Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 21
Ezekiel Emanuel Challenges Bryan Johnson's 150-Year Lifespan Goal at Aspen Retreat
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 21

Ezekiel Emanuel Challenges Bryan Johnson's 150-Year Lifespan Goal at Aspen Retreat

2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 21

Summary

  • At a private Aspen dinner last fall, Ezekiel Emanuel pressed Bryan Johnson on why he wants to live to 150, asking what purpose such a lifespan would serve.
  • Johnson — the 49-year-old tech entrepreneur who says he has spent millions measuring and optimizing his body — did not answer, Emanuel said, and the question "caught him up short."
  • The exchange highlighted a sharp divide between Johnson's anti-aging project and Emanuel's skepticism of the wellness industry; the former Obama health adviser has said he would be content to live to 75.
  • Set among leaders from foreign affairs, economics and entertainment, the encounter distilled a broader debate over whether radical longevity is a meaningful goal or an expensive obsession.

Insights

When forced to explain why he wants to live to 150, why did the world's most measured human fall completely silent?
If millions spent on extreme biohacking cannot stop a silent incurable disease, is the quest for immortality fundamentally flawed?