Bryan Johnson, founder and chief executive officer of Kernel Holding SA, during the Milken Institute … [+] Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021. Photographer: Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg
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Bryan Johnson, who calls himself “Zero” with the catchy slogan “Do Not Die,” became an instant celebrity around the world in January 2023 after a story in Bloomberg titled “How to Be 18 Years Old Again for Only $2 Million a Year” by Ashlee Vance. “I didn’t have a “carefully crafted media campaign”. The Bloomberg author Ashlee Vance had been following my endeavors for years, and he became curious about what I was doing with Blueprint”, noted Bryan Johnson after I suggested that it was a “carefully crafted media campaign”.
Most of the subsequent news coverage followed a similar pattern – a provocative title, a recap of a “billionaire spending $2 million a year to stay young” and his longevity regimen, semi-naked or even nude studio-quality pictures, and a story explaining his latest longevity practice. He previously announced the “Project Blueprint” in October 2021 and promoted it via his website, Medium posts, interviews, and Youtube videos, but it remained largely unnoticed before the Bloomberg article published. Today, the Youtube videos include links to Bryan Johnson’s store selling olive oil, nuts, berries, and supplements. When I first saw the story featuring 29-year-old Oliver (Oli) Zolman, whom I interacted with many years ago in the UK when he was a young student, I assumed that it was just a PR campaign preceding a commercial endeavor. These stories appealed to a mass audience and resonated in social media and in dinner conversations. For people naturally attracted to the lives of the ultrarich and bored by the sex and drug scandals, feuds, and shows of luxury, the open quest for personal longevity by a rich man who is not afraid to bringing his teenage son into the spotlight as a willing donor of young blood, presented a breath of fresh air and many angles for controversy.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 07: Kim Kardashian attends the Los Angeles premiere of Hulu’s new … [+] show “The Kardashians” at Goya Studios on April 07, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for ABA)
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The Rise of “the Kardashian of Longevity” and Activist Opposition
Within the longevity industry, there are several factions of varying levels of credibility, competence, and impact. At its core is a community of serious classical scientists trying to understand aging as a biological process. Beyond this, there are the biotechnology entrepreneurs trying to commercialize the fruits of academic research, supplement vendors, beauty and wellness practitioners – who are mostly just trying to make money – and activists trying to raise public attention and advocate for more aging research. There are other stakeholder groups emerging, including specialized venture capitalists investing in longevity and longevity medicine doctors who are trying to adapt some of the science-backed advances like aging biomarkers into clinical practice and design clinical trials. All of these stakeholder groups contribute to the emergence and progress of the longevity biotechnology industry, but not all are created equal.
When activists or supplement vendors promote approaches or treatments with limited or no efficacy, it can dilute the importance of the cause. The emergence of Bryan Johnson created a new faction in the longevity activist stakeholder group – the Longevity Celebrities, who are famous for being famous. Kim Kardashian’s rise to fame started with a sensational celebrity private video tape (Ref) and emerged into a global franchise of simple, attention-grabbing tabloid media fed to the masses in spoonfed bites. One can speculate that in 2023, Bryan Johnson single-handedly captured more public attention than all of the other credible and amateur longevity activists combined. And just like the Kardashians, Bryan Johnson started commercializing his celebrity image by promoting Blueprint-branded olive oil, “fruit & nut” packs, and other food items, and creating a franchise. This fame and commercialization using essentially free advertising provided by the tabloids, social media, and even serious professional media enraged some of the serious, longstanding longevity activist groups and individuals.
Is Bryan Johnson is Good for the Longevity Biotechnology Industry?
In 2013, I founded the Aging Research and Drug Discovery (ARDD) meeting to create a platform for the longevity biotechnology industry, bringing together credible published scientists, biotechnology startups, venture capitalists, longevity medicine physicians, big pharmaceutical companies, top management consulting firms, editors of major academic journals, and even some of the more credible activist groups and non-profit organizations. Originally founded in Basel, the heart of the pharmaceutical industry, today, this is the largest non-profit industry meeting managed by the University of Copenhagen and chaired by expert scientists such as Morten Scheibye-Knudsen, MD, PhD, and Daniela Bakula, PhD with the longevity medicine day chaired by the broadly-published MD, PhD longevity doctor, Evelyne Bischof. This meeting generated significant attention and helped launch and fund multiple startups. Thanks to this conference, many of these stakeholders follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter. The majority of these followers have a PhD or MD or both and work predominantly in academia or biopharmaceutical companies. Recently, Longevity Advice highlighted my Twitter/X handle as one of the top longevity experts and influencers.
