Thirty two-year-old Dmitry Itskov, a Russian billionaire has big bucks, big dreams and big plans. He has unveiled plans to make humans immortal by converting them into ‘Terminator-style’ cyborgs and he has put all his might and money behind the dream. Not only that, he has set himself the time limit of three decades.
He launched the 2045 Initiative in 2011.
His ultimate goal is to transfer a person’s mind or consciousness from a living brain into a machine with its personality and memories intact. The new being however, will have no physical form, and exist in a network similar to the Internet and be able to travel at the speed of light all over the Earth, or even into the space.
Seem like too much? Well, he has put a massive amount of resources (including scientists from all over the world) behind the project. The transformation is planned to take place in the following levels:
Avatar A: A person controlling a robotic human replica through a brain-machine interface (BMI), a technology that already exists.
Deadline: 2020
Avatar B: Transplanting a human brain into an artificial body at the end of one’s life.
Deadline: 2025
Avatar C: A human-machine brain transplant, but with all personality intact.
Deadline: 2035
End Plan: Free the human mind completely from physical form finally!
Deadline: 2045
In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asking for his support, Itskov writes:
“The world stands on the threshold of global change. Ecological, political, anthropological, economic and other crises are intensifying. Wars are waged, resources wasted senselessly, and the planet is being polluted. Society is experiencing a crisis of goals and values, while science and technology are providing unprecedented opportunity for advancement. National leaders remain focused on short-term internal stability, without paying sufficient attention to the opportunities for the future of civilization.
Humanity essentially faces this choice: slide into the abyss of global degradation, or find and realize a new model of development, a model capable of changing human consciousness and giving new meaning to life.
We believe that to move to a new stage of human evolution, mankind vitally needs a scientific revolution coupled with significant spiritual changes, inseparably linked, supplementing and supporting of each other. The vector of future development provided by technological advancement should assist the evolution of the consciousness of humanity, the individual and society, and be the transition to neo-humanity.”
“We believe that it is possible and necessary to eliminate ageing and even death, and to overcome the fundamental limits of the physical and mental capabilities currently set by the restrictions of the physical body,” the project website says.
In simpler words (relatively) if his plan succeeds, individuals could manifest themselves as holograms when they need to interact with their environment!
Wow! Sounds too out of this world?
Well, that’s what dreams are meant to be aren’t they?