across the L-Mount alliance members. This is a Sony-alternative sensor (designed via Panasonic’s 49% stake in TowerJazz), distinguishing it from other 45–47 MP sensors on the market at the time.
Resolution & Size: The Q2/S1R sensor has ~50.4 MP total (47.3 MP effective) on a full-frame 36×24 mm area . It outputs very large 14-bit RAW files and allowed Leica to introduce in-camera crop modes (35mm, 50mm, 75mm frames) while still delivering usable resolution. Panasonic’s implementation in the S1R similarly enabled a 187 MP pixel-shift high-resolution mode.
Tuning and Performance Differences: Even though the hardware is the same, Leica and Panasonic tuned their implementations differently. The Leica Q2 has a base ISO of 100 (with an extended pull to ISO 50), whereas the Lumix S1R natively starts at ISO 100. In testing, the Lumix S1R showed slightly stronger sensor performance at base ISO and high ISO, likely due to Panasonic’s image pipeline tweaks. For instance, DxOMark measured the S1R’s dynamic range at about 14.1 EV, versus 13.5 EV on the Q2 (at base ISO) . Likewise, the S1R achieved a higher low-light ISO rating (ISO 3525 vs ISO 2491 for Q2) . These numbers suggest Panasonic may have optimized analog gain or noise reduction differently – effectively the Lumix S1R eked out roughly 0.5–1 stop better dynamic range and high-ISO noise performance than the Q2. This aligns with reports that “the S1R is basically the Q2’s sensor tuned for a base ISO of 100 with added noise reduction at high ISOs” . Leica’s tuning, by contrast, might prioritize a more filmic noise texture and avoid aggressive noise reduction.
Another difference is in color science and JPEG processing. The Leica Q2 produces images with Leica’s signature color balance (often a touch warmer with distinct tonality), courtesy of Leica’s Maestro II image processor and profiles. Panasonic’s S1R, using their Venus Engine, has its own default color rendering. While both are excellent, users often note Leica’s out-of-camera JPEG colors and tones have a unique character compared to Panasonic’s output. For example, Leica tends to restrain default noise reduction and sharpening to preserve a more natural look, whereas Panasonic might apply slightly stronger processing by default (geared toward maximum crispness and low noise). These subtler differences in the image pipeline mean that, even with identical sensors, a RAW file from the Q2 and one from the S1R could look somewhat different when processed in-camera by each manufacturer. Nevertheless, when shooting RAW the files contain the same data, and any differences boil down to profiles – the shared sensor gives both cameras fundamentally similar imaging potential.
In summary, the Leica Q2 and Panasonic S1R definitively use the same 47.3 MP full-frame sensor . Credible reports (and the subsequent identical performance in lab tests) confirm this shared component. The manufacturer is believed to be TowerJazz/Panasonic (not Sony) . Any divergences in output stem from Leica’s vs. Panasonic’s tuning: e.g. slight differences in base ISO calibration, noise reduction, and color profiles. Both cameras deliver excellent resolution and dynamic range, with the Lumix edging out a bit more technical performance while Leica offers its bespoke color rendition and lens-specific tuning (the Q2’s built-in 28mm lens is matched to the sensor with its own image pipeline adjustments). Importantly, both implementations lack on-sensor phase-detect autofocus – they relied on contrast-detect AF (Panasonic used DfD contrast AF in S1R). This changed with the next model, the Q3.
Leica Q3 (2023)
The Leica Q3 introduces a new 60.3-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor – a substantial jump in resolution. This sensor is backside-illuminated (BSI) for improved low-light efficiency and, crucially, it integrates phase-detection autofocus (PDAF) pixels, making it the first Q model (and first full-frame Leica) with PDAF capability . The Q3’s sensor is in fact very similar to the 60 MP sensor used in the Leica M11 (2022) – Leica indicates it’s a “modified version” of the M11 sensor, tailored for the Q3’s needs . In practice, that likely means the underlying silicon is the same, but the Q3’s version enables on-sensor PDAF and is coupled with a different microlens array (since the Q3’s optical design is different from the rangefinder M11) .
