Have you heard of Bryan Johnson – tech centimillionaire turned longevity evangelist? He made headlines when he started getting infusions of his own son's blood as a part of his quest to live forever. And he turned that quest into "Don't Die," a movement he's calling a religion. Johnson is pretty intent on longevity – but he's not the only one. Other tech magnates are bought in, too. But in the words of Freddie Mercury, who wants to live forever, and why? What does all of this have to do with the prediction of an AI takeover, and what does this mean for how we think about what's "human?" Brittany is joined by journalists Michelle Santiago Cortes and Tara Isabella Burton to get into what might be a new religion of longevity.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Hello, hello. I'm Brittany Luce, and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. Have you heard of this guy named Brian Johnson? Tech sent a millionaire turned health guru? Maybe you know him from when he started getting infusions of his own son's blood.
Thanks for the plasma. No worries.
Or for saying that he wants to live forever.
To put it simply, you don't want to die. Yeah, that's right.
Or how he turned that idea into a movement he's calling Don't Die.
Don't Die is a religion. Don't Die is an economic system. Don't Die is a political system. Don't Die is an ethical, moral, social system.
If this seems bombastic, it's because it is. I think he's smart about how to make things go viral, to share his ideas about how to live and therefore how not to die, which includes some pretty basic stuff. Here's journalist Michelle Santiago-Cortez.
He's doing a lot of common sense things like prioritizing sleep. I think he's the most bullish on sleep. He's minimizing his sun exposure. He's exercising.
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