Super simple–

1. Buy Bitcoin using Coinbase— just use Plaid to link your bank account with it (currently $50k a day limit). For however money you got… let us say you have $200k to invest, each day, each 24 hours just purchase $50k at a time, for 4 days in a row. Don’t wire it — too many headaches and missed opportunities.
2. Keep stacking more bitcoins whenever you have access to more $USD or fiat currency

No ethereum or anything else

Prediction — eventually all the money which got poured into the Ethereum ETF will soon be converted and transfers into Bitcoin ETF’s

And don’t be a pussy

Maybe real estate was a good business our parents generation — but in today’s brave new digital world … perhaps not.

Issues:

1. Rent control
2. The laws of physics and nature
3. High property taxes
4. Not always reliable tenants?
5. Cities always changing policies and zoning laws and regulations? Perhaps the only way to make money through real estate is perhaps political lobbying or knowing the mayor or being the mayor?

The goal isn’t to have more money or make more money… the goal is to have more kids!

Audio

The nice thing with a calling — it is ever fluid, dynamic, and ever-changing.

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Think about your aptitude as a seven-year-old kid, versus being a 27-year-old man, versus being a 36-year-old man? 

When I was a kid, it looked like my calling was to become a scientist, maybe an engineer, artist, as I was really really good at math, drawing, complex mechanics etc. But as time went on, it seemed that I had a great attitude and skill in thinking, philosophy, blogging, computers, the internet, design, web design, photography etc.

And now, I think I might be a genius in regards to money, once again, properly first generation, growing up poor, being the first generation to become rich. I see myself like a mini Jay-Z; from poverty to riches.

Owning your own money? 

Some quick overall thoughts: bitcoin, the bitcoin lightning network, the bitcoin digital wallet in your smart phone, the first time in human history where you could actually own your property, own your own money?

Also, ethics. Ethics is far more robust than feeble laws, which could be easily gamed. 

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Why this matters

A funny thing I have noted and observed; anytime anybody talks about poverty, how we have to “fix” poverty, issues in America etc.… typically actually they come from a pretty affluent family. They talk about poverty, in abstract notions, without having any sort of real world embodied reality life experiences to comment on it.

As a simple suggestion, whenever you meet anybody who is a pseudo environmentalist, somebody who talks about poverty whatever… all these world social issues, maybe you got to drill them a bit, figure out if they grew up poor, wealthy, or “middle-class“ (which means rich). I can almost guarantee you that anybody who wants to fix poverty typically comes from a rich family. 

Also, anybody who you mention about bitcoin and they talk about how it is bad for the planet or whatever… they are simply social media news slaves.

My general thought is perhaps, nobody should really comment on, critique, or seek to “fix” poverty, who has actually never lived through it?

What is poverty?

Pauper– poor.

I think nowadays when we think about poverty, we think about people who live in squalor, essentially, maybe homeless people, unheeded people, or maybe families living in the hood?

Maybe poverty in America is more about living month-to-month, paycheck to paycheck, living in a sense of precarity… but what is the cause of poverty?

My simple thought, bad apples. Typically I’ll put more blame here on the men; when I think of poverty as a societal issue, I do not think about single people, I only think about families, husband and wife, man and women who have children. 

Poverty according to my definition is “non-men”– Matt, fathers, husbands, boyfriends etc. who are addicted to gambling, playing video games, smoking marijuana or doing drugs, and not being involved at all or caring about childcare. Also maybe fathers who do not work, do not make money do not earn money etc. 

Stop the bleeding

For example… my dad, pretty terrible human being, both physically and mentally violent and abusive to my mom, would often physically beat my mom, attack her with all this verbal violence, and never worked ever since I was two years old?

Now, whatever… pretty bad enough, but the real bad thing here is that he was addicted to gambling, and actually would still force my mom to give him the rent money, pretending like he’s going to pay it, and he will just take all that money, drive to Reno, and gamble it all away, saying that he was gambling in order to make money?

Only focus on the man, the father

So I wonder when it comes to poverty, you first gotta look at it… is the father, maybe the mother or somebody in the family addicted to gambling? 

Gambling might be one of the worst vices in modern day times. And here, I do believe in free will. And once again, it comes down to the individual. I cannot talk about society in general, but could certainly talk about the individual. Only the men.

If the father is a hard-working man, full of good virtue,  doesn’t gamble, doesn’t drink alcohol, not addicted to drugs or video games or television media etc.… then the family is not in property. 

Man or woman?

I think, when you really really think about it… Why is it that men get more addicted to gambling than women? Because I think that it comes for men, lust for power, risk and thrill. Let us connect the idea that testosterone, which is produced in the testes and men, is what gives men 1000 times more physical vigor, physical power, and hunger for power in regards to comparisons to women.

For example, I think for women, women have a will to Security, to safety, and for solidity. For example I think generally for a women, then between getting a good job, buying a home, earning a good salary, advancing through the corporate structure is earning money in order to gain more security, But in regards to men, I think we desire money for more power, more dominance, more exertion of our own willpower.

Gender vs sex

I remember when I was a kid… The notion of being a tomboy, or being “butch” for women was a thing.

And even now, this is what I have observed; for the most part, society is pretty tolerant of women, who desire to become lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, whatever. I think the nuance here is society is less tolerant when men decide to go the opposite way?

Example, let us say that you are born a woman, and you desire to present yourself as a man, use the men’s restroom whatever… Truth be told I don’t think any men would really care. However, let us say that you were born a man, You are 6 foot five, and you want to use the women’s restroom, this would cause a little bit more alarm.

I think gender fluidity is certainly a good thing. You could do whatever you want, wear whatever you want,  dress however you want, talk and act however you want… Etc. All good!

I think actually the only really really dangerous thing is when you get drugs, hormones, strange injections done. For example, this insanely bad idea of people who tried to inject hormones into their body to become a different sex? Maybe if it has to deal somewhat with life or death health complications, But otherwise, this is bad.

For example, I think society is pretty adamant on the fact that steroids and performance enhancing drugs is bad, even when it is done “safely”– why is society more tolerant of people taking strange hormones to change their sex?

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Money matters

Anyways, going back to money.

This morning I was randomly thinking about bitcoin, bitcoin lightning wallet, bitcoin lightning network, etc.… And I had a thought:

is this the first time in human history which could actually own your own money?

I also think that the radical innovation here is in regards to the new transformation of property being money? 

I’ll give you an example: housing, owning a single-family home, or maybe owning some sort of commercial building or property.

It looks like the way things are going now, it is insane, you can’t really find a single-family house or home in Culver City for less than $2.1 million. I’m also starting to see new homes on the market for $3.5 million and beyond.

Certainly at the end of the day, you need somewhere to sleep, wake up, take a shower, make coffee, put your meat in the fridge in the freezer, cook your food whatever. Beyond this, that much money for a home, seems kind of insane to me.

With millennials, this generation older younger whatever, we are still suckered by this notion of having to buy a home in order to have this obscure notion of “security”.

For example, do men really desire to own a home? Or a house? Some philosophical theories:

Perhaps men desire a home, a single-family home, whatever or property, kind of like a citadel, or a fortress. I think the general desire is to own a single-family home, property, on top of a hill or on top of a mountain or a cliff, looking down, and looking beyond at all these plebeians beneath you, we desire a sense of superiority.

For women, the desire to purchase a home, a single-family home or whatever, is to and prevent fear; preventing the fear of being kicked out of the house, the fear of being kicked out of the home, a place where you could “nest “, down roots, etc.

If this is the case, then the goal isn’t actually to own property, to own a home, or to own a single-family house; 

1. For men, the desire is the feeling or the lust for powers dominance, military dominance, feeling higher up and more superior to others, being ready for attack or defense, at any given moment?
2. For women, the desire to feel a sense of safety or security, or protection from harm?

Then if this is the case, once again, it isn’t property, but money we desire. 

Then, I suppose the question is what is money?

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Money & property?

Taking it a step further — what is the difference between money and property? Maybe there isn’t one? 

For example, when we see the prices of single-family homes entering the 34 $5 million mark, what does that really mean?

My penetrating thought then is that at that point, it isn’t even about the US dollar anymore, it isn’t even about money anymore; rather, maybe it is a signal that in fact, the value of the US dollar is plummeting; and the reason why things are more expensive is that each individual US dollar is now valued less, and as a consequence, it isn’t that things are getting more expensive, but rather, the value of the US dollar is simply going down. 

This then becomes a bit terrifying to the average person, because we are all brainwashed into saving, being industrious with our money, etc. 

So let us say you work really really hard, and you save $1 million in your bank account. If this is then the case, as time goes on, your money is bleeding value.

So let us say that once upon a time, the price of a single-family home was $1 million, but now, it is worth $1.5 million, $2 million, $3 million $4 million $5 million, and finally $10 million. It isn’t actually that the homes are increasing in value, but rather, the purchasing power of the US dollar is getting weaker. 

Then, if we think about money as a thermo dynamic thing, then let it say that it is like your house slowly losing heat and losing temperature, going from a lovely 75°, down to 70°, down to 60°, down to 50°, down to 40°, down to 30°, and finally eventually one day, 0°, slowly killing your family.

Heat retention?

Another interesting physics idea, let us think about money as heat, and the notion of not spending money is heat retention.

Also what I find interesting is technically, the human body has enough heat inside of it for us to always be warm, this issue is that he is being lost through our skin, through the environment.

The reason why we stay so nice and warm when we wear goose feather down jackets is that the feathers retain heat! It doesn’t add heat to us positively, like blasting a heater onto our bodies, but rather, we simply retain the heat we already got.

So I wonder, if the same analogy could be said that with money, poverty whatever… Is simply to retain it!

What people don’t understand about the “hood”

 I never grew up in the hood, even though my family was perpetually broke, and my dad will always gamble away the rent money, and I remember my mom telling me in the middle of the night in high school that be prepared that we might have to go to homeless shelter because my dad just gambled away the rent money, and that we were about three months behind in rent money… at least I always grew up in mostly safe environments, even though some of my friends, one of my best friends got into king bang, I remember him trying to convince me to meet his gang member boss, saying that was a good fit. I was a bit terrified when I saw my best friend with all these knife Marks on his back, I think he was posted on a street corner, maybe selling drugs or something, and I think he might’ve been in the wrong territory, so either the rival gang knocked him up in the back to teach him a lesson, or the knifing of the back might’ve been a gang initiation technique to toughen him up?

Anyways, I think what people don’t understand about generally growing up in a sense of parity or poverty is this:

You got quickly earned, and quickly spend the money, because you don’t know what tomorrow will bring.

For example experiments; what is the point of working hard to earn and save up $1000, if you know that your dad is just going to take it, go to Reno and gamble it away? Then the logical thing as a kid is to quickly use it, to buy cool clothes, to gain respect at school, maybe fix up your car because as a teenager with a drivers license, you actually own your car, and your car is almost like your mobile property or home, or money.

What is property?

I don’t know too much about the history of this, but I believe a lot of the early rhetoric of America, the founding fathers was the rights to private property, without having it snatched by a third-party or the government etc. This is why there are some bizarre things in the constitution or these weird amendments, The right to bear arms and guns, because you want to defend yourself from having British soldiers enter your home without permission, lodging your home, demand that they are fed and housed and bathed.

So I wonder about the whole gun thing, the right to own arms, the right to own gun, how much of that is actually self-defense about the life of yourself or your family members, versus trying to shoot somebody who’s trying to steal your stuff or break into your home? Not sure. 

What makes you feel more powerful? 

Let me do a Segway here, and let us get back to the point in hand. Once again the point here is money,

Money accumulation means to feel more power, to gain more power. For example, who is the most powerful person in the room? The person who command the most capital, the most money. Not the person who is wearing the most Gucci, because in theory they could be the poorest person in the room. If somebody is decked out in all designer clothes, drives the Lamborghini, but has zero dollars in their bank account, Not rich, they are poor, living in poverty.

The joke also goes that in Koreatown, all these Single Men Dr., BMWs, and Mercedes, but they all live in apartment with 12 other guys, living paycheck to paycheck, they live for their car, and not certain whether they lease their car, or finance it, real rich people don’t waste money on cars. Rather, a real rich person always invest money, the drive beat up older wheel efficient Japanese cars, and they would rather put all the money into the market, investments, or bitcoin instead.

Owning the stock versus owning the product.

Technically, if you really want to be rich or wealthy or powerful, you own the stock not the product.

For example, the problem about owning any sort of product, is that the value of the thing will slowly depreciate overtime, whereas typically stocks do the exact opposite thing, which is increase in value indefinitely overtime.

For example, I consider cyber truck one of the most awesome products created of all time. Essentially you could be like a modern day Batman, especially if you get the mat black wrap on the cyber truck. But, once again the issue… You feel high and mighty in your cyber truck, and you feel like you’re the boss, but actually in fact, does it actually make you more powerful, or do you simply feel more powerful? 

I think the nuance in the difference here is critical. For example, a heroin addict, or cocaine addict, or maybe somebody who is addicted to marijuana meth or some other drug… Certainly when you take these drugs, you feel a heightened sense of power. But does it make you more powerful? Of course not! In fact, it actually poisons your body and makes you positively weaker.

So once again, having a cyber truck will make you feel more powerful, but it won’t actually make you more powerful, unless for some reason or not, you could actually use your cyber truck as a military vehicle, guns blazing on the front lines of a war, but otherwise, maybe sticking to your Prius, conserving money, and stockpiling your bitcoin is the better idea.

Bitcoin is like economic bullets?

Let us say that when shit hits the fan, and all these weird anarchists, who pretend to be working on a farm, but in fact are addicted to their iPhone pros, Teslas, MacBook pros, drinking expensive wine, getting bad government national endowment of the humanities brands, or maybe driving around in their loser Range Rover — when you abolish all government corporations whatever… And things to evolve into anarchy, where are you going to purchase bullets?

In fact, bullets are 1 billion times more important than guns. I think it is the comedian Dave Chappelle who joked, the way to end homicide in America is to make bullets really expensive. If one bullet cost you $100,000, you really have to really really really think critically before popping that one guy.

Kind of like in John Wick, in which John Wick trades the rest of his gold coins, maybe 10 gold coins for a single pistol with seven bullets, in order to get revenge on his nemesis. 

So maybe, we could think of bitcoin, or Satoshi’s, like our economic bullets? Which could be used both for defense and offense? 

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Spend your fiat as quickly as possible?

Certainly there is positive utility to having cash paper money. For example giving tips, being a squeeze, being in a situation in which you quickly want to leave, but you don’t want to wait around for the credit card machine, just leaving cash and saying goodbye.

But let us assume that your currency is losing thermal dynamic power and heat. Once again think about like a hot cup of coffee pull in as time goes on it gets colder. If you want to drink you drink immediately.

Or, another analogy to consider eating hot food. Do you want to eat the steak right now, do you want to eat the ribeye while it is still hot, if you eat it cold, it loses its flavor.

Or, you could convert the energy, convert your fiat currency into bitcoin, the first digital money,  as quickly as possible. A simple inverse relationship:

Over time, fiat currency is going to go down, and overtime, the value of bitcoin will go up.

 then the simple strategy is to simply quickly convert your energy and your power as quickly as possible, converting your Fiat currency into bitcoin as much as possible.

Also the thing that is puzzling to me is thinking about this: the value of a bitcoin is still pegged to the US dollar, so when we are trying to assess the value of a single bitcoin, we try to think about it in terms of the value of US dollars. However the reason why this is not a good analogy, is assuming that the Purchasing power of the US dollar is going down, wouldn’t the price of bitcoin goes up in US dollars, how do we know that is the value of bitcoin going up versus the purchasing power of the US dollar going down?

I think in the next 30 years, maybe we will start judging things directly to the bitcoin equivalent, not the US US dollar equivalent.

For example, if you want a single-family home, you won’t say it is 1 million or 10 million or 100 million or whatever, you will say that is worth one bitcoin, two bitcoin, three bitcoin etc.

And also maybe the numbers make more sense. To say single-family home is worth one bitcoin is the same as $1 million, $1 million is a lot of ones and zeros, a single denominator of a single bitcoin is much easier. 

21 million bitcoins?

I think if you think about this in terms of a micro view; kind of a big deal: if there will only ever be 21 million bitcoins forever, and let it say that you just give one bitcoin to every single human being, but then, that is assuming that there is only 21 million people living on planet earth. How many people live in America? 400 million? And what is the population of Los Angeles, 10 million? I wouldn’t be surprised if overtime, the population of LA balloons to 21 million individuals.

Let us do the mental math, let us say that there is 21 million inhabitants in Los Angeles and everybody wants a single family home. There is 21 million properties, for purchase or sale.

And let us say that everyone wants to live in Los Angeles, close to the mountains and close to the beach, because with global warming or whatever, climate wise it will be the best place to live on the planet.

Currently we are kicking ourselves in the butt for wishing that our grandparents bought a single-family home in Los Angeles windows only worth $5000 or something. But I think the same knowledge will happen to bitcoin when our kids grow up.

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How to discover your calling

I think it is easy; but I think the problem here is that we deny it, we are too focused on the social economic utility of a certain professional calling or pursuit of life etc.

For example, when it comes down to it… Everyone wants to know how rich you are. Because in our capitalistic society, money is power. And is this true? Yes.

Let us imagine that everyone could walk around, like black mirror, and you could publicly see how much debt somebody has, or how many ones and zeros they have in their bank account or their digital wallet.

Once again I think the reason why the digital wallet notion is such a simple yet innovative idea is this:

In the year 2024, if I want to simply send money, why do I still have to do a wire transfer? 

Even more insane; why is it that in the year 2024, when trying to send a wire transfer, I have to pick up my phone, call my bank, talk to a real life human being situated somewhere in the Philippines, to approve my transaction? Or even worse, had to drive to a local bank location, fill out a form with pencil and paper, And then wait for 3 to 4 days for my transaction to get approved? This seems like some sort of hostage, the reason why I’m becoming more and more antagonistic towards these loser banks is that they’re holding our money hostage! Even insanely annoying things, I want to withdraw $500 from my checking account, and my bank locks me out?

Fuck the banks!

The future

I think the future is quite simple, everyone will still have iPhones, people will still drive cars, people will still chase money, the US dollar will probably be around for at least another 200 or 300 years.

Let us consider the global economy, it is all centered around the US DOLLAR. Even the Chinese Yuan is effectively pegged to the US dollar. Just consider that rich mainland Chinese businessman all must learn English, yet we do not make a mandatory for US business people to learn mandarin. 

