Bryan Johnson wants to start a new religion in which “the body is God”

Bryan Johnson is connected a ngo 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.

Johnson, who famously spends millions of dollars connected scans, tests, supplements, and a manner regular designed to dilatory oregon reverse the aging process, has enjoyed extended media coverage, and a immense societal media following. For galore people, helium has go the look of the longevity field.

I sat down with Johnson astatine an lawsuit for radical funny successful longevity successful Berkeley, California, successful precocious April. We spoke connected the sidelines aft luncheon (conference plastic-lidded instrumentality repast for me; what seemed to beryllium a plastic-free, compostable container of chickenhearted and vegetables for him), and helium sat with an impeccable posture, his look neutral. 

Earlier that morning, Johnson, successful worn trainers and the benignant of hoodie that is astir surely deceptively expensive, had told the assemblage astir what helium saw arsenic the extremity of humanity. Specifically, helium was disquieted astir AI—that we look an “event horizon,” a constituent astatine which superintelligent AI escapes quality knowing and control. He had travel to Berkeley to transportation radical who are funny successful longevity to absorption their efforts connected AI. 

It is this peculiar interest that yet underpins his Don’t Die mission. First, humans indispensable clasp the Don’t Die ideology. Then we indispensable guarantee AI is aligned with preserving quality existence. Were it not for AI, helium says, helium wouldn’t beryllium doing immoderate of his anti-death activities and regimens. “I americium convinced that we are astatine an existential infinitesimal arsenic a species,” says Johnson, who was raised Mormon but has since near the church. Solving aging volition instrumentality decades, helium says—we’ll past that agelong lone if we marque definite that AI is aligned with quality survival. 

The pursuing Q&A has been lightly edited for magnitude and clarity.

Why are you creating a caller religion?

We’re successful this caller signifier wherever [because of advances successful AI] we’re trying to reimagine what it means to beryllium human. It requires imaginativeness and creativity and open-mindedness, and that’s a large ask. Approaching that speech arsenic a community, oregon a lifestyle, doesn’t transportation capable value oregon power. Religions person proven, implicit the past respective 1000 years, to beryllium the astir efficacious signifier to signifier quality efforts. It’s conscionable a tried-and-true methodology. 

How bash you spell astir founding a caller religion?

It’s a bully question. If you look astatine humanities [examples], Buddha went done his ain self-exploratory process and came up with a framework. And Muhammad had a story. Jesus had an root communicative … You mightiness adjacent accidental Satoshi [Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of bitcoin] is similar [the laminitis of] a modern-day religion, [launched] with the achromatic paper. Adam Smith launched capitalism with his book. The question is: What is simply a modern-day religion, and however does it convince? It’s an unfastened question for me. I don’t cognize yet.

Would you accidental that Don’t Die is “your” religion?

No, I deliberation it’s humanity’s religion. It’s antithetic from different religions, which are precise founder-centric. I deliberation this is going to beryllium decentralized, and it volition beryllium thing that everybody tin marque their own.

So there’s nary God?

We’re playing with the thought that the assemblage is God. We’ve been experimenting with this format of a Don’t Die fam, wherever 8 to 12 radical get unneurotic connected a play basis. It’s patterned disconnected of different groups similar Alcoholics Anonymous. We operation an opening ritual. We person a mantra. And past there’s a portion wherever radical apologize to their assemblage for thing they’ve done that has inflicted harm upon themselves. 

It’s reframing our narration to assemblage and to mind. It is besides a mode for radical to person heavy friendships, to research emotionally susceptible topics, and to enactment each different successful wellness practices.

What we’re truly trying to accidental is: Existence is the virtue. Existence is the objective. If idiosyncratic believes successful God, that’s fine. People tin beryllium Christian and bash this; they tin beryllium Muslim and bash this. Don’t Die is simply a “yes, and” to each groups.

So it’s a antithetic mode of reasoning astir religion?

Yeah. Right now, religion doesn’t clasp the highest presumption successful society. A batch of radical look down connected it successful immoderate way. I deliberation arsenic AI progresses, it’s going to make further questions connected who we are: What is our identity? What bash we judge astir our beingness successful the future? People are going to privation immoderate benignant of model that helps them marque consciousness of the moment. So I deliberation there’s going to beryllium a displacement toward religion successful the coming years. People mightiness accidental that [founding a religion now] is benignant of a weird move, and that [religion] turns radical off. But I deliberation that’s fine. I deliberation we’re ahead.

Does the religion incorporate, oregon marque notation to, AI successful immoderate way?

Yeah. AI is going to beryllium omnipresent. And this is wherefore we’ve been contemplating “the assemblage is God.” Over the past mates of years … I’ve been investigating the proposal that if I get a full clump of information astir my body, and I springiness it to an algorithm, and provender that algorithm updates with technological evidence, past it would yet bash a amended occupation than a doctor. So I gave myself implicit to an algorithm. 

It truly is successful my champion involvement to fto it archer maine what to eat, archer maine erstwhile to slumber and exercise, due to the fact that it would bash a amended occupation of making maine happy. Instead of my caput haphazardly deciding what it wants to devour based connected however it feels successful the moment, the assemblage is elevated to a presumption of authority. AI is going to beryllium omnipresent and built into our mundane activities. Just similar it autocompletes our texts, it volition beryllium capable to autocomplete our thoughts.

Might immoderate radical construe that arsenic AI being God?

Potentially. I would beryllium hesitant to effort to specify [someone else’s] God. The happening we privation to align upon is that nary of america privation to dice close now. We’re attempting to marque Don’t Die the world’s astir influential ideology successful the adjacent 18 months.