An essay on thinking:
First, what is the most desire thing, the most desired trait in today’s world? To think. 
I think I am actually a very very sensitive person; I am extremely sensitive to audio visual information, ideas, words mines etc. I take everything personally, over personally; perhaps, rather than trying to negate this, this might be my superpower? I think this is how I could psycho analyze people so well, and even myself? 
Street smarts
Assuming that I might be the greatest street photographer of all time, yes, even better than Henri Cartier-Bresson, then it seems like I have a mighty task at hand. To propagate and to promote street photography to the limits and beyond. 
First, maximum exposure to the streets, public life, street life etc. Probably my most formative thing as of late is walking around lot every single day, with my 60 pound weight vest on. 
Even as a funny exercise, go on a walk with your weight vest on, your camera, and shoot street photos with your weight vest on! You’re killing at least two birds with one stone;  first, you get an incredible workout, and secondly, you’re making art!
My social imperative
I think in today’s world, maybe the best approach is to think about your imperative; things that you must do because it is your self-appointed task in life, because you so believe in it so deeply.
I’ve always had the philosophy in the ideas that if you pursued your passion hard enough, even without thinking about social political or economic or monetary payoff; you would succeed.
For example, advice that I believed in which I still believe; the upside of pursuing your passion in life — in fact, the number one issue in today’s world is that nobody has a passion anymore, nor is anyone permitted to have a passion.  For example, the pernicious element of modern day capitalism is that in order to be virtuous, you must have your passion either directly or indirectly lead to some sort of social political monetary payoff. Or more or less… Your passion can only be made legitimate if it can directly or indirectly help you make a bunch of money.
I think one of the piece advice that I got from one of my high school teachers, which actually paid off was that if you pursued your passion, hard enough and diligently enough… Sooner or later it would pay off. He told me in the class that it certainly wouldn’t make you a bunch of money, but you should be at least able to make a living from it. 
Making a living
The stoic Spartan economic strategy;  we glorify and we deify our extreme and insane frugality; whenever I need inspiration or a vision… I always go back to the movie 300, and I always rewatch it… Because I’m a visual person, it centers me.
For literature, if I only had one book for the rest of my life it would probably be the Iliad by Homer. Achilles is my alter ego.
He who adapts the fastest shall win
I think this is something that Michael Saylor said; that an economics life biological life etc.… He who adapts the fastest shall win! 
Add optician is difficult process because there is no manual no playbook, no blueprint. And also the tricky thing is that a blueprint of the past only worked in the past because it was so disruptive at the time, but it probably won’t be applicable to modern day times.
Even Peter Thiel so wisely predicted, that the next billion dollar unicorn would not be a search engine or whatever; he almost predicted the rise of AI and ChatGPT; and he was right. Slowly but surely… chatGPT open AI is starting to eat the market share of Google; Google is starting to sweat bullets, and so is Apple. 
It seems like the magical unicorn right now is Nvidia; which is something I have been familiar with ever since I was a kid. Essentially when you’re applying counterstrike 1.6, whoever had the best card, the newest the fastest most powerful and videographics card, would have the most frames per second, which would actually give them a strategic advantage. Even though very small.
And now, these video games are starting to become insane. Kids nowadays prefer to play video games over anything else,,, note the rise of mobile based games, and still nowadays… Gaming computers, wanting to become a pro gamer or whatever. 
And I think, even though people like to play games on the iPhone, maybe the iPad… There’s still seems to be this prediction for people to rather sit, use a gaming computer, a gaming chair, because they prefer the haptics of tactical keyboard, and also mouse?
The ultimate privilege 
What is the dream or living the dream? Being in Culver City, I see I met a lot of people; who work at Apple Amazon Warner Bros. discovery Sony pictures etc. And it is a bit sad;  yes yes yes you could drive your Ferrari to work, but the second you pull up to the parking lot in the parking garage, you are forced to be inside a depressing building all day.