Everyone will still be chasing happiness, wealth, the meaning of life etc. But my simple provocation: my simple call to arms:

Think critically about money.

Then all else will follow!

ERIC

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Tacoma TRD iforce hybrid — I’m really into it right now?

The cult of hard, “hardness”— a “hard life”— seems slavish to me.

Buy Bitcoin, sitting on your Bitcoin, and continually accumulating it seems like the easiest path forward!

In a world in which productivity no longer matters ,,, then what do we center our lives around?

Never eat anything before weight lifting — only water, black coffee:

Nobody likes softcore:

Extreme distillation to the pure essence —

Model 3 long range rear wheel drive, stealth grey — only 29,990!!??! 363 mile range as well????!!? Wow.

Overheard some Apple employees in Culver City about selling their stock options?

Youth over money

If you’re 99 years old, worth $100B… about to die … wouldn’t you trade 100% of your wealth to be 26 years old again?

Too much emotions, too much trauma on it; being monetized.

This is what money, how much money your net worth is worth, followers etc?

Don’t call in the cops, don’t become a cop — rather, maybe good to become a “social justice warrior”?

I Hate Things That Don’t Change

Ai & Bitcoin Has Only Really Been Invented Or Taken Off This Year?

Having a certain camera… the feeling of power? 

Fastest is best.

The spartan economist:

We new Spartans, we shall inherit the earth!

TLDR; think spartan when it comes to money, economics, life.

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A truly pragmatic way to think and approach life

I think my critical critique of 99.9% of economists is that all of their fake science and fake pseudo scientific mysticism on the economy whatever, none of it is really tired to practical reality.

For example, more important things; where you live, what car you drive, whether you own a single-family home or rent, what kind of groceries you buy, where, or how much, etc.

Or, where you invest your money, where you save your money, you decide not to spend money on, your own personal financial philosophy.

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Spartan investing

Some thoughts on investing;

First, I’ve always been interested in passionate about investing, ever since I was in high school. I still remember my high school science math teacher, Dr. Ahmed, told me about mutual funds back in high school, and told me this unorthodox strategy that I should claim being an emancipated minor, being able to borrow some money, and essentially, use that money to invest in an aggressive mutual fund. And this was junior year of high school, I think I was 16. 

Somehow I did get my hands on some money, maybe like $1000? Or $1200, or $1600? Anyways, somehow I was able to create an investing account when I was 16, my junior year, and I invested in the one thing that I knew was very important, Adobe, which made Photoshop, which I knew was very important because I pirated Photoshop as a kid, and I used it to create all of my images on my computer. I also invested some money into a mutual fund, and even the course of maybe two years, I saw the value of my stock in my mutual fund holding go up? I think I might have realized a $600 or $800 gain, and I was overjoyed!

Fast-forward a bit to college… I realized when I was in college I was able to take out some student loans, and I use some of that money to invest in the market, while I was still in school, my sophomore year. I suppose I was 19 at the time?

Anyways, very stressful; I will check market prices, on my laptop, note this was before the iPhone existed, and it was very stressful. I would see the price go up a little little bit, and I was overjoyed, full of euphoria, and then I would see the price go down, and I would feel my stomach shrink. I remember losing sleep over this.

Stoic training

Anyways, from the age of 19, I had to learn how to control my emotions, something part of my early stoic training. And also, getting into trading penny stocks my senior year, in which I accidentally misread the financials for an oil company, that when I thought they were making a profit, they were actually losing money because they would put the financials in parentheses, which I did not know at the time meant a loss. So I suppose my knowledge was good, but I misread the information, and therefore I saw my life savings of maybe $3200 go to zero. As a 20, 21 year old, this was the worst tragedy I ever experienced in my life.

Anyways, I still think I had some good intelligence. I remember during the subprime mortgage meltdown, I saw the price of Ford go almost to zero, and I saw Blockbuster about to go bankrupt. I knew that Ford was a good long-term investment because I knew that Ford would recover in the long-term, and also I knew that blockbuster would go to zero because Netflix was the future. I think the only problem at the time was at the time I didn’t have any access to, as I think I already lost all my money.

So if I had the opportunity and access to capital, I would habe bought Ford (which has gone up a lot since then) and I would have shorted Blockbuster, which as I predicted ,,, went to zero.

Skin in the game

So this is a big thing; being an armchair investor vs being a real Spartan investor, somebody with skin in the game, with their own personal money in the game.

For example, I think being a personal private investor, investing your own hard earned money is critical here; because that was your soul time energy over many hard hard years of your life. You should/can only take financial risks with your own money. If it is someone else’s money — easy to toss the money like confetti.

Money as your life soul energy

For example, I think about the decade plus in which I taught workshops, I worked hard to do much research, all the thousands of dollars I spent on photo books, writing reviews articles blog posts, videos, etc.… writing books, making presets giving it away for free etc — essentially the best way to think about money is it is your time force energy energy life soul energy imputed into some sort of concrete thing; let us say that it is solidified into a single US dollar.

However the biggest issue here is that Fiat currency, the US dollar, is like an iPhone battery. That slowly but surely, it slowly drains and loses charge and also ability to hold charge.

For example, everybody knows that if you take an iPhone or a laptop, and you just let us sit on your desk for a month without charging it, it will naturally die, even if it was turned 100% off.

Also a problem with batteries and recharging; if you permanently keep it charging all the time, I think also the battery loses the ability to retain charge, and the maximum capacity of the battery loses charges as well.

Think ahead

For example, my 2017 MacBook Pro, 13 inch touch bar space gray, which I bought for about $2000 maxed out refurbished at the time… I think the battery of it only last about five or 10 minutes now before shutting off.

I also heard the same thing with Tesla cars — if you just let it sit, and don’t charge it every single day… slowly it will lose charge. I suppose this is the upside of having a gasoline powered car, is that oil and petroleum will just sit there, and will not lose charge. Surely there are other things you still gotta worry about like the battery, but still… For the most part oil and gas is more stable than an electric battery and charge.

Funny random thought —

Manual is the future?

For example, a manual transmission car even in 2024– will probably still be functional 30 years from now? Electric cars and Teslas and even Hybrids ,,, maybe not?

Also manual focusing lenses, 100% still functional 300 years from now!

With digital cameras, you will always swap out the bodies … but the manual lenses will last forever.

For example, I am 100% confident my Leica 35mm f2 ASPH Summicron lens and my film manual and mechanical Leica MP camera will last 300 years from now … any other digital equivalent? No.

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Building capital for the sake of it?

Anyways, I think the general impetus behind investing is a bit misguided. I think in the past I had he thought, and also maybe the general idea that people have is:

“I will invest this amount of money in order for me to gain a return, in order for me to purchase XYZ in the future.”

For example children are taught of a piggy bank, you save your allowance and your birthday money in it, so one day in the near future, you could buy a scooter or something.

Once again this twisted logic; you should save money in order to accumulate money, in order to have enough money and purchasing power in order to purchase this thing in the future you want, rather than thinking about saving money as a vehicle for investing, to grow your monetary power. 

For example, only a moron would spend his whole life toileting and working hard, in order to save the $250,000 or so to buy the Lamborghini. This is insane; the second you buy the $250,000 Lamborghini, your bank account balance then goes to zero, and in theory you are now impoverished.

Let us say that we embrace the two Lamborghini rule;  which is only about a Lamborghini if you are rich enough to afford two of them. But then again, the critical issue here becomes let us say yeah $500,000, and you buy the Lamborghini, and now your monetary power is cut in half, now you only have $250,000 in the bank. I don’t know about you, but nobody likes to see their wealth go from $500,000 to $250,000 in a split second, even if in fact you did buy the Lamborghini and own it.

Actually, the only logical thing to do is to drive to the closest  Lamborghini dealership in Newport Beach, show the guy you’re a bitcoin balance on your phone, and then sit in all the Lamborghinis you would like, play with the steering wheel, see how it feels to be inside the Lamborghini, touch the materials, take it on test drive, enjoy the sound of the engine, the driving experience whatever, and then decide not to buy it. 

Or another option is to just rent it for a day! Whether it cost $1000 or $5000 or whatever, a much much better financial way to use your money than to blow $250,000!

 even if you were a Jay-Z; you would not go out and start buying expensive cars like I’m $1 million Bugatti or whatever. If you are a true capitalist, a true investor, somebody who really does care about money… The point is you invest your money, and you keep stacking it forever, and you actually spend as little money as possible, in order to indefinitely increase your wealth!

For example, you do not buy the $1 million Bugatti —

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Toys are bad

But what if… We Spartans know that toys are bad? In fact, some things I learned about toys, in raising Seneca: 

1. Superficially legal seem like a good idea, but eventually, Legos are bad. Why? As a parent you got to clean up their mess, and also… When the kid grows up sooner or later you’ll just donate the Legos to another family. The ideal and optimal strategy then is to just play with Legos at the local library on the brick building day, and just leave it there, and go back home.
2. For Seneca’s entire life, I’ve only bought him two toy cars; I think two Lamborghinis, the small hot wheels style. I think we already lost them.
3. Almost by osmosis, kids, whether you like it or not, or gain all of these free toys by orbit. For example when they visit their grandma’s home, or play with cousins or whatever… They will pick up random toy cars here and there. Therefore, the simple ideas that you never have to purchase kids any toys, they will naturally get toys from friends and family, on their birthday holidays etc., even if you are a “anti toy household”.

Are toys bad?

I think so.

Essentially the purpose of a toy for the most part, is some sort of thing to distract your kids while you as a parent to do something else.

And also, the problem and issue with toys is that it doesn’t make them anymore physically strong or capable.

When it comes down to it, the best things to prioritize for your kid is their physical strength, height, muscle mass, ability to climb stuff, run around, be out in nature, go on hikes, have a nice tan for actually being in the sun, Ability to pick up heavy stuff and throw them, etc. Even one of the things I’m very proud of is ever since Seneca was very young, he would be really good at throwing rocks into bodies of water!

Weapons & armor & shields

If we think about the ancient Spartans,  what were their possessions? Simple: their spear and shield, even their sword was kind of more of an accessory piece.

Also, I think according to Pluto, or some of the ancient historians, there are funny quotes like “why are spartan swords so short?” Spartan response: “So we could get close to the enemy”.

Also, one of the most critical things about being a spartan was your shield; the reason why the hunchback was not allowed to fight along the spartan army was because he could not raise his shield, and the critical thing about being a spartan was the ability to defend the man next to you.

Even when you consider the final duel or fight between Achilles and Hector, I think it comes down to throwing spears, at a distance, and having the other party defend themselves with their shield.

Helmets were also critical because there were many times in which having the right shield actually defended you from death.

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Defense?

So my first Spartan economic thought is that the purpose of money is more of an economic shield, barrier, buffer, or armor to prevent you from working like a slave.

The purpose of money isn’t to buy stuff, purchase a home, buy super things, purchase a vehicle etc.… But rather, via negativa; for you not to work.

As long as you got a job, a boss, a steady paycheck… You are not free. 

Also, as long as you got a mortgage on your home, payments on your car, and any sort of debt or obligations… Once again you are also not free.

All debt is bad debt

More recently I thought I’ve been towing with is in regards to the notion of debt; for example what some institutional investors do is take on debt to purchase things, property, bitcoin like Michael Saylor and micro strategy, in order to purchase more assets, in the promise that it will grow in the future.

I’m starting to think, maybe could work for the corporations, institutions etc.… But maybe this kind of leverage is not a good idea for us private investors, because it could cause dumb, and also cause you to lose your freedom.

The goal

1. NOT have a job
2. NOT have debt
3. NOT be employed by anyone else besides you (sole, sole proprietor — number of employees is 0– you are your only employee).

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Creating your own new Sparta

What is very interesting about Sparta, Kim Leonidas etc.… Is that the point wasn’t to enslave millions and billions of people, rather, it was to think about committing to your own local population… For example, maybe the Spartan populations was only 10,000 Spartans? And they had about 50,000 helots till the land?

A big thought: it seems that the modern day individual loves to complain critique and hate on everything, hit on global policies, politics, individuals, music, media, iPhones and social media, whatever. Whenever people talk about global warming, carbon levels, carbon footprint whatever… Typically I see a lot of these people are either single, maybe they own a dog, certainly children and kids.

In fact, the lamest thought that kids contribute most to the carbon footprint of the planet… My ongoing theory is that these people are just humanity haters; just want to take their dog to the grave with them?

Who knows, perhaps your kid, or some other kid who is born today is going to be the one who solves pollution on the planet; who creates a solar power pan all that is 1 billion times more effective, or invent some sort of nuclear power vision Energy generator that could fit in your back pocket?

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Anyways, my simple thought is rather than complaining and critiquing about society whatever… More effective to just become the change in which you wish to see manifested in the world, and also a big thing; have kids! Your own micro society, create your own cultural values, and insanely Spartan, stoic and staunch about it.

For example, I think giving presents and buying toys for kids on their birthday is ridiculous. I believe rather than experiences, tight. Therefore for my niece Amelia and Benji, I don’t think I’ve ever bought them any toys on their birthday or on any holidays. What I do instead is take them rockclimbing with me and Cindy, and also when I’m just with them… I just play with them! I leave my Phone in my glove compartment of my car, and I just run around with them!

I remember Amelia saying a year or two ago saying “I miss Samchon ERIC,… Because he is the only one who plays with me”…

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How to raise your kids

I think in today’s world of hedonism and indulgence, the thought is to raise, train, and breed your kid to be craters, in invaders, Spartan Stoics, with maximum physical capability, 100% carnivore died, with extreme vigor, play and joyfulness.

For example, would you give your kid heroin? Certainly not. Then don’t shove kids in front of their face, or Disney+ or whatever when you just want them to stop crying. Let them confront their own emotions, explain things to them, let them cry it out; give them a kiss on their forehead if they fell on their head, and the big thing; don’t let any other loser adults punk your kid around.

In fact, I’m starting to think more and more… Perhaps I should become more aggressive, more of an asshole parent. For example, I’ve been on a bit of a rampage in which to not smoke in public places, when I’m with Seneca. Even though they might give me a dirty look, or even if I might feel bad about it… This is what a true Spartan would do. Essentially you take the brunt of badness, bad emotions whatever… And defend your kid, defend your wife, defend your family.

When to attack?

Also, I think America could learn a thing or two about Sparta; for the most part, think America should just stop meddling in the business of other nations, other nation states, even if we want to maintain some sort of world peace for the interest of America.

For example, America needs to stop waging positive war. The only good use of military is defense. America needs to be well positioned in such a way that if anyone attacks us, we could defend ourselves. But I think ethically, America should not wage preemptive attacks on other nations and other nation states, in order for us to be like Machiavelli’s prince; the idea that often to defend oneself, you have to preemptively attack.

I think this is also the thing that is so ridiculous about gun ownership in America, all these loser notions of “self-defense “. Everyone always wants a gun on them, because they are afraid of being shot or being attacked. And I think some people shoot another person preemptively, because they fear their life is in danger danger or whatever.

But, the law is, you are never allowed to shoot first. The only time you pull out your gun or whatever and start shooting is one the other person has already shot you, or has already shot something in the environment.

Maybe the only new ones is if that person has gunpoint to your kid or whatever… Then you headshot him in the head. But besides this, don’t be a pussy.

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The stoic Spartan investing strategy

Lib Spartan. Essentially somebody who glorifies themselves under their own human body, their own physical strength, just think about how your muscles, your shoulders your back and your traps are.

No dogs, no cats, no animals. Only children.

Ensure that you have at least one son to continue the family name. 

Perhaps foolishness is a virtue?

I’m also starting to think, being mad, being a madman is a virtue. Anybody who focused is too much on security, safety, prudence and rationality is a wimp.

Good for your wife, do it for your family, be a true mensch.

Throw your cares and concerns into the tailwind, burn all your bridges, burn your ships behind you, don’t look back. Only forward.

what type of money would Spartans prefer?

Historically, the ancient Spartans would abolish money. Because they know that money corrupts.

I think one of the earliest Spartan legislators, Lycurgus, essentially made the law in which he converted all money into huge stone, which were essentially impossible, maybe it was made of iron etc. made accumulation of wealth so cumbersome, people eventually stopped chasing wealth for the sake of it. 

Mandatory military duty?

I was always an anti-military, but now as an adult… I’m starting to see the virtues.

For example, in South Korea, all men are required to do a mandatory two year military service, even StarCraft players and BTS members are not exempt.

The good thing about this, as well as Singapore… It built a sense of nationhood and camaraderie between men. Even one of my friends, Andrew, a professor I think he did some sort of part-time Navy officer reserve training when he was getting his PhD… And he said something like “I think if there was some sort of military duty amongst Americans, there would be a lot less divide and conflict”. I also agree.

Probably the most anti-racist training that I ever got in high school was accidentally; playing high school American football. Essentially, I was thrown in all rainbows of races; African-American, Latino, southeast Asian, east Asian, Caucasian etc. There was a strong sense of brotherhood, and everybody supported one another. And for the most part, we put aside all of our differences and our cliques.

For example, I remember some of the white guys who are hefty lineman, I think they were into Cowboys and rodeos and wearing cowboy hats whatever, and African-American kids would just hang out with other African-Americans at school, and the southeast Asians were also part of their own crew etc., all my friends were Korean American, or east Asian… But when we all played football together, did practice, play games etc.… We would all sing the same ridiculous songs on the school bus, breaking Windows, etc. 

Also, a very formative thing that I did was Boy Scouts; becoming an Eagle Scout, etc. Also here… All notions of race, religion whatever was erased; I remember that my scoutmaster was Jewish Jewish American, and his two sons were all in scouts with me would wear the little Hat, and I never knew what it really was, but I never really hated on it.

And also, I remember the Levee brothers; also two boisterous Jewish American kids, Ariel and Jamie, And once again, I didn’t even even know what antisemitism was until I went to college?

Anyways, my grand vision is that being American should be more of a nationality, more of a nation state thing, rather than a racial thing.

For example, the genius of Rome, was that as long as you paid taxes, you were Roman. It didn’t matter if you were from Spain, like Seneca the younger, who I named my own son after, Seneca was not a Spaniard — he was a Roman. 

Also, I have more in common with Kendrick Lamar grew up to E-40, then I ever did with any Korean person I met in South Korea.

Also some funny nuances; I have far more connections with somebody I meet up in the bay area, in the 90s, doesn’t matter if there are Latino or black or whatever…

Even Southern California, LA South Koreans; they are different from me. 

