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- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
Summary
Bryan Johnson, a 46-year-old tech multimillionaire focused on anti-aging, stopped using rapamycin—a supplement he took for five years—after research suggested it might accelerate aging.
Johnson cited side effects like skin infections and glucose issues, as well as findings from a recent study showing rapamycin could worsen epigenetic aging.
Known for extreme anti-aging experiments, Johnson also created the health startup Blueprint, which markets pricey supplements.
His controversial methods, including teenage blood transfusions and genital shock treatments, have raised skepticism about their effectiveness and safety.
It’s an unpopular opinion, but I actually appreciate this guy and what he is doing. He has opted to open his entire research and data to anyone that wants to look at it. So, even though he is definitely a weirdo, the data he is providing might be of some use.
I don’t want to look like a vampire, but if his research leads to the discovery of some protein that allows my heart to beat at full strength for a little longer, or slows down the onset of dementia, etc., then I’m all for him wasting his money trying to look like a Twilight cast member.
It’s one guy who is going through like a million treatments.
It’s cool that the data is available but what helpful information can be gained from it other than “what happens if you do jackass but healthy?”
I like that he’s willing to really fuck up his own body to see what happens. I don’t like that he’s peddling supplements.
Notice I used the word “appreciate” instead of “like”.
This isn’t real research … it’s just a millionaire spending money on trying to live longer for themselves while selling and marketing products on the side.
If it were real research, it would involve a group of recognized researchers and scientists testing products and activities on a small group of volunteers who are fully aware of what they are participating in. And the research has to last for several years using multiple controls.
Watching one guy testing and trying out a few things whenever he feels like it and done at his own whim and under only his opinion and likes and dislikes is not research.
The biggest contribution he has to longevity is in promoting and advertising the fact that one of the ways to extend your lifespan is to become a millionaire.
Someone testing on themselves is how we learned what causes and how to treat ulcers (the researcher earned a Nobel prize for giving himself an ulcer, and then treating it), among other things.
Controlled trials are great, but research has to start somewhere.
You’re telling me that shocking one’s nards on a hunch and writing it down isn’t real research?
I’m starting to think I know nothing about science. What have I been doing?
I’d love to see your research on shocking your nards … especially to be able to see the video evidence of what happens and what the results are.
For most of the time since the start of the Scientific Revolution, the way this guy does research was the standard way that research was done. Controlled clinical trials certainly have an important role in the development of new medicines, but they’re slow and expensive. They aren’t good tools for quickly trying out a lot of very speculative ideas. I expect that if a powerful anti-aging technique is discovered, it will be used for self-experimentation years before a clinical trial.
A couple of caveats: first, I think that a powerful anti-aging technique is probably not possible with today’s technology or the technology of the near future. Second, I think the self-experimentation is more likely to be done by a scientist in an academic lab studying senescence than by someone doing research outside of academia.
But he’s involving so many variables, is his data even useful? I don’t understand how you could extrapolate anything from a guy who takes so many supplements that may cause conflicting outcomes.
Someone who has a background in science would know that testing on a single person is not very useful for what other posters are wishing for (new proteins, new anti aging treatments).
This billionaire has age dysmorphia and is using his wealth to experiment around. It’s unfortunate really.
It’s unethical to experiment on anyone other than yourself, but there’s a reason we can cure so many things in mice, and it isn’t just that they’re a bit simpler. It’s also because they go through a lot of mice.
I don’t know about “unfortunate”. His “move fast and break things” approach to anti-aging treatments have a good chance of killing him, and having one less dipshit billionaire who thinks he’s brilliant because he’s rich would undoubtedly benefit society as a whole.
That’s a good perspective. I hadn’t thought of it that way.
Yes, because anything that looks promising can be pulled out as a hypothesis to be tested properly.
A sample size of one is pretty much useless. The only good thing to come out of his work is the publicity and public interest in anti aging imo.
Single case design is a field of a research that can provide a great deal of value on efficacy for worth of larger trials but the way he’s approaching it, as others have said, is functionally useless. The data is likely pointless if you’ve thrown 100 confounding variables at the wall to see what sticks