Academic scientists who dedicate their lives to uncovering the mysteries of human life are generally dismissive of celebrities who have not made substantial contributions in their field of research. Sometimes, even a minor exaggeration of scientific advances leads to substantial outrage and criticism. In other words, they do not want you to be famous. Therefore, I naturally assumed that my followers would consider Bryan Johnson to be an imposter who did not significantly contribute to the body of knowledge in aging and a dangerous distraction for the community and its serious scientific endeavors. To evaluate this hypothesis, I conducted a brief survey with a simple question “Is Bryan Johnson good for longevity biotechnology”.
Surprisingly, over 60% responded favorably. And while it is difficult to evaluate this demographic, it is likely that many of the survey participants are scientists and many of them are in favor of Bryan Johnson.
A repeat survey returned even more positive sentiment (currently, 70% support). That additional survey generated a diverse set of comments. Some criticizing Bryan Johnson’s approach.
But most of the others strongly supporting the argument that Bryan Johnson is rapidly increasing the level of attention this field desperately needs.
“Billionaire Longevity Inception” – subconscious societal programming by the Bryan Johnson phenomenon
In my personal opinion, Bryan Johnson managed to generate more public awareness for longevity than anyone who came before him. While it is a very different kind of attention compared to advanced academic research or working product demonstrations, it is likely to have a significant and lasting impact as the general public and the wealthy elite alike discover that there is a fighting chance for them to live longer. Yes, Bryan and his doctors did not publish any substantial research on longevity in top-tier peer-reviewed journals, but they do not claim to be credible academics. While he may not be a billionaire (to be called a billionaire in Forbes, you need to be on the Forbes Billionaire list), he is clearly very wealthy. I personally know several wealthy people who spend much more than $2 million on their longevity and buy the latest MRI machines for their basements; utilize Ivy league-affiliated doctors and scientists and donate to major hospitals and academic institutions, but they usually keep these initiatives private and only come out into the spotlight when these institutions name entire buildings after them. For some strange reason, spending money on personal longevity has never been a popular show of one’s power, wealth, and superiority. Unlike other celebrities who popularize luxury lifestyles and flaunt their private jets, massive houses, expensive cars, , exotic vacations, and famous friends, Bryan Johnson promotes the previously unattainable luxury – living longer and escaping aging and death.
While I do not necessarily endorse his methods, I appreciate the level of subconscious programming he creates for the general public. Most people nowadays can afford a smartphone (in some countries, you can not pay without one), and access hot running water, refrigeration, and seasonal fruit. Thanks to advances in science and technology, the world has become more or less flat, and a middle-class citizen in China may have the same or even more utility in life than Warren Buffett. They may not have access to private jets, but they can get the latest smartphone,, watch the same blockbuster movie, and eat gourmet food just like the rich.
The media is making it look like there is a major gap between the rich and the middle class when it comes to extending life. But if we look at the toolkit that Bryan Johnson is popularizing for longevity, most of it is available to the middle class – it is mostly about diet, exercise, sleep, meditation, and “do what your mother told you.” Rapamycin is a generic drug that can be procured cheaply, and many other supplements that may have some effect are also within reach. So by promoting his “do not die” concept, Bryan is essentially promoting a healthy lifestyle with a baseline available to more than half of the world’s population today. Therefore, he is fundamentally good for society. The world needs the “Kardashians of Health,” and the scientific community should support his efforts.
Public health aside, the phenomenon of Bryan Johnson has another possible benefit. He subconsciously programs the world’s ultra-rich and powerful to think beyond their shiny new toys, reputation, wealth, and power. Just like in the movie “Inception,” his phenomenon planted the seeds of ideas about the value of life. The work that I did several years ago in generative AI resulted in multiple preclinical and clinical stage high-quality drugs discovered at an unprecedented pace that resulted in deals worth billions. This triggered a wave of invitations to some of the most high-profile conferences, including Forbes Iconoclast, attended by some of the world’s ultra-rich. And when they learn that much of my research is focused on AI systems designed to learn the fundamental biology of disease in the context of aging, almost all of them mention Bryan Johnson. Most of them want to understand if there are credible advances in longevity medicine and something they can do quickly to reverse their biological age. I usually refer them to one or more of the longevity physicians from a community of a few thousand internists who took the Longevity Medicine courses and know how to use aging biomarkers, publish in peer-reviewed journals, and do not overpromise. Unfortunately, most of the ultra-rich do not really consider getting into this field themselves or even investing in it, but it is clear that the level of interest in this area has dramatically increased, thanks to Bryan Johnson. While it would be great to see him supporting credible science, publishing papers in peer-reviewed journals, keeping closer to the academic community, or showing tangible results in reversing his parents’ age, he has already made a substantial contribution to the longevity movement around the world.
I reached out to Bryan Johnson for a comment, and his response was: “After 4.5 billion years, we are baby steps away from creating superintelligence. It will give rise to futures unfathomable to our current minds. Unable to predict what may come but curious to find out, I’m left knowing one thing: don’t die.”