As long as you grew up to underground rap, the Bay Area high E-40 movement, if you know who Keak da sneak is, if you know how to go stupid dumb and hyphy yellow bus retarded, if you over owned a pair of all white K Swiss tennis shoes in high school, and just wore white T-shirts and dark blue denim, and never owned a pair of shorts until you’re late 20s… Then you are with me.

John Wick would like bitcoin

The philosophy of John Wick 

A very interesting scene, and also in the universe of John Wick; it is a world beyond money. For example, in the universe of John Wick, money is just like these gold coins, which are used to gain access, trade favors, clean up messy dead bodies, to protect or guard things, or for people to take a hit at somebody.

For example, when John Wick wants to get into the secret club, he has to insert a single golden coin, very much like putting a coin in some sort of arcade machine.

Also, when John Wick is first seeking revenge in the first film, and he opens up his war chest… It is all guns ammo and gold coins. No US dollars, no fiat currency.

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Why bitcoin is the way

I recently sold all of my Tesla stock, and purchased micro strategy stock instead (MSTR). Why? Some convincing arguments from Michael Saylor:

First, product cycles. Certainly for the most part, purchasing Apple stock is a good idea, however, who knows if the iPhone 35 Pro will be any good?

Also, CEOs–let it say that one day, Elon Musk totally left Tesla. And no longer had any affiliations with Tesla. If this were the case, Tesla would not be worth anything.

I think the genius about bitcoin is that it is a religion. Satoshi, is essentially this metaphorical Jesus figure, the savior, and he disappeared forever. With any other crypto asset, Ethereum and Vitalik or even chainlink and Sergey; as long as you have a central spokesperson, a CEO, a president or a leader, a charismatic individual… you will not last.

For example, one of the very interesting things that I learn from my political sociology class at UCLA as an undergraduate with Mark Jepsen was that nations or nation states that are led by charismatic individuals don’t last. Once the leader dies off, there is no longer any vision.

For example the genius of America, is that even if we have a few bad apples, the whole thing will still chug along OK. Let us consider that after Mao Zedong died, after Ho Chi Minh died, both mainland China and Vietnam has slowly and surely started to delve into capitalism… the dominant world system.

In fact, that is consider that seems that 80% of the Chinese economy is still dependent on America. And essentially, the CNY, is pegged to the US dollar; because there are capital controls in order from the Chinese government, in Chinese mainland Chinese individuals cannot take their wealth out of the country, especially when they prefer to buy property and live in Vancouver Canada instead… it is a strong signal that duh, America’s on top. Also note that rich mainland Chinese individuals would prefer to send their kids to Ivy League schools in the states, no schools in mainland China.

Even though the US DOLLAR currency is weak, America is still the strongest Fiat currency on the planet. I recently talked to a woman who just got her green card from Beirut Lebanon, and she told me that the whole lira thing is a mess; that people prefer to just hold and trade US dollars instead.

Even when I visited Cuba, even though they have the local Cuban dollar currency, still at end of the day, things are priced in US dollars. And definitely locals would prefer US dollars 1 billion times more than local currency.

After the US dollar, all other currencies, nobody wants them. Nobody wants the euro, too much chaos in Europe. Nobody wants the pound, Britain’s isolationist policies make it the next Japan, they will still stagger on but will slowly become irrelevant, nobody wants a Korean won — their population is dying off, and it seems that the greatest market for new Hyundai cars are actually in the states, nobody wants the Japanese yen, once again their birth rate is practically zero now. Nobody wants Chinese yuan — I don’t know any non-Chinese person who would prefer using WeChat, we pay, or a Huawei phone.

As long as rich mainland Chinese people prefer to use an iPhone Pro over a Huawei phone, America will always be on top. 

Election cycle predictions 

I’m voting for Kamala Harris, because she has more aligned with my ethical beliefs, even though she will lose. I’m almost 99.99% certain that Donald Trump win.

The good news is that Donald Trump is very pro bitcoin, bitcoin mining etc.; so after Donald Trump gets elected, after the dust settles… your bitcoin value will blossom.

Even if bitcoin and crypto goes through another bear market, which eventually it will… still, the US economy will be stronger under Donald Trump than Kamala Harris.

If anything, of Joe Biden stepping down and having Kamala Harris run instead is like the final hail Mary – and I have played enough high school football to know that Hail Mary’s never work 99.999% of the time. The only time a Hail Mary will work in an American football game is almost never; you only hear about it when you watch random TV clips, or YouTube videos, but I think the chance of a Hail Mary working is practically zero. 

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So what is in your locus of control?

The big thing to note here is that the stoic way is simple:

What is in your locus of control, what isn’t?

Politics, climate change, etc. are not in your control.

What is in your control? Your own individual behaviors, what you write about to friends family and on the Internet, whether you decide to use social media or not, your own individual actions, and also… your own individual non-action; what you decide not to do. 

For example, it seems that the words you refrain from, what you decide not to say, is more telling than what you decide to say.

Another stoic strategy; when you hear something which is very puzzling to you, restrain responding immediately… it works 99.9% of the time.

Silence is golden, speaking intelligently is silver.

Nobody wants silver.

Just focus on one thing?

Spartans only focused on one thing; freedom. And the way for them to have freedom was for them to become truly indomitable as a military force.

Military as a path to freedom. But not military for military sake (the military industrial complex)

The lame thing about America is you have a bunch of these fake ass patriots, waving Trump flags, who have never done any military service. Freedom is not free, or live free or die.

The general ethos is that it is true… freedom is not free. But what is the opposite of free? Skin and soul in the game; actually being on the front lines of something.

For example, I have a simple rule; you’re not allowed to talk about freedom or whatever or is some sort of fake ass patriot chest thumping flag waving cowards, if you have never served military duty, or at least have done Boy Scouts and know how to properly fold a flag!

If you want to be a true patriot, enroll in the US military. Otherwise be quiet 

Also, if you really want to be conservative or Republican or whatever, the simple solution is don’t watch Fox News, or any news.

Don’t trust any conservative who watches Fox News, and also trust no liberal who listens to NPR. 

Truth be told, both sides are foolish. The left the right the center the moderates whatever… you must think for yourself as an incisional. This means removing all news from your brain, all news which runs on advertising is toxic.

I have another big idea: news agencies, website individual bloggers, magazines etc should accept payments in bitcoin and Satoshi, no advertising.

The truth is as long as something is supported by advertising, the low-key bias will be to make it more sensationalist, less connected with reality, in order to get more eyeballs in order to make more advertising dollars.

Are there any news agencies which do not run on advertising? No.

As a consequence, trust nothing but yourself.

Where to get your news? 

Ironically enough, maybe the best place to get your news is through intentional propaganda government portals, like going to the official US military defense.gov website, because you could smell the propaganda more critically.

Propaganda, propagate just means to spread something. The French use the word propaganda, not in the evil way as we Americans think, propaganda just means to spread something.

And once again, realize that all news is toxic, all news is bad. Injecting news into your brain and soul is almost like injecting type two diabetes into a healthy individual.

News is like type two diabetes for your soul.

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Spartan theory?

To sum up, the spartan way simple: live like a spartan, like the hungry wolf, invest all of your money and earnings and into bitcoin, have at least one kid, derive your pleasure and joy in other human beings, conversation, love and charity, through physical activity exercise, risky weightlifting, being outside in nature the great outdoors, and think exposure;

Unless you got real exposure to something, you don’t have an opinion.

ERIC

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Don’t opine about something you’re not invested in 

Put your money where your mouth is, or don’t put your mouth where your money is not.

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Film club

Required watching for any aspiring Spartan Stoic is all of the John Wick movies, the movie 300, the matrix movie, maybe Blade Runner? I prefer the second one. 

Cinema by KIM

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EK BOOK CLUB

The sayings of Spartans, just Google it. Also, all of the books of Seneca, all of his letters. Also the meditations by Marcus Aurelius, and honestly all of the stoic thinkers are good. If I have a second kid, I might name him or her Aurelius 

Nietzsche, all of his books.

NASSIM TALEB– all of his books.  

Interview, podcast club

All of the interviews and podcasts and YouTube series by Michael Saylor, michael.com, or hope.com 

Economic theory

All economic theory is bad. The best is to just read the Iliad, think about the ancient Greeks about their life before money was invented. 

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I suppose one of the great joys of seeing things in real life is that you could see the height!

Digital goods, digital products

–> proof of work digital goods which cannot be replicated?

There is currently a idea of NFTs, which stands for non-fungible tokens. The idea is creating a digital artwork or digital product which can be sold, in which an individual can prove their own ownership.

I suppose my thought, in regards to bitcoin, which isn’t entirely fascinating is that it is truly the first digital money. That cannot be replicated, you cannot fake it, because the proof of work network is so energy intensive, you cannot make something out of nothing.

I suppose the reason why proof of work is so critical here, and what a lot of these foolish pseudo environmentalist don’t understand is that if something doesn’t require energy to produce, whether human labor, material production, etc.… Then, it has no value.

For example, being born in 1988, and witnessing all of this digital rights stuff, protections against digital copying, as well as anti-digital piracy. 

As a kid, growing up, obviously I have no money, because I don’t work yet… The logic never seemed to make sense to me: 

if I download this video game book or movie or album which is digital… I don’t do any harm unto you.

But then the owner or the publisher or the business might say

“Well… It cost me a ton of money for me to produce this thing, and you are a morally evil and bad person because you are stealing this, because you might have paid $20 for this CD, if you did not pirate it.”

But the logic doesn’t make sense for a kid, because if you are a kid, there is no option to; because you don’t have any money, you wouldn’t have purchased it in the first place anyways! I suppose it is different as an adult once you got money… But still, I think for anybody who is in tech, IT, obviously we all have taunting software, we all know pirate bay, we all know how to turn on the VPN and cover our tracks, and download stuff etc.

I think even at this point in 2024… Truth be told pirates something is actually more cumbersome. It takes more time, you are at the risk of viruses and cyber attacks etc.… But I suppose the great convenience here you have access to the direct files.

For example, I have no problem paying $10 or $20 or whatever for you, Kendrick Lamar album, Jay Z album whatever, however, my primary annoyance is that let us say that I pay $10 on the iTunes Store or Apple Music to buy a new CD. But, I can only access it on my Apple iOS device! What if I want the files directly, to remix them, chop it up in GarageBand, or just use it as background audio for my photography slideshows? Then I am stuck. 

Selling digital products

I suppose hear the issue is, you could still sell digital products, whether they be digital e-books, digital PDF files, digital zip files, digital music files, whatever. But still, the only reason people actually pay money to purchase these digital products online is because they either believe and desire to support the creator, or they want access to it, or they cannot easily google and find it free online.

So I suppose, the real question here is how can we create a digital good? In which when you purchase a digital something, it actually does really have value? That you cannot replicated, not out of an ethical thing, but a physics based approach? 

For example, with digital products, is it possible to solve the double spending problem?

This is the primary phenomenal innovation of bitcoin; you cannot copy of bitcoin or replicated, like you can do as an MP3 file of Beethoven’s fifth Symphony. Or an e-book,.pub file, or PDF file of the Iliad. 

I think this is why I believe in open source so much; because it seems like the ethical, rational thing to do. My philosophy has always been simple:

Do unto to others as you would like others to do onto you.

For example I like free stuff, free files, free videos, and I hate these goddamn advertisements, is annoying banner pop-up ads, and I hate having to subscribe for some sort of email newsletter in order to download something I want access to.

Therefore as a result, in all of my personal endeavors, I try to make it as easy and direct for people to access my videos, photos, files, e-books whatever with direct links either or directly from my own website blog server, Google Drive links, dropbox links etc.

Once again, how can we create a new digital good on the Internet? Which can either be purchased with US dollars, or satoshis or bitcoin?

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Books

I’ll give you a good example with books; a book is a physical object, something you could hold in your hand. I cannot snap my fingers and then magically duplicate it into a thousand more books. 

I think the reason why books, printed books have value because we know that there was work and energy and labor and materials necessary to produce the thing: the physical pages, the ink, the binding, the packaging, the genius of the writer and illustrator, etc. And also we humans we still have a passion for tangible things; I think most people would prefer owning a physical book in hardcover for drama put it on their shelf, and think that it has value, rather than paying $30 for an e-book of the same sort.

Why ebooks

With ebooks electric book, maybe we should just call them digital books…  The reason why nobody likes to pay that much money for it because we are not stupid. We know that of course, it cost money and effort and time and energy for the writer to write the book, get it edited, proofread, distributed whatever… But we know that the marginal cost of having it downloaded, is practically zero. Therefore the rational human being would think to themselves: I know that it cost effort in time for the author to write the book, but if I download it as an e-book, it should be cheaper than the hardcover.

For example, let us say I want to purchase a new translation of the Iliad, for $30.  but let us say that I started reading it, and I hate how heavy and cumbersome it is.

Then let us say that I just want to buy it in the iBooks store, if that is the case… I expect it to cost less than $30, because I know that I don’t have to purchase the materials for the hardcover book. I might expect it to cost like $10, $9.99 or whatever.

Fiat money is a scam?

Currently the biggest issue we have is what the US dollar, essentially the Fed can just keep printing more of it! Then in someways, this is not too different than somebody pirating MP3 files for your favorite artist. They can keep inflating the digital supply of something, there is no hard cap.

I suppose the reason why the notion of cap is critical here is that it obeys the laws of physics! For example once again, if I have a physical book, there is a law of conservation of energy, I cannot snap my fingers and reproduce it with zero cost. Of course I could use energy and resources to print and publish more books, but once again, Hard caps, gravity, friction, the law of conservation of energy applies.

Think Bitcoin

If you believe in physics, first principles, and you are not a fool, bitcoin is for you! Why? Even Fernandinho Galliani in his treatise “On Money” said that true money has a hard cap, a limited supply. He talks about why gold is money, because of its scarcity.  however, he also knew that if you increase the supply of something, like when the conquistadors discovered tons and tons of gold in the New World, then he realized that the value of gold then plummets.

Because bitcoin has a hard cap of 21 million coins, and none will ever be produced ever again, for the next hundred thousand years, what that means then is  it is finally, the first scarce desirable good commodity or thing on the planet or the universe.

Once again, the reason why is so valued is because most people think of it as scarce, which is true, but it is not a true scarcity in so far much as they are still mining gold today, and still discovery new gold mines across the planet, Gold mines we did not know existed in the past!

So in theory, if you put 1 million workers to work, and employed thousands of geologist, and then let’s say you magically said that 1 ounce of gold was worth now $1 million, certainly we would discover more gold and produce more gold! But also consequently, when we discover more gold and we put it on the market, then the value of gold will plummet.

Karl Menger on monopolies

What Carl Manger says in his book the principles of economics, a section that is very very fascinating, a short section is on monopolies. Even then, he knew that there were certain industries that created artificial monopolies, by creating things into an artificial scarcity, for example diamond producers, and restricting the ability or the supply of Diamonds to enter the market, artificially.

Also in luxury goods, one of my good friend Stephanie who worked in the luxury goods market, also told me that a lot of these luxury fashion houses, when they produce too much of a luxury bag, throw it in the furnace and destroy it. Why? If you have too much real Louis Vuitton and Gucci bags on the market, it will become less valuable. Therefore it becomes more profitable to just take the unsold goods, and just incinerate it in a furnace! 

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So what now?

Just some general thoughts on life:

First, I am so insanely grateful for all of my world travels, my world campaigning, all of my accomplishments or whatever. Yet, the accomplish of begetting Seneca is 1 million fold more than any other thing I have achieved or accomplished in my life.

Certainly the work in the labor of actually carrying the baby, and birthing the baby, and breast-feeding the baby and your child is all on the woman. So then what is the role of the man? To create structures in which your partner or wife desires to beget a child with you.

In praise of kids

A lot of these ridiculous things like desiring to purchase a Lamborghini, a Porsche, a Porsche 911, a Porsche 911 GT three RS, a Bugatti or whatever… I think these tend to be fantasies or pipe dreams for people who are childless, don’t have a kid yet, or have no intentions on having kids. 

The walking dead

Now, when I see people and I meet people who are childless, and have no intention on having kids, to me they are like the walking dead.

Then, the whole impetus of their life is towards hedonism; maximization of sensory pleasures whether it be visual — such as traveling to Japan and seeing all the cool stuff, or like eating good food, omakase sushi in Japan, indulging themselves in art, travel, exploration, creating art and ideas, writing books, being “cultural”– or maybe backpacking with their dog or whatever… These people had zero interest to me. Why? They are the walking dead. They shall die and they shall have no living legacy.

Hedonism and kids?

Technically, the ultimate hedonic pleasure you can gain is actually from your kids! Your kid is the most wonderful, evolving growing, entertaining beautiful joyful thing!

For example, almost every single day, Seneca at the age of three years and four months, I am starting to see his language acquisition skills excel rate at a phenomenal rate! And I am so insanely proud because I see the things that I have taught him, and it sticks!

For example, my deep pride and joy that ever since he was born, only spoke to him in Korean, and now, he speaks almost 90% Korean fluently!

Also, when I look at his shape physique and form, the buff kid of all time, I am so insanely proud of him because he is also, the most physically dominant, tall handsome strong intelligent kid of all time.

I am also so proud because whenever I meet other parents, parents or teachers who work with kids, and they honestly remark that Seneca is tall, I feel so insanely proud! People telling me that I am such a great dad, doing a good job parenting, deep sense of joy.

Also, contrary to popular knowledge, having a child actually makes you more adventurous! For example, ever since Seneca was born, and now that he is getting older, I am being exposed to so many new wonderful activities and things, things I wouldn’t have never partook in before he was born! For example, exploring all these awesome science centers, becoming a kid again! Also, rediscovering the Lego Batman movie, other joyful things etc.

So actually the irony is if you want to maximize your hedonism in life, your happiness your joy your fun, don’t get the stupid dog, have a kid instead! 

Keanu Reeves needs to have a kid

For example, there’s also this weird bias that it is cool, more macho, more manly and masculine to be a forever bachelor. No. Only degenerates think this way.

once again, think king Leonidas and his son; have at least one male heir to continue your legacy. 

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Transitions from one stage of life to another especially are char- acterized by changes of this kind. Satisfaction of the same want has a different meaning to an adolescent than it has to a mature man, and a different meaning again to a mature man than it has to an old man.

.

Heritage, legacy.

