Russian billionaire set to make humans immortal via ‘cyborgs’

A Russian billionaire is set to move ahead with a project to make humans immortal by merging them with machines, also known as cyborgs, which has been fictionalised in the Arnold Schwarzenegger-starrer The Terminator.

A Russian billionaire is set to move ahead with a project to make humans immortal by merging them with machines, also known as cyborgs, which has been fictionalised in the Arnold Schwarzenegger-starrer The Terminator.

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Determined to make the popular science fiction concept of cyborgs a reality, Dmitry Itskov has been pushing the project forward since 2011 when he founded the 2045 Initiative, which is supposedly the deadline for ‘substance-independent minds’ to receive artificial bodies, Mashable reports.

According to the report, Itskov has mapped out several key steps to be a cyborg, with the first step, called Avatar A, which is due in 2020, involving a person controlling a robotic human replica via a brain-machine interface (BMI), a technology that already exists today.

The next step, Avatar B, which is due in 2025, will involve transplanting a human brain into an artificial body at the end of a person’s life.

The third step, known as Avatar C and due in 2035, will also involve a human-machine brain transplant, with all personality intact, although to achieve this step.

Itskov also authored an open letter to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, asking him to support to push society’s transition to ‘neo-humanity’, the report added.