Avatar Might Become Reality: Cybernetic Immortality and The Artificial Body

Itskov modeled as an avatar at Russia 2045’s 2012 conference (Source: http://goo.gl/4zyECD)

Dmitry Itskov, a 31-year-old Russian billionaire and media mogul, is betting that money can buy eternal life. He is the president of New Media Stars, a Russian company that runs several online news outlets.

Itskov’s 2045 Initiative, founded in February 2011, which is trying to make immortality a reality, has brought 30 top Russian scientists in order  to create an international research center devoted to study immortality. Also he wants  to start funding “cybernetic immortality and the artificial body. Itskov is hoping he can give the initiative a boost by getting some of his super-rich friends to sign on. He sent an open letter to members of the Forbes world billionaires list in July asking them to invest in the project.

Of course, Dmitry launched its own political party in Russia: Evolution 2045.

His plan: transfer the human consciousness to a remotely controlled avatar, or a synthetic brain — what he sees as the next step in human evolution. Though Evolution 2045 is based in Russia, it aims to create “a new stage of human civilization” throughout the world.

The 2045 Initiative is a 30-year plan to develop the technology for human beings. Its  ambition is to make the human race “eventually become a new species.” More than 20,000 people from publicly support the site outlining his plan of using android bodies for immortality.

The immortality timeline (Source: http://goo.gl/0B0kNS)

Istkov wants to create hologram bodies that would “host” human consciousness  in February . Itskov is calling his artificial “advanced non-biological carrier” body an “avatar,” which is controlled by a “brain-computer interface.” It functions more or less like the fake bodies in the 2009 James Cameron movie “Avatar”. The 2045 fans are also calling for a new religion and set of ethics because they don’t believe any of the current ones can handle the societal implications of living forever.

“The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of [an] individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality,” reads his site.

“We are facing the time where the unconscious evolution period has almost finished, and we come to the new era, a new period of controlled evolution,” ”I believe in something you call the American Dream,” ”If you put all your energy and time into something, you can make it a reality.”, says Itskov.

But it might take some convincing; the 2045 Initiative alo criticizes the modern consumer economy for focusing on the short term, taking attention away from the reality that we’re all going to die.

The next step after Global Future Congress, which held its first meeting in Moscow last year, the congress will meet again in New York City this June, where it promises to unveil the most human-like robot the World has ever seen.

Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/28/dmitry-itskov-2045-initiative_n_1836678.html
http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/russian-billionaire-dmitry-itskov-plans-on-becoming-immortal-by-2045