Russian ScientistsAim At Making HumanBeings Live Forever InThe Next 10 Years

Human minds could be
downloaded into robots
within 10 years, allowing
human beings to 'live
forever', says the Russian
entrepreneur who heads a
hi-tech research project
called 'Avatar'.Itskov, a
media entrepreneur,
claims to have hired 100
scientists to reach this
goal - and is now looking
for other scientists to help
with the project.'This
project is leading down
the road to immortality,'
says Itskov. 'A person with
a perfect Avatar will be
able to remain part of
society. People don't want
to die.'
Itskov, a 31-year-old
media entrepreneur, says
that he aims to transplant
a human brain into a
robot body within 10
years. He says his
technology will be of
interest at first to the
'disabled and close to
dying' 'I understand these
are some very big
challenges for scientists,'
Itskov says. 'But 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.
Itskov envisages surgically
'transplanting' a human
consciousness into a robot
body within 10 years.He
hopes to then 'upload'
minds without surgery,
leaving human bodies as
empty husks as their
owners 'live on' inside
robots.The project is called
Avatar after the James
Cameron movie, set far in
the future, where human
soldiers use mind control
to inhabit the bodies of
human alien hybrids as
they carry out a war
against the inhabitants of
a distant world.'The next
effort of science will be to
create a new body for the
human being,' says Itskov,
speaking at the Global
Future 2045 conference. 'It
will have a perfect brain-
machine interface to allow
control and a human brain
life support system so the
brain can survive outside
the body.'Itskov says that
the system will at first be
of interest to, 'Disabled
people and people at the
edge of dying.''The third
phase will be to create an
artificial human brain,' he
says - a computer
environment into which
human minds can be
uploaded.
The Daleks' cyborg leader
'Davros': The first stage of
Itskov's project will be to
transplant a human brain
into a robot. Itskov says
that the system will at
first be of interest to,
'People at the edge of
dying.'
His final goal, he says, is to
upload human minds into
holographic
bodies.Holograms give
plenty of advantages. You
can walk through walls,
move at the speed of light,
he says. 'Remember in Star
Wars, Obi-Wan's
hologram? That was
pretty amazing.'Itskov
says he wants to work
with DARPA - the Defense
Advance Research Projects
Agency in the U.S military.
DARPA is already
researching ways for its
troops to use their minds
to remotely control
androids who will take
human soldiers' place on
the battlefield.The
Pentagon's hi-tech
research arm, has
earmarked $7million for
research into the project,
also nicknamed
Avatar.According to the
Darpa's 2013 budget: 'The
Avatar program will
develop interfaces and
algorithms to enable a
soldier to effectively
partner with a semi-
autonomous bi-pedal
machine and allow it to
act as the soldier's
surrogate.'