Birbla

Discussion summary

A biohacker seeking immortality has been diagnosed with an incurable 'stomach eating' disease, drawing mixed reactions. Some defend his intentions and efforts, while others criticize his methods and decisions.

What the discussion says

  • Support for his scientific curiosity and efforts to push health boundaries.
  • Criticism of his reckless behavior and promotion of risky practices.
  • Recognition that he has faced public mockery both before and after his diagnosis.
“He’s unfathomably rich and unfathomably stupid; doing insane shit to his body.”
— garciasn
“People mocked him long before this news broke, not just because of his diagnosis.”
— dpoloncsak

Comments

Hacker News

> As well as blood transfusions, Johnson follows a strict daily routine that includes monitoring his body fat, heart rate variability, blood, stool samples, and the number of erections he has per night. Every day he also takes two dozen medicines at 5 a.m

This man is not mentally well...

by ChiperSoft

This is heartbreaking to see (from the doc about this guy, he seemed to genuinely believe this was a good idea). A good warning about the limits of control humans have over things (and why brute-forcing it can often lead to bad outcomes).

by rglover

His idea would be cool if not for the lindy effect: each one of his "tests" has a somewhat low probability of extending his life by a few months / years.

However each of his tests, as they are new, also has a smaller probability of having ruin effect: killing him or leaving him disabled in the process. Multiplying the treatments increases significantly the downside risks (1 failure is enough) while the positive will not compound (you will need many of them to work to see a significant effect).

by nemo136

It seems like a high-prevalence low-impact disease. Considering how much he self-scans it’s no surprise he found one of these. The cancers that he could get as a result are not particularly dangerous and lifespan is barely affected by it.

Seems interesting but not consequential.

by arjie

Someone should make a website showing the oldest living biohackers. Presenting it as a sort of leaderboard

edit: I don't actually ethically endorse this. I was moreso poking fun at the morbidity of the biohacking influencer space which invites people to obsess over an influencer's health and inevitably turns into something gruesome when said influencer has a tragic health outcome.

by culi

To add some context, this is a relatively common form of gastritis impacting depending on location 3-5% of the population called Autoimmune Gastritis. Now his biohacking might be related it might not, the issue with the guy is that he does too many interventions at the same time so it’s hard to really tell what’s going on. He also has a core belief of equating looking younger with his interventions working, to his defence he also runs more rigorous analysis on his body. Overall he isn’t the most interesting bio hacker out there, but he is the loudest.

by cannonpr

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  • Hacker News
  • > As well as blood transfusions, Johnson follows a strict daily routine that includes monitoring his body fat, heart rate variability, blood, stool samples, and the number of erections he has per night. Every day he also takes two dozen medicines at 5 a.m

    This man is not mentally well...

    by ChiperSoft
  • This is heartbreaking to see (from the doc about this guy, he seemed to genuinely believe this was a good idea). A good warning about the limits of control humans have over things (and why brute-forcing it can often lead to bad outcomes).
    by rglover
  • [dupe] Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48804049
    by ChrisArchitect
  • His idea would be cool if not for the lindy effect: each one of his "tests" has a somewhat low probability of extending his life by a few months / years.

    However each of his tests, as they are new, also has a smaller probability of having ruin effect: killing him or leaving him disabled in the process. Multiplying the treatments increases significantly the downside risks (1 failure is enough) while the positive will not compound (you will need many of them to work to see a significant effect).

    by nemo136
  • It seems like a high-prevalence low-impact disease. Considering how much he self-scans it’s no surprise he found one of these. The cancers that he could get as a result are not particularly dangerous and lifespan is barely affected by it.

    Seems interesting but not consequential.

    by arjie
  • Someone should make a website showing the oldest living biohackers. Presenting it as a sort of leaderboard

    edit: I don't actually ethically endorse this. I was moreso poking fun at the morbidity of the biohacking influencer space which invites people to obsess over an influencer's health and inevitably turns into something gruesome when said influencer has a tragic health outcome.

    by culi
  • To add some context, this is a relatively common form of gastritis impacting depending on location 3-5% of the population called Autoimmune Gastritis. Now his biohacking might be related it might not, the issue with the guy is that he does too many interventions at the same time so it’s hard to really tell what’s going on. He also has a core belief of equating looking younger with his interventions working, to his defence he also runs more rigorous analysis on his body. Overall he isn’t the most interesting bio hacker out there, but he is the loudest.
    by cannonpr