In a world grappling with health and technological disruption, tech millionaire Bryan Johnson is making headlines with his audacious claim: he will not die.
This declaration, made during an exclusive interview with Katie Drummond of Wired, unveils Johnson’s ambitious plan for radical longevity, fueled by an extreme daily regimen and a belief system centered on artificial intelligence.
Johnson, who amassed his fortune after selling his web payments company Braintree for $800 million in 2013, has since embarked on what he calls Project Blueprint. This all-consuming effort, initiated in 2021, aims to reverse his body’s aging process through an unproven, yet meticulously documented, protocol.
According to the Wired interview, Project Blueprint involves an array of tests and treatments including daily exercises, blood tests, MRIs, plasma transfers, scalp stimulants, urine tests, dozens of supplements, Dexa scans, and caloric restriction.
His home, a “predictable” angular, concrete-floored dwelling in Venice, houses specimen cups of semen and coolers of his blood, with pills and powders meticulously organized in his pantry.
“These are readouts of your biology. They just say, ‘This is me in raw form.’ There’s no storytelling. It’s just the data.”
AI: The Ultimate Path to “Existence”
Beyond the physical pursuit of youth, Johnson revealed a profound, almost spiritual, dimension to his longevity project: the critical role of artificial intelligence. He said that AI will shift humanity’s focus from wealth and status to “existence” itself.
When asked directly by Drummond if he, Bryan Johnson, will one day die, his response was a firm “False.”
He elaborated, “Death has always been inevitable, so we have made all these preparations. We talk about immortality in professional achievements. We talk about life after death. There are the ways that we’ve dealt with death up to this point. And now we have this real possibility of extending our lifespans to some unknown horizon. So that’s extension. But we also have the ability to begin moving ourselves to computational systems.”
Johnson claims to already have a “Bryan AI” that has “digested everything I’ve ever said,” and he believes that as AI technology advances, “the most prized asset is going to be existence; immortality as we thought about it before, through accomplishment or through offspring or the afterlife, will be devalued relative to existing. And that’s my fundamental bet on the future.”
He said that the emergence of “superintelligence” could extend human lifespans to “200 years, 1,000 years, 10,000 years. Millions of years. We don’t know.”
A New Ideology for the Age of AI: “Don’t Die”
Johnson sees this moment of rapid AI advancement as an “opening” for a new global ideology. He contends that existing ideologies, from Christianity to capitalism, struggle to provide guidance in this unprecedented era. His proposed solution is simple: “We choose to not die.”
He clarifies that this isn’t about achieving literal immortality or a utopian future, but rather a fundamental shift in human behavior and alignment with AI.
“We as a species, our existence is at risk,” Johnson states. “We do not know if humans have a role in the future. We do not know if we’re going to survive this moment… It’s a moment where we evolve into a species who say: The single thing we have in common is that nobody wants to die right now. That’s it.”
The core tenets of this “Don’t Die” ideology are a “humility to say we don’t know what’s coming,” and a commitment to “lock in our individual and shared behaviors.” This means individuals making choices that promote their health and longevity, and collectively, humanity avoiding self-destructive actions like conflict and environmental degradation. He believes, “we align AI with Don’t Die,” rather than allowing it to develop in a “warlike scenario” driven by competing powers.
The Intersection of Philosophy and Commerce
Johnson’s venture into this new ideology isn’t without its complexities, particularly concerning his commercial enterprise, Blueprint, which sells supplements and aging tests. He admits to Drummond that he’s “so close to either shutting it down or selling it” because the business has, in his view, “less credibility on the philosophy side.” He states, “I will not make that trade-off. It is not worth it to me. So yeah, I don’t want it.”
He explains that the company originated from his personal need for high-quality, third-party tested products, and grew from friends’ requests.
His pursuit of longevity isn’t confined to a typical lifespan. Johnson explained he thinks about his legacy not in decades, but in centuries. He performed a “thought experiment” imagining being present in the 25th century, where future intelligence would look back at the early 21st century and note two pivotal events: “humanity gave birth to superintelligence” and “humanity figured out that they were the first generation who wouldn’t die.”
For Johnson, this foresight dictates his actions today. “It’s very obvious we need a new ideological framework, and what’s more powerful than religion?” he mused.
Despite his ambitious goals, Johnson remains grounded in the reality of human existence, joking about the irony of how he might eventually meet his end. Yet, his commitment to this long-term vision remains unwavering, driven by the belief that he is playing a role in shaping humanity’s future in the face of unprecedented technological change.