Billionaire entrepreneur and biohacker Bryan Johnson, known for his intensive longevity experiment Project Blueprint, declared that humanity’s central mission should be to “defeat death” rather than chase supremacy in artificial intelligence.
In a detailed post shared on X (formerly Twitter), Johnson warned that as AI advances towards superintelligence, the human race faces a pivotal choice. He wrote that instead of governments and corporations focusing on outpacing one another technologically, societies should unite behind the goal of preserving biological life.
“Superintelligence is in the birth canal on planet Earth,” Johnson stated. “If control is limited, the only rational act is alignment. We align with life itself.”
Johnson, 47, rose to prominence after selling his payments company Braintree to PayPal for approximately $800 million in 2013. In the years that followed, he channelled his resources into Project Blueprint—a rigorous anti-ageing regimen aimed at reversing biological decline.
The entrepreneur reportedly spends around $2 million a year on his efforts to maintain youth and vitality. His daily routine includes hyperbaric oxygen therapy, red light exposure, a plant-based diet, and precise monitoring of sleep and biomarkers. Johnson has previously explained that his motivation extends beyond appearance, describing his work as a commitment to “evolution, not deterioration.”
Meanwhile, in his latest message, Johnson argued that humanity must now reframe its moral priorities, focusing less on innovation for profit and more on survival itself.
In his post, Johnson introduced what he termed the “Four Layers of Don’t Die,” a structured philosophy designed to integrate the preservation of life into every level of decision-making—from individual choices to global governance.
Individual: He urged people to resist what he called “Big Die”—lifestyles built on consumption patterns such as junk food, smoking, doom-scrolling, and instant gratification.
Capital and Culture: He suggested that financial systems should be reoriented to reward industries that sustain health and life, proposing that “health become the new GDP.”
Political: Johnson called for a redefinition of governance to enshrine what he described as the “right to persist and the duty to preserve existence.”
Technological: Finally, he emphasised that artificial intelligence must be trained to value vitality, learning from a civilisation that chooses to protect and extend life.
According to Johnson, the way AI develops will depend on the moral and philosophical examples set by its human creators. “A peaceful civilisation could produce a guardian,” he wrote, “while a destructive one might create a predator.”
Johnson’s longevity work has long been met with scepticism from the medical community, with experts cautioning that biology and genetics impose fundamental limits on human lifespan. Yet his latest statement, which places mortality within a wider ethical and existential context, shifts the discussion from experimental science to moral philosophy.
He compared his appeal to past transformative moments in human history—such as the acceptance of heliocentrism, the abolition of slavery, and the establishment of universal human rights—arguing that the next stage of human progress lies in consciously rejecting death as an inevitability.
“If history is a record of awakenings, this is the next,” Johnson wrote. “A civilisation that chooses not to die teaches intelligence what it means to live.”
“Our task,” he concluded, “is not to predict the future, but to preserve the possibility of one.”
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