Latest news with #Don'tDie
NDTV
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NDTV
"Don't Die": Bryan Johnson's New Religion Based On Idea That "Body Is God"
Bryan Johnson, a 47-year-old millionaire, who is on a quest for eternal life, has already popularised his "Don't Die" slogan through various projects, including a Netflix documentary. Now, he's taking it a step further by founding a "Don't Die" religion. Mr Johnson's dedication to slowing or reversing ageing has garnered significant media attention and a massive social media following, making him a prominent figure in the longevity field. In a recent MIT Technology Review interview, he discussed the "Don't Die" mission and his plans to start a "Don't Die" religion. When asked about his motivation for creating a new religion, Johnson shared his thoughts on the matter. He answered, "We're in this new phase where [because of advances in AI] we're trying to reimagine what it means to be human. It requires imagination and creativity, and open-mindedness, and that's a big ask. Approaching that conversation as a community or a lifestyle doesn't carry enough weight or power. Religions have proven, over the past several thousand years, to be the most efficacious form to organise human efforts. It's just a tried-and-true methodology." The entrepreneur outlined his concept for the "Don't Die" religion, which revolves around the idea that the body is sacred. "We've been experimenting with this format of a Don't Die fam, where eight to 12 people get together every week. It's patterned after other groups like Alcoholics Anonymous. We structure an opening ritual. We have a mantra. And then there's a part where people apologise to their body for something they've done that has inflicted harm upon themselves," he explained. "What we're really trying to say is: Existence is the virtue. Existence is the objective. If someone believes in God, that's fine. People can be Christian and do this; they can be Muslim and do this. Don't Die is a yes, and to all groups," he added. The "Don't Die" religion does incorporate AI, with Mr Johnson believing AI will be omnipresent in daily life. He said he has tested using algorithms to analyse body data and make health decisions, essentially letting AI dictate his lifestyle choices. This approach elevates the body to a position of authority, with AI providing guidance. Mr Johnson expects AI to seamlessly integrate into daily activities, even influencing thoughts and decisions. "It really is in my best interest to let it tell me what to eat, tell me when to sleep and exercise, because it would do a better job of making me happy. Instead of my mind haphazardly deciding what it wants to eat based on how it feels in the moment, the body is elevated to a position of authority. AI is going to be omnipresent and built into our everyday activities. Just like it autocompletes our texts, it will be able to autocomplete our thoughts," he said. When asked how he would ensure that AI models prioritise and protect human life. He replied, "I'm talking to a lot of AI researchers about this. Communities of AIS could be instilled with values of conflict resolution that do not end in the death of a human. Or an AI. Or the planet."
Time of India
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Bryan Johnson : Anti-ageing influencer Bryan Johnson wants to start a new religion in which ...
is on a mission to not die. The 47-year-old multimillionaire has already applied his slogan 'Don't Die' to events, merchandise, and a Netflix documentary. Now he's founding a 'Don't Die' religion. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Johnson, who famously spends millions of dollars on scans, tests, supplements, and a lifestyle routine designed to slow or reverse the aging process, has enjoyed extensive media coverage, and a huge social media following. For many people, he has become the face of the longevity field. In a recent interview to MIT Technology Review, Johnson spoke about a range of topics including his Don't Die mission and his so-called new Religion. When asked, why he wants to create a new religion, Johnson said, "We're in this new phase where [because of advances in AI] we're trying to reimagine what it means to be human. It requires imagination and creativity and open-mindedness, and that's a big ask. Approaching that conversation as a community, or a lifestyle, doesn't carry enough weight or power. Religions have proven, over the past several thousand years, to be the most efficacious form to organize human efforts. It's just a tried-and-true methodology." When asked about the role of AI in his new religion, the anti-ageing influencer answered affirmatively. "AI is going to be omnipresent. And this is why we've been contemplating 'the body is God.' Over the past couple of years … I've been testing the hypothesis that if I get a whole bunch of data about my body, and I give it to an algorithm, and feed that algorithm updates with scientific evidence, then it would eventually do a better job than a doctor. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now So I gave myself over to an algorithm," he said. Johnson added, "It really is in my best interest to let it tell me what to eat, tell me when to sleep and exercise, because it would do a better job of making me happy. Instead of my mind haphazardly deciding what it wants to eat based on how it feels in the moment, the body is elevated to a position of authority. AI is going to be omnipresent and built into our everyday activities. Just like it autocompletes our texts, it will be able to autocomplete our thoughts."
