Bryan Johnson: Five Habits for Longer Living [The Knowledge Project Ep. #188]

Shane Parrish: I was thinking about where to start, and I think we’ll start with your love of biographies. Where did this start and what are a few of the lessons that you’ve learned from them?

Bryan Johnson: I suppose I approach this question with the contemplation, How do you understand reality? There [are] a few ways of doing that. We’re born into this world and we’re given a narrative about existence, and that narrative depends upon when you’re born and where you’re born and to whom you’re born, but you’re told certain things about yourself and why you exist and what to care about and how society works and what ethics are and norms, and there [have] never been universals. If you look at the thousands of different societies that have emerged on earth, it’s extremely varied. If you’re poking at this situation and you’re saying, “Okay, I know that I’m born into a given system, and this system is not a universal truth system; it’s just where I’m at in time and place and it’s going to change in time,” then you can go about poking at [it in] a few ways.