9th Annual Biohacking Conference Recap: Jim Kwik, Dr. Mercola's Surprising Reversals, and a Tech Wonderland
After a whirlwind four days in Orlando, Florida, I returned to Arizona wiped out and still processing everything. Dave Asprey and team knocked it out of the park at the 9th Annual Biohacking Conference — and then some. Here are the highlights.
The Danger Coffee Bar
The conference kicked off with access to the Danger Coffee Bar, serving unlimited Bulletproof-style coffee all morning. On the first day, I turned around to find Dave Asprey himself behind the bar pouring my cup. Why is it called Danger Coffee? As Dave explains it: you don't know what you might do after you drink it. You might become a dangerous person.
Jim Kwik: Memory Is a Skill, Not a Gift
Jim Kwik opened with a statement he's built his entire career on: there's no such thing as a good or bad memory — only a trained or untrained one. He proved it with a live demonstration using the memory palace technique, a method of associating information with spatial locations in a mentally-visualized space.
His key insight: memory is about attention, not retention. The more senses you engage while learning, the better your recall. He walked us through his top 10 foods for brain health — avocado, blueberries, broccoli, eggs, olive oil, fish, leafy greens, turmeric, walnuts, and dark chocolate — using a mnemonic story to make each one stick.
Jim also introduced his free Brain C.O.D.E. Assessment, which identifies your brain animal type: cheetah, owl, dolphin, or elephant. If you've never taken it, it's a fascinating entry point into understanding how your particular mind learns and processes information.
Dr. Mercola: Challenging Everything He Taught Before
Dr. Mercola is one of the most intellectually honest speakers in the alternative health space — willing to change his public positions based on new evidence, even when it means contradicting years of his own prior recommendations. At this conference, he used the concept of confirmation bias to frame a series of significant reversals:
On dietary fat: New research he's reviewed suggests that diets with more than 30% fat lead to glycolysis, elevated lactate, and less efficient fuel metabolism. He's now eating more carbs and less fat — a striking departure from his longstanding low-fat-avoidance stance.
On fasting: He no longer advocates extended fasting, citing cortisol increases. He now practices an 8–12 hour eating window and recommends stopping calorie intake 3–4 hours before bed.
On cold therapy: He's unconvinced by the purported benefits of cold exposure. While cold increases dopamine, it also raises adrenalin and cortisol — and new research on brown fat has cooled his enthusiasm.
On NAD+ supplements: Instead of direct NAD+ supplementation, he now suggests niacinamide, which research indicates can increase NAD+ levels dramatically more efficiently.
On carb quality: Rather than favoring complex carbs over simple ones, he now suggests complex carbs may be metabolized by gram-negative gut bacteria that release endotoxins. He recommends ripe fruits and well-cooked starches as the best carb sources.
On aspirin: He noted that the pharmaceutical industry may have unfairly discredited aspirin, and that low-dose daily aspirin may benefit some people.
His fundamental health recommendations remain consistent: daily sunlight (targeting one hour, working toward vitamin D levels of 60–80 ng/ml), resistance training, minimizing linoleic acid from seed oils, and time-restricted eating.
Tech Wonderland
The Tech Wonderland is my favorite part of the conference — one large room of biohacking nirvana where you can meet the people behind the products and sample everything.
Andy Hnilo of Alitura Naturals was there in person — genuinely one of the most spiritually grounded and physically impressive people in the health space. He told me he'd recently moved to Sedona and was opening a brick-and-mortar store.
Steven Sashen, CEO of Xero Shoes, was there — I stopped by to tell him I'm still a convert after years of wearing minimalist footwear.
Juraj Kocar, CEO of Somavedic, was there as well. I had to confess that I'd accidentally destroyed my Somavedic device during a VR ping-pong session — tripped over the cord, and the beautiful crystal shattered across my kitchen floor. He pointed me to customer service for a repair.
I also got to meet Be Wellthy subscribers in person — Ariel, who traded conference takeaways with me, and Renata B., who competed in the "So You Think You're a Biohacker?" gameshow and walked away with several thousand Oxy Bucks to spend in the tech hall.
The Evening Event
This year's conference theme was fun — and the evening event delivered with a 70s & 80s Time Capsule dance party. Some attendees went all out with costumes. My t-shirt may not have technically counted as a costume, but we danced until late and it was a reminder that joy is a health practice too.
What's Coming Next
There's so much I didn't get to cover in this recap that will become future deep-dives: Soma Breath guided meditation, Oligoscan mineral testing, Tru Kava, Troscriptions, AuroWellness, StemRegen, the nitric oxide comparison between Vascanox and N1O1.
The dates are already set for next year: May 30 – June 1, 2024, in Dallas, TX. If you've been on the fence about attending, consider this your sign.
For upcoming biohacking and human optimization conferences, explore the Health Conference Directory.