Supposedly “the healthiest human on the planet” and “the most biologically measured person in history,” Bryan Johnson now intends to sell his startup, Blueprint (launched in 2021), and to focus on founding a new Don’t Die religion. After selling his web payments company, Braintree, for $800 million in 2013, Johnson split both from his wife and his lifelong Latter-day Saints faith. The 47-year-old millionaire spends $2 million annually on extreme biohacking to slow and even reverse aging. For that purpose, Johnson follows an extremely strict routine involving taking over 50 vitamins and minerals daily, rigorous exercise and sleep schedules, as well as constant monitoring of biomarkers, among other things. He has been the subject of a Netflix documentary, Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever. He had first announced his religion in an interview with MIT Technology Review, explaining that he plans to expand beyond his personal biohacking into an organized spiritual practice, compatible with existing religions and structured like support groups (such as Alcoholics Anonymous). The new religion will include opening rituals, mantras, and sessions where people apologize to their bodies for harmful behaviors. The religion’s central tenet treats the human body as divine and requiring reverence and care, which reframes the relationship between mind and body and elevates physical existence to a sacred status.
Johnson is convinced that “there’s going to be a shift toward religion in the coming years,” with AI’s progress creating “additional questions on who we are.” Positioning his movement as humanity’s response to existential AI risks, in a recent Wired magazine interview he elaborated that he views AI as an existential turning point for humanity, bringing us to an “event horizon” where super-intelligent AI will fundamentally transform or potentially threaten human existence. His longevity efforts and ideological framework are designed to help humans navigate this transition by prioritizing survival above traditional concerns like wealth or status. Beyond personal longevity, Johnson envisions a preparation for humanity’s transition into what he calls “computational systems”—essentially digital immortality through AI. It is clear that Johnson sees himself not just as a longevity enthusiast, but as a civilizational architect trying to establish the ideological framework for humanity’s next evolutionary phase, comparing himself to figures such as Jesus, Muhammad, Confucius, and Marx. Unlike typical entrepreneurs thinking in decades, Johnson is explicitly focused on how he’ll be remembered in the 25th century—as someone who helped humanity navigate the critical transition period of the early 21st century, when AI emerged and death became optional. (Source: Wired magazine, July 21; MIT Technology Review, May; The Guardian, January 2)
