'Eccentric, billionaire, vampire': Meet Bryan Johnson, the entrepreneur who wants to cheat death

Bryan Johnson is an eccentric man, but also a man on a mission—one that challenges the very nature of human mortality. The 47-year-old tech entrepreneur-turned-biohacker has become a global curiosity. But why, you may ask. The reason is that today, Johnson has become best known for his obsessive pursuit of longevity and his crazy attempts to slow the ageing process to a near halt.

But in India, he recently made headlines for a very different reason—walking out of a podcast recording with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath due to poor air quality.

During his India visit, Johnson was invited to record an episode for Kamath’s WTF podcast at a five-star hotel equipped with an air purifier. Despite wearing an N95 mask, he abruptly ended the session, citing severe discomfort from pollution.

"The bad air quality caused my skin to break out in a rash," he later wrote on X, adding that his eyes and throat were burning. By the time he left, the indoor air quality index (AQI) had risen to 130, with PM2.5 levels equivalent to smoking multiple cigarettes in a day.

The Man Who Wants to Live Forever

While his dramatic exit from an Indian podcast became fodder for social media debates here in the country, Johnson’s true claim to fame lies in his quest for immortality, a quest which is both relentless and also data-driven. A former tech entrepreneur who made a fortune selling payment apps, Johnson has since reinvented himself as the world's most committed advocate for longevity. He subjects himself to extreme regimens—rigorous exercise, hyper-precise meal plans, and sleep schedules designed to keep his body biologically young.

His efforts are documented in the new Netflix documentary Don't Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever, where he describes himself as a "professional rejuvenation athlete." He even runs Rejuvenation Olympics, a website ranking people based on their ageing speed. By meticulously following his protocol, Johnson claims to have slowed his biological ageing to 0.64, meaning he only ages seven and a half months for every year he lives.

But it hasn't all been praise. His methods—including a controversial experiment involving plasma transfusions from his teenage son—have drawn criticism and made him a favourite target for skeptics. “When I started, people saw me as an ‘eccentric, vampire billionaire tech bro drinking his son’s blood’,” he told The Guardian. “But I’m creating a new sport, a new way to understand reality. Death is always inevitable, but are we the first generation that won’t die?”

The Price of Perfection

Despite his larger-than-life ambitions, Johnson's ultra-controlled lifestyle also raises questions about the cost of extreme longevity pursuits. His rigid daily schedule, intense medical monitoring, and rejection of even moderate environmental pollutants—like those in an AQI of 120—show just how far he is willing to go. His encounter with India’s air pollution shows two things actually: his scientific precision but also the bubble in which he operates.

Whether he’s a revolutionary biohacker or simply a rich man terrified of ageing, Bryan Johnson is undeniably a fascinating figure. As he pushes the boundaries of what the human body can endure, one thing is certain—he's not planning to slow down anytime soon.