Super Aging is so much more than just not dying. For the last 10 years at AGEIST, we have been writing about and promoting the idea of Super Aging, living in an expansive manner, embracing our full capacities. Bryan Johnson has been making quite a splash recently with his Netflix doc, Don’t Die, and his ever-expanding product lines. We had Bryan on our podcast a couple of years ago. I like Bryan, and not to throw shade at him, but he is one of the most unusual people I have ever spoken to—and that is saying something. His mission is to save humanity—okay, go big. Where he gets pushback is around his endless self-experimenting and his increasingly odd appearance. Everyone has the right to look whatever way that makes them feel best about themselves, and I have no issue with how he looks.
What I differ with Bryan about is that he expressed having to give control of his life over to an algorithm; otherwise, “Bad Bryan” would take over and make inferior decisions. Becoming the “most measured man in history” means directing the entirety of his life to accommodate maximizing his biomarkers. As he says, he has never been happier. I, too, enjoy engaging in some self-quantification, but I believe the opposite of what Bryan does: We have agency—we are braver, stronger, and more capable than we imagine, not less. Biomarkers are helpful, but what is the point if they prevent us from living life fully? If one’s entire mission is simply not to die, then I could imagine some boy-in-the-bubble setup, which is one step away from how Bryan currently lives his life.
I am in the free-will camp, whereas Bryan seems to believe we are doomed if we don’t submit to an algorithm. As far as nutrition goes, being as prescriptive as he has been is simplistic and wrong. We are all different. I tried his vegan Blue Print a few years ago, and it almost killed me. After three weeks, I was fatter, dumber, and with shockingly low energy. Just because his extreme lifestyle works for him does not mean it is transferable. To say it would be ideal for everyone is incorrect, reductionist, sales-y hyperbole.
At AGEIST, we believe that Super Aging means not just putting numbers up on the board, be they birthdays or epigenetic age markers; it means living to the best of our ability, becoming the best versions of ourselves, and being the most useful to those around us. The Super Age lifestyle is about expanding our lives, not constricting them. Although some of what Blue Print suggests seems positive, as with many pop diets and lifestyles, it is, at its core, built around reducing rather than expanding. We wish Bryan and his followers well; much of their mission is noble; it’s just not something we will be signing up for.
Onward and upward,
David
