‘Hubris Is Immeasurable’: Reactions To Netflix Doc ‘Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants To Live Forever’

The Netflix documentary “Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever” about a tech millionaire obsessed with extending his life is getting a lot of reactions online. Bryan Johnson, 47, first started getting mainstream attention last January thanks to a Bloomberg article detailing his $2 million per year health regimen, which he claims is ...

Jan 2, 2025 - 14:28
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‘Hubris Is Immeasurable’: Reactions To Netflix Doc ‘Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants To Live Forever’

The Netflix documentary “Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever” about a tech millionaire obsessed with extending his life is getting a lot of reactions online.

Bryan Johnson, 47, first started getting mainstream attention last January thanks to a Bloomberg article detailing his $2 million per year health regimen, which he claims is helping to slow the aging process. The L.A.-based entrepreneur takes 130 pills daily, eats dinner at 11 a.m., goes to bed at 8:30 p.m., and does a 90-minute workout every day. He also has weekly MRIs, skin care treatments, plasma exchanges, and Follistatin gene therapy, which is not approved by the FDA, per Variety.

For these efforts, Johnson claims he only ages at a rate of 0.64, meaning he believes to be aging 7.6 months for every 12 months. He spent a total of $4 million developing a life-extension system called Blueprint, which he has been using for himself to promote longevity.

Documentary filmmaker Chris Smith followed Johnson around for a year, documenting his regimen and the family relationships the entrepreneur has with his father and his son, who at one point all swapped plasma.

“We do a good job of showing that some people think that what Bryan is doing has a lot of value and some people don’t,” Smith told Variety in an interview. “One of my hopes is that people take away from the movie that a large amount of health benefits can be achieved through sleep, diet, and exercise. That is something that is attainable by anyone.”

Some social media users expressed their skepticism about the documentary and the claims Johnson is making, while others thought he gave good advice.

“Here’s the truth: my secret plan is for ‘Don’t Die’ to become the world’s most influential ideology by 2027. Our existence depends upon it,” Johnson wrote in an X post on New Year’s Day.

“For 2,500 years, human history has been shaped by ideologies: Capitalism, Democracy, Socialism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc. But none of these systems are built for this moment. The question we face—what do humans do when giving birth to superintelligence?—is the most important one in this part of the galaxy. And no one, no country, no ideology, no company has an answer.”

“Your hubris is immeasurable,” one commenter wrote.

“Your ‘Don’t Die’ ideology is very limited and flawed, because it’s missing the spiritual aspect of longevity & immortality,” another person wrote.

“This sounds more like a marketing pitch than a serious ideology,” another response says. “Survival is a basic instinct, not a cohesive framework for managing the complexities of life, society, or technology. Humans don’t just live to ‘not die’, we live for meaning, growth, connection, and purpose.”

Other reactions said that Johnson’s advice was basic at its core. “My critical summary of ‘Don’t Die’ on Netflix: – Man leaves Mormonism; Middle-aged man gets fat, sick, and rich; Middle-aged man discovers exercise and vegetables,” a fourth person wrote of the documentary.

Plenty of other commenters were excited about Johnson’s approach and implored him to change the name from “don’t die” to something less controversial that focused on longevity rather than mortality.

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Fibis I am just an average American. My teen years were in the late 70s and I participated in all that that decade offered. Started working young, too young. Then I joined the Army before I graduated High School. I spent 25 years in, mostly in Infantry units. Since then I've worked in information technology positions all at small family owned companies. At this rate I'll never be a tech millionaire. When I was young I rode horses as much as I could. I do believe I should have been a cowboy. I'm getting in the saddle again by taking riding lessons and see where it goes.