The spectacle of Bryan Johnson and his livestreamed shrooms trip

At 18, I attended a music festival and witnessed a man determinedly climbing a flimsy tree for a better view, failing repeatedly. Fast forward a decade, and I found myself in a similar scenario while watching Grimes perform again—this time as part of a bizarre public livestream featuring Bryan Johnson. The entrepreneur, known for his substantial investment in tech and his quest for immortality, had consumed a hefty dose of 5.24 grams of psilocybin mushrooms. Johnson, who amassed his fortune from selling the payment platform Braintree, has made it his mission to document his journey toward eternal life. His social media chronicles include everything from plasma transfusions from his son to taking over 100 pills daily and undergoing unique cosmetic procedures. His latest venture, a livestream of his psychedelic experience, was presented with flashy graphics reminiscent of an old Windows XP interface. Before going live, Johnson and his Blueprint co-founder, Kate Tolo, even joked about turning the event into a commercial spectacle akin to the Super Bowl. The livestream drew over a million viewers on X, either live or as a replay. As Johnson ingested the mushrooms and utilized his own neurotechnology—an imposing black helmet—to track his body's reactions, a host of affluent commentators, collectively worth more than $10 billion, provided enthusiastic commentary praising his audacity. Some observers view Johnson's approach as a form of avant-garde performance art, while others in Silicon Valley herald him as a pioneer. Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, drew parallels between Johnson's experience and that of the biblical Jacob, suggesting that both are on a quest for enlightenment. Meanwhile, investor Naval Ravikant characterized Johnson as a ‘one-man FDA,’ lamenting that regulatory hurdles impede scientific progress. While the praise flowed, Johnson himself was largely oblivious, shrouded in an eye mask and weighted blanket during the five-hour livestream. Ashlee Vance, a journalist following Johnson's journey, noted that the pressure of live commentary may have been burdensome for him. The core of Johnson's public mushroom trip is to explore the potential of psychedelics in extending human life—an endeavor supported by ongoing academic research. Johnson is not the first to investigate hallucinogens for therapeutic purposes; this has been a topic of interest since the 1960s, when Harvard psychologist Timothy Leary advocated for psychedelics as tools for expanding consciousness. Two generations later, Johnson's livestream serves as a modern twist on this exploration, aiming to explain his concept of ‘longevity escape velocity’—the idea that humans could halt the aging process. With Tolo by his side, Johnson articulated their goal to make him effectively immortal by 2039, inviting viewers to join in this collective journey. The setting of this experiment was far from a typical lab or a vibrant psychedelic environment; it resembled a corporate meeting room, with Johnson comfortably ensconced in his blanket. Observers like Benioff recognized the potential for sponsorship opportunities even in such unconventional circumstances. As Johnson eventually emerged from his cocoon to provide saliva samples and don the brain-monitoring helmet, the scene epitomized his innovative yet peculiar approach to the quest for longevity, all while some of the tech industry's elite watched in fascination.