Jack Dorsey sounds like one messed up dude, IMO.
The CEO of Twitter and Square went on some health wacko’s podcast to talk about his bizarro biohacks that include eating only once a day in the evening (a protein and veggies, that’s it) except on weekends when he doesn’t eat at all. Then there are the morning ice baths, evening 220 degree barrel sauna / 37 degree ice bath cycling x3, obsessive tracking and journaling and, of course, plenty of near-infrared light.
Near-infrared light. Now why didn’t I think of that?
Why does @Jack do this to himself? How the hell should I know. I hear trendy pseudoscientific nonsense like that is a thing among the Silly Valley bro elite but I don’t exactly hang in those circles so I only know what I read. And what I read sounds pretty nuts and bananas – like the dude’s neurotic. Some say he has an eating disorder. To me he looks pale and gaunt … and he doesn’t appear to be aging well, either (the before and after pics are only 6 years apart).
Bananas pic.twitter.com/SvxvwwJses
— jack (@jack) January 16, 2019
Eccentrics like Howard Hughes and Steve Jobs come to mind. Sure, they were brilliant, but at what personal cost? Whatever. Who am I to judge?
I guess the only problem I have with this stuff is the way Dorsey promotes it and every click-happy pop rag on Earth has to cover it, including Inc, Quartz, CNBC and Business Insider. No surprises there. Some publications came out against doing loony stuff like that to your body but their goal is still the same – clicks – and I’m not sure it doesn’t all end up having the same effect.
All the good little wind-up digital drones will have to try it anyway. After all, if a billionaire Silicon Valley entrepreneur CEO does it, then it has to be cool, right?
In researching this I did however come upon one good article in The Atlantic which promotes good habits like getting a good night’s sleep, spending time in nature, eating right and having a sense of purpose in your life. The piece still called these common sense ideas biohacks, but I guess that’s the only way to get anyone to read these days, which is sort of sad.
In that spirit here are my biohacks for a generation of self-obsessed people who tend to get a little too carried away with this sort of nonsense:
Do what makes you happy;
Do your work;
Try not to hurt yourself or make others miserable; and
Don’t be ludicrous.
Also “Whatever gets you through the night, …” yada yada.
Image credit JD Lasica / Flickr (before), @Jack’s Twitter feed (after)