The 2045 Initiative is a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

that develops a network and community of researchers in the field of

life extension Life extension is the concept of extending the human lifespan, either modestly through improvements in medicine or dramatically by increasing the maximum lifespan beyond its generally-settled biological limit of around 125 years. Several resea ...

, focusing on combining

brain emulation Mind uploading is a speculative process of whole brain emulation in which a brain scan is used to completely emulate the mental state of the individual in a digital computer. The computer would then run a simulation of the brain's information ...

and

robotics Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

to create forms of

cyborg A cyborg (, a portmanteau of ''cybernetics, cybernetic'' and ''organism'') is a being with both Organic matter, organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.Dmitry Itskov Dmitry Itskov (Russian: Дмитрий Ицков; born 1980) is a Russian entrepreneur, billionaire and the founder of ''New Media Stars'', a web-based media company, and 2045 Initiative. He has made a reported £1bn from his Moscow-based news p ...

in February 2011 with the participation of Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems. Philippe van Nedervelde serves as the Director of International Development. The main goal of the 2045 Initiative, as stated on its website, is "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. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society".

Future prospects

The 2045 Initiative has a roadmap for developing cybernetic

immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some species possess "biological immortality" due to an apparent lack of the Hayflick limit. From at least the time of the Ancient Mesopotamian religion, ancient Mesopotamians, there has been a con ...

. The Initiative has the goal for an avatar controlled by a "brain-computer" interface to be developed between 2015 and 2020, between 2020 and 2025 creating an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, between 2030 and 2035 creating a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the means to transfer it into an artificial carrier, and by 2045 create a new era for humanity with holographic bodies.

Avatar Project

One of the featured

life-extension Life extension is the concept of extending the human lifespan, either modestly through improvements in medicine or dramatically by increasing the maximum lifespan beyond its generally-settled biological limit of around 125 years. Several resea ...

projects is to design an artificial

humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and '' -oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. By the 20th century, the term came to describe fossils which were morphologically similar, but not identical, to those of ...

body (called an "avatar") and an advanced

brain–computer interface A brain–computer interface (BCI), sometimes called a brain–machine interface (BMI), is a direct communication link between the brain's electrical activity and an external device, most commonly a computer or robotic limb. BCIs are often dire ...

system. On the biological side, a life support system will be developed for hosting a human brain inside the avatar and maintaining it alive and functional. A later phase of the project will research into the creation of an

artificial brain An artificial brain (or artificial mind) is software and hardware with cognitive abilities similar to those of the animal or human brain. Research investigating "artificial brains" and brain emulation plays three important roles in science: #An ...

into which the original individual

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...

may be transferred.

Avatar A

A robotic copy of a human body remotely capable of interpreting commands directly from the mind, and sending information back to the mind in a form that can be interpreted via

. It is estimated to be popularized in or before 2020. This, however, has failed to transpire.

Avatar B

An avatar in which a human brain is transplanted at the end of one's life. Avatar B has an autonomous system providing life support for the brain and allowing it interaction with the environment, possibly mounted into an existing Avatar A Chassis. Deadline of this phase is year 2025.

Avatar C

An avatar with an artificial brain to which a human personality is transferred for emulation at the end of one's life. The first successful attempt to upload one's personality to a computer is estimated to happen around 2035.

Avatar D

hologram Holography is a technique that allows a wavefront to be recorded and later reconstructed. It is best known as a method of generating three-dimensional images, and has a wide range of other uses, including data storage, microscopy, and interf ...

- or

diagram A diagram is a symbolic Depiction, representation of information using Visualization (graphics), visualization techniques. Diagrams have been used since prehistoric times on Cave painting, walls of caves, but became more prevalent during the Age o ...

-like avatar. This is the ultimate goal of this project but is optional since, assuming either the upload is involuntary or all humans chose to upload, biological diseases are prevented in the previous phase, and it is far away from current technological achievement and our understanding on physics.

Reception

Professor George M. Church has complained that "there's a lot of dots that aren't connected in (Itskov's) plans. It's not a real road map." Martine A. Rothblatt, the founder of

United Therapeutics United Therapeutics Corporation is an American biotechnology company that develops pharmaceuticals and technologies related to organ transplantation, including xenotransplantation. Many of the company's products are focused towards lung disease an ...

, has claimed the Avatar Project is "no more wild than in the early '60s, when we saw the advent of

liver The liver is a major metabolic organ (anatomy), organ exclusively found in vertebrates, which performs many essential biological Function (biology), functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of var ...

and

kidney In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organ (anatomy), organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and rig ...

transplants."

References

External links

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Global Future 2045 Congress
{{BCI Transhumanism Transhumanist organizations Biogerontology organizations Life extension organizations Social movements Futures studies organizations Immortality Neurotechnology Non-profit organizations based in Russia Organizations established in 2011 2045 in science 2045 in artificial intelligence