Some see Bryan Johnson as a human guinea pig with the charisma of ChatGPT. Others, meanwhile, see him as a man on a very important mission. He’s not just in it for himself, they say, he’s in it for the betterment of humanity.
For the uninitiated, Johnson is officially the world’s most measured human. As per the 46-year-old’s YouTube channel, which boasts 548,000 subscribers, ‘Johnson has achieved metabolic health equal to the top 1.5 per cent of 18 year olds, inflammation 66 per cent lower than the average 10 year old, and reduced his speed of aging by the equivalent of 31 years.’
Worth an estimated $400 million, Johnson is, by his own admission, an odd individual. Every morning, without fail, he rises at the ungodly hour of 4.30am. Over the course of the day, he consumes exactly 1,977 calories. Over the course of a month, he consumes copious amounts of beans and over 70 pounds of vegetables. Such a diet is sure to cause a lot of gas, but Johnson, a straight talking vegan with a no-nonsense attitude, isn’t full of hot air.
His daily workout routine, which takes between 45 to 60 minutes, consists of roughly 25 exercises specifically designed to lower his rate of biological aging, A decade ago, Johnson, born and raised in Provo, Utah, sold his payments company, Braintree Venmo, to PayPal for $800 million. Financially speaking, he was in a very healthy position. Physically and psychologically speaking, he was anything but.
As he stated a few years ago, shortly after selling Braintree Venmo, he asked the question: ‘How do we collectively thrive beyond what we can even imagine?’
‘Just about every perception people have of me is incorrect’
For the next ten years, seven days a week, he worked to become familiar with his ‘biases, blindspots and other cognitive shortcomings’. ‘For kicks’, he adds, ‘I ran an experiment to become cognitively “perfect”, just as Benjamin Franklin tried to become morally perfect.’
Johnson’s idea of getting ‘kicks’ certainly differs from the average individual. That’s intentional. Johnson doesn’t mind you calling him odd, just don’t call him average. His mission is to be the very opposite of average. That means no caffeine, alcohol, or any other type of mental stimulants – but pills, lots of them. Johnson, who spends $2 million each year biohacking his body, takes a whopping 111 pills each day, including glucosamine sulfate, a supplement that may improve cardiovascular functioning, N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), a powerful antioxidant that that has been shown to reduce the hallmarks of aging, and rapamycin, a potent longevity supplement.
In bed every night by 8.30pm, Johnson appears to live a sad, lonely existence, one devoid of human contact – and sunlight. Appearances, however, can be very deceiving.
The American has a message for readers: everything you know – or think you know – about him is probably wrong.
‘Just about every perception people have of me is incorrect’, says the MBA-holding, University of Chicago graduate. Contrary to popular belief, Johnson doesn’t live like a weird monk, locked away inside a chamber, cut off from the rest of humanity. A devoted family man, Johnson enjoys a close relationship with his son, 17, and his father, 70. Perhaps a bit too close, as the three individuals, according to Fortune, have swapped blood.
Blood transfusions in the living room aside, Johnson tells me that he and his son just ‘spent two weeks in New Zealand recently exploring the island’. Also, he adds, ‘a group of us went to Utah and biked around the desert for a few days. We’re always doing adventurous things. My life has never been more full or more fulfilling. People have an incorrect perception of what my life is like.’
Indeed. I, like many others, thought he actively avoided the sun, as that is what some major media outlets had reported. But, as he notes, this is untrue. ‘Daily’, says the affable oddball: ‘I’m in the sun, morning and evening. I avoid times of day when the UV index is high.’ ‘Some sun is great’, he adds, but ‘too much is not’.
Yes, but the diet, Bryan, all those beans and vegetables, no meat, eggs, or fish, don’t you get bored?
‘I’ve never enjoyed food as much as I do now’, he responds. ‘Previously I ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it. It dulled my senses and eliminated the joy. Now every calorie has to fight for its life. It’s counterintuitive, I know, but I’ve never enjoyed food as much as I do now.’
Regularly painted as a robotic individual with the personality of a Roomba, Johnson, it seems, has been misrepresented, repeatedly and shamelessly. One thing is true, though: Bryan Johnson doesn’t want to die.
When asked how he would like to be remembered, he responds, ‘as still alive’.
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