I’m shocked even even Apple which I always considered the peak of success aesthetics and greatness — I don’t think I’ve ever met a happy person that I’ve met working at Apple besides my friend Anthony Larson? All these people who work at Apple in Culver City, they are so gloomy and depressed looking. They have designer clothes, but no tan, not enough freedom and time in the sun. I see them all drive their expensive cars into the Apple parking lot on Washington, to park it, and spend the rest of their days in their beautiful glass cube cage.  
Goals?
Life goals are interesting; because they are centered around your own personal philosophy and ethos.
I typically like to ask people what their life goals are, their passions etc. Because it often signals who they are, what they believe in etc. Certainly there is no hierarchy in what seems like a wise idea or goals .,, why there are a certain like goal is wiser foolish is all subjective. And also hindsight is 20-20.
For example, one might have said that Steve Jobs wasting all this time going to Japan whatever or going to India was wasting time or doing Calligraphy was a waste of time, but ultimately it percolated into all the beautiful apple products we got today.
Therefore my simple suggestion is permit yourself to all the superficial random interests that you got, because you never know how it will come in handy. 
On thinking for yourself
Never read the news, never seek it; all news is bad and toxic.
Only that, but practically everything modern is bad. Any modern thinker the last 100 years, there are really no good ones. Only good ones I include NASSIM Taleb, Peter Thiel, and now Michael Saylor. Everyone else is bad.
The strange advice in today’s world is that we are not permitted to think for ourselves, by ourselves. We need to give fellatio to great thinkers who came before us, in order for it to be legitimate or warranted.
And truth be told… All these things are flawed. Just look into their personal lives; or their physique or how they look like. This matters.
For example, Nietzsche had extreme gastrointestinal problems his whole life, and also, he was always traveling and trying to find a new place to live before he settled somewhere I think in Italy because he was quite sensitive to climate, the weather? Nietzsche even has a theory that the reason why Arthur Schopenhauer was so dark and gloomy was simply because of the poor German weather. I; Berlin in the middle of the winter is depressing as hell. Same goes with Prague or the South of France and Marseille during the winter time. For the most part, winter in Europe sucks. Especially Eastern Europe.
I actually wonder… Because of the poor weather, that is why Russian thinkers, Russian writers tend to be so dark and morose?
Climate matters.
For example, currently peak summer here in Los Angeles,  and it is so glorious! There’s nothing that in Lins me and my joy as much as seeing the sunrise first thing in the morning from my apartment window! It actually gives me a motivation to go out!
Thinking about the last winter cycle; how depressing and gloomy it was. I think I’m like a plant; I need maximum sun exposure in order to grow.
Where being solitary is good 
If you think about all the great artists of the past, the great thinkers… The great philosophers, most of them were quite solitary in their pursuits.
For example, any thinker or artist who aligned themselves with some sort of cultural or theoretical movement, have not lasted.
For example, nobody really remembers any of the “Cubists” besides Picasso. Because Picasso was smart; he was a master marketer and promoter of himself; so for any skinny fat anemic emo art loving loser who says that the art should speak for itself is false. 
Art is marketing.
What is art?
 to me, maybe just being alive is art?  For me, it is all art, artful, artistic, etc.
For example, your lifestyle how you live is art; let us recall that the word art “facere” means to make.
How to become a great street photographer 
Maybe this is time for ERIC KIM to get back into street photography 2.0. We have already rode the first grand wave, and now… After a brief lull… We are back in the game! 
My critique of all street photographers, all the masters, Henri Cartier bresson magnum and the like  is many.
First, maybe we should think about HCB like Socrates or Plato.  All philosophers after Socrates is bad and degenerate. There is a screen shift in philosophy towards ethics and morality. Before Socrates, it was more about nature of the universe, deeper thoughts. And the really bad thing is when we tried to make it all into a science; this is where economics and all economic theory is bad. All these twig men try to turn economics into a science and mathematics but it is not. My idea is economic theory that is not at least 300 years old. Better to read Aristotle on economics modern day… Even the school of economics, they are too modern. Maybe not as bad as the American or or sneakers… But still… modern all too modern! 