Time of India
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
MrBeast's weight loss journey sparks online buzz: His fitness secrets revealed
James Stephen "Jimmy" Donaldson, popularly known as MrBeast in the world of YouTube , surely knows how to keep his audience engaged with his fast-paced and highly engaging videos. The 'world's first billionaire YouTuber' has often talked about his hectic lifestyle and how it comes at the cost of his mental well-being. While Donaldson admits to working all the time, in recent years he has also been working out regularly, which is apparent in his drastic weight loss transformation. It has been two years since Donaldson stunned his fans with his 'before' and 'after' transformation pics, and also shared what went behind the massive weight loss. If anything, Donaldson is looking even more dashing, as he posed another gym selfie, with a huge smile on his face. This of course sparked a flurry of reactions from his fans, some encouraging him for his persistent weight loss efforts, some responding with their own gym photos, while others posting hilarious memes. The best compliment came from the Don't Die guy Bryan Johnson, and immediately went viral. "Looking good Jimmy," he wrote affectionately. "Trying to not die like you," responded Donaldson in a lighter vein. "If Mr Beast has the time to get in shape, what are your excuses guys?" wrote one. "Looking great brother! Keep it up," another comment read. His fitness secrets In June 2023, Mr Beast posed about his drastic weight loss transformation and revealed that it happened after he started lifting and walking 12,500 steps a day. Walking is a simple, convenient and efficient way for speedy weight loss. "Woke up and realized I was obese so I started lifting and walking 12,500 steps a day. Still got a long way to being yoked but I'm happy with my progress so far," he wrote at that time. Lifting weight helps in maintaining muscle mass, and aid in losing fat. MrBeast also reduced his calorie intake slightly, making his weight loss sustainable. Donaldson has already set his next fitness target that he revealed in his Instagram stories. "Need to lock in and get big this year. If your [sic] my friend text me everyday to lift lol," he wrote. Donaldson's morning routine also includes dipping his face into a bowl of ice with lemon, running, and lifting weights, according to his TikTok video posted a few months back. The YouTuber's journey shows anyone with a firm resolve to achieve their fitness targets can do it by taking small steps every day. Adnan Sami on his viral transformation pictures, weight loss struggles and secret mantra to fitness
USA Today
03-04-2025
- Health
- USA Today
Longevity icon Bryan Johnson's methods may be a bust. Is there a secret to living longer?
Hear this story Bryan Johnson has yet to quench his thirst for longevity. He's taking all the supplements and trying all the therapies and medical interventions you can imagine to the tune of $2 million per year. You might also recognize him as the man who's used his son Talmage as a "blood boy," injecting himself with his son's plasma. In his Netflix documentary, "Don't Die," earlier this year, he claims to have shrunk his "biological age" by 5.1 years. A New York Times story, however, reported that his age at one point actually increased 10 years according to internal studies. Yes, these measures fluctuate, as Johnson told the Times, but it throws a large bucket of cold water on Johnson's sweeping claims. Longevity experts are mostly over Johnson's shtick and hope people consider the basics when it comes to taking care of themselves. "Biological age," they add, isn't currently as useful a measure as many companies might persuade you into thinking. "Bryan (Johnson) can do all he wants to lower his biological age through whatever means he's choosing," says S. Jay Olshansky, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Illinois Chicago, "but unless it's translated into science that tells us that a modification of the biomarker actually makes people live longer and/or healthier, then it's pretty much a useless statistic." Is there a 'fountain of youth'? What's the secret to living longer? Get back to the basics. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. The things that we know that work today include sticking to an exercise routine, keeping your weight at a healthy level, getting regular and good sleep and avoiding cigarettes and other toxins, according to Dr. Douglas E. Vaughan, professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the director of the Potocsnak Longevity Institute. You should also try and reduce stress in your life and maintain healthy relationships with loved ones. Dr. Thomas Perls, professor of medicine at Boston University and longevity expert, also suggests curbing alcohol use. On diet specifically, Marion Nestle, the Paulette Goddard Professor of nutrition, food studies and public health, emerita, at New York University, says to eat a variety of minimally-processed "real foods" and balance calories. In Olshansky's mind, "exercise is about the only equivalent of a fountain of youth that exists today." But he's curious about Johnson's efforts to push the envelope of how much you can manipulate the functioning of specific organs. "The question is," he says, "can you do it without all these supplements and all the stuff that he's taking and using?" What is biological age? Biological age isn't some mysterious figure. "You go to your high school reunion, you'll see some people on one side of the room that appear to be biologically much younger than others," Olshansky says. Quantifying it, however, has sprouted up more and more in the zeitgeist. No official "biological age" test