Bryan Johnson Can’t Biohack Mortality
Kernel Founder/CEO Bryan Johnson wearing Flow during the Ketamine pilot study. Nasal cannula is part of the study and not required or part of Flow. (Photo: Business Wire)
I’d venture to guess that most people have seen some ad for a miracle product pop up on their screen: “Doctors Hate This Anti-Aging Hack,” “This Pill Lost Him 100 Pounds,” “Burn Fat Instantly With This Machine!”
Bryan Johnson, a 47-year-old software entrepreneur and CEO of multiple tech companies, is attempting to combine all of these too-good-to-be true gimmicks to “live forever.” Most people know him for the endless videos that he puts online detailing his complex self-care routine —Ashton Hall be damned. The method, which Johnson refers to as the Blueprint Protocol, costs him over $2 million a year and ranges from a personal hyperbaric oxygen chamber to consultations with over 30 doctors on his physical health.
Though Johnson gained his fortune through selling a software that he created to PayPal, he has dedicated his life to creating content around his life-extending experiments. I see this content as simply performative. There seems to be a morbid fascination with this robot-like man who lives his life on an extremely tight schedule, one that no real person could even come close to.
Now, don’t take this as me tearing Johnson’s methods to shreds—living a healthy lifestyle and promoting fitness are important. However, his online presence plays into his followers’ gullibility as he details his “process.”
In a report from the Centers for Disease Control, 6.9% of all deaths in the United States came from unintentional injuries resulting from accidents. Johnson is just as likely as the average person to get hit by a car or get a concussion from slipping on the floor. No amount of supplements can stop that from happening.
And even then, the validity of his products can be called into question. Nowhere on the Blueprint Protocol website are any supplements certified by the FDA, and a disclaimer even reads, “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.”
Nowhere in his library of videos does Johnson reference the effect of aging on a person’s mental capacity. Living forever means that you will outlive all of the people that you built lifelong relationships with, and the life you do end up living could very well be a lonely one as your friends and family die.
Although Johnson has proof that his methods are indeed slowing down his bodily aging, there is no proof that his mental faculties will remain intact, which removes a lot of the benefits of having a young body in the first place. What’s the point in having a Lamborghini if you can’t even drive it?
At a certain point, all of the things that Johnson is doing are only giving him slight advantages over the rest of the regular, healthy adult population. In fact, Johnson’s approach is counterintuitive. If he really wanted to discover a cure for anti-aging, then he should put some of that $2 million into academic research that could be verified and potentially extend the lifespans of the entire population, instead of just that of a millionaire.
What Johnson is attempting with Project Blueprint is certainly well within his rights. Unfortunately, the message he is getting across to his viewers is a disingenuous one that goes against his stated purpose: “If you buy these certain products and supplements that he does, you will be able to extend your life.”
If finding a “cure for aging” was his life’s goal, then using his own body as a guinea pig is not the way to go. Living off a cocktail of supplements and pills runs the risk of certain chemicals interfering with one another and causing physical harm. If content creation is all that he is after, then fine. However, a lot more certifications and disclaimers have to be present for someone who is seemingly giving medical advice to millions without any kind of degree in the field.
So do me a favor: The next time that you’re looking for a new supplement to take to the gym or a vitamin to stop yourself from getting sick every weekend, do more research than the first guy you see on Instagram Reels.