Are we not well? We are Ego.
Be prepared for a Chip Conley cultural rant.
It was 2008 when Gwyneth Paltrow fused beauty and health into a lifestyle brand called Goop. Stephen Colbert famously called it “luxury pseudoscience for rich people,” but most of us shrugged at Gwyneth’s Goop. It felt pretty niche.
But somewhere along the way, niche became normal. And now? We’ve gone full Devo.
I’m all for the rising awareness of healthspan and longevity. But I’m equally stunned by the explosion of snake oil hucksterism. Because here’s the inconvenient truth:
The #1 predictor of a long, healthy, happy life is social wellness—our relationships.
And last I checked, you can’t buy a supplement for friendship.
Friendship is a practice.
The more you exercise it, the better you get.
But, we seem to have forgotten many of the Blue Zones principles so I have to ask:
Does the modern midlife crisis now wear a glucose monitor? Is biohacking the Botox of the soul?
It’s easy to poke fun at the longevity bros—Bryan Johnson, Peter Attia, Dave Asprey, Andrew Huberman—all circling the gravitational pull of midlife (or, if you prefer, midlife chrysalis). Their approach? Highly disciplined. Hyper-controlled. Almost militaristic.
It’s as if: “Wellness is for the ladies… but real men biohack.”
They’re obsessed with length…of life (as men often are).
But here’s the real question:
Would you actually want to live Bryan Johnson’s regimented life forever?
And then we arrive at the final ring of the Venn diagram: Looksmaxxing.
Devo told us to “whip it good,” but they didn’t mean this.
In some corners of the Looksmaxxing internet, young men are experimenting with things like “bone smashing”—the belief that hitting your jaw or cheekbones will make you more attractive.
Let that sink in.
We’ve gone from caring for the body…
to optimizing the body…
to, in some cases, assaulting the body in pursuit of an ideal.
Fashion meets masochism. Or maybe it’s just desperation dressed up as discipline.
So I’ll leave you with this:
When did mirrors and vanity metrics become the pathway to a good life?
In what feels like a blink, we’ve moved
from vitality to vanity.
From wellness to ego.
From evolution…
to Devo-lution.
OK, my rant is over. What’s your take on Wellness, Longevity, and Looksmaxxing?
If you enjoyed this Venn Diagram, you might check out some of the 2×2 graphs I created or highlighted last year.
-Chip