Think Greek
The Greeks invented the Olympics. And we all know and recognize that ancient Greece was the Apex in epitome of all human civilization. Even better than the Romans. 
Even watching recent Olympics, my plenty site that in tradition, the Greeks always went first, even though now they are the most weak major out there. They certainly have their cultural clout of the past… Yet, now they are impotent in terms of economics; Which is bad because economics is now the new head of power on the planet.
Once again, we will not see World War III the future wars and battles are all economic battles. Economics, money and capitalism is the new modern bond which holds all of humanity together, which is good because it promotes peace. Even though there are lots of evil of capitalism, I think it is still positive on the planet; because you are self interested economizing individual, you will not want war, you will want peace because peace is better for economics, material wealth and money. 
For example there is no oligarch in mainland China who wants World War III, because he will desire to have his fine whiskey, drive his Rolls-Royce, send his kids to college in America, buy a nice house in Vancouver etc.
Economic theory
This is where economic theory becomes so interesting to me, because assuming that use the internet, have a bank account balance, a credit card, use Visa, use Apple Pay, have an iPhone etc.… You are implicated in economics, the planet. 
The first interesting thought I had which was inspired by Cindy thinking about economics and the human body.
For example, when it comes to physical culture with men; it is all centered around gain. Just like money. You don’t want any losses.
Then, this becomes terrible because a man’s ego is only tied to how much weight or muscle mass or whatever he puts on! Also the problem with powerlifting; if too much of your ego is centered around your personal record number… Sooner or later you might dip into steroids or weird stuff in order to boost your numbers. or maybe something foolish, and injure yourself because you’re chasing those numbers in a fragmented way.
… Would you judge Achilles based on his dick size, how big his biceps were, how much he could dead lift and squat? No. It was his lethality in battle, PVP, 1v1.
And this is my current choice; I don’t know any other man in the flesh is more masculine, more charming, more handsome and as strong as me.
As long as the other man cannot lift 1000 pounds, or 10 plates, he is no match for me.
Even all of these powerlifters and strong men, who are all on steroids and balding, or bald… They are no match for me.
Even the rock, who is obviously juicing his eyeballs out; he has chicken legs? He wishes that his legs were as strong as me. 
Even Zac Efron, I feel bad that he is such a Shorty guy, only about 5 foot seven? Even though very handsome?
The path forward
So what is the logical path forward?
First, your art will outlast you. Your art through your children, your art through your artwork etc.
Either children or art,,, ideally both.
You do not seek your own personal immortality, this is first a philosophically disgusting notion, and also biologically impotent. I doubt if you were 300 years old, you would be able to ejaculate.
Where we should be very suspicious of Silicon Valley people 
Currently speaking, the nerds have taken over. Why because they are the richest. Once again, if you take nerds with good intentions and too much money, and too much power… Things go awry.
For example, Mark Zuckerberg, who might have more power than the US president; has good intentions, he is a nerd, and will forever be that way.
Bill Gates; the uber nerd, just see what Steve Jobs said about him in Walter Isaacson’s biography —  and think about that Elon Musk tweet, “the quickest way to kill your boner.”
Even Peter Thiel, I love him to death, but I’m not sure if he’s actually interested in having kids? I think the last time I checked he had a male partner… But no kids?
Jeff Bezos wants to go to space and leave earth behind.
Elon Musk is still good; he wants to get the planet off of fossil fuels, and make human life interplanetary. He is probably one of the greatest innovators entrepreneurs of all time, who has created value literally out of nothing.
As much as you can critique Tesla cars, the don’t lie; the Tesla model Y is the most desired car on the planet, and also the best selling one, made in the USA!
So the irony is, if you are truly a red blooded American, you would be very pro Tesla.