Get Busy Living - Review of Bryan Johnson docu on Netflix

“It comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying.” Andy to Red, Shawshank Redemption, 1994

Bryan Johnson, a former tech CEO of Braintree-Venmo, did not step away from the grind. After selling the company to Paypal in 2013 for $800 million, he then started Kernel, a headset to measure neural activity. He then decided on a unique early retirement.

Since 2021 he’s replaced his obsession for building equity in his companies for his new obsession. Slow his biological clock. His website https://dontdie.bryanjohnson.com/ states "We are at war with death and its causes." He got busy not dying.

The Netflix film shows Bryan taking over 110 pills and potions a day, grinding it out in the gym, exposing himself to artificial light, but not the UV rays of the sun, measuring every possible health factor and eating a formulaic diet specially curated for his nutrition “Blueprint”.

Oh, and he’s started selling the Blueprint to others who seemingly do not want to die either.

I have news for Bryan and his followers. He’s going to die. His body will fail, as all others in the course of human history. He may live longer than he might have had he taken another path.

He’s not a science experiment. Science has controls, large sample sizes, and tries to hold some things constant while measuring the impact of one thing. This is the opposite. Bryan is spending millions per year taking rapamycin, blood transfusions from his son, with whom he’s recently reconciled. He's flying to Honduras for gene therapy, not to mention all the other chemistry going into his body. It will be impossible to learn which treatment actually worked for Bryan.

To his credit, he is sharing his N=1 journey with the world, posting his vitals. They are very good. His body looks healthier than he has since high school, and his statistics back it up. He is quite the specimen, albeit a pasty and nerdy one.

He's an early retiree who needed a change. His last obsessions in the tech world, saw him lose his Mormon faith and family. His ex-wife and two of his three kids are not part of his life. He admittedly struggles to find someone to date, as his routine is a lot for anyone to be around. No romantic sunset dinners, Bryan doesn’t eat past early afternoon, and it's off to bed before 8:30.

The film shows his renewed relationship with his oldest son, which is poignant. Bryan and 18-year-old Talmage are both working to find themselves. Talmage’s leaving for college almost breaks Bryan, as does a brief reunion with his own father. Talmange seems on more solid footing than his dad. ?

So what are we to make of Bryan? The end of the film shows him embracing enthusiastic followers, and stating that he has found happiness. Wonderful for Bryan. Another rich guy who has a pile of money to play with. His toys are an in-house CVS, and a LabCorp. ?

But what about his followers interested in longevity? Length is a one-dimensional measure. I suggest the formula is wrong. Who could be faulted for trying to live with good health for as long as possible? But life is three dimensions, how much breadth and depth is there to the time you spend?

Think of the time you have left and be present for every minute of it. Don’t cast away time. Enjoy life, food, relationships, the warmth of the sun. Savor simple joys and look for ways to be fulfilled.

Based on the film, Bryan is spending at least 25% of his 16-hour days getting measured, exercising, or marketing his social media impact in his lab/office/home. Some might argue wasted time. Even if Bryan lives 25% longer than his expected 80 or so years, he will be gifted more time in his 80s and 90s, but will have ‘wasted’ 8-10 years of his remaining 30-40 years of life in the lab, while he could have been developing relationships, and having awesome experiences with loving friends and other people.

I say, prepare to die. Get ready. No one escapes the Rule of 70. The changes from aging are undeniable by age 70.

No person of the billions ever born has escaped the impact of aging.

It's not a disease, it’s a feature of all life on earth, part of our design. I say don’t fear getting old, enter old age as healthy as possible while recognizing that on average, people over 70 are happier than any time in their adult lives.

If you want to learn more about what makes older people happier, and why you might want to cherish getting older, check out my book The Rule of 70, A Single Rule for a Rewarding Life.