exists; companies and institutions measure it by looking through different determinants, including levels of proteins in the blood and DNA methylation testing, or how much your genes are expressed based off your habits. Researchers can analyze common diagnostic tools like an electrocardiogram and look at biological age that way, too. Keep in mind these numbers aren't actually telling you how long you're going to live; they're a snapshot in time and an update for you on the health of certain organs. "All these different clocks will give you different numbers, and which ones are actually the truth? I don't know," Doug says. Olshansky agrees with that point, and asserts what Johnson's biomarkers say is irrelevant: "What you need in order for any of that information to be useful is evidence to indicate that if you have a biomarker indicating that your biological age is younger than your chronological age, that it will actually make you live longer. That's what's missing from the equation." Scientists have yet to agree on which biomarkers actually indicate longevity, and what medical interventions might be able to help bring down someone's biological age. "We haven't been using these approaches long enough to have any longitudinal studies to actually measure how long people live when they're engaging in these kind of regimens," says Laura L. Carstensen, professor of psychology at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. Vaughan thinks Johnson's approach, however, is "misguided, misinformed and a mistake, and I do not encourage people to emulate it." More answers needed about longevity, biological age Still, Vaughan anticipates everyone will get biological age testing done and use it to inform their lifestyle choices. But it's likely that "what may make me healthier is not necessarily the same formula as what would make you healthier," Carstensen adds. For now, it's best to not take any "biological age" metric you receive as gospel. Scientists will keep looking to prove methods for lowering biological age, like weight loss drugs GLP-1s, cold immersion therapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. "All these things are hypothetically helpful, but we need to do the studies," Vaughan adds. "We need science to guide us on where to go. We don't need to just start grabbing everything off the shelf." To that end, perhaps Johnson is missing out on the best part of life in his quest to not die: Living. "I often want to put my arm around Bryan Johnson's shoulder," Carstensen says, "and say, 'bless your heart. Honey, go have a hamburger. I mean, go do something.'"
Telegraph
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Only narcissists want to be immortal
Ever since I sobbed my way through the children's classic Tuck Everlasting, a novel about the loneliness of a virtuous rural American family that accidentally drank from a spring of eternal life in the late 19th century, I have found the idea of immorality as sad as it is enticing. If living forever still seems a bit over the top, dying in the way that most of us do feels terrifying. Life would be infinitely happier if illness and suffering were eradicated, and death was something that only happened when one was truly ready. Unfortunately, it's the crude and narcissistic Silicon Valley types who are making the most noise when it comes to the quest for longevity. And these are, quite frankly, the last people that one would want living forever. The figurehead of this sinister crew is the 47-year-old tech millionaire Bryan Johnson. He is known for his obsessive approach to reverse ageing, from injecting the blood plasma of his 19-year-old son to putting on goggles two hours before bed every night to block out blue light. His fitness and diet regimen are the stuff of nightmares to ordinary couch potatoes, and he has his own line of supplements that are meant to help turn back the clock. The extremity of his approach is the subject of a Netflix documentary called Don't Die, and Johnson, a former Mormon missionary, has declared that he is founding a religion of the same name. The weirdest thing about Johnson is that, for all his efforts, he doesn't look a day under his age – and very possibly, with his sleep-deprived eyes and sickly-looking skin, he looks quite a bit over it. At any rate, the much-publicised egomania of Johnson is taking a more litigious turn. Johnson, who has for over a decade tightly controlled his image with extensive NDAs, began using ever lengthier legal forms and agreements to control what people said about him after he founded his longevity company, Blueprint, in 2021. The New York Times has recently published allegations that in one document staff had to accept that their boss could choose to wear little and sometimes 'no clothing/no underwear'; that there could be 'discussions of sexual activities' in the workplace; and they had to agree in advance that Johnson's behaviour was not 'unwelcome, offensive, humiliating, hostile, triggering, unprofessional or abusive'. Johnson has also come under fire for a line of supplements. Paid $2100 to try out something called the Longevity Mix, some participants experienced nausea, bloating and lower testosterone levels. 'A lot of comments about hating this as it is making them sick, vomit, have heartburn' wrote one person trying the mix. If that's the path to immortality, then no thank you. Of course Johnson has dismissed the New York Times article as a 'hit job', and doubled down on his particularly bizarre form of arrogance, chest-beating on X to his half-million followers that: 'The New York Times tried to come for me and missed' and insisting 'our reputation is our most precious asset…We work on it every second of every day'.