The use value of things changes over time

age is dynamic

The simple toys of the child lose their use value to the adolescent; the study materials used by the adolescent lose their use value to the mature man; and the instru- ments by which the mature man earns a living lose their use value to the old man.

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LA IS PARADISE!

,

In each instance, the exchange value of the goods mentioned becomes predominant.

To sell

Nothing is more common, therefore, than for an adolescent to sell the goods that had a pre- dominating use value to him as a child.

.

When things no longer have utility to us, you gotta sell it!

This is where money is useful… When something no longer has valued you, you can sell it? And then acquire something that has more value to you?

Affection

For the passage of goods from the older members of a family into the possession of younger members takes place, not as a result of monetary compensation, but as a result of affection. The family, with its special economic relations, is thus an essential factor in the stability of human economic relations.

Just found your own magazine!

An author who pre- viously sold his work to publishers will not do so in the future if he founds his own magazine, and so on.

.

Stop thinking the old models!

Come on… We live in the year 2024, we got the Internet, high-quality audio visual recording equipment, cameras, etc.… We have websites blogs, publishing and hosting platforms which are only a tiny of a cost, maybe five dollars a month.

Why think the old model of publishing and beyond?

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Clothes, horses, dogs, coaches, and similar objects, usually lose their use value to wealthy people almost entirely if they have an externally visible defect.

Accidents

Shoemakers, especially in smaller villages, often wear badly fitting shoes, tailors often wear imper- fectly cut clothes, and hatters often wear hats in whose production some slight accident has occurred.

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Economics is everything, economics runs the world

Think gravity?

Heir

Effect of changes in total wealth

.

harmonic satisfaction of his needs,

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Higher levels of well-being?

A further step in the path of economic development to higher levels of well-being

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Digital is The Future

Digital goods, digital products

–> proof of work digital goods which cannot be replicated?

There is currently a idea of NFTs, which stands for non-fungible tokens. The idea is creating a digital artwork or digital product which can be sold, in which an individual can prove their own ownership.

I suppose my thought, in regards to bitcoin, which isn’t entirely fascinating is that it is truly the first digital money. That cannot be replicated, you cannot fake it, because the proof of work network is so energy intensive, you cannot make something out of nothing 

.

Products that the producers or middlemen hold in readiness for sale are called commodities.

Numerous middlemen

Cut out the middle men —

 I also suppose the genius of bitcoin is that you cut out the middleman, a.k.a., the banks and the bankers.

For example, why do I have to talk to a real life human being, somewhere in the Philippines, in order to wire a small amount of money somewhere? Or even worse, how to step into a physical branch to do so?

..

Commodity as a good intended for sale?

Once I decide to use something myself, it is no longer a commodity 

For example, I could hold gold as a commodity or a store value, but the second that I intend to melted down and use it for a gold necklace, then it no longer becomes a commodity.

The final destination

Consumption goods

Theories of prices?

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Buy Bitcoin because it is better than buying a building 

Bitcoin > Single family homes

Domestic or international ?

The spartan economist:

We new Spartans, we shall inherit the earth!

TLDR; think spartan when it comes to money, economics, life.

A truly pragmatic way to think and approach life

I think my critical critique of 99.9% of economists is that all of their fake science and fake pseudo scientific mysticism on the economy whatever, none of it is really tired to practical reality.

For example, more important things; where you live, what car you drive, whether you own a single-family home or rent, what kind of groceries you buy, where, or how much, etc.

Or, where you invest your money, where you save your money, you decide not to spend money on, your own personal financial philosophy.

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Spartan investing

Some thoughts on investing;

First, I’ve always been interested in passionate about investing, ever since I was in high school. I still remember my high school science math teacher, Dr. Ahmed, told me about mutual funds back in high school, and told me this unorthodox strategy that I should claim being an emancipated minor, being able to borrow some money, and essentially, use that money to invest in an aggressive mutual fund. And this was junior year of high school, I think I was 16. 

Somehow I did get my hands on some money, maybe like $1000? Or $1200, or $1600? Anyways, somehow I was able to create an investing account when I was 16, my junior year, and I invested in the one thing that I knew was very important, Adobe, which made Photoshop, which I knew was very important because I pirated Photoshop as a kid, and I used it to create all of my images on my computer. I also invested some money into a mutual fund, and even the course of maybe two years, I saw the value of my stock in my mutual fund holding go up? I think I might have realized a $600 or $800 gain, and I was overjoyed!

Fast-forward a bit to college… I realized when I was in college I was able to take out some student loans, and I use some of that money to invest in the market, while I was still in school, my sophomore year. I suppose I was 19 at the time?

Anyways, very stressful; I will check market prices, on my laptop, note this was before the iPhone existed, and it was very stressful. I would see the price go up a little little bit, and I was overjoyed, full of euphoria, and then I would see the price go down, and I would feel my stomach shrink. I remember losing sleep over this.

Stoic training

Anyways, from the age of 19, I had to learn how to control my emotions, something part of my early stoic training. And also, getting into trading penny stocks my senior year, in which I accidentally misread the financials for an oil company, that when I thought they were making a profit, they were actually losing money because they would put the financials in parentheses, which I did not know at the time meant a loss. So I suppose my knowledge was good, but I misread the information, and therefore I saw my life savings of maybe $3200 go to zero. As a 20, 21 year old, this was the worst tragedy I ever experienced in my life.

Anyways, I still think I had some good intelligence. I remember during the subprime mortgage meltdown, I saw the price of Ford go almost to zero, and I saw Blockbuster about to go bankrupt. I knew that Ford was a good long-term investment because I knew that Ford would recover in the long-term, and also I knew that blockbuster would go to zero because Netflix was the future. I think the only problem at the time was at the time I didn’t have any access to, as I think I already lost all my money.

So if I had the opportunity and access to capital, I would habe bought Ford (which has gone up a lot since then) and I would have shorted Blockbuster, which as I predicted ,,, went to zero.

Skin in the game

So this is a big thing; being an armchair investor vs being a real Spartan investor, somebody with skin in the game, with their own personal money in the game.

For example, I think being a personal private investor, investing your own hard earned money is critical here; because that was your soul time energy over many hard hard years of your life. You should/can only take financial risks with your own money. If it is someone else’s money — easy to toss the money like confetti.

Money as your life soul energy

For example, I think about the decade plus in which I taught workshops, I worked hard to do much research, all the thousands of dollars I spent on photo books, writing reviews articles blog posts, videos, etc.… writing books, making presets giving it away for free etc — essentially the best way to think about money is it is your time force energy energy life soul energy imputed into some sort of concrete thing; let us say that it is solidified into a single US dollar.

However the biggest issue here is that Fiat currency, the US dollar, is like an iPhone battery. That slowly but surely, it slowly drains and loses charge and also ability to hold charge.

For example, everybody knows that if you take an iPhone or a laptop, and you just let us sit on your desk for a month without charging it, it will naturally die, even if it was turned 100% off.

Also a problem with batteries and recharging; if you permanently keep it charging all the time, I think also the battery loses the ability to retain charge, and the maximum capacity of the battery loses charges as well.

Think ahead

For example, my 2017 MacBook Pro, 13 inch touch bar space gray, which I bought for about $2000 maxed out refurbished at the time… I think the battery of it only last about five or 10 minutes now before shutting off.

I also heard the same thing with Tesla cars — if you just let it sit, and don’t charge it every single day… slowly it will lose charge. I suppose this is the upside of having a gasoline powered car, is that oil and petroleum will just sit there, and will not lose charge. Surely there are other things you still gotta worry about like the battery, but still… For the most part oil and gas is more stable than an electric battery and charge.

Funny random thought —

Manual is the future?

For example, a manual transmission car even in 2024– will probably still be functional 30 years from now? Electric cars and Teslas and even Hybrids ,,, maybe not?

Also manual focusing lenses, 100% still functional 300 years from now!

With digital cameras, you will always swap out the bodies … but the manual lenses will last forever.

For example, I am 100% confident my Leica 35mm f2 ASPH Summicron lens and my film manual and mechanical Leica MP camera will last 300 years from now … any other digital equivalent? No.

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Building capital for the sake of it?

Anyways, I think the general impetus behind investing is a bit misguided. I think in the past I had he thought, and also maybe the general idea that people have is:

“I will invest this amount of money in order for me to gain a return, in order for me to purchase XYZ in the future.”

For example children are taught of a piggy bank, you save your allowance and your birthday money in it, so one day in the near future, you could buy a scooter or something.

Once again this twisted logic; you should save money in order to accumulate money, in order to have enough money and purchasing power in order to purchase this thing in the future you want, rather than thinking about saving money as a vehicle for investing, to grow your monetary power. 

For example, only a moron would spend his whole life toileting and working hard, in order to save the $250,000 or so to buy the Lamborghini. This is insane; the second you buy the $250,000 Lamborghini, your bank account balance then goes to zero, and in theory you are now impoverished.

Let us say that we embrace the two Lamborghini rule;  which is only about a Lamborghini if you are rich enough to afford two of them. But then again, the critical issue here becomes let us say yeah $500,000, and you buy the Lamborghini, and now your monetary power is cut in half, now you only have $250,000 in the bank. I don’t know about you, but nobody likes to see their wealth go from $500,000 to $250,000 in a split second, even if in fact you did buy the Lamborghini and own it.

 actually, the only logical thing to do is to drive to the closest  Lamborghini dealership in Newport Beach, show the guy you’re a bitcoin balance on your phone, and then sit in all the Lamborghinis you would like, play with the steering wheel, see how it feels to be inside the Lamborghini, touch the materials, take it on test drive, enjoy the sound of the engine, the driving experience whatever, and then decide not to buy it. 

Or another option is to just rent it for a day! Whether it cost $1000 or $5000 or whatever, a much much better financial way to use your money than to blow $250,000!

 even if you were a Jay-Z; you would not go out and start buying expensive cars like I’m $1 million Bugatti or whatever. If you are a true capitalist, a true investor, somebody who really does care about money… The point is you invest your money, and you keep stacking it forever, and you actually spend as little money as possible, in order to indefinitely increase your wealth!

For example, you do not buy the $1 million Bugatti — no. Rather, you buy $1 million worth of bitcoin, and then you see it become 10 million, 100 million, 1 billion, 10 billion, 100 billion. Isn’t this what somebody who really cares about money… Isn’t this how they should think? 

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Toys are bad

We Spartans know that toys are bad. In fact, some things I learned about toys, in raising Seneca: 

1. Superficially legos seem like a good idea, but eventually, Legos are bad. Why? As a parent you got to clean up their mess, and also… when your kid grows up sooner or later you’ll just donate the Legos to another family. The ideal and optimal strategy then is to just play with Legos at the local library on the brick building day, and just leave it there, and go back home.
2. For Seneca’s entire life, I’ve only bought him two toy cars; I think two Lamborghinis, the small hot wheels style. I think we already lost them.
3. Almost by osmosis, kids, whether you like it or not, or gain all of these free toys by orbit. For example when they visit their grandma’s home, or play with cousins or whatever… They will pick up random toy cars here and there. Therefore, the simple ideas that you never have to purchase kids any toys, they will naturally get toys from friends and family, on their birthday holidays etc., even if you are a “anti toy household”.

Set a good precedence. 99% of things we desire to purchase as adults or just really really expensive toys. 

Are toys bad?

I think so.

Essentially the purpose of a toy for the most part, is some sort of thing to distract your kids while you as a parent to do something else.

And also, the problem and issue with toys is that it doesn’t make them anymore physically strong or capable.

When it comes down to it, the best things to prioritize for your kid is their physical strength, height, muscle mass, ability to climb stuff, run around, be out in nature, go on hikes, have a nice tan for actually being in the sun, ability to pick up heavy stuff and throw them, etc. Even one of the things I’m very proud of is ever since Seneca was very young, he would be really good at throwing rocks into bodies of water!

No, whenever I see other kids, the only thing I’m ever impressed by is to see how muscular they are! Or how they are in running climbing, doing physical things. 

Weapons & armor & shields

If we think about the ancient Spartans, what were their possessions? Simple: their spear and shield, even their sword was kind of more of an accessory piece.

Also, I think according to Plutarch, or some of the ancient historians, there are funny quotes like “why are spartan swords so short?” Spartan response: “So we could get close to the enemy”.

Also, one of the most critical things about being a spartan was your shield; the reason why the hunchback was not allowed to fight along the spartan army was because he could not raise his shield, and the critical thing about being a spartan was the ability to defend the man next to you.

Even when you consider the final duel or fight between Achilles and Hector, I think it comes down to throwing spears, at a distance, and having the other party defend themselves with their shield.

Helmets were also critical because there were many times in which having the right shield actually defended you from death.

Bow and arrows are for cowards

Or why guns are for pussies:

Even the ancient Spartans, when the ancient Spartans saw a castle with lots of archers on top one Spartan commented –

“Is it women who live there?”

Certainly when it comes to real military combat, typically the armies or the side with the strongest firepower wins. For example, the Roman legionnaires, I think 99% of their lethality was because they had catapults, and they were just sling massive rocks and destroyed 99% of the other side of the enemy, and then the Roman legions would then enter in phalanx form, and just tidy up the rest of the mess. 

And even now, the US military, they are essentially getting rid of real pilots, and just creating drone aircraft instead. Why? Human being pilots are a liability; it is always bad PR if your pilot gets killed in combat, or gets killed by an accident. if it is a drone, certainly people alone the financial laws, but when it comes down to it… a financial loss is always superior to a human life loss. 

For example let us say that it cost the US military $100 million to create a drone aircraft. And let us say that for one reason or another it gets destroyed. Or it fails, better to lose $1 million aircraft to lose the life of one single human pilot.

Armor up!

Anyways, in modern day life, the big issue that we have is all of these pussies who have guns. Or knives.

A real man, should only engage in hand-to-hand combat, and the only thing that a real man does is has body armor as a form of defense.

For example, if you’re really afraid of people shooting you up or whatever, just buy a bulletproof vest. This is what cops have. Technically as a private citizen, I think you are allowed to purchase and own and wear a bulletproof vest, if you so desire. 

For example, just think of Keanu Reeves (John Wick) in his Kevlar armor suit jacket, how he used his suit jacket as a shield or armor against incoming bullets. So gangsta.

And even now, the supreme way I feel tough is wearing my 60 pound weight vest around; I think even real cops, who wear bulletproof vest, a real bulletproof might only wear 10 pounds or 20 pounds?

Now I suppose because I do my daily walks with my 60 pound weight vest, I no longer really feel it on me. This is a very good thing. Let us say I get into a high conflict situation and I just put on my weight vest, I know that nobody could fuck with me or Seneca or Cindy.

Unfuckable with

A true Spartan; only has armor, no guns, no knives. His word is his sword.

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Money as a defense against slavery

“Fuck off money”– having enough money that you could just fuck off, and not have to do nothing. 

So my first Spartan economic thought is that the purpose of money is more of an economic shield, barrier, buffer, or armor to prevent you from working like a slave.

The purpose of money isn’t to buy stuff, purchase a home, buy superficial things, purchase a vehicle, travel to Japan ne eat overpriced sushi…but rather, via negativa; for you not to work.

As long as you got a job, a boss, a steady paycheck… you are not free. 

For example, doesn’t matter if you’re being paid $750,000 a year at Apple; as long as you have to stay inside your nice glass cube prison cage, you are not free. 

Also, as long as you got a mortgage on your home, payments on your car, and any sort of debt or obligations… once again you are also not free.

Also a Spartan ethic thing;

Don’t indebt others.

What it means is never ever ever let anybody borrow money from you. Because let us say you loan $1000 to somebody and they don’t have the means to pay you back like they promised in two weeks. What do you do, beat them up, or hostage their family members? No.

Never borrow money from others, never lend money to others.

The only type of money exchange should be gifts. No obligations. 

All debt is bad debt

More recently I thought I’ve been thinking through is in regards to the notion of debt; for example what some institutional investors do is take on debt to purchase things, property, bitcoin like Michael Saylor and microstrategy, in order to purchase more assets, in the promise that it will grow in the future.

I’m starting to think, maybe could work for the corporations, institutions etc.… but maybe this kind of leverage is not a good idea for us private investors, because it could cause you to lose your freedom.

So once again, never leverage debt, even “good debt” to acquire more property. 

The goal

1. NOT have a job
2. NOT have debt
3. NOT be employed by anyone else besides you (sole, sole proprietor — number of employees is 0– you are your only employee).

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Creating your own new Sparta

What is very interesting about Sparta, Kim Leonidas etc.… is that the point wasn’t to enslave millions and billions of people, rather, it was to think about committing to your own local population… for example, maybe the Spartan population was only 10,000 Spartans? And they had about 50,000 helots till the land?

A big thought: it seems that the modern day individual loves to complain critique and hate on everything, hate on global policies, politics, individuals, music, media, iPhones and social media, whatever. Whenever people talk about global warming, carbon levels, carbon footprint whatever… typically I see a lot of these people are either single, maybe they own a dog, certainly they have no children and kids.

Never trust any environmentalist who don’t have kids.

Propaganda 

In fact, the lamest thought is that kids contribute most to the carbon footprint of the planet… my ongoing theory is that these people are just humanity haters; they just want to take their dog to the grave with them?

Who knows, perhaps your kid, or some other kid who is born today is going to be the one who solves pollution on the planet; who creates a solar power panel which is 1 billion times more effective, or invent some sort of nuclear power fusion fission energy generator that could fit in your back pocket?

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Become the change in which you wish to see manifested in the world

Anyways, my simple thought is rather than complaining and critiquing about society whatever… more effective to just become the change in which you wish to see manifested in the world, and also a big thing; have kids! Create your own micro society, create your own cultural values, and insanely Spartan, stoic and staunch about it.

Niches are the future.

Creating new cultural norms

For example, I think giving presents and buying toys for kids on their birthday is ridiculous. I believe rather — gift experiences and time together. Therefore for my niece Amelia and Benji, I don’t think I’ve ever bought them any toys on their birthday or on any holidays. What I do instead is take them rockclimbing with me and Cindy, and also when I’m just with them… I just play with them! I leave my iPhone in my glove compartment of my car, and I just run around with them!

I remember Amelia saying a year or two ago saying “I miss Samchon ERIC,… Because he is the only one who plays with me”…

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How to raise your kids

I think in today’s world of hedonism and indulgence… this is my thought on how one should aspire to raise one’s kids–

The thought is to raise, train, and breed your kid to be creators, innovators, Spartan Stoics, with maximum physical capability, a 100% carnivore diet, with extreme vigor, play and joyfulness.