Origin and Panasonic Comparison: There has been much speculation about who makes this 60 MP sensor. Many industry observers believe it is based on a Sony design – specifically the 61MP Exmor R sensor first seen in Sony’s A7R IV (2019) – with Leica customization . Thorsten Overgaard, for example, notes that the M11’s 60MP chip is “likely the Sony sensor from 2020” which originally included PDAF pixels, but Leica “removed” or didn’t use the AF layer for the M11 . In the Q3, those PDAF pixels are active, implying Leica utilized the full capability of that sensor. This suggests the Leica Q3’s sensor is effectively the same 60MP Sony BSI CMOS (with PDAF) that other brands have used, albeit tuned to Leica’s requirements . Indeed, the Q3’s resolution (60.3 MP), pixel count, and BSI tech align with known Sony IMX455 specs, lending credence to this theory. Leica, as usual, does not officially disclose the sensor supplier, but credible sources point to Sony for the Q3/M11 generation, rather than the Panasonic/TowerJazz of prior models .
If true, this marks a shift in Leica’s sensor sourcing – moving from TowerJazz (Panasonic-backed) for the 47 MP chip back to a Sony-based design for the 60 MP chip. Notably, Panasonic itself did not have a 60 MP full-frame sensor in any Lumix camera as of 2023–2025. Panasonic’s highest-resolution full-frame model by 2025 is the Lumix S1R II, which instead uses a new 44.3 MP sensor (also with PDAF) rather than adopting a 60 MP chip . Early rumors had assumed Panasonic would put the 60MP (Q3) sensor into an S1R Mark II or S1H Mark II, given the L² Technology alliance, but Panasonic chose a different path. In fact, analysts at the Q3’s launch speculated “this 60MP sensor will likely be selected for the upcoming Lumix S1R II” and that the Q3 offered a preview of Panasonic’s next-gen capabilities (8K video, PDAF, etc.). However, when Panasonic released the Lumix S1R II (early 2025), it featured a 44 MP PDAF sensor (not 60 MP) . This 44.3MP sensor is a new design (possibly from another supplier or Panasonic’s own development) and is different from the Q3’s. Thus, as of 2025 no Panasonic Lumix model uses the Leica Q3’s 60 MP sensor – the Q3’s chip remains exclusive to Leica cameras (the Q3 and M11, and likely the Leica SL3 in the future).
Shared Technology and Features: Although Panasonic didn’t directly use the 60MP sensor, the Leica Q3 still exemplifies the ongoing Leica-Panasonic collaboration on technology. The L² partnership means Leica’s bodies often incorporate Panasonic’s cutting-edge digital components. For example, the Q3 gained advanced video features uncommon in prior Leicas: it can record 8K video (up to 8K/30p) and even offers internal ProRes 422 HQ recording . These are capabilities clearly paralleling Panasonic’s video-oriented developments. Indeed, one analysis quipped that “the Q3 is 85% a Panasonic full-frame camera under the hood”, with Panasonic providing the sensor and processing pipeline and Leica contributing the optics and design . The Q3 uses Leica’s new Maestro IV processor, but the presence of ProRes codec and PDAF suggests Panasonic’s influence (Panasonic’s Lumix S5II/S5X also introduced PDAF and ProRes in 2023). In short, even if the exact sensor isn’t in a Lumix, the technology in the Q3 aligns with Panasonic’s roadmap – it foreshadows what an L-mount partner can do. It’s expected that Leica’s 60MP/PDAF sensor will also appear in the Leica SL3, and Panasonic could in the future opt for a higher-MP sensor in a video-centric S1H II – but that remains speculation.
