Bryan Johnson wants to live forever. A new Netflix film shows the wild ways he's trying.

We're born, we live, we die. But what if we ... didn't die?

A ridiculous question, to be sure. But also one that Bryan Johnson, 47, is trying to answer anyway in the new Netflix documentary, "Don't Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever" (now streaming).

"We have a history of asking really crazy questions, and sometimes they turn out to be true and sometimes not," he tells USA TODAY in late December. "But I think just in the past two or three years, is the first time in human history that one could pose this question."

You probably recognize what Johnson has been up to from a series of headlines; the Bloomberg article "How to Be 18 Years Old Again for Only $2 Million a Year" raised many eyebrows and spawned a social media uproar. It also caught the eye of filmmakers, including director Chris Smith. "It was something that I just wrote down, and was like, 'Oh, I should reach out to this guy,'" he says, and he ultimately landed the directing gig for the project.

The film tracks the former tech CEO's journey toward peak physical health – which includes spending $2 million on a home laboratory, staff and all the supplements, therapies and medical interventions you can imagine.

And he's trying to prove how far he can go. The morning of this interview, he scored a new personal best in his HIIT protocol he does three times a week. His max heart rate hit 189 bpm (on par with that of a 31-year-old, Johnson claims. The maximum heart rate for a 30-year-old is 190 bpm, according to the American Heart Association). His muscle oxygen saturation is in the 75th percentile for elite athletes, he says, and the 99th percentile for the general population.

"Most people in their late 40s are not achieving personal bests," he says. "It's considered to be a downward trend. So to be anywhere close to it, it's great, but to be seeing it is really exciting."

'He's the best guinea pig'

Johnson is racing to bring down his biological age and his pace of aging, considered crucial markers for longevity. After two years of "Blueprint" – the name of his health initiative – he says he has reversed his biological age 5.1 years. And during the course of the documentary, his pace of aging dropped from 0.69 to 0.64, meaning that for every year that goes by, he'll age only by about two-thirds of that year.

All of Johnson's protocols – including diet, supplements, exercises, therapies – are available on the Blueprint website. In theory, anyone could follow all or some of his habits and purchase specialized supplements and tests on his site or elsewhere. But Johnson's routines aren't easy to replicate. He wakes up at 5 a.m. and is in bed by 8:30 p.m. He exercises for an hour to 90 minutes each morning. He takes dozens upon dozens of pills, wears a red light therapy hat on his head for hair growth, eats his last meal of the day at 11 a.m. and stops drinking fluids at 4 p.m. MRIs and other medical tests break up this cycle; he claims to have spent more time in an MRI than anyone in the world.

It seems like a lot, but "what once seemed maybe shocking became normalized" after spending more time together and testing each idea, Smith says.

His longevity consultant, Dr. Oliver Zolman, helped him come up with the plan. "He’s the best guinea pig anyone can ask for," Zolman says in the documentary.

Other medical experts interviewed questioned his throw-everything-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach to longevity. Why not focus on one intervention at a time? Or spend money on clinical trials devoted to these interventions instead of pouring resources into one man? They're also skeptical of him pursuing gene therapy, something typically used only for serious conditions. Still, six months later, the film claims his muscle mass grew by 7%. Declining muscle mass is a natural part of aging.

Johnson supports anyone trying to become healthier, including other longevity programs. But is he also ready to "Make America Healthy Again" with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., if he is confirmed as Health and Human Services secretary? The pair snapped a photo and shared it on X last November. "I think we (at Blueprint have) done a better job than anyone the entire world, mastering the basics of scientific evidence for health and for establishing a clean food supply chain," Johnson says. "And so we're hoping to bridge these things to the new administration and help them out in what we've done."

In case you missed: The Kardashians love this 'biological age test' so I tried it. Here's what I learned.

'100 years is not going to be enough'

Johnson's past offers clues into why he jumped on the longevity train. He grew up Mormon and had a modest upbringing; his parents divorced and his father struggled with substance abuse. He created the payments company Braintree, which later purchased Venmo; he sold the company to eBay in 2013 for $800 million. A father of three, he too got divorced and ultimately left the Mormon church and found purpose in Blueprint and his longevity quest after a history of unhealthy eating and suicidal thoughts.

He also reconnected with eldest son Talmage, who spent the last year of high school with his father. People might recognize Talmage as Johnson's "blood boy"; he donated plasma to his father, and Johnson to his father, all part of this longevity pursuit.

During the documentary, Johnson's moments with his son humanize him. He breaks down in front of Talmage in a Target, showing a rare moment of emotion as he grapples with his son going off to college. He wants multiple lifetimes with Talmage, he says – "100 years is not going to be enough" – a sentiment any parent could relate to.

More on RFK: RFK Jr., vaccines, food dyes, fluoride and why ‘Make America Healthy Again' took off

'It's very hard to predict your future self'

The best part about longevity medicine is that every little effort you make to tweak your routines could increase your lifespan. Sleep, diet and exercise are what doctors all over the world recommend.

"Those are the things that I'm working on," Smith says. Though he chronicled Johnson's journey, "I haven't engaged or adopted any of Bryan's protocols or interventions, but I am trying to sleep better. I'm trying to eat better. I'm trying to exercise when possible."

But let's say Johnson can't maintain his regimen. "It's very hard to predict your future self," Johnson concedes. "So I'm very humble in that none of us ever know what our future selves will imagine. It's reasonable to me to imagine that at any age, I will value feeling good. I will value being able to play sports. I will value waking up and feeling great. I will value waking up feeling rested. I will probably not like being sick."

What Johnson is doing is trying to push the boundaries of what optimal health is. You may not agree with his methods − medical experts are certainly wary of the scientific basis for his protocols and of him selling products as part of his endeavor − but as the saying goes, life is short. Or only as short as we let it be.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bryan Johnson talks Blueprint, aging in Netflix doc 'Don't Die'