For example, would you give your kid heroin? Certainly not. Then don’t shove kids in front of their face Netflix or Disney+ or bluey or whatever when you just want them to stop crying. Let them confront their own emotions, explain things to them, let them cry it out; give them a kiss on their forehead if they fell on their head, and the big thing; don’t let any other loser adults punk your kid around.

Something that randomly caught me offguard being a new first time parent, is having these miserable old female librarians telling Seneca not to cry inside the library and that “he must go outside,” or even having random people in the apartment next to us passive aggressive things like complaining that Seneca was playing with his toy cars outside?

One thing that pisses me off is society has become maximally tolerant of dogs and their misbehaviors; but, no privileges to children? 

“Don’t smoke here! No smoking here!”

In fact, I’m starting to think more and more… perhaps I should become more aggressive, more of an asshole parent. For example, I’ve been on a bit of a rampage in which telling other people to not smoke in public places, when I’m with Seneca. Even though they might give me a dirty look, or even if I might feel bad about it… This is what a true Spartan would do. Essentially you take the brunt of badness, bad emotions whatever… And defend your kid, defend your wife, defend your family.

Also, never tell people sorry. Just tell them thank you. 

When to attack?

Also, I think America we could learn a thing or two about Sparta; for the most part, think America should just stop meddling in the business of other nations, other nation states, even if we want to maintain some sort of world peace for the interest of America.

For example, America needs to stop waging positive war. The only good use of military is defense. America needs to be well positioned in such a way that if anyone attacks us, we could defend ourselves. But I think ethically, America should not wage preemptive attacks on other nations and other nation states, in order for us to be like Machiavelli’s prince; the idea that often to defend oneself, you have to preemptively attack. We are strong enough.

Even when a foreigner visited ancient Sparta, the foreigner asked, why are there no walls? And the Spartan said, because our men and our children defend these borders.

One day your kid is going to find your gun 

I think this is also the thing that is so ridiculous about gun ownership in America, all these loser notions of “self-defense“. Everyone always wants a gun on them, because they are afraid of being shot or being attacked. And I think some people shoot another person preemptively, because they fear their life is in danger danger or whatever.

But, the law is, you are never allowed to shoot first. The only time you pull out your gun or whatever and start shooting is one the other person has already shot you, or has already shot something in the environment.

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The stoic Spartan investing strategy

Live Spartan. Essentially somebody who glorifies themselves and their own human body, their own physical strength, just think about how buff your muscles, your shoulders your back and your traps are.

Your pride joy and glory is your own body and muscles, not your possessions.

I trust no man who has tattoos, has a dog, and drives some sort of entry-level German car 

No dogs, no cats, no animals. Only children.

Ensure that you have at least one son to continue the family name. 

Perhaps foolishness is a virtue?

I’m also starting to think, being mad, being a madman is a virtue. Anybody who focused is too much on security, safety, prudence and rationality is a wimp.

Good for your wife, do it for your family, be a true mensch.

Throw your cares and concerns into the tailwind, burn all your bridges, burn your ships behind you, don’t look back. Only forward.

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What type of money would Spartans prefer?

Historically, the ancient Spartans would abolish money. Because they know that money corrupts.

I think one of the earliest Spartan legislators, Lycurgus, essentially made the law in which he converted all money into huge stone, which were essentially impossible, maybe it was made of iron etc. made accumulation of wealth so cumbersome, people eventually stopped chasing wealth for the sake of it.

Mandatory military duty?

I was always an anti-military, but now as an adult… I’m starting to see the virtues.

For example, in South Korea, all men are required to do a mandatory two year military service, even StarCraft players and BTS members are not exempt.

The good thing about this, as well as Singapore… It built a sense of nationhood and camaraderie between men. Even one of my friends, Andrew, a professor I think he did some sort of part-time Navy officer reserve training when he was getting his PhD… And he said something like “I think if there was some sort of military duty amongst Americans, there would be a lot less divide and conflict”. I also agree.

Probably the most anti-racist training that I ever got in high school was accidentally; playing high school American football. Essentially, I was thrown in all rainbows of races; African-American, Latino, southeast Asian, east Asian, Caucasian etc. There was a strong sense of brotherhood, and everybody supported one another. And for the most part, we put aside all of our differences and our cliques.

For example, I remember some of the white guys who are hefty lineman, I think they were into Cowboys and rodeos and wearing cowboy hats whatever, and African-American kids would just hang out with other African-Americans at school, and the southeast Asians were also part of their own crew etc., all my friends were Korean American, or east Asian… But when we all played football together, did practice, play games etc.… We would all sing the same ridiculous songs on the school bus, breaking Windows, etc. 

Also, a very formative thing that I did was Boy Scouts; becoming an Eagle Scout, etc. Also here… All notions of race, religion whatever was erased; I remember that my scoutmaster was Jewish Jewish American, and his two sons were all in scouts with me would wear the little Hat, and I never knew what it really was, but I never really hated on it.

And also, I remember the Levee brothers; also two boisterous Jewish American kids, Ariel and Jamie, And once again, I didn’t even even know what antisemitism was until I went to college?

Anyways, my grand vision is that being American should be more of a nationality, more of a nation state thing, rather than a racial thing.

For example, the genius of Rome, was that as long as you paid taxes, you were Roman. It didn’t matter if you were from Spain, like Seneca the younger, who I named my own son after, Seneca was not a Spaniard — he was a Roman. 

Also, I have more in common with Kendrick Lamar grew up to E-40, then I ever did with any Korean person I met in South Korea.

Also some funny nuances; I have far more connections with somebody I meet up in the bay area, in the 90s, doesn’t matter if there are Latino or black or whatever…

Even Southern California, LA South Koreans; they are different from me. 

As long as you grew up to underground rap, the Bay Area high E-40 movement, if you know who Keak da sneak is, if you know how to go stupid dumb and hyphy yellow bus retarded, if you over owned a pair of all white case Swiss tennis shoes in high school, and just wore white T-shirts and dark blue denim, and never owned a pair of shorts until you’re late 20s… Then you are with me.

John Wick would like bitcoin

A very interesting scene, and also in the universe of John Wick; it is a world beyond money. For example, in the universe of John Wick, money is just like these gold coins, which are used to gain access, trade favors, clean up messy dead bodies, to protect or guard things, or for people to take a hit at somebody.

For example, when John Wick wants to get into the secret club, he has to insert a single golden coin, very much like putting a coin in some sort of arcade machine.

Also, when John Wick is first seeking revenge in the first film, and he opens up his war chest… It is all guns ammo and gold coins. No US dollars, no Fiat currency.

Why bitcoin is the way

I recently sold all of my Tesla stock, and purchased micro strategy stock instead (MSTR). Why? Some convincing arguments from michael saylor:

 first, product cycles. Certainly for the most part, purchasing Apple stock is a good idea, however, who knows if the iPhone 35 pro will be any good?

Also, CEO; let it say that one day, Elon Musk totally left Tesla. And no longer had any affiliations with Tesla. If this were the case, Tesla would not be worth anything.

I think the genius about bitcoin is that it is a religion. Satoshi, is essentially this metaphorical Jesus speaker, the savior, and he disappears forever. With any other crypto asset, Ethereum and Vitalik or even chainlink and Sergey; as long as you have a central spokesperson, a CEO, a president or a leader, a charismatic individual… You will not last.

For example, one of the very interesting things that I learn from my political sociology class at UCLA as an undergraduate with Mark Jepsen was that nations or nation states that are led by charismatic individuals don’t last. Once the leader dies off, there is no longer any vision.

For example the genius of America, is that even if we have a few bad apples, the whole thing will still chug along OK. Let us consider that after Mao Zedong died, after Ho Chi Minh died, both mainland China and Vietnam has slowly and surely started to delve into capitalism… The dominant world system.

In fact, that is consider that seems that 80% of the Chinese economy is still dependent on America. And essentially, the CNY, is pegged to the US dollar; because there are capital controls in order from the Chinese government, in Chinese mainland Chinese individuals cannot take their wealth out of the country, especially when they prefer to buy property and live in Vancouver Canada instead… It is a strong signal that duh , America’s on top.

Even though if you had currency is weak, America is still the strongest Fiat currency on the planet. I recently talked to a woman who just got her green card from Beirut Lebanon, and she told me that the whole lira thing is a mess;  that people prefer to just hold and trade US dollars instead.

Even when I visited Cuba, even though they have the local Cuban dollar currency, still at end of the day, things are priced in US dollars.

After the US dollar, all other currencies, nobody wants them. Nobody wants the euro, too much chaos in Europe. Nobody wants the pound, Britain’s isolationist policies make it the next Japan, they will still stagger on but will slowly become irrelevant, nobody wants a Korean won — their population is dying off, and it seems that the greatest market for new Hyundai cars are actually in the states, nobody wants the Japanese yen, once again their birth rate is practically zero now. Nobody wants Chinese yuan — I don’t know any non-Chinese person who would prefer using WeChat, we pay, or a Huawei phone.

As long as rich mainland Chinese people prefer to use an iPhone Pro over a Huawei phone, America will always be on top. 

Election cycle predictions 

I’m voting for our Kamala Harris, because she has more aligned with my ethical beliefs, even though she will lose. I’m almost 99.99% certain that Donald Trump win.

The good news is that Donald Trump is very pro bitcoin, bitcoin mining etc.; so after Donald Trump gets elected, after the dust settles… Your bitcoin value will blossom.

Even if bitcoin and crypto goes through another bear market, which eventually it will… Still, the US economy will be stronger under Donald Trump than Kamala Harris.

If anything, of Joe Biden stepping down and having Kamala Harris rotten instead is like the final hail Mary – and I have played enough high school football to know that Hail Mary’s never work 99.999% of the time. The only time a Hail Mary will work in an American football game is almost never; you only hear about it when you watch random TV clips, or YouTube videos, but I think the chance of a Hail Mary working is practically zero. 

---

So what is in your locus of control?

So I think the big thing to note here is that the stoic way is simple:

What is in your locus of control, what isn’t?

Politics, climate change, dual politics, etc. are not in your control.

What is in your control? Your own individual behaviors, what you write about to friends family and on the Internet, whether you decide to use social media or not, your own individual actions, and also… Your own individual non-action; what you decide not to do. 

For example, it seems that the words you refrain from, what you decide not to say, is more telling than what you decide to say.

Another stoic strategy; when you hear something which is very puzzling to you, restrain responding immediately… It works 99.9% of the time.

silence is golden, speaking intelligently is silver.

Nobody wants silver.

Just focus on one thing?

Spartans only focused on one thing; freedom. 

The lame thing about America is you have a bunch of these fake ass patriots, waving Trump flags, we have never done any military service. Freedom is not free, or live free or die.

The general ethos is that it is true… Freedom is not free. But what is the opposite of free? Skin and soul in the game; actually being on the front lines of something.

For example, I have a simple rule; you’re not allowed to talk about freedom or whatever or is some sort of fake ass patriot chest thumping flag waving coward, if you have never served military duty, or at least have done Boy Scouts and know how to properly fold a flag!

Also, if you really want to be conservative or Republican or whatever, the simple news is don’t watch Fox News, or any news.

Could be told, both sides are foolish. The left the right the center the moderates whatever… You gotta think like an individual. This means removing all news from your brain, all news which is run on advertising is toxic.

I have another big idea news agencies, website individual bloggers, magazines etc. except payments in bitcoin and Satoshi, no advertising.

The truth is as long as something is supported by advertising, the low-key bias will be to make it more sensationalist, less connected with reality, in order to get more eyeballs in order to make more advertising dollars.

Are there any newsies which do not run on advertising? No.

As a consequence, trust no news but yourself.

Where to get your news? 

ironically enough, maybe the best place to get your news is through intentional propaganda government portals, like going to the official US military defense.gov website, because you could smell the propaganda more critically.

Propaganda, propaganda, propagate just means to spread something. The French use the word propaganda, not in the evil way as we Americans think, propaganda just means to spread something.

and once again, realize that all is toxic, all news is bad. Injecting news into your brain and soul is almost like injecting type two diabetes into a healthy individual.

News is like type two diabetes for your soul.

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Spartan theory?

To sum up, the spartan way simple: live like a spartan, like the hungry wolf, invest all of your money and earnings and into bitcoin, have at least one kid, derive your pleasure enjoy another human beings, conversation, love and charity, through physical activity exercise, Risky weightlifting, being outside in nature the greet outdoors, and think exposure;

Unless you got real exposure to something, you aren’t permitted to say nothing.

ERIC

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Don’t opine about something you’re not invested in 

Put your money where your mouth is, or don’t put your mouth where your money is not.

***

Film club

Required watching for any aspiring Spartan Stoic is all of the John Wick movies, the movie 300, the matrix movie, maybe Blade Runner? I prefer the second one. 

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EK BOOK CLUB

The sayings of Spartans, just Google it. Also, all of the books have Seneca, all of his letters. Also the meditations by Marcus Aurelius, and honestly all of the stoic thinkers are good.

Nietzsche, all of his books.

NASSIM TALEB– all of his books.  

Interview, podcast club

All of the interviews and podcasts in YouTube series by Michael Saylor , michael.com, or hope.com 

Economic theory

All economic theory is bad. The best is to just read the Iliad, think about the ancient Greeks about their life before money was invented. 

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The barbell philosophy to life

The term “legacy” has its roots in the Latin word “legatus,” which means “ambassador” or “envoy.” In medieval Latin, it evolved to “legacia,” meaning “the office or function of a legate.” By the late 14th century, in Old French, it became “legacie,” referring to a “body of persons sent on a mission.”

In English, by the early 15th century, “legacy” came to mean a gift of property or money left in a will. Over time, its meaning broadened to encompass anything handed down from an ancestor or predecessor, including intangible assets such as reputation, values, and cultural heritage. Today, “legacy” is often used to describe the long-lasting impact or influence of an individual, organization, or event.

Simple —

1. Have kids(s).
2. Write books, blogs, blog posts, make videos, podcasts, photos, art, projects etc

For example before Seneca was born, a sports car, hyper car, racing car whatever was interesting and desirable to me but now ,,, almost zero interest?

Your soul is your body!

Doesn’t matter how rich you are —

Live your life in accordance as if you had to live your life forever, that it would be the most sublime blessing and joy!

All you can eat or nothing

The Spartan Investor

We new Spartans, we shall inherit the earth.

Spartan investing

Some thoughts about investing;

First, I’ve always been interested in passionate about investing, ever since I was in high school. I still remember my high school science math teacher, Dr. Ahmed, told me about mutual funds back in high school, and told me this unorthodox strategy that I should claim being an emancipated minor, being able to borrow some money, and essentially, use that money to invest in an aggressive mutual fund. And this was junior year of high school, I think I was 16. 

Somehow I did get my hands on some money, maybe like $1000? Or $1200, or $1600? Anyways, somehow I was able to create an investing account when I was 16, my junior year, and I invested in the one thing that I knew was very important, Adobe, which made Photoshop, which I knew was very important because I pirated Photoshop as a kid, and I used it to create all of my images on my computer. I also invested some money into a mutual fund, and even the course of maybe two years, I saw the value of my stock in my mutual fund holding go up? I think I might have realized a $600 or $800 gain, and I was overjoyed!

Fast-forward a bit to college… I realized when I was in college I was able to take out some student loans, and I use some of that money to invest in the market, while I was still in school, my sophomore year. I suppose I was 19 at the time?

Anyways, very stressful; I will check market prices, on my laptop, note this was before the iPhone existed, and it was very stressful. I would see the price go up a little little bit, and I was overjoyed, full of euphoria, and then I would see the price go down, and I would feel my stomach shrink. I remember losing sleep over this.

Stoic training

Anyways, from the age of 19, I had to learn how to control my emotions, something part of my early stoic training. And also, getting into trading penny stocks my senior year, in which I accidentally misread the financials for an oil company, that when I thought they were making a profit, they were actually losing money because they would put the financials in parentheses, which I did not know at the time meant a loss. So I suppose my knowledge was good, but I misread the information, and therefore I saw my life savings of maybe $3200 go to zero. As a 20, 21 year old, this was the worst tragedy I ever experienced in my life.

Anyways, I still think I had some good intelligence. I remember during the subprime mortgage meltdown, I saw the price of Ford go almost to zero, and I saw Blockbuster about to go bankrupt. I knew that Ford was a good long-term investment because I knew that Ford would recover in the long-term, and also I knew that blockbuster would go to zero because Netflix was the future. I think the only problem at the time was at the time I didn’t have any access to, as I think I already lost all my money.

So if I had the opportunity and access to capital, I would habe bought Ford (which has gone up a lot since then) and I would have shorted Blockbuster, which as I predicted ,,, went to zero.

Skin in the game

So this is a big thing; being an armchair investor vs being a real Spartan investor, somebody with skin in the game, with their own personal money in the game.

For example, I think being a personal private investor, investing your own hard earned money is critical here; because that was your soul time energy over many hard hard years of your life. You should/can only take financial risks with your own money. If it is someone else’s money — easy to toss the money like confetti.

Money as your life soul energy

For example, I think about the decade plus in which I taught workshops, I worked hard to do much research, all the thousands of dollars I spent on photo books, writing reviews articles blog posts, videos, etc.… writing books, making presets giving it away for free etc — essentially the best way to think about money is it is your time force energy energy life soul energy imputed into some sort of concrete thing; let us say that it is solidified into a single US dollar.

However the biggest issue here is that Fiat currency, the US dollar, is like an iPhone battery. That slowly but surely, it slowly drains and loses charge and also ability to hold charge.

For example, everybody knows that if you take an iPhone or a laptop, and you just let us sit on your desk for a month without charging it, it will naturally die, even if it was turned 100% off.

Also a problem with batteries and recharging; if you permanently keep it charging all the time, I think also the battery loses the ability to retain charge, and the maximum capacity of the battery loses charges as well.

Think ahead

For example, my 2017 MacBook Pro, 13 inch touch bar space gray, which I bought for about $2000 maxed out refurbished at the time… I think the battery of it only last about five or 10 minutes now before shutting off.

I also heard the same thing with Tesla cars — if you just let it sit, and don’t charge it every single day… slowly it will lose charge. I suppose this is the upside of having a gasoline powered car, is that oil and petroleum will just sit there, and will not lose charge. Surely there are other things you still gotta worry about like the battery, but still… For the most part oil and gas is more stable than an electric battery and charge.

