Bryan Johnson is on a mission to not die. The 47-year-old multimillionaire has already utilized his slogan “Don’t Die” to occasions, merchandise, and a Netflix documentary. Now he’s founding a Don’t Die faith.

Johnson, who famously spends tens of millions of {dollars} on scans, checks, dietary supplements, and a life-style routine designed to gradual or reverse the growing old course of, has loved intensive media protection, and an enormous social media following. For many individuals, he has change into the face of the longevity discipline.

I sat down with Johnson at an occasion for folks desirous about longevity in Berkeley, California, in late April. We spoke on the sidelines after lunch (convention plastic-lidded container meal for me; what gave the impression to be a plastic-free, compostable field of rooster and greens for him), and he sat with an impeccable posture, his expression impartial. 

Earlier that morning, Johnson, in worn trainers and the type of hoodie that’s nearly definitely deceptively costly, had advised the viewers about what he noticed as the top of humanity. Particularly, he was apprehensive about AI—that we face an “occasion horizon,” a degree at which superintelligent AI escapes human understanding and management. He had come to Berkeley to influence people who find themselves desirous about longevity to focus their efforts on AI. 

It’s this specific concern that finally underpins his Don’t Die mission. First, people should embrace the Don’t Die ideology. Then we should guarantee AI is aligned with preserving human existence. Had been it not for AI, he says, he wouldn’t be doing any of his anti-death actions and regimens. “I’m satisfied that we’re at an existential second as a species,” says Johnson, who was raised Mormon however has since left the church. Fixing growing old will take a long time, he says—we’ll survive that lengthy provided that we be sure that AI is aligned with human survival. 

The next Q&A has been flippantly edited for size and readability.

Why are you creating a brand new faith?

We’re on this new section the place [because of advances in AI] we’re making an attempt to reimagine what it means to be human. It requires creativeness and creativity and open-mindedness, and that’s an enormous ask. Approaching that dialog as a neighborhood, or a life-style, doesn’t carry sufficient weight or energy. Religions have confirmed, over the previous a number of thousand years, to be probably the most efficacious kind to arrange human efforts. It’s only a tried-and-true methodology. 

How do you go about founding a brand new faith?

It’s an excellent query. In the event you have a look at historic [examples], Buddha went by means of his personal self-exploratory course of and got here up with a framework. And Muhammad had a narrative. Jesus had an origin story … You may even say Satoshi [Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of bitcoin] is like [the founder of] a modern-day faith, [launched] with the white paper. Adam Smith launched capitalism along with his e book. The query is: What’s a modern-day faith, and the way does it persuade? It’s an open query for me. I don’t know but.

Would you say that Don’t Die is “your” faith?

No, I believe it’s humanity’s faith. It’s completely different from different religions, that are very founder-centric. I believe that is going to be decentralized, and it will likely be one thing that everyone could make their very own.

So there’s no God?

We’re taking part in with the concept that the physique is God. We’ve been experimenting with this format of a Don’t Die fam, the place eight to 12 folks get collectively on a weekly foundation. It’s patterned off of different teams like Alcoholics Nameless. We construction a gap ritual. Now we have a mantra. After which there’s a component the place folks apologize to their physique for one thing they’ve completed that has inflicted hurt upon themselves. 

It’s reframing our relationship to physique and to thoughts. It’s also a approach for folks to have deep friendships, to discover emotionally susceptible subjects, and to assist one another in well being practices.

What we’re actually making an attempt to say is: Existence is the advantage. Existence is the target. If somebody believes in God, that’s positive. Individuals may be Christian and do that; they are often Muslim and do that. Don’t Die is a “sure, and” to all teams.

So it’s a distinct mind-set about faith?

Yeah. Proper now, faith doesn’t maintain the very best standing in society. Lots of people look down on it in a roundabout way. I believe as AI progresses, it’s going to create extra questions on who we’re: What’s our id? What will we consider about our existence sooner or later? Persons are going to need some type of framework that helps them make sense of the second. So I believe there’s going to be a shift towards faith within the coming years. Individuals may say that [founding a religion now] is type of a bizarre transfer, and that [religion] turns folks off. However I believe that’s positive. I believe we’re forward.

Does the faith incorporate, or make reference to, AI in any approach?

Yeah. AI goes to be omnipresent. And this is the reason we’ve been considering “the physique is God.” Over the previous couple of years … I’ve been testing the speculation that if I get an entire bunch of information about my physique, and I give it to an algorithm, and feed that algorithm updates with scientific proof, then it will ultimately do a greater job than a physician. So I gave myself over to an algorithm. 

It truly is in my finest curiosity to let it inform me what to eat, inform me when to sleep and train, as a result of it will do a greater job of creating me glad. As a substitute of my thoughts haphazardly deciding what it needs to eat based mostly on the way it feels within the second, the physique is elevated to a place of authority. AI goes to be omnipresent and constructed into our on a regular basis actions. Similar to it autocompletes our texts, it will likely be capable of autocomplete our ideas.

May some folks interpret that as AI being God?

Probably. I might be hesitant to attempt to outline [someone else’s] God. The factor we wish to align upon is that none of us wish to die proper now. We’re making an attempt to make Don’t Die the world’s most influential ideology within the subsequent 18 months.