The Enhanced Game: The Idea Behind the “Doped Olympics”

Move fast and break things.

Early in the new millennium, Mark Zuckerberg adopted a motto as he sought to build Facebook from a dorm room hustle into a groundbreaking billion-dollar company.

He told his colleagues to act first and apologize later. Old traditions must be shattered, rivals dented, and the establishment's ego bruised in pursuit of a project that justifies everything.

It has become the mantra of the disruptor, a philosophy that can turn great ideas into brilliant riches in the blink of an eye.

Now, Aaron D'Souza is making the same offer to the world's best athletes.

In Enhanced Games, millions of dollars are up for grabs for world records. Move fast and break records to win big prizes.

The Enhanced Games is scheduled to be held for the first time in 2025, and there will be no drug testing. This is a free distribution of medicines, and participants are free to pump, juice, and dope.

There are many people who say that this should not happen.

Some say it won't happen anyway, and that the logistical and legal problems are insurmountable. They believe that enhanced games are provocations or propaganda rather than a realistic prospect.

“It's bound to happen,” says the Enhanced Games founder.

“Unless I truly believe that I can host an event, break a world record, and fundamentally change the trajectory of not only sports, but humanity, I will risk my life, years of my team's life, and the world's largest investment.” I'm not going to give away millions of dollars from home. The whole thing.

“We are doing something truly amazing, something that will shape the future.”

That's a bold pitch. But this is not De Souza's first time.

In 2009, the Australian was a 24-year-old law student new to Oxford University. He already had several degrees. But what Oxford could offer was connection.

“I love Oxford so much,” D’Souza says. “I met a lot of billionaires, CEOs and heads of state there.”

One of the first and most important was Peter Thiel. The American billionaire and founder of digital payments giant PayPal was in Oxford to give a lecture. Thiel then toured the university's colleges, and D'Souza joined him.

As the conversation progressed, D'Souza asked Thiel what his biggest challenges are today.

Thiel wasn't talking about business, but more personal concerns. Gawker, a website specializing in celebrity gossip, wrote an article exposing him as gay without his consent.

Thiel explained that he considered suing, but didn't want to draw any more attention to the site and its stories.

The other option was to buy Gawker, remove the people in charge, and change its philosophy. But doing so will give owners a big return.

Mr. D'Souza listened and politely suggested a third option. Could Thiel instead secretly fund someone else's lawsuit against Gawker?

“I said, 'Why don't we have a proxy war?'” D'Souza says. “He had never thought of that. I said we have to do some research and figure out the legalities and how it works, and then the next time he gets home we can talk about it over coffee. Ta.”

A few weeks later, at an upscale restaurant in Berlin, D'Souza, still a student, hatched a plan. It would take him five years and $10 million to file a lawsuit, assemble a legal team, and force Gawker into bankruptcy. Mr. Thiel had only one question for him.

“Peter said, 'That's great. Where should I send the money?' That was it,” D'Souza recalls.

“It changed everything in my life.”

The ruling shut down Gawker five months later.

Behind him, D'Souza and Teal were secretly pulling the string and opening the wallet.

Their partnership continued through other ventures and is now Enhanced Games.

Thiel's support has financial logic.

New money has been shaking up sports in recent years. The World Cup in Qatar, the dramatic sports split of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf, the failed launch of the European Super League, and the continued rise in broadcast rights fees all weighed heavily on D'Souza's mind as he holed up in his Miami penthouse. It was inside. A business plan will be formulated in December 2022.

But for Thiel, the appeal of enhanced gaming goes deeper.

The 56-year-old has long held libertarian views and questions restrictions on personal freedom. He had previously considered the idea of ​​building a new floating city on the high seas, outside of national jurisdiction.

Enhanced gaming aligns with both passions.

“Peter is very enthusiastic,” D'Souza said.

“He invests in 100 to 300 companies a year and manages tens of billions of dollars across a variety of asset classes and funds, most of which are boring.

“This stimulates discussion and engagement and is very much in line with what he wants to achieve, which is to cure aging.

“Enhanced gaming can turn humans into superhumans. It sounds like science fiction, but this new kind of superhumanity is possible in our lifetime.

“At a fundamental, philosophical level, we have the ability to overcome the weaknesses of our weaker biological forms and become something more.”

Mr D'Souza has so far signed up one athlete to jump into the Petri dish, former Australian world champion swimmer James Magnussen.

Mr. D'Souza hopes to recruit even more high-profile athletes after the Paris Olympics in August, and hopes to recruit athletes in track and field, swimming, weightlifting, gymnastics, and martial arts. I plan to upload it and audition.

Two factors mean his enthusiasm is not replicated anywhere.

Anti-doping regulations aim to ensure that all athletes play within the same rules. If they perform well, an athlete's performance is a product of their own effort, tactics, and talent, not the substances they have access to.

D'Souza argues that ideals do not correspond to reality. He says the drug testing system is already broken beyond repair. In his opinion, half the field is doping and the other half is doping if they don't realize it.

He cited a study that anonymously surveyed athletes at the 2011 World Championships. The results suggested that 44% of those involved had used banned substances in the previous year.

Next, and most importantly and controversial, is athlete safety.

D'Souza predicts that athletes will actually be safer at the Enhanced Games, where they can openly seek performance-enhancing drugs rather than buying them from shady, illegal sources. .

Medical advice and monitoring will be on hand to detect any danger signs in the athlete's body. In contrast to the current cover-up and syringe scenario, everything will be out in the open.

“Part of our liberation is the liberation of information,” D'Souza explains.

But what happens when that information ultimately leads to the unavoidably tough choice that harsh drug use not only increases the chances of short-term success in sports, but also jeopardizes long-term health? Would you take the most risk to enter that race?

D'Souza created the problem, but insists the answer lies entirely with the athlete.

“Body autonomy is a fundamental human right. Adults should be able to do what they want with their bodies with their free and informed consent,” he says.

“Individuals should be able to make their own risk decisions.”

The examples are thick and provided quickly. Mr D'Souza cited his own decision to ride a bicycle but not a motorbike in London. Or if you decide to get a coronavirus vaccine, although the chance of side effects is low. Or NASA's space program could continue after three astronauts died on the Apollo 1 launch pad.

The question remains whether the prize money and being a pioneering test case for biohacking scientists will be enough incentive for athletes to put aside their doubts, sign waivers and commit to competing in the Enhanced Games. That will be proven over the next year.

If that happens, and the worst happens, D'Souza is already considering what to do.

“When something goes wrong, it's always a tragedy,” he says.

“This is something we will reflect on and always strive to improve, but we also intend to recognize that there is an inherent risk in every human action.”

Eventually you'll be back to square one.