COWEN: I love that movie, by the way. I also quite like Werner Herzog’s — the German-language version of Little Dieter Needs to Fly. Do you know that one? I think the educational system could incorporate the idea of advice into its curriculum as a way of helping young people develop these principles in their own lives that they could be reminded of. Which I really love. So how have your travels in Asia, in particular, being so many different cultures, helped you think outside your brain? How has Asia changed you?

Indeed, as we navigate an ever-changing landscape, a way to maintain equilibrium is to adhere to a set of unchanging principles. Elements like honesty, integrity, and kindness serve as these steadfast principles. You pledge to remain kind, regardless of the circumstances. You vow to uphold absolute honesty, come what may. This commitment to unwavering principles is, in essence, the wisdom we need. KELLY: Trying to do too much. I’ve learned a little bit better, but I am very ambitious in that, particularly if I’m with other people, like my family. I have to repeatedly try to accomplish too much. KELLY: I tend to really read about the place I’m in as much as I can. It’s really weird, because I find that often I’m not really interested or willing to read about it unless I am there. Once I am there, I have an insatiable appetite for finding out about the history, whatever was going on, other people’s view of it, that is not present when I’m not there. I tend almost exclusively to read about where I am. KELLY: First of all, the kind of photography I do is sometimes called street photography. It’s candid. There are some portraits, but most of the time, people are often not even aware that I’m photographing them. Other times, when I ask permission — although I would often shoot first and ask questions later. I would say, places —A piece of advice that I would be hesitant to talk about is — here’s one: I think you should have as many kids as you possibly can. That’s a piece of advice I did not include in the book. But I am very, very happy, because I like the kind of travel that’s not for relaxation and not so much for rejuvenation but for learning. I’m happiest when I am encountering things I’ve never seen before, making me question and change my mind and try to understand things. That makes me supremely happy and content, so I can just keep going and going. Particularly in situations where I’m learning the entire time. So yes, there’s two things going on. There’s this huge commonality and then there is this difference that we find important.

COWEN: Now, my favorite creation of yours probably is this three-volume set: It’s called Vanishing Asia. If I understand correctly, it was a 50-year project based around roughly 200,000 photos; it’s three volumes. It’s one of the greatest picture books ever produced, possibly the greatest. That in turn makes it one of the greatest books ever produced. I’ve learned to wean myself off from that necessity. Now I can travel with just a phone for the selfies that you might want to take. The kind of advice that I get from — people writing are usually young people who are trying to decide about where to go, what to study. And they’re wanting to hear from an adult some sense of whether something is valuable or not, and they don’t know.KELLY: I don’t know how Christianity itself will change. I think that — the Christian creed is that humans are made in the image of God. Therefore, since God is a creator and made other beings like us, that this could reinforce the idea of demigods and that we are godlike: we’re fulfilling the commandment to be like God by creating other beings. We might have to have some — what’s the word I want — guidance, some principles about “here’s how to be a good god, based on biblical principles.” That’s a possibility. I'm a more natural editor than a writer, let me put it that way. My natural tendency is to edit. I'm comfortable editing. I am just in pain trying to write that first draft, and it's just excruciating. PDF / EPUB File Name: Excellent_Advice_for_Living_-_Kevin_Kelly.pdf, Excellent_Advice_for_Living_-_Kevin_Kelly.epub