In the identical method that genome sequencing determines the genetic make-up of an organism, Bryan Johnson — the investor and founder behind the Don’t Die motion — needs to begin “foodome” sequencing.
“We’re going to sequence the U.S. ‘foodome,’ which suggests check 20% of meals that represent 80% of the American weight loss program based mostly on stuff we eat on a regular basis,” Johnson mentioned Thursday on the SXSW competition in Austin.
Johnson is the founder and former CEO of Kernel, a mind monitoring system firm, the founding father of OS Fund, and the founder and former CEO of e-commerce firm Braintree.
At this time, he’s obsessive about discovering methods to increase his lifespan and preaching that gospel to others. He has taken excessive measures, together with transfusing his blood with that of his 17-year-old son and present process shock remedy therapy to get extra nighttime erections, which he says immediately correlates to well being.
Most of his recommendations on life-extending habits are straightforward sufficient to guess: Get higher sleep. Spend time with group. Train. Eat wholesome. However Johnson says it’s not as straightforward to eat wholesome as you suppose.
“I need to be actual with you. It’s simply very, very arduous to purchase clear meals,” he mentioned, noting that almost all meals from grocery shops, even the natural manufacturers, may have toxins from varied processing strategies.
His aim is to check as a lot meals as doable and create a public database the place folks can donate cash to have sure meals and types examined for toxins resembling heavy metals or microplastics. The outcomes, he hopes, will maintain manufacturers accountable for unsafe meals practices.
The thought obtained a spherical of applause from the packed viewers at SXSW, who eagerly participated in Johnson’s varied respiration workouts, prompts to maneuver round, and a long life experiment that concerned balancing on one foot with eyes closed. (I made it to 30 seconds — no massive deal.)
Johnson has confronted a whole lot of hate on-line for his eccentric philosophy that with the appearance of AI, we often is the first era that doesn’t need to die.
“We’re giving delivery to tremendous intelligence. It’s the most important factor occurring in your complete world now,” Johnson mentioned, including that no present ideology explains the way to deal with AI and that the survival of our species is not assured now that AI has entered the image.
“The human race could be sensible to repurpose its aims [around AI and] away from cash at any price to ‘Don’t Die.’”
In different phrases, whereas we debate AI alignment with the human race, why not align AI with the mission of preserving human life? Why not, he asks, use AI to faucet into thousands and thousands of “human-level geniuses” to trace human progress and sort out getting older’s greatest challenges?
It’s a provocative query and one which has drawn criticism from skeptics who argue that dying is a vital a part of being human.
Dr. Andrew Steele, a long life scientist, acknowledges that consuming effectively and exercising helps lengthen life, however that genetics — not excessive measures — performs a bigger function in figuring out life expectancy.
However that perspective hasn’t deterred Johnson from selling his “Blueprint Protocol,” his life-style system for sustaining what he says are the world’s greatest biomarkers. He’s additionally advertising his personal line of dietary supplements and meals. His model of olive oil is paradoxically — or aptly — named Snake Oil.
