Dmitry Itskov wants a world in which we can live forever in an android body - and he wants it soon.
The 32-year-old Russian billionaire has outlined his '2045' vision at a global conference he held in New York.
In front of some of the brightest minds in visionary technology, Itskov told the crowd that by 2045 he wants a "hologram-like avatar" controlled by a "brain-computer interface", a bit like... well, the film 'Avatar'.
Dmitry Itskov
The steps to this are as follows:
- 2020 - Robots easily controlled by brain power alone.
- 2025 - The ability to transplant brains into life-support systems to keep them alive as they control a robot body - like 'Futurama'.
- 2035 - The technology to transfer consciousness into a computer negating the need for a biological brain.
- 2045 - The pinnacle of the project would see conscious-containing computers controlling hologram bodies - immortality with a body to boot.
Itskov said: "We are facing the time where the unconscious evolution period has almost finished, and we come to the new era, a new period of controlled evolution."
There's no doubt the plan is ambitious and already over 26,000 people including many experts on robotics, quantum physics and health have signed up for the initiative.
Itskov also wants to create a charity foundation and a research centre to further his goals. He's even started his own political party.
The conference also included a demonstration of what was billed as the most life-like robot ever created.
(l-r/r-l) Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro and his robot
The project throws up all manner of ethical and moral questions. What is consciousness? Can we be human without a human body?
Not to mention the question of do we actually want to live forever?