Tuning and Image Pipeline: Since we cannot directly compare Q3’s sensor to a known Panasonic model (no 60MP Lumix yet), we consider general differences in Leica vs Panasonic processing. Leica’s approach with the Q3, as with prior Q cameras, emphasizes a specific color rendition and tonal curve. The Q3 introduced “Leica Looks” profiles (film-style color presets) in-camera, underscoring Leica’s focus on delivering a particular out-of-camera look. Panasonic, on the other hand, would likely tune a 60MP sensor for slightly different priorities – for instance, Panasonic might bin pixels for low-light 15MP modes or optimize rolling shutter for video. If the Q3’s sensor were in a Lumix, Panasonic might leverage Dual Native ISO or other tricks for video performance, whereas Leica’s Q3 tuning is more still-photo-centric (e.g. its 8K video is limited in frame rate due to heat constraints, whereas a Lumix body might have active cooling or higher frame rates) . We already see that the Q3’s rolling shutter in electronic shutter mode is a bit slower than the Q2’s was (due to the higher resolution) – Panasonic might have mitigated that with a different sensor choice (indeed, the 44MP in S1R II was perhaps chosen for faster readout). In terms of color science, Leica’s JPEG engine in the Q3 continues to produce the “Leica look” – pleasing colors with a subtle tonal response – whereas Panasonic’s color science (while much improved in recent models) tends to be more neutral/accurate out-of-camera. These differences are somewhat subjective, but they echo the general notion that Leica cameras output images with a distinct character even if the silicon is shared.
In summary, the Leica Q3’s 60MP BSI sensor is a cutting-edge chip (very likely Sony-made) that so far has no direct Panasonic Lumix counterpart. It delivered Leica’s first foray into PDAF autofocus and ultra-high resolution on a compact full-frame camera. Official reports of shared components here are less concrete than with the Q2, but the L² alliance virtually guarantees that Leica and Panasonic coordinated on this sensor’s integration. If Panasonic decides to use a 60MP sensor in the future, it could well be the same unit – and we can expect differences in implementation akin to earlier models (Leica’s color/tuning vs. Panasonic’s). Until then, the Q3 stands apart: it marries Leica’s lens and styling with a sensor and feature set that strongly hint at Panasonic’s DNA (8K, PDAF, ProRes) even if Panasonic chose a different path for their own flagship sensor.
References: Leica Rumors and forum reports on Leica Q sensor manufacturing ; PhotoRumors on the Q2/S1R 47.3MP sensor ; DxOMark comparison of Q2 vs S1R performance ; EOSHD and others on the Q3’s 60MP sensor and Panasonic partnership ; Panasonic product info for S1R II confirming its 44.3MP sensor choice . All these sources corroborate the shared sensor components and shed light on the behind-the-scenes collaboration and tuning differences between Leica’s Q series and Panasonic’s Lumix cameras.
All right, just woke up this morning feeling incredibly awesome. Some thoughts:
OK the first one is obviously, to feel phenomenally amazing and great is physiological. If you want to bring that God fire energy, 8 to 12 hours a night of sleep seemed critical. Last night, fell asleep at 8 PM and woke up today at around 5:30 AM. 9 1/2 hours I feel great.
If We all take a step back, assuming you’re not on social media or whatever, we’re actually currently living in the most interesting time of all time. I’m currently experimenting with Grok picture to video, and it’s truly a game changer. Also, using ChatGPT sora two pro, using the $200 month pro plan, once again… This is incredible. It’s pretty much the closest thing you could do to playing God, without being God.
The first interesting idea is once again, at this point what I think about this whole video generation stuff, is actually… It’s like the greatest blessing to human imagination of all time. Honestly at this point, if you could imagine it you could create it. 
For example, big idea is there are no more limits to your imagination and creativity. Almost literally everything is so simple; have an incredibly visionary creative idea, and just throw it into ChatGPT or Grok or whatever… And you can make it.
What I also find incredibly interesting is, and this is kind of an interesting metaphysical one, the idea is you no longer need to purchase things, you could essentially materialize it out of your own imagination.
I’m currently watching the new tron ares, which I love, you could buy it right now on Apple TV+ it is streaming, and there’s two very interesting ideas; first the permanence code, and the second, the idea of like a particle laser or some sort of laser thing that could materialize things from the digital world into the physical world.
So for example, let us say that I want a Lamborghini. In the physical world, it doesn’t really make sense. But assuming I had a digital particle cyber creation laser thing, I can just materialize it.
