Despite coming under fire from Twitterverse overlord Elon Musk for his extravagant $2 million (about £1.58 million) anti-ageing regime, biohacker Bryan Johnson continues to remain undeterred.
Both Johnson and Musk are sparing no effort to change the world, but the biotech CEO isn't a big fan of the controversial Twitter owner.
Centi-millionaire Johnson's lifestyle has been the subject of public scrutiny for a while now. He follows a strict health protocol that includes eating his last meal of the day at 11 am and trying to reverse his biological age from 46 to 18 with the help of a team of thirty scientists.
Johnson's mantra for living a long life is simple: don't die. On the Diary of a CEO podcast, the 45-year-old billionaire biohacker admitted he has spent $4 million (about £3.15 million) so far on scientific research and measurement protocols.
"I say don't die because we, as a species, sometimes have a difficult time cooperating on a variety of things," Johnson told Decrypt in an interview.
"So you give any topic that arises, you hear almost an infinite number of opinions on a given thing, and we have a very hard time agreeing," he added.
Johnson went on to point out that the one thing we all agree upon is don't die. He insists the idea of "don't die" reflects in everyday life, from throwing out stale food to changing the smoke alarm when it beeps and looking both ways before crossing the street.
Elon Musk's criticism of Bryan Johnson
However, critics of Johnson have recently gained a powerful supporter in the form of the world's richest man, Elon Musk.
Last month, X (formerly Twitter) user Matt Paulson compared 2 images of Johnson before and after he began his age-reversing process. "Bryan Johnson looked way better before he started spending $2 million/year on his body," Paulson wrote.
My unpopular opinion of the day is that Bryan Johnson looked way better before he started spending $2 million/year on his body. pic.twitter.com/ZlfoBfbNzI
— Matt Paulson (@MattPaulsonSD) December 29, 2023
💯
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 30, 2023
Taking to the comments section of Paulson's X post, Musk agreed, replying "100". Johnson spontaneously made a funny remark, saying: "Former Bryan didn't get invited to vampire cosplay as himself".
Former Bryan didn’t get invited to vampire cosplay as himself
— Zero (@bryan_johnson) December 30, 2023
Johnson later shared a screenshot of the thread with Musk's reply and wrote: "The difference between Elon and me: I'll nourish you and drink your blood; he'll fire you and leave you to die".
The difference between Elon and me: I’ll nourish you and drink your blood; he’ll fire you and leave you to die. https://t.co/7ifnDOSomf
— Zero (@bryan_johnson) December 31, 2023
Johnson's response seems to be a tongue-in-cheek reference to the backlash Musk faced in 2023 around his actions at X. Since acquiring the platform, Musk has decreased the business's headcount by around 80 per cent, claiming the "painful" process of redundancies was necessary to make X profitable.
Despite that, a new report by Fidelity suggests X is now worth 72 per cent less than its value when Musk purchased it. Moreover, some former X employees have accused the company of not paying the bonuses that they were allegedly promised.
To make things worse, the European Union (EU) initiated a formal investigation into X under the Digital Services Act (DSA) last month. Despite these challenges, it is worth noting that the 52-year-old tech mogul ended 2023 with a $100 billion (£78 billion) profit.
