I attended Bryan Johnson’s Don’t Die Summit in Singapore. It started with a rave.

I attended Bryan Johnson’s Don’t Die Summit in Singapore. It started with a rave.

“If anyone’s wondering how my morning at the longevity summit is going, it’s 10 a.m., and I’m raving with a shirtless Bryan Johnson and, I think, his son,” I messaged my colleagues.

It was the last thing I’d expected to do on a Thursday morning in September, and, yet, here I was, awkwardly fist-pumping with the crowd as purple and red lights pulsed overhead.

At least a hundred people were shimmying on the makeshift dance floor in an auditorium as tunes such as “Gasolina” and “Taki Taki” blared. Dressed in a blazer and long pants with heels, I felt out of place in a sea of T-shirts, hoodies, and activewear.

“Aren’t we supposed to learn how to not die?” I tried joking with the woman beside me. She continued bopping along to the music without even casting a glance in my direction.

Summit attendees hit the dance floor as the morning rave commenced. I, too, caved to social pressure and got up from my seat. 

The morning rave was just the warm-up for a daylong longevity conference in a month studded with events in Singapore. Crypto and business conferences harnessed the buzz around that weekend’s Formula 1 GP race to lure foreigners and locals alike.

This year, Bryan Johnson, the millionaire entrepreneur obsessed with reversing his biological age, brought his Don’t Die Summit to Singapore, less than two weeks after a similar event in San Francisco. Others are in the works in cities across the US, including in Miami, New York, and Los Angeles.

On social media, the summit was touted as “a gathering for people who want to live healthier (and maybe even forever).” From Silicon Valley to Southeast Asia, interest in longevity is high enough to sell out events like this, for which tickets cost from $179 to $599. The Don’t Die Summit organizers provided B-17 with access to attend the event.

Johnson and his company, Blueprint, featured prominently, and so did his friends — six other men and one woman on the speaker lineup. Coinbase’s former chief technology officer Balaji Srinivasan even talked about how he planned to “build an actual Don’t Die community” at his three-month crypto-focused “school” for adults in nearby Malaysia. There, students would have Blueprint-inspired workouts and meals inspired by Johnson.

While the summit was billed as possibly “the most important day of your life,” the talks were less in-depth than I had expected.

While I’m no longevity expert, the things discussed didn’t feel all that new or novel. Most of Johnson’s advice is as old-school as it gets — eat, sleep, and exercise well — although the other talks and exhibition booths were focused on practices like blood testing that cost a pretty penny.

The quest for immortality

Immortality has always been the stuff of science fiction, but it seems like mankind might just turn it into a reality with some help from technology and AI — or so Johnson and some other tech titans believe.

Bryan Johnson in 2017 and now. Over the past few years, he has embarked on an extensive program in an attempt to reduce his biological age.

Over the past few years, Johnson, 47, has made headlines for his $2 million-a-year quest to reverse the aging process — and possibly live forever.

He calls this experiment “Project Blueprint,” and it includes unusual practices like consuming over 100 supplement pills every day, blasting his body with red light, and sleeping with a device attached to his penis to monitor his nighttime erections.

In a manner fitting his eccentricity, Johnson also briefly infused himself with the blood of his teenage son last year, although he says he has since stopped the practice after not seeing any benefits.

In a Bloomberg profile last year, Johnson and his doctors claimed that test results have suggested that he has the heart of a 37-year-old, the skin of a 28-year-old, and the lung capacity of an 18-year-old.

However, some scientists and medical professionals are unconvinced that parts of Johnson’s extensive routine are as effective as he claims.

Dr. Andrea Maier, a professor of medicine at the National University of Singapore, told B-17 that studies involving health supplements usually test the efficacy of just one supplement — not a mixture.

“There are no studies showcasing whether a mixture of supplements is beneficial to optimize health or not. And they might even be detrimental because one supplement might do one thing and another might do something else, which might not go well within a cell,” she said.

She added that while wellness techniques like ice baths and red-light therapy are popular, there’s insufficient evidence to prove their positive effects on longevity. An ice bath may even be harmful to some since it can lead to cardiac arrest, she said.

“There is a lot of hype in our field at the moment, so it’s better to rely on evidence-based approaches and be a little cautious when it comes to some of these interventions,” she said, adding that she did not attend the summit.