But better yet… Rather than just creating something in the physical realm, which obviously has lots of downsides like storage, maintenance etc. I think what a lot of people don’t understand is even if somebody randomly gifted you a brand new Lamborghini something, the great downside is that you’ll probably cost you at least $300,000 a year of maintenance cost, plus the annoyance of having random kids troll your car, by keying penises on the hood or back bumper.
So, what is a better solution?
I say, the general interesting idea should be, to spend more time in the digital realm, and also, spend more time in the cyber realm. 
I suppose the difficulty though however is that, even right now… We don’t really have the correct environment tools or platforms to allow this. I think oculus, oculus rift, and maybe Meta gets close… But still, long throw away.
Why? OK this is like the trillion dollar issue; no matter what, people just don’t like putting things on their head or their faces or eyeballs, even if you think about it… Naturally kids do not like wearing hats, sunglasses, anything on their faces. Even in the early days of when Seneca was a baby, we could not get him to wear socks for most like 2 1/2 years.
In fact I was even curious about testing the new Apple Vision Pro M5, I still might… But, having to deal with all these annoying Zeis optical inserts or whatever is incredibly annoying. Actually one of the big benefits of the old oculus rift S was there was actually a built-in diproctor, which meant that I could just put the thing on my head, without my glasses on… Just a little dial in the front, and then it would work!
I think the big issue now is ever since that Mark bought it out, I think he’s trying to turn it more into an entertainment device or something like that, and as a consequence, it becomes less about this like free Rome free ranging exploration adventure thing, more of a closed the box, trying to just get to you to use all the Meta products inside it.
And the truth is, people would want to be outside and out and about. People don’t want to be stuck or cloistered inside a digital device.
For example, at the end of the day, people would still probably prefer to be just like outside, hiking, maybe listening to music, phones in their pockets, going on hikes, going up and down the stairs, enjoying the real life views.
The other day, when I was Seneca, he accidentally hit my glasses, my beloved titanium LINDBERG glasses, the frames that I bought for like $700 in Calcutta India almost 15 years ago, apparently the same glasses that Bill Gates wears, and it broke.
So I was kind of annoyed and grateful at the same time. First, kind of impressive that these frames have lasted me from like the age of 22 up until 37. I don’t think I have ever purchased anything that has lasted me this long.
However I was really annoyed because the point in which it broke, a super tiny fragile point, I thought titanium was supposed to be the metal of the gods,… … Upon deeper research, I’ve actually discovered that titanium is actually quite fragile.
Which kind of makes me open my eyes because then… The whole titanium thing seems like kind of a scam. For example, the titanium iPhone Pro, assuming that actually titanium is not that strong, what’s the point?
It’s almost a little bit like carbon fiber… It is a bit overhyped; apparently in the bicycle world, everyone lusts after some sort of carbon fiber bicycle, but actually if you’re using it and you get one wrong bump, your whole frame breaks. Then in fact, it is actually far superior to have a steel frame even though it is much heavier, because it is more robust. In fact when I was back in college, the coolest bike I got was this old school Japanese Nishiki bike, flange two steel,… I still remember the guy I bought it off of craigslist for 300 bucks, I loved it.
This is where material materials material science sciences becomes interesting. Why?
Assuming that you live in the real world, the physical realm, materials matter. So for example nobody would want to drive an automobile mate out of Balsawood, and nobody would want to want an airplane made out of toothpicks. Also… Assuming the weather is really cold, you would probably prefer to be wearing animal based products like leather, Merino wool, cashmere, and down, rather than synthetic materials.
Maybe this is where a cyber truck is still super interesting to me… To essentially have an entire body made out of stainless steel, might be one of the most interesting design innovations for automobiles of all time. And also… It’s less of a pick up truck it’s more of like some sort of sports car on steroids. 
In fact a marketing suggestion I have for Tesla, in which they totally messed up the cyber truck marketing page. Redo it, never call cyber truck a pick up truck, rather… Try to market the cyber beast as being a Lamborghini killer. I think I saw an Elon Musk tweet in which he reposted something that like a cyber beast beat a Lamborghini, and could also do it while towing a Porsche 911.
