Brian Johnson's Perspective on "Erosion of Time": Viewing inflation and aging as the same systemic crisis

Bryan, the founder of Braintree (and Venmo), who sold for 800 million dollars to PayPal, suddenly shifted from success in the payments industry to an ambitious project of human lifespan extension. This transition is not merely a career change but an inevitable evolution driven by his fundamental worldview. Bryan’s public face today as Project Blueprint is nothing more than him continuing the same essential struggle in a different domain.

Economic inflation and human aging—two phenomena that seem unrelated at first glance—Bryan perceives as “the same silent force that erodes value.” Inflation gradually erodes purchasing power over time, while aging progressively deteriorates the biological capital of the body. Both are the most dangerous enemies to intelligent systems, and Bryan argues that resisting this slow decline is the most rational action for all rational beings.

Bryan’s Career Shift: From Payment Infrastructure to “Lifespan Extension”

Growing up in a blue-collar family in Utah, Bryan realized early on that a life exchanging time for money was not the path he desired. He chose the payments industry because it provided leverage, scaling, and speed—foundations that enable approaches to larger problems.

During his management of Braintree, Bryan was involved in early experiments with Bitcoin payments and became a partner of Coinbase. At that time, Bitcoin payment experiences were “awkward” and not well understood. Bryan’s interest was not ideological but focused on infrastructure development. Braintree was indifferent to the source of funds; it simply aimed to provide the underlying platform.

The 2013 acquisition by PayPal was not the peak of his career but an entry point to the next stage. For Bryan, experience in the payments industry was not just a career but a preparatory phase for tackling what he later calls “seed-level” problems. And these problems today are nothing other than lifespan extension.

A Physical Framework: “Survival” as the Top Priority for Intelligent Beings

Bryan’s worldview is rooted not in biology but in physics. The fundamental purpose of intelligent life is simple—survival. To borrow his words, “the most rational thing for intelligent beings is not to die.”

From this framework, it becomes clear why three seemingly different fields—cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence (AI), and longevity research—are actually highly overlapping. Bryan points out that all three are based on the same principles of “optimization,” “systems thinking,” and “exponential change.” This is an attempt to transcend current systems’ limitations and build a new order.

At the core of Bryan’s longevity project, Project Blueprint, is the introduction of an algorithmic system that eliminates human willpower and continues to operate autonomously. He redefines health as an autonomous process, surpassing human judgment, similar to self-driving cars or automated trading systems. Data flows in, optimized interventions are output, and this loop continues ceaselessly. The power of will is no longer necessary.

Inflation and Aging: System Deterioration as an Invisible Tax

“Aging shares the same philosophical foundation as inflation,” Bryan said on the CoinDesk podcast. “Both are gradual declines of intelligent systems.”

This metaphor is not just wordplay. Inflation functions as an invisible tax embedded in economic systems, eroding individual purchasing power. Similarly, aging functions as an inevitable deterioration embedded in biological systems, gradually reducing bodily functions. Both are irresistible forces for system users.

Bryan’s continued interest in cryptocurrency stems from this understanding. Blockchain technology has the potential to decentralize centralized currency management and relativize inflation. It is a form of resistance against the “aging” of economic systems.

Uncertainty of the Future: The Trajectory of System Evolution Changed by AI

Bryan now believes that predicting the future has become more difficult than ever. The reason is that AI is changing the very way systems evolve. Education and careers already embody this reality—once predictable paths no longer guarantee a certain future.

What Bryan is working on is testing a beta version of humanity in this new era. At the intersection of cryptocurrency, AI, and longevity research, he pursues the possibility of a new humanity that defies entropy. From his experience in the payments industry, he learned that transforming large systems requires infrastructure optimization. Now, Bryan’s focus is on redesigning the system of humanity itself, fundamentally reengineering its physical and biological infrastructure.