The business of longevity

But that hasn’t stopped Johnson from trying to capitalize on the fear of aging.

Through his company Blueprint, Johnson peddles wellness products such as a $49 “longevity mix” drink, a $42 protein-powder packet, and even “Snake Oil” — extra virgin olive oil that he sells in bottles of two for $64.

A disclaimer at the bottom of the Blueprint webpage notes that statements made on the site have not been evaluated by the FDA.

“‘Don’t die’ is the most-played game by every human on this planet, every second of every day,” Johnson said as part of his opening panel at the summit. “It is the only thing that 8 billion humans can agree upon.”

He was dressed casually, in a gray T-shirt and white pants. As he invited several audience members onstage for a discussion about his “Don’t Die” philosophy, I surveyed the room. In all, there were about 1,000 people in attendance, with a fairly even mix of genders and age groups.

Dr. Chrystal Fong, a family physician with the clinic Asia Health Partners, told me she decided to attend the summit because she was interested in preventive health and longevity.

“I want to enhance my existing knowledge by hearing what other people in this space have to say,” Fong said, adding that she hopes to be able to network with other like-minded people.

Marion Neubronner, a psychologist in Singapore, has worked on medical education related to longevity. She told me she’s always kept up with the latest research in the field and came to the event looking for more local community.

What’s on the menu

Before the rave, “nutty pudding” — one of Blueprint’s food products— was served for breakfast. I scooped a spoonful from the large communal bowl and added some grapes and berries to improve the taste of the mushy, unsweetened paste.

Don’t Die attendees were served Blueprint’s “nutty pudding” in the morning. I was glad I had some breakfast before I arrived. 

Grain, a local company known for healthy meals, catered lunch, served after Johnson’s introductory panel. The spread included a Blueprint “Super Veggie” recipe of black lentils, broccoli, cauliflower, and mushrooms. Roasted balsamic sweet potatoes and herb-baked chicken were also available.
I accompanied my meal with a drink made from Johnson’s blood-orange-flavored “longevity mix,” which tasted like sugar-free fruit punch.

The food served didn’t feel all that different from the home-cooked meals I eat on a daily basis (Thanks, Mom!), and I’d much prefer drinking water and tea.

A wander through the vendor booths

In addition to the talks, booths with all sorts of gadgets offered attendees the chance to try things like red-light therapy, an ice bath, or a blood test. Some of these vendors were companies run by the day’s speakers.

Those who tried out the free ice baths stripped down to their swimsuits and came prepared with an additional set of clothes.

Jacky Wang, 33, is an entrepreneur who flew in from Taiwan just for the summit. He told me he was interested in building an ice-bath center back home and wanted to learn about how other industry operators run their businesses.

He took two dips in the ice bath at the summit.

“The first time, Bryan Johnson hopped in and joined me for two minutes, and we shared a really cool moment,” Wang said.

Eat, sleep, maybe rave, and repeat

The summit’s turnout was unsurprising, considering the mainstream interest in longevity in recent years.

Dan Buettner, a journalist and researcher, has identified what he calls “Blue Zones” around the world where people tend to live longer and healthier lives. People in these regions share several features: They tend to eat a plant-based diet, do regular, low-intensity physical activity, and have a sense of community and purpose.

Buettner has added Singapore to his list of Blue Zones, but unlike the original five, which developed organically, he describes Singapore as a “manufactured city.”

The city-state, which is facing a rapidly aging population, even opened a longevity clinic in a public hospital in 2023.

And for all his unusual — and expensive — lifestyle practices, Johnson markets healthy living as achievable for the average person.

Prioritize sleep, get regular exercise, and don’t eat too late at night, he said. Never mind the fact that he said he wakes up at 5 a.m., eats all his meals by 11 a.m., and goes to bed at 8:30 p.m.

But as one audience member pointed out, it’s unrealistic for regular folks to replicate his schedule.

Johnson said they’re wrong — he set his own family on a consistent sleep routine by modeling it himself.

“Your kids, they’ll do anything. When you structure something, and they live in that world, they’re going to conform to that world,” he added.

As for a social life, Johnson confirms that he does, in fact, have one.

“My friends have been so cool and accommodating. We now do our activities earlier in the evening,” he said.