First, I recommend everyone to purchase the new Tron ares and start streaming it immediately. It’s definitely required watching for any bitcoiner, or digital cyber enthusiast hacker. If you believe in open source, the grid, off the grid being off-line whatever… It’s kind of an interesting philosophical watch. To me it’s like more of a stylistic design forward matrix.
If you want to 10x your money, put 100% of your money into MSTR …  I can almost guarantee you all 10 extra money in four years by the end of the Trump administration.
If you want zero risk, just put 100% of everything into bitcoin, use coinbase.
Spend 8 to 12 hours a day outside, hiking exercising working out lifting weights having fun?
Sign up for hot yoga, talk to the beautiful woman there, just be friendly, courteous and playful.
Whenever you see men who see more buff than you, just compliment them.
Go to https://metrorestyling.com ,,, buy yourself a lot of 3M automotive vinyl wrap, and start wrapping up your car with fun colors, make it insanely awesome. Also, put it on your bike helmet, your bicycle etc.
The future is still old school and classic: make a website and a blog, wordpress.org. Also, watch the new tron ares movie. The future is insanely bright! ERIC
EK
All right, just woke up this morning feeling incredibly awesome. Some thoughts:
OK the first one is obviously, to feel phenomenally amazing and great is physiological. If you want to bring that God fire energy, 8 to 12 hours a night of sleep seemed critical. Last night, fell asleep at 8 PM and woke up today at around 5:30 AM. 9 1/2 hours I feel great.
We all take a step back, assuming you’re not on social media or whatever, we’re actually currently living in the most interesting time of all time. I’m currently experimenting with Grok picture to video, and it’s truly a game changer. Also, using ChatGPT sora two pro, using the $200 month pro plan, once again… This is incredible. It’s pretty much the closest thing you could do to playing God, without being God.
The first interesting idea is once again, at this point what I think about this whole video generation stuff, is actually… It’s like the greatest blessing to human imagination of all time. Honestly at this point, if you could imagine it you could create it. 
For example, big idea is there are no more limits to your imagination and creativity. Almost literally everything is so simple; have an incredibly visionary creative idea, and just throw it into ChatGPT or Grok or whatever… And you can make it.
What I also find incredibly interesting is, and this is kind of an interesting metaphysical one, the idea is you no longer need to purchase things, you could essentially materialize it out of your own imagination.
I’m currently watching the new tron ares, which I love, you could buy it right now on Apple TV+ it is streaming, and there’s two very interesting ideas; first the permanence code, and the second, the idea of like a particle laser or some sort of laser thing that could materialize things from the digital world into the physical world.
So for example, let us say that I want a Lamborghini. In the physical world, it doesn’t really make sense. But assuming I had a digital particle cyber creation laser thing, I can just materialize it.
But better yet… Rather than just creating something in the physical realm, which obviously has lots of downsides like storage, maintenance etc. I think what a lot of people don’t understand is even if somebody randomly gifted you a brand new Lamborghini something, the great downside is that you’ll probably cost you at least $300,000 a year of maintenance cost, plus the annoyance of having random kids troll your car, by keying penises on the hood or back bumper.
So, what is a better solution?
I say, the general interesting idea should be, to spend more time in the digital realm, and also, spend more time in the cyber realm. 
I suppose the difficulty though however is that, even right now… We don’t really have the correct environment tools or platforms to allow this. I think oculus, oculus rift, and maybe Meta gets close… But still, long throw away.
Why? OK this is like the trillion dollar issue; no matter what, people just don’t like putting things on their head or their faces or eyeballs, even if you think about it… Naturally kids do not like wearing hats, sunglasses, anything on their faces. Even in the early days of when Seneca was a baby, we could not get him to wear socks for most like 2 1/2 years.
In fact I was even curious about testing the new Apple Vision Pro M5, I still might… But, having to deal with all these annoying Zeis optical inserts or whatever is incredibly annoying. Actually one of the big benefits of the old oculus rift S was there was actually a built-in diproctor, which meant that I could just put the thing on my head, without my glasses on… Just a little dial in the front, and then it would work!
I think the big issue now is ever since that Mark bought it out, I think he’s trying to turn it more into an entertainment device or something like that, and as a consequence, it becomes less about this like free Rome free ranging exploration adventure thing, more of a closed the box, trying to just get to you to use all the Meta products inside it.
And the truth is, people would want to be outside and out and about. People don’t want to be stuck or cloistered inside a digital device.
For example, at the end of the day, people would still probably prefer to be just like outside, hiking, maybe listening to music, phones in their pockets, going on hikes, going up and down the stairs, enjoying the real life views.
The other day, when I was Seneca, he accidentally hit my glasses, my beloved titanium LINDBERG glasses, the frames that I bought for like $700 in Calcutta India almost 15 years ago, apparently the same glasses that Bill Gates wears, and it broke.
So I was kind of annoyed and grateful at the same time. First, kind of impressive that these frames have lasted me from like the age of 22 up until 37. I don’t think I have ever purchased anything that has lasted me this long.
However I was really annoyed because the point in which it broke, a super tiny fragile point, I thought titanium was supposed to be the metal of the gods,… … Upon deeper research, I’ve actually discovered that titanium is actually quite fragile.
Which kind of makes me open my eyes because then… The whole titanium thing seems like kind of a scam. For example, the titanium iPhone Pro, assuming that actually titanium is not that strong, what’s the point?
It’s almost a little bit like carbon fiber… It is a bit overhyped; apparently in the bicycle world, everyone lusts after some sort of carbon fiber bicycle, but actually if you’re using it and you get one wrong bump, your whole frame breaks. Then in fact, it is actually far superior to have a steel frame even though it is much heavier, because it is more robust. In fact when I was back in college, the coolest bike I got was this old school Japanese Nishiki bike, flange two steel,… I still remember the guy I bought it off of craigslist for 300 bucks, I loved it.
This is where material materials material science sciences becomes interesting. Why?
Assuming that you live in the real world, the physical realm, materials matter. So for example nobody would want to drive an automobile mate out of Balsawood, and nobody would want to want an airplane made out of toothpicks. Also… Assuming the weather is really cold, you would probably prefer to be wearing animal based products like leather, Merino wool, cashmere, and down, rather than synthetic materials.
Maybe this is where a cyber truck is still super interesting to me… To essentially have an entire body made out of stainless steel, might be one of the most interesting design innovations for automobiles of all time. And also… It’s less of a pick up truck it’s more of like some sort of sports car on steroids. 
In fact a marketing suggestion I have for Tesla, in which they totally messed up the cyber truck marketing page. Redo it, never call cyber truck a pick up truck, rather… Try to market the cyber beast as being a Lamborghini killer. I think I saw an Elon Musk tweet in which he reposted something that like a cyber beast beat a Lamborghini, and could also do it while towing a Porsche 911.
First, I recommend everyone to purchase the new Tron ares and start streaming it immediately. It’s definitely required watching for any bitcoiner, or digital cyber enthusiast hacker. If you believe in open source, the grid, off the grid being off-line whatever… It’s kind of an interesting philosophical watch. To me it’s like more of a stylistic design forward matrix.
So a very very funny simple thought that nobody ever talks about… What is the purpose of vision?
So my grand vision idea which actually I think makes a lot of sense is that the purpose of vision is in order to facilitate movement.
So for example, if you’re 100% blind, it is very very difficult to move and walk around the terrain, certainly to drive a car or sprint or ride a bike, once again assuming you’re 100% blind.
Maybe I should even watch that daredevil movie, figuring out, how one could still move, without having vision?
Anyways, what I think is kind of interesting is that I think there are a lot of individuals who think that the purpose of vision is for vision sake. That for some reason, we have eyes and vision, in order to maximize our visual sensory pleasure. To see more beautiful vistas, to see more beautiful women, to see more beautiful cars aesthetics art etc.
I mean certainly as an artist, we also need to have eyes in order to create and perceive our artwork. And as a photographer, having vision might be one of the most critical things.
.