Eccentric biohacker Bryan Johnson claims to have made a “clone” of himself as a newborn baby - so he can harvest its organs. The tech billionaire says the ‘baby’ will also be used to test novel new therapies.
Clone announcement and purpose
“I just cloned myself... as a newborn,” he wrote in a post to X. The 48-year-old entrepreneur has become well known for his stunts trying to reverse the ageing process, including transferring his own son’s blood into his body.
Last month he revealed he has been diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disease, which causes his immune system to mistakenly attack healthy cells in his stomach lining. He announced his intention to “try and solve” the illness, claiming that “AI, multiomics, and custom-built DNA” should mean that no condition is presumed incurable.
Details on the clone
On his latest ‘baby clone’ attempt to live forever, he said: “With this clone, I can become my own blood boy, test therapies on the clone, grow organs for transplantation, develop new treatments, and inject young cells.” He added: “This baby-bryan lives in a petri dish for now. This may be scary to some people… a dystopian future. But, for others, they will see it as the inevitable future of health.”
Ethical backlash and support
Underneath the post, some fans pointed out the ethical questions posed by raising a human to essentially ‘test on’. One asked: “How does the clone give its consent to your machinations? What gives you the right to harvest its organs, draw its blood, or subject this individual to experimentation for your benefit and at its peril?” Others accused Johnson of being “evil”, but some did support him: “I don't think its evil. You have stem cells in your body that replace old cells, they want to do it, it is their function in the universe.”