Funny random thought —

Manual is the future?

For example, a manual transmission car even in 2024– will probably still be functional 30 years from now? Electric cars and Teslas and even Hybrids ,,, maybe not?

Also manual focusing lenses, 100% still functional 300 years from now!

With digital cameras, you will always swap out the bodies … but the manual lenses will last forever.

For example, I am 100% confident my Leica 35mm f2 ASPH Summicron lens and my film manual and mechanical Leica MP camera will last 300 years from now … any other digital equivalent? No.

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Building capital for the sake of it?

Anyways, I think the general impetus behind investing is a bit misguided. I think in the past I thought, and also maybe the general idea that people have is:

“I will invest this amount of money in order for me to gain a return, in order for me to purchase XYZ in the future.”

For example children are taught of a peaky, you save your allowance and your birthday money in it, so one day in the near future, you could buy a scooter or something.

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Toys are bad

But what if… We Spartans know that toys are bad? In fact, some things I learned about toys, in raising Seneca: 

1. Superficially legal seem like a good idea, but eventually, Legos are bad. Why? As a parent you got to clean up their mess, and also… When the kid grows up sooner or later you’ll just donate the Legos to another family. The ideal and optimal strategy then is to just play with Legos at the local library on the brick building day, and just leave it there, and go back home.
2. For Seneca’s entire life, I’ve only bought him two toy cars; I think two Lamborghinis, the small hot wheels style. I think we already lost them.
3. Almost by osmosis, kids, whether you like it or not, or gain all of these free toys by orbit. For example when they visit their grandma’s home, or play with cousins or whatever… They will pick up random toy cars here and there. Therefore, the simple ideas that you never have to purchase kids any toys, they will naturally get toys from friends and family, on their birthday holidays etc., even if you are a “anti toy household”.

Are toys bad?

I think so.

Essentially the purpose of a toy for the most part, is some sort of thing to distract your kids while you as a parent to do something else.

And also, the problem and issue with toys is that it doesn’t make them anymore physically strong or capable.

When it comes down to it, the best things to prioritize for your kid is their physical strength, height, muscle mass, ability to climb stuff, run around, be out in nature, go on hikes, have a nice tan for actually being in the sun, Ability to pick up heavy stuff and throw them, etc. Even one of the things I’m very proud of is ever since Seneca was very young, he would be really good at throwing rocks into bodies of water!

Weapons & armor & shields

If we think about the ancient Spartans,  what were their possessions? Simple: their spear and shield, even their sword was kind of more of an accessory piece.

Also, I think according to Pluto, or some of the ancient historians, there are funny quotes like “why are spartan swords so short?” Spartan response: “So we could get close to the enemy”.

Also, one of the most critical things about being a spartan was your shield; the reason why the hunchback was not allowed to fight along the spartan army was because he could not raise his shield, and the critical thing about being a spartan was the ability to defend the man next to you.

Even when you consider the final duel or fight between Achilles and Hector, I think it comes down to throwing spears, at a distance, and having the other party defend themselves with their shield.

Helmets were also critical because there were many times in which having the right shield actually defended you from death.

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Defense?

So my first Spartan economic thought is that the purpose of money is more of an economic shield, barrier, buffer, or armor to prevent you from working like a slave.

The purpose of money isn’t to buy stuff, purchase a home, buy super things, purchase a vehicle etc.… But rather, via negativa; for you not to work.

As long as you got a job, a boss, a steady paycheck… You are not free. 

Also, as long as you got a mortgage on your home, payments on your car, and any sort of debt or obligations… Once again you are also not free.

All debt is bad debt

More recently I thought I’ve been towing with is in regards to the notion of debt; for example what some institutional investors do is take on debt to purchase things, property, bitcoin like Michael Saylor and micro strategy, in order to purchase more assets, in the promise that it will grow in the future.

I’m starting to think, maybe could work for the corporations, institutions etc.… But maybe this kind of leverage is not a good idea for us private investors, because it could cause dumb, and also cause you to lose your freedom.

The goal

1. NOT have a job
2. NOT have debt
3. NOT be employed by anyone else besides you (sole, sole proprietor — number of employees is 0– you are your only employee).

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Creating your own new Sparta

What is very interesting about Sparta, Kim Leonidas etc.… Is that the point wasn’t to enslave millions and billions of people, rather, it was to think about committing to your own local population… For example, maybe the Spartan populations was only 10,000 Spartans? And they had about 50,000 helots till the land?

A big thought: it seems that the modern day individual loves to complain critique and hate on everything, hit on global policies, politics, individuals, music, media, iPhones and social media, whatever. Whenever people talk about global warming, carbon levels, carbon footprint whatever… Typically I see a lot of these people are either single, maybe they own a dog, certainly children and kids.

In fact, the lamest thought that kids contribute most to the carbon footprint of the planet… My ongoing theory is that these people are just humanity haters; just want to take their dog to the grave with them?

Who knows, perhaps your kid, or some other kid who is born today is going to be the one who solves pollution on the planet; who creates a solar power pan all that is 1 billion times more effective, or invent some sort of nuclear power vision Energy generator that could fit in your back pocket?

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Anyways, my simple thought is rather than complaining and critiquing about society whatever… More effective to just become the change in which you wish to see manifested in the world, and also a big thing; have kids! Your own micro society, create your own cultural values, and insanely Spartan, stoic and staunch about it.

For example, I think giving presents and buying toys for kids on their birthday is ridiculous. I believe rather than experiences, tight. Therefore for my niece Amelia and Benji, I don’t think I’ve ever bought them any toys on their birthday or on any holidays. What I do instead is take them rockclimbing with me and Cindy, and also when I’m just with them… I just play with them! I leave my Phone in my glove compartment of my car, and I just run around with them!

I remember Amelia saying a year or two ago saying “I miss Samchon ERIC,… Because he is the only one who plays with me”…

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How to raise your kids

I think in today’s world of hedonism and indulgence, the thought is to raise, train, and breed your kid to be craters, in invaders, Spartan Stoics, with maximum physical capability, 100% carnivore died, with extreme vigor, play and joyfulness.

For example, would you give your kid heroin? Certainly not. Then don’t shove kids in front of their face, or Disney+ or whatever when you just want them to stop crying. Let them confront their own emotions, explain things to them, let them cry it out; give them a kiss on their forehead if they fell on their head, and the big thing; don’t let any other loser adults punk your kid around.

In fact, I’m starting to think more and more… Perhaps I should become more aggressive, more of an asshole parent. For example, I’ve been on a bit of a rampage in which to not smoke in public places, when I’m with Seneca. Even though they might give me a dirty look, or even if I might feel bad about it… This is what a true Spartan would do. Essentially you take the brunt of badness, bad emotions whatever… And defend your kid, defend your wife, defend your family.

When to attack?

Also, I think America could learn a thing or two about Sparta; for the most part, think America should just stop meddling in the business of other nations, other nation states, even if we want to maintain some sort of world peace for the interest of America.

For example, America needs to stop waging positive war. The only good use of military is defense. America needs to be well positioned in such a way that if anyone attacks us, we could defend ourselves. But I think ethically, America should not wage preemptive attacks on other nations and other nation states, in order for us to be like Machiavelli’s prince; the idea that often to defend oneself, you have to preemptively attack.

I think this is also the thing that is so ridiculous about gun ownership in America, all these loser notions of “self-defense “. Everyone always wants a gun on them, because they are afraid of being shot or being attacked. And I think some people shoot another person preemptively, because they fear their life is in danger danger or whatever.

But, the law is, you are never allowed to shoot first. The only time you pull out your gun or whatever and start shooting is one the other person has already shot you, or has already shot something in the environment.

Maybe the only new ones is if that person has gunpoint to your kid or whatever… Then you headshot him in the head. But besides this, don’t be a pussy.

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The stoic Spartan investing strategy

Lib Spartan. Essentially somebody who glorifies themselves under their own human body, their own physical strength, just think about how your muscles, your shoulders your back and your traps are.

No dogs, no cats, no animals. Only children.

Ensure that you have at least one son to continue the family name. 

Perhaps foolishness is a virtue?

I’m also starting to think, being mad, being a madman is a virtue. Anybody who focused is too much on security, safety, prudence and rationality is a wimp.

Good for your wife, do it for your family, be a true mensch.

Throw your cares and concerns into the tailwind, burn all your bridges, burn your ships behind you, don’t look back. Only forward.

what type of money would Spartans prefer?

Historically, the ancient Spartans would abolish money. Because they know that money corrupts.

I think one of the earliest Spartan legislators, Lycurgus, essentially made the law in which he converted all money into huge stone, which were essentially impossible, maybe it was made of iron etc. made accumulation of wealth so cumbersome, people eventually stopped chasing wealth for the sake of it. 

Mandatory military duty?

I was always an anti-military, but now as an adult… I’m starting to see the virtues.

For example, in South Korea, all men are required to do a mandatory two year military service, even StarCraft players and BTS members are not exempt.

The good thing about this, as well as Singapore… It built a sense of nationhood and camaraderie between men. Even one of my friends, Andrew, a professor I think he did some sort of part-time Navy officer reserve training when he was getting his PhD… And he said something like “I think if there was some sort of military duty amongst Americans, there would be a lot less divide and conflict”. I also agree.

Probably the most anti-racist training that I ever got in high school was accidentally; playing high school American football. Essentially, I was thrown in all rainbows of races; African-American, Latino, southeast Asian, east Asian, Caucasian etc. There was a strong sense of brotherhood, and everybody supported one another. And for the most part, we put aside all of our differences and our cliques.

For example, I remember some of the white guys who are hefty lineman, I think they were into Cowboys and rodeos and wearing cowboy hats whatever, and African-American kids would just hang out with other African-Americans at school, and the southeast Asians were also part of their own crew etc., all my friends were Korean American, or east Asian… But when we all played football together, did practice, play games etc.… We would all sing the same ridiculous songs on the school bus, breaking Windows, etc. 

Also, a very formative thing that I did was Boy Scouts; becoming an Eagle Scout, etc. Also here… All notions of race, religion whatever was erased; I remember that my scoutmaster was Jewish Jewish American, and his two sons were all in scouts with me would wear the little Hat, and I never knew what it really was, but I never really hated on it.

And also, I remember the Levee brothers; also two boisterous Jewish American kids, Ariel and Jamie, And once again, I didn’t even even know what antisemitism was until I went to college?

Anyways, my grand vision is that being American should be more of a nationality, more of a nation state thing, rather than a racial thing.

For example, the genius of Rome, was that as long as you paid taxes, you were Roman. It didn’t matter if you were from Spain, like Seneca the younger, who I named my own son after, Seneca was not a Spaniard — he was a Roman. 

Also, I have more in common with Kendrick Lamar grew up to E-40, then I ever did with any Korean person I met in South Korea.

Also some funny nuances; I have far more connections with somebody I meet up in the bay area, in the 90s, doesn’t matter if there are Latino or black or whatever…

Even Southern California, LA South Koreans; they are different from me. 

As long as you grew up to underground rap, the Bay Area high E-40 movement, if you know who Keak da sneak is, if you know how to go stupid dumb and hyphy yellow bus retarded, if you over owned a pair of all white case Swiss tennis shoes in high school, and just wore white T-shirts and dark blue denim, and never owned a pair of shorts until you’re late 20s… Then you are with me.

John Wick would like bitcoin

A very interesting scene, and also in the universe of John Wick; it is a world beyond money. For example, in the universe of John Wick, money is just like these gold coins, which are used to gain access, trade favors, clean up messy dead bodies, to protect or guard things, or for people to take a hit at somebody.

For example, when John Wick wants to get into the secret club, he has to insert a single golden coin, very much like putting a coin in some sort of arcade machine.

Also, when John Wick is first seeking revenge in the first film, and he opens up his war chest… It is all guns ammo and gold coins. No US dollars, no Fiat currency.

Why bitcoin is the way

I recently sold all of my Tesla stock, and purchased micro strategy stock instead (MSTR). Why? Some convincing arguments from michael saylor:

 first, product cycles. Certainly for the most part, purchasing Apple stock is a good idea, however, who knows if the iPhone 35 pro will be any good?

Also, CEO; let it say that one day, Elon Musk totally left Tesla. And no longer had any affiliations with Tesla. If this were the case, Tesla would not be worth anything.

I think the genius about bitcoin is that it is a religion. Satoshi, is essentially this metaphorical Jesus speaker, the savior, and he disappears forever. With any other crypto asset, Ethereum and Vitalik or even chainlink and Sergey; as long as you have a central spokesperson, a CEO, a president or a leader, a charismatic individual… You will not last.

For example, one of the very interesting things that I learn from my political sociology class at UCLA as an undergraduate with Mark Jepsen was that nations or nation states that are led by charismatic individuals don’t last. Once the leader dies off, there is no longer any vision.

For example the genius of America, is that even if we have a few bad apples, the whole thing will still chug along OK. Let us consider that after Mao Zedong died, after Ho Chi Minh died, both mainland China and Vietnam has slowly and surely started to delve into capitalism… The dominant world system.

In fact, that is consider that seems that 80% of the Chinese economy is still dependent on America. And essentially, the CNY, is pegged to the US dollar; because there are capital controls in order from the Chinese government, in Chinese mainland Chinese individuals cannot take their wealth out of the country, especially when they prefer to buy property and live in Vancouver Canada instead… It is a strong signal that duh , America’s on top.

Even though if you had currency is weak, America is still the strongest Fiat currency on the planet. I recently talked to a woman who just got her green card from Beirut Lebanon, and she told me that the whole lira thing is a mess;  that people prefer to just hold and trade US dollars instead.

Even when I visited Cuba, even though they have the local Cuban dollar currency, still at end of the day, things are priced in US dollars.

After the US dollar, all other currencies, nobody wants them. Nobody wants the euro, too much chaos in Europe. Nobody wants the pound, Britain’s isolationist policies make it the next Japan, they will still stagger on but will slowly become irrelevant, nobody wants a Korean won — their population is dying off, and it seems that the greatest market for new Hyundai cars are actually in the states, nobody wants the Japanese yen, once again their birth rate is practically zero now. Nobody wants Chinese yuan — I don’t know any non-Chinese person who would prefer using WeChat, we pay, or a Huawei phone.

As long as rich mainland Chinese people prefer to use an iPhone Pro over a Huawei phone, America will always be on top. 

Election cycle predictions 

I’m voting for our Kamala Harris, because she has more aligned with my ethical beliefs, even though she will lose. I’m almost 99.99% certain that Donald Trump win.

The good news is that Donald Trump is very pro bitcoin, bitcoin mining etc.; so after Donald Trump gets elected, after the dust settles… Your bitcoin value will blossom.

Even if bitcoin and crypto goes through another bear market, which eventually it will… Still, the US economy will be stronger under Donald Trump than Kamala Harris.

If anything, of Joe Biden stepping down and having Kamala Harris rotten instead is like the final hail Mary – and I have played enough high school football to know that Hail Mary’s never work 99.999% of the time. The only time a Hail Mary will work in an American football game is almost never; you only hear about it when you watch random TV clips, or YouTube videos, but I think the chance of a Hail Mary working is practically zero. 

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So what is in your locus of control?

So I think the big thing to note here is that the stoic way is simple:

What is in your locus of control, what isn’t?

Politics, climate change, dual politics, etc. are not in your control.

What is in your control? Your own individual behaviors, what you write about to friends family and on the Internet, whether you decide to use social media or not, your own individual actions, and also… Your own individual non-action; what you decide not to do. 

For example, it seems that the words you refrain from, what you decide not to say, is more telling than what you decide to say.

Another stoic strategy; when you hear something which is very puzzling to you, restrain responding immediately… It works 99.9% of the time.

silence is golden, speaking intelligently is silver.

Nobody wants silver.

Just focus on one thing?

Spartans only focused on one thing; freedom. 

The lame thing about America is you have a bunch of these fake ass patriots, waving Trump flags, we have never done any military service. Freedom is not free, or live free or die.

The general ethos is that it is true… Freedom is not free. But what is the opposite of free? Skin and soul in the game; actually being on the front lines of something.

For example, I have a simple rule; you’re not allowed to talk about freedom or whatever or is some sort of fake ass patriot chest thumping flag waving coward, if you have never served military duty, or at least have done Boy Scouts and know how to properly fold a flag!

Also, if you really want to be conservative or Republican or whatever, the simple news is don’t watch Fox News, or any news.

Could be told, both sides are foolish. The left the right the center the moderates whatever… You gotta think like an individual. This means removing all news from your brain, all news which is run on advertising is toxic.

I have another big idea news agencies, website individual bloggers, magazines etc. except payments in bitcoin and Satoshi, no advertising.

The truth is as long as something is supported by advertising, the low-key bias will be to make it more sensationalist, less connected with reality, in order to get more eyeballs in order to make more advertising dollars.

Are there any newsies which do not run on advertising? No.

As a consequence, trust no news but yourself.

Where to get your news? 

ironically enough, maybe the best place to get your news is through intentional propaganda government portals, like going to the official US military defense.gov website, because you could smell the propaganda more critically.

Propaganda, propaganda, propagate just means to spread something. The French use the word propaganda, not in the evil way as we Americans think, propaganda just means to spread something.

and once again, realize that all is toxic, all news is bad. Injecting news into your brain and soul is almost like injecting type two diabetes into a healthy individual.

News is like type two diabetes for your soul.

---

Spartan theory?

To sum up, the spartan way simple: live like a spartan, like the hungry wolf, invest all of your money and earnings and into bitcoin, have at least one kid, derive your pleasure enjoy another human beings, conversation, love and charity, through physical activity exercise, Risky weightlifting, being outside in nature the greet outdoors, and think exposure;

Unless you got real exposure to something, you aren’t permitted to say nothing.

ERIC

---

Don’t opine about something you’re not invested in 

Put your money where your mouth is, or don’t put your mouth where your money is not.

***

Film club

Required watching for any aspiring Spartan Stoic is all of the John Wick movies, the movie 300, the matrix movie, maybe Blade Runner? I prefer the second one. 

---

EK BOOK CLUB

The sayings of Spartans, just Google it. Also, all of the books have Seneca, all of his letters. Also the meditations by Marcus Aurelius, and honestly all of the stoic thinkers are good.

Nietzsche, all of his books.

NASSIM TALEB– all of his books.  

Interview, podcast club

All of the interviews and podcasts in YouTube series by Michael Saylor , michael.com, or hope.com 

Economic theory

All economic theory is bad. The best is to just read the Iliad, think about the ancient Greeks about their life before money was invented. 

