The 2045 Initiative - what are your thoughts?

[Rosenberg]

Interested in hearing what people think about this. If you don't already know about it, then read and watch on!

Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.

The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.

The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a 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.

A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.

The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.

An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.



Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society

2015-2020

The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.

2020-2025

Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.

2030-2035

Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.

2045

This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.

Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.



Key elements of the project in the future

• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.

 

[Rosenberg]

International Manifesto of the "2045" Strategic