Avatar Program Initiated For Life Extension

Image Source: www.2045.com

The first Global Future Congress 2045 (GF2045) was held on Feb.17-20 in Moscow, where 56 world leading physicists, biologists, anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists and philosophers met to discuss breakthroughs in life extension technologies and draft a resolution to the United Nations setting the radical lengthening of human lifespan and the creation of Avatars as a priority for the preservation of humankind.

About 500 people attended the three-day event featuring presentations by over fifty speakers including inventor Ray Kurzweil, Microsoft Research Director Rane Johnson-Stempson, and Astronaut Sergey Krichevskiy. The event was focused on breakthrough technologies that could create a synthetic body-vessel for the mind, offering humans unlimited prolongation of life to the point of immortality.

The Congress launched the creation of a global scientific network focused on the creation of a synthetic physical body and the ability to transplant human consciousness into it. GF2045 will also serve as an investment hub, linking business leaders to opportunities to contribute to specific life-extension projects.

“I think the time-frames are quite reasonable, and it’s the right kind of goals,” said Kurzweil. “Every new iPhone, every new advancement in biology and medicine is going to advance us, so a project like this is going to help forge the way.”

Among the featured life-extension projects is “2045” a Russia-based Avatar project consisting of three phases. First, to create a humanoid robot dubbed “Avatar”, and a state-of-the-art brain-computer interface system. Next, to create a life support system between the “Avatar” and the human brain. The final step is creating an artificial brain in which to transfer the original individual consciousness.

“This is extremely important, as we now face a time where the unconscious evolution period has now turned into a new era -- a new period where controlled human evolution can occur,” said Dmitry Itskov, Founder and Chairman of GF2045. “The technology and processes involved in this project are no longer a matter of science fiction; they are very real.”  Itskov introduced the idea last November at the Singularity Summit.

Explaining the Avatar program on the Russia 2045 website, Iktskov writes, :"Do you remember The Surrogates movie? It perfectly demonstrates the abilities of a mind-controlled artificial human body, or an avatar. It is what our project is all about. The Surrogates’ screenwriters were not consistent enough (probably due to the lack of imagination) in the evolution of their ideas. There is no doubt that the mankind needs an avatar."

Last week, the United States Defense Department unveiled an Avatar project of their own, aiming to create a semi-autonomous machine to act as the soldiers surrogate. This project, led by DARPA, a Pentagon research agency, has been deemed exclusively for military use.

“These innovations should not stay closed and militarized. Our mission is to create life extension technology available and affordable to all human beings,” said Itskov.

Event organizers and speakers drafted a resolution to be submitted to the United Nations demanding the implementation of committees to discuss life extension Avatar projects as a necessary tool in the preservation of humankind, as well as defining ethical parameters for scientists worldwide.

The next GF2045 International Congress will be held Spring 2013, in New York City.

Global Futures 2045 Press Release