---

It seems super simple; lift heavy, and eat a shit load of meat.

LUMIX S9 > Leica Q

The new best camera to have? With the 26 mm f8 lens?

The “LUT” library seems fascinating — essentially you can make your own LUT presets, import and export them?

Also — Leica monochrome filter preset baked into the S9?

LUMIX S9 PDF manual

My passion for investing —

“Regret” is often highly desirable, because it teaches you and informs you on what not to do in the future.

Assuming that you all live further into the future, having wisdom about the future is a good idea.

 regrets are good, a life without regrets is an inferior life .

Auto fix, auto heal.

The Spartan Economist

MOVE

A realization waking up this morning; what is my passion? Moving, movement. Anything that motivates me to move, get out, moving across time and space, this is my passion.

“Move”

Typically when we talk about move, moving… We meant to talk about moving and changing our abode, where we live, what Geo location we live in, city state or country, apartment, etc.

Do you think about it… How much of economic progress can be attributed to movement? Movement of goods products and ideas, people.

For example, let us consider the economy. What is it? It is all about movement!  for example, the movement of ideas in Apple, the movement of raw materials to Foxconn mainland Chinese factories, the movement of the employees and builders inside Faulcon, the movement and shipment of iPhones back to the states, the movement of iPhones from the Apple Store to you, whether you pick it up in store, or it gets delivered to you.

Let us consider Amazon; the number one thing that Amazon has conquered is movement. For example, I was born in 1988, and I still remember… My old scoutmaster Pat Ransil was one of the early engineers at Amazon, and I think he might’ve worked on mechanical Turk.  so Amazon was around ever since I was in middle school in high school, even before anyone really knew what it was.

If you think about the early days of Jeff Bezos… What did he try to do? Books! Apparently stories of him loading up his old Honda Accord with Books, driving to the local USPS store… Delivering books.

And now with the Internet… What is the Internet? The ultimate friction free delivery of information and knowledge.

Even when you think about Tesla, auto pilot, what is the killer feature? Auto pilot! To be able to move your butt from one spot to another, with less fatigue, exhaustion?

For example I test drove Cindy’s dad’s car a Tesla model Y dual motor, and I test drove and experimented with the basic auto pilot feature, which essentially just maintains the distance between you and the car in front of you, and also automatically slows down when other cars are merging, etc. 

 when we drove to the Huntington and back, there’s a certain stretch in downtown LA which has insane amounts of traffic. When I activated the basic auto pilot… All I had to do was move the steering wheel left and right, and the automatic accelerating and breaking smart cruise control was actually insanely useful! first and foremost, I didn’t have to do the dance between accelerating and decelerating, and also, it is like the maximum upside of maintaining some control, like controlling the steering wheel, while having the car automatically do the TDS thing of maintaining distance in between the car in front of you and the car back of you.

And this is one thing I realize; the reason why driving is so exhausting, and draining your physiological energy, especially in LA and during times of traffic is all of the billions of calculations we got to make while driving. Being on maximum alert of insane drivers who automatically cut in and out of traffic without turning on their signals, trying to remember when to merge and not to merge, changing lanes, maintaining speed etc.

I have yet tested out the full self driving auto pilot on a Tesla yet, especially on the newer vehicles, which I assume have newer cameras. But let us assume that the auto pilot works perfectly in terms of automatic steering, automatic acceleration, automatic braking, and you could just keep your hands on your lap, and just relax a bit.

How far?

In regards to moving and movement… How far do you want to go?

Some paradise places I’ve discovered, one being the Stoneview nature center in LA, in the Baldwin Hills. The other day I took him to this solar panel car building workshop, and I swear… The place is like paradise! Having a beautiful and wonderful and warm community center, full of great staff, as well as great hiking paths, being a nature… Even Seneca running around nature, the trees and the grass and the mulch, really brings him to life!

I recently met a theater guy named Abel Horwitz, and he told me something like “we humans are like hairless apes… We need nature community etc.”

I think I have always overlooked the nature part, even though ironically I’m a Boy Scout Eagle Scout. I spent a lot of middle school in high school hiking, being a nature, camping, doing a Boy Scout summer camp etc., but nature never really struck me as something truly critical.

But I think what I love most of my nature, now especially once you got a kid is a nature there are no rules but the rules of physics. You could throw around as many rocks as you would like,  you could be however loud you want, you don’t have to obey any BS rules.

For example, we’ve been spending a lot of time going to the public libraries, and the thing I actually discovered that I hate about libraries is there is this unspoken rule that one must be quiet, orderly, compartmentalized. But this is contrary to the nature of children and kids which is to be boisterous, loud, fun and excited!

I have a funny idea for library; what if you could build a library in which everything was opposite; for example, the rule is actually… You are not allowed to be quiet? All reading is in the ancient Greek style, loud, oratory. 

It’s bizarre even during reading time, in which the volunteers read to kids out loud, they still do it in kind of a hushed voice? 

What’s the problem here?

Everyone thinks that the issue is technology and social media, but this is incorrect. The issue here is actually society.

Society tell you to shut up, sit down, obey directions, even this really kind of bizarre thing I’ve been seeing a lot of parents do is put their kids in some sort of weird timeout, and then use Siri on their iPhones to set a timer, in which the kid must repent for their Sins for arbitrary period of time. Or even worse, setting an alarm to say when it is time to leave the playground?

Certainly there are certain constraints we gotta follow; if we have a truly critical appointment we have to go to, and we have to leave right now, you gotta take the kid. But this whole thing is such a terrible notion because from such a young age, you are already programming a kid to become a slave to time?

Movement

Screaming together some thoughts and facts; apparently if you have type two diabetes, which is 100% lifestyle based, which is caused by over consumption of sugar soda Coca-Cola, starches rice beans potatoes, tortillas etc.… It actually starts to your movement and your walking. 

And this becomes a negative feedback with; even the elderly once they retire, what is it that they typically do? They degenerate, end up slowly dying in retirement homes, are indoors all day, not allowed to walk, still consuming lots of sugar, starches and sodas, until they eventually lose their ability to walk.

Even when I think of the average human, tech worker, whatever… It is cruel. To force a human being to stay inside a building, for an arbitrary period of time, when the sun is out and nice… So sad! I still recall my first college, the Santa Monica third tree promenade… I’ll be able to finish all my work in about three hours, for some reason in order to say I had to stay there until around 6:30 or 7 PM, to look like a good worker and coworker?

And this is what I find so ridiculous about the whole office worker notion; the only reason they really have an office is because the company once upon a time, signed a lease on  an office building, maybe because they raise money from venture capitalist and everyone thinks that it is a good thing to have an office building, and because they are blowing so much money on renting that office building… They feel some sort of financial if they’re employees don’t regularly come into the office.

Also, a form of control; you work from home or you work out of the office, you cannot be monitored. And the fear that the higher up is that if you work from home you’re watching Netflix, doing other non-work related things, thus becoming less productive.

Or a weird toxic coworker co-employee thing;

“I hate my life, I am suffering so badly, yet you are much happier than me… I desire for you to be stuck in this miserable office and be miserable with me!”

The solution to this problem is very simple; just start your own business, become self-employed, better to live poor and free than rich and enslaved.

***

Freedom of Expression

In America, we got freedom of expression. Freedom of whatever you’re into.

Yeah I suppose the new ones is; at what point, is it tyranny?

For example, certainly got the freedom to express yourself however you want. But, you cannot force me against my own will to address you a certain way.

In America, certainly there is racism, sexism, hate. But when do things cross the line?

First, violence. Physical violence, or even motivating people to physical violence, should be illegal.

Yet, verbal violence… This is where things get very tricky. Then suppose, the issue is freedom of hate, freedom of speech, freedom of racism, sexism, as well as issues of religion?

Trigger words

It is true that certain words have been Weaponized to cause negative triggers in people. But let us say that you spin up 1 billion fake bots, which are anti-Semitic, anti-whatever, and you unleash them on real human beings on social media whether it be Facebook Instagram Twitter email etc. And these advanced bots, which are powered by generation three artificial intelligence, control you to extreme ends, all the while when you think that  it is a real human… And you feel all of these negative human emotions, but you essentially figure out that it was a bot the whole time? 

Bots?

Bot, robot. 

Let us do a thought experiment; let us say that you are photographer on Instagram, and you are very very happy because you have 100,000 followers, and every time you upload a picture, it gets like at least 10,000 times.

But, let us say that one day, I reveal to you that 99,999 of your followers, and 99% of the likes you got were actually from a bot?

Or even worse, let us say that you’re getting cyber bullied email Twitter Instagram Facebook whatever… And the whole time for years, you feel so angry and upset and it ruins your sleep because of all these trolls and haters. But what if I snap my fingers and reveal to you that the whole time, None of them… Literally 0% of them were real human beings, and they were all robots, bots the whole time? How would you feel?

One step further; what then I revealed to you that these bots were not even programmed by a human, but they were programmed by another bot, and that was programmed by another bot, and that was also programmed by another bot. And let us also say that the first that was programmed, wasn’t even from a human, but also from a bot? Scary.

---

Don’t trust anything which is not face-to-face 

It’s funny… I’m probably one of the most hated, most successful photographers on the planet. I can easily say that I’m the first street photography millionaire. 

What I have learned in my experience is that all these people who are “haters“; we have actually met them in the flesh, we’re actually very cordial, friendly, knew a lot about me in good ways, and essentially what I discovered was they agreed on me with 99% of my opinions, but it was only one or two things that I did that they disagreed with, which invoked strong emotions?

So I say the intelligent thought and the notion is to never give heed to any toxicity on the Internet. Why? Disable all the comments, disable them in your ad blocker, or just delete them. Why? Once again, what if 99.999% of all comments on the Internet or just bots all along? And what if all these comments you’re reading on Reddit, and these these threads… Also, all bots?

Even when I used to be a Reddit user back in college, I don’t think I ever made a Reddit account, nor did I ever leave comments. I think I only left one comment on Reddit in my life, mostly a humorous one. I think 99.999% of real human beings are just lurkers.

Then it makes me think, if you have enough motivation to actually leave a comment, certainly you must be very very personally invested in the thing to actually overcome the function of leaving a comment.

Comments are dead. 

A photo publishing platform that will host and share your photos for free forever… without advertising? 

This is my big idea; very very simple. Essentially the only places that you could post your pictures on the Internet, all are free, but also all are supported by advertising.

There are two companies like smug mug which exist which actually have a sustainable business model, be charged real money for you to host your website and your photos! It seems like a good model because they were to buy out Flickr.

I think the main issue here is that the reason why Flicker was sold and result so many times was nobody could figure out how to monetize it effectively. Even now when you go to Flicker, it is like 90% advertisements? 

What we need is a carte blanche, blank slate approach tipping; if you created a photo sharing or photo publishing website in the year 2024, essentially it should be powered by bitcoin, the bitcoin wallet, Satoshis.

Why? First you need some sort of treasury fund, store value that could allow the platform to live into perpetuity. Example even with arsbeta.com — the hosting is just been paid from you from my personal bank account, and essentially I’m just doing the pro bono thing of keeping the platform alive with my own wallet. But when I die, who will pay the hosting?

.

Can it last 300 years?

Nietzsche came out with some ideas:

 first, how do you know whether someone has any worthwhile ideas or not? Simple; if there are thoughts can last at least 300 years.

Also the sign of a good guitar for; if your photos can still last and impart meaning 300 years from now… They are good.

This is still why time is the best test of things; and why it is good to study the past. For example, the photos of Henri Cartier Bresson as well as Robert Capa. If a photographer has been around for a long time, typically it is sign and signal that their photos are good. This is why when it comes to photos, photography and art, durability is key. And durability just means being around for a long time. 
It is highly dubious that any digital camera will last for 30 years. It seems that the only thing which will last 30 years, maybe even 100 years is some sort of film Leica M camera– I am highly certain that my film Leica MP and 35mm f2 Leica summicron ASPH Lens will still be functional by the time Seneca is 36 years old, and also will still be functional by the time he has the son, and his son is 36 years old.

Film is interesting because as time goes on, it will keep getting more and more expensive, but, I think you will still be able to somehow process it. And also I think a big innovation could be had in terms of making film development and processing very very easy at home, like some sort of cheap machine or easy scanner.

The idea, is like some sort of digital film 36 mm Cartridge, in which you could just swap in and out a digital sensor for your film camera. Or, it could just use traditional 36 mm film, except you could just invent a machine in which you could just throw in the film cartridges, and the machine will automatically process them, and scan them for you!

Photo projects?

 what is a project, or a photography project?

Essentially, I think of it like a book; what is a book? A book is just an enclosed collection of certain writing and ideas. A book could be however long or short as you wanted to be; for example le petite prince, only 36 pages or so? 

And also, I book doesn’t have to be print-based. It could be digital, an e-book, a PDF file, even a really long blog post. Now with the digital transformation, we are beyond a world of analogue.

Arguments against analogue

For example, there is this huge bias that analog, it must be analogue. 

But the most critical issue here, let us think and consider that money is no longer analogue. If money were truly analogue, in the physical realm, instead of caring around pieces of reinforced paper in our wallets, we would have tiny gold coins or something.

---

Preferences

Something I would never think of my life; lately I’m kind of into trucks. I like how big and dominant they are, and how massive and chunky they are.

Certainly I don’t actually want to desire to own one, it is impossible for to park in my small parking lot apartment. 

Also, I currently think that the best vehicle of all time is definitely the cyber truck; just follow the kids. All the kids love it!

Also, thinking  about when I was a kid, my dream car is a kid was an Acura Integra type R, red with the white rims. Then when I got into high school, my dream car was a 1991 Sentra SE-R, two door coupe, SR20DE engine, 5 speed manual transmission. And my grand dream vision for modifying it was turbocharging it, SR20DE-T, having it in red, with gold or bronze rims, lowered, with a carbon fiber hood and a carbon fiber trunk. And maybe some red recaro racing seats. 

Also somewhere along the line, I had a dream in a vision to drive a red convertible, top down through the desert, and in college I ended up buying a 1990 Mazda Miata, red, 5 speed manual transmission, convertible, two-door, two seater, and had that for a while.

Later, the desire for some sort of Lamborghini, Matt Black, murdered out, black on Black on black, with the scissor doors?

Now at the age of 36… I’m finding that my preferences are constantly changing.

So then, the logical strategy is to never buy any vehicle, because probably within a few years, whether it be one year, two years three years, four years five years, 10 years 20 years 30 years, your preferences will change!

What fools then do is the trade in their old vehicle for a new one, losing about 80% of the value along the way. And this is why people are so broke.

Bitcoin is the way?

Bitcoin is the hardest working asset, on the planet.  While you are sleeping merrily, it is growing, dislike a cybernetic life form, self programming, its own artificial intelligence. And even without me doing anything, there are thousands of bitcoin proponents, spreading the word of bitcoin “orange pilling“ people.

And without me doing anything… The value of my bitcoin assets keep going up. And very very easily, I could predict that within the next 30 years, the value of it will explode. And also, I definitely see that the ERIC KIM send you in bitcoin family fund  what continue to exist even 300 years from now.

In fact, if I had a will, or instructions to Seneca if I somehow died too quickly, or simple instructions for the whole family and the whole future generations is simple:

The only 1 rule: Don’t sell the Bitcoin!

You can mortgage your home against it, you could borrow money against it, using the bitcoin as collateral, very much how like rich families in New York City do it with their property on fifth Avenue or whatever.

No intelligent or rich or wealthy family power whatever sell their property in the middle of Manhattan, or even the middle of Tokyo. Or the middle of Gangnam in South Korea.  And the goal is you keep that property in your family forever, you passed it down to your kids kids kids. This is what they call generational wealth. 

As a first generation person in America, meaning that I was born in the states, but my parents immigrating from South Korea, I started off with zero. Often when I talk to friends tend to be the typical successful Caucasian American, there is some sort of family wealth in America. For example, learning that one of my friends, their grandparents owned a home in Beverly Hills, certainly a leg up, compared to myself being raised by a single mother, working 80 hours a week as a waitress at a sushi restaurant.

***

Money is unlimited optionality

I suppose that genius of money as a concept is that money is infinite option reality. What that means is technically, having money, perfect money which doesn’t lose its value due to inflation, aka Bitcoin over traditional fiat currency is best because knowing that our preferences are so fickle; being able to immediately liquidate and use your economic power is wise.

The reason why owning a home or property is quite foolish is because it is not liquid. For example, you cannot just snap your fingers on Saturday and magically sell your house and have $2 million deposited into your bank account. I also think this is where homeownership is a bit convoluted; let us say that you troll Zillow and you see that your family home is worth $3.2 million. If you actually want to sell it, it might take you a year or two or even three years… Tons of closing costs, fees and headaches, legal paperwork etc., and then you have to also find out where to live after that. so the irony about living in Los Angeles and having a house that is worth a lot is that technically, you live there forever, because you’re not rich enough to move anywhere else. So you can’t really do anything with the home value of your house, except pay taxes, property taxes into perpetuity, which will essentially suck your blood dry after 30 years.

So what should one do with money?

 The religion and the cult of capital, capitalism is to keep growing that into perpetuity forever.

For example, I think it is human nature that enough is never enough. We always want more.

For example, you start off with $100 in your savings account, then 500, then 1000, then 10,000, then 100,000, then 1 million, then 10 million, then 100 million, then 1 billion, then 10 billion etc.

Even numbers which become insane; what is Apple worth? A few trillion dollars?

I would not be surprised if in our lifetime we see Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk become the first trillionaire on the planet.

---

Real needs?

This is where being a stoic capitalist is a wise idea; to essentially live like a poor person, or stoic, or a spartan, and you just keep stacking your capital, forever. And the critical ingredient here is that you must have children, you must have errors. Doesn’t matter if a boy or a girl, You at least want one kid, ideally two kids or more.

Why? Just do the odds; nowadays most people aren’t interested in having any kids — so if you have 1 kid, maybe a high likelihood they won’t want to have any kids as well.

Need vs want?

I also think it is wise for us to critically untangled the difference between need versus want.

We need we must eat, we need must rent, but beyond this… Everything this is just a want?

---

CLASSIC.

What should every artist creator desire?

To create a classic.

What is classic mean? It means the best.

For example an ancient room, class of people who are the best, the richest most powerful the most influential were called “classicus”. And as time goes on, the best intermingle with the other best, and us, the new generation of power emerges.

---

A realization waking up this morning; what is my passion? Moving, movement. Anything that motivates me to move, get out, moving across time and space, this is my passion.

“Move”

Typically when we talk about move, moving… We meant to talk about moving and changing our abode, where we live, what Geo location we live in, city state or country, apartment, etc.

Do you think about it… How much of economic progress can be attributed to movement? Movement of goods products and ideas, people.

For example, let us consider the economy. What is it? It is all about movement!  for example, the movement of ideas in Apple, the movement of raw materials to Foxconn mainland Chinese factories, the movement of the employees and builders inside Faulcon, the movement and shipment of iPhones back to the states, the movement of iPhones from the Apple Store to you, whether you pick it up in store, or it gets delivered to you.

Let us consider Amazon; the number one thing that Amazon has conquered is movement. For example, I was born in 1988, and I still remember… My old scoutmaster Pat Ransil was one of the early engineers at Amazon, and I think he might’ve worked on mechanical Turk.  so Amazon was around ever since I was in middle school in high school, even before anyone really knew what it was.

If you think about the early days of Jeff Bezos… What did he try to do? Books! Apparently stories of him loading up his old Honda Accord with Books, driving to the local USPS store… Delivering books.

And now with the Internet… What is the Internet? The ultimate friction free delivery of information and knowledge.

Even when you think about Tesla, auto pilot, what is the killer feature? Auto pilot! To be able to move your butt from one spot to another, with less fatigue, exhaustion?

For example I test drove Cindy’s dad’s car a Tesla model Y dual motor, and I test drove and experimented with the basic auto pilot feature, which essentially just maintains the distance between you and the car in front of you, and also automatically slows down when other cars are merging, etc. 

 when we drove to the Huntington and back, there’s a certain stretch in downtown LA which has insane amounts of traffic. When I activated the basic auto pilot… All I had to do was move the steering wheel left and right, and the automatic accelerating and breaking smart cruise control was actually insanely useful! first and foremost, I didn’t have to do the dance between accelerating and decelerating, and also, it is like the maximum upside of maintaining some control, like controlling the steering wheel, while having the car automatically do the TDS thing of maintaining distance in between the car in front of you and the car back of you.

And this is one thing I realize; the reason why driving is so exhausting, and draining your physiological energy, especially in LA and during times of traffic is all of the billions of calculations we got to make while driving. Being on maximum alert of insane drivers who automatically cut in and out of traffic without turning on their signals, trying to remember when to merge and not to merge, changing lanes, maintaining speed etc.

I have yet tested out the full self driving auto pilot on a Tesla yet, especially on the newer vehicles, which I assume have newer cameras. But let us assume that the auto pilot works perfectly in terms of automatic steering, automatic acceleration, automatic braking, and you could just keep your hands on your lap, and just relax a bit.

How far?

In regards to moving and movement… How far do you want to go?

Some paradise places I’ve discovered, one being the Stoneview nature center in LA, in the Baldwin Hills. The other day I took him to this solar panel car building workshop, and I swear… The place is like paradise! Having a beautiful and wonderful and warm community center, full of great staff, as well as great hiking paths, being a nature… Even Seneca running around nature, the trees and the grass and the mulch, really brings him to life!

I recently met a theater guy named Abel Horwitz, and he told me something like “we humans are like hairless apes… We need nature community etc.”

I think I have always overlooked the nature part, even though ironically I’m a Boy Scout Eagle Scout. I spent a lot of middle school in high school hiking, being a nature, camping, doing a Boy Scout summer camp etc., but nature never really struck me as something truly critical.

But I think what I love most of my nature, now especially once you got a kid is a nature there are no rules but the rules of physics. You could throw around as many rocks as you would like,  you could be however loud you want, you don’t have to obey any BS rules.

For example, we’ve been spending a lot of time going to the public libraries, and the thing I actually discovered that I hate about libraries is there is this unspoken rule that one must be quiet, orderly, compartmentalized. But this is contrary to the nature of children and kids which is to be boisterous, loud, fun and excited!

I have a funny idea for library; what if you could build a library in which everything was opposite; for example, the rule is actually… You are not allowed to be quiet? All reading is in the ancient Greek style, loud, oratory. 

It’s bizarre even during reading time, in which the volunteers read to kids out loud, they still do it in kind of a hushed voice? 

What’s the problem here?

Everyone thinks that the issue is technology and social media, but this is incorrect. The issue here is actually society.

Society tell you to shut up, sit down, obey directions, even this really kind of bizarre thing I’ve been seeing a lot of parents do is put their kids in some sort of weird timeout, and then use Siri on their iPhones to set a timer, in which the kid must repent for their Sins for arbitrary period of time. Or even worse, setting an alarm to say when it is time to leave the playground?

Certainly there are certain constraints we gotta follow; if we have a truly critical appointment we have to go to, and we have to leave right now, you gotta take the kid. But this whole thing is such a terrible notion because from such a young age, you are already programming a kid to become a slave to time?

Movement

Screaming together some thoughts and facts; apparently if you have type two diabetes, which is 100% lifestyle based, which is caused by over consumption of sugar soda Coca-Cola, starches rice beans potatoes, tortillas etc.… It actually starts to your movement and your walking. 

And this becomes a negative feedback with; even the elderly once they retire, what is it that they typically do? They degenerate, end up slowly dying in retirement homes, are indoors all day, not allowed to walk, still consuming lots of sugar, starches and sodas, until they eventually lose their ability to walk.

Even when I think of the average human, tech worker, whatever… It is cruel. To force a human being to stay inside a building, for an arbitrary period of time, when the sun is out and nice… So sad! I still recall my first college, the Santa Monica third tree promenade… I’ll be able to finish all my work in about three hours, for some reason in order to say I had to stay there until around 6:30 or 7 PM, to look like a good worker and coworker?

And this is what I find so ridiculous about the whole office worker notion; the only reason they really have an office is because the company once upon a time, signed a lease on  an office building, maybe because they raise money from venture capitalist and everyone thinks that it is a good thing to have an office building, and because they are blowing so much money on renting that office building… They feel some sort of financial if they’re employees don’t regularly come into the office.

Also, a form of control; you work from home or you work out of the office, you cannot be monitored. And the fear that the higher up is that if you work from home you’re watching Netflix, doing other non-work related things, thus becoming less productive.

Or a weird toxic coworker co-employee thing;

“I hate my life, I am suffering so badly, yet you are much happier than me… I desire for you to be stuck in this miserable office and be miserable with me!”

The solution to this problem is very simple; just start your own business, become self-employed, better to live poor and free than rich and enslaved.

***

In America, we got freedom of expression. Freedom of whatever you’re into.

Yeah I suppose the new ones is; at what point, is it tyranny?

For example, certainly got the freedom to express yourself however you want. But, you cannot force me against my own will to address you a certain way.

In America, certainly there is racism, sexism, hate. But when do things cross the line?

First, violence. Physical violence, or even motivating people to physical violence, should be illegal.

Yet, verbal violence… This is where things get very tricky. Then suppose, the issue is freedom of hate, freedom of speech, freedom of racism, sexism, as well as issues of religion?

Trigger words

It is true that certain words have been Weaponized to cause negative triggers in people. But let us say that you spin up 1 billion fake bots, which are anti-Semitic, anti-whatever, and you unleash them on real human beings on social media whether it be Facebook Instagram Twitter email etc. And these advanced bots, which are powered by generation three artificial intelligence, control you to extreme ends, all the while when you think that  it is a real human… And you feel all of these negative human emotions, but you essentially figure out that it was a bot the whole time? 

Bots?

Bot, robot. 

Let us do a thought experiment; let us say that you are photographer on Instagram, and you are very very happy because you have 100,000 followers, and every time you upload a picture, it gets like at least 10,000 times.

But, let us say that one day, I reveal to you that 99,999 of your followers, and 99% of the likes you got were actually from a bot?

Or even worse, let us say that you’re getting cyber bullied email Twitter Instagram Facebook whatever… And the whole time for years, you feel so angry and upset and it ruins your sleep because of all these trolls and haters. But what if I snap my fingers and reveal to you that the whole time, None of them… Literally 0% of them were real human beings, and they were all robots, bots the whole time? How would you feel?

One step further; what then I revealed to you that these bots were not even programmed by a human, but they were programmed by another bot, and that was programmed by another bot, and that was also programmed by another bot. And let us also say that the first that was programmed, wasn’t even from a human, but also from a bot? Scary.

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Don’t trust anything which is not face-to-face 

It’s funny… I’m probably one of the most hated, most successful photographers on the planet. I can easily say that I’m the first street photography millionaire. 

What I have learned in my experience is that all these people who are “haters“; we have actually met them in the flesh, we’re actually very cordial, friendly, knew a lot about me in good ways, and essentially what I discovered was they agreed on me with 99% of my opinions, but it was only one or two things that I did that they disagreed with, which invoked strong emotions?

So I say the intelligent thought and the notion is to never give heed to any toxicity on the Internet. Why? Disable all the comments, disable them in your ad blocker, or just delete them. Why? Once again, what if 99.999% of all comments on the Internet or just bots all along? And what if all these comments you’re reading on Reddit, and these these threads… Also, all bots?

Even when I used to be a Reddit user back in college, I don’t think I ever made a Reddit account, nor did I ever leave comments. I think I only left one comment on Reddit in my life, mostly a humorous one. I think 99.999% of real human beings are just lurkers.

Then it makes me think, if you have enough motivation to actually leave a comment, certainly you must be very very personally invested in the thing to actually overcome the function of leaving a comment.

Comments are dead. 

A photo publishing platform that will host and share your photos for free forever… without advertising? 

This is my big idea; very very simple. Essentially the only places that you could post your pictures on the Internet, all are free, but also all are supported by advertising.

There are two companies like smug mug which exist which actually have a sustainable business model, be charged real money for you to host your website and your photos! It seems like a good model because they were to buy out Flickr.

I think the main issue here is that the reason why Flicker was sold and result so many times was nobody could figure out how to monetize it effectively. Even now when you go to Flicker, it is like 90% advertisements? 

What we need is a carte blanche, blank slate approach tipping; if you created a photo sharing or photo publishing website in the year 2024, essentially it should be powered by bitcoin, the bitcoin wallet, Satoshis.

Why? First you need some sort of treasury fund, store value that could allow the platform to live into perpetuity. Example even with arsbeta.com — the hosting is just been paid from you from my personal bank account, and essentially I’m just doing the pro bono thing of keeping the platform alive with my own wallet. But when I die, who will pay the hosting?

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Can it last 300 years?

Nietzsche came out with some ideas:

 first, how do you know whether someone has any worthwhile ideas or not? Simple; if there are thoughts can last at least 300 years.

Also the sign of a good guitar for; if your photos can still last and impart meaning 300 years from now… They are good.

This is still why time is the best test of things; and why it is good to study the past. For example, the photos of Henri Cartier Bresson as well as Robert Capa. If a photographer has been around for a long time, typically it is sign and signal that their photos are good. This is why when it comes to photos, photography and art, durability is key. And durability just means being around for a long time. 
It is highly dubious that any digital camera will last for 30 years. It seems that the only thing which will last 30 years, maybe even 100 years is some sort of film Leica M camera– I am highly certain that my film Leica MP and 35mm f2 Leica summicron ASPH Lens will still be functional by the time Seneca is 36 years old, and also will still be functional by the time he has the son, and his son is 36 years old.

Film is interesting because as time goes on, it will keep getting more and more expensive, but, I think you will still be able to somehow process it. And also I think a big innovation could be had in terms of making film development and processing very very easy at home, like some sort of cheap machine or easy scanner.

The idea, is like some sort of digital film 36 mm Cartridge, in which you could just swap in and out a digital sensor for your film camera. Or, it could just use traditional 36 mm film, except you could just invent a machine in which you could just throw in the film cartridges, and the machine will automatically process them, and scan them for you!

Photo projects?

 what is a project, or a photography project?

Essentially, I think of it like a book; what is a book? A book is just an enclosed collection of certain writing and ideas. A book could be however long or short as you wanted to be; for example le petite prince, only 36 pages or so? 

And also, I book doesn’t have to be print-based. It could be digital, an e-book, a PDF file, even a really long blog post. Now with the digital transformation, we are beyond a world of analogue.

Arguments against analogue

For example, there is this huge bias that analog, it must be analogue. 

But the most critical issue here, let us think and consider that money is no longer analogue. If money were truly analogue, in the physical realm, instead of caring around pieces of reinforced paper in our wallets, we would have tiny gold coins or something.

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What should every artist creator desire?

To create a classic.

What is classic mean? It means the best.

For example an ancient room, class of people who are the best, the richest most powerful the most influential were called “classicus”. And as time goes on, the best intermingle with the other best, and us, the new generation of power emerges.

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Something I would never think of my life; lately I’m kind of into trucks. I like how big and dominant they are, and how massive and chunky they are.

Certainly I don’t actually want to desire to own one, it is impossible for to park in my small parking lot apartment. 

Also, I currently think that the best vehicle of all time is definitely the cyber truck; just follow the kids. All the kids love it!

Also, thinking  about when I was a kid, my dream car is a kid was an Acura Integra type R, red with the white rims. Then when I got into high school, my dream car was a 1991 Sentra SE-R, two door coupe, SR20DE engine, 5 speed manual transmission. And my grand dream vision for modifying it was turbocharging it, SR20DE-T, having it in red, with gold or bronze rims, lowered, with a carbon fiber hood and a carbon fiber trunk. And maybe some red recaro racing seats. 

Also somewhere along the line, I had a dream in a vision to drive a red convertible, top down through the desert, and in college I ended up buying a 1990 Mazda Miata, red, 5 speed manual transmission, convertible, two-door, two seater, and had that for a while.

Later, the desire for some sort of Lamborghini, Matt Black, murdered out, black on Black on black, with the scissor doors?

Now at the age of 36… I’m finding that my preferences are constantly changing.

So then, the logical strategy is to never buy any vehicle, because probably within a few years, whether it be one year, two years three years, four years five years, 10 years 20 years 30 years, your preferences will change!

What fools then do is the trade in their old vehicle for a new one, losing about 80% of the value along the way. And this is why people are so broke.

Bitcoin is the way?

Bitcoin is the hardest working asset, on the planet.  While you are sleeping merrily, it is growing, dislike a cybernetic life form, self programming, its own artificial intelligence. And even without me doing anything, there are thousands of bitcoin proponents, spreading the word of bitcoin “orange pilling“ people.

And without me doing anything… The value of my bitcoin assets keep going up. And very very easily, I could predict that within the next 30 years, the value of it will explode. And also, I definitely see that the ERIC KIM send you in bitcoin family fund  what continue to exist even 300 years from now.

In fact, if I had a will, or instructions to Seneca if I somehow died too quickly, or simple instructions for the whole family and the whole future generations is simple:

The only 1 rule: Don’t sell the Bitcoin!

You can mortgage your home against it, you could borrow money against it, using the bitcoin as collateral, very much how like rich families in New York City do it with their property on fifth Avenue or whatever.

No intelligent or rich or wealthy family power whatever sell their property in the middle of Manhattan, or even the middle of Tokyo. Or the middle of Gangnam in South Korea.  And the goal is you keep that property in your family forever, you passed it down to your kids kids kids. This is what they call generational wealth. 

As a first generation person in America, meaning that I was born in the states, but my parents immigrating from South Korea, I started off with zero. Often when I talk to friends tend to be the typical successful Caucasian American, there is some sort of family wealth in America. For example, learning that one of my friends, their grandparents owned a home in Beverly Hills, certainly a leg up, compared to myself being raised by a single mother, working 80 hours a week as a waitress at a sushi restaurant.

***

Money is unlimited optionality

I suppose that genius of money as a concept is that money is infinite option reality. What that means is technically, having money, perfect money which doesn’t lose its value due to inflation, aka Bitcoin over traditional fiat currency is best because knowing that our preferences are so fickle; being able to immediately liquidate and use your economic power is wise.

The reason why owning a home or property is quite foolish is because it is not liquid. For example, you cannot just snap your fingers on Saturday and magically sell your house and have $2 million deposited into your bank account. I also think this is where homeownership is a bit convoluted; let us say that you troll Zillow and you see that your family home is worth $3.2 million. If you actually want to sell it, it might take you a year or two or even three years… Tons of closing costs, fees and headaches, legal paperwork etc., and then you have to also find out where to live after that. so the irony about living in Los Angeles and having a house that is worth a lot is that technically, you live there forever, because you’re not rich enough to move anywhere else. So you can’t really do anything with the home value of your house, except pay taxes, property taxes into perpetuity, which will essentially suck your blood dry after 30 years.

So what should one do with money?

 The religion and the cult of capital, capitalism is to keep growing that into perpetuity forever.

For example, I think it is human nature that enough is never enough. We always want more.

For example, you start off with $100 in your savings account, then 500, then 1000, then 10,000, then 100,000, then 1 million, then 10 million, then 100 million, then 1 billion, then 10 billion etc.

Even numbers which become insane; what is Apple worth? A few trillion dollars?

I would not be surprised if in our lifetime we see Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk become the first trillionaire on the planet.

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Real needs?

This is where being a stoic capitalist is a wise idea; to essentially live like a poor person, or stoic, or a spartan, and you just keep stacking your capital, forever. And the critical ingredient here is that you must have children, you must have errors. Doesn’t matter if a boy or a girl, You at least want one kid, ideally two kids or more.

Why? Just do the odds; nowadays most people aren’t interested in having any kids — so if you have 1 kid, maybe a high likelihood they won’t want to have any kids as well.

Need vs want?

I also think it is wise for us to critically untangled the difference between need versus want.

We need we must eat, we need must rent, but beyond this… Everything this is just a want?

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Real vs fake energy

When to store your value, when to use your value?

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Think Physics

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Don’t trust a software company for 100 years from now!

First principles —

Decentralized node —

Don’t trust anything that needs a leader.?

2009– finally property rights that cannot be seized.

Think 100 years

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Think nation proof resistant

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Thermodynamic costs

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Bitcoin is a hedge against AI

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Hedge against counter party risk

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Bitcoin is the ultimate technology thing?

Don’t think big tech companies ,,, think Bitcoin tech money?

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Treasury reserve asset

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2030– more than a million a Bitcoin

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8 years, $1M a Bitcoin?

2.5% of institutional assets to Bitcoin

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Bitcoin & barbells

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7:42am— July 21st, 2024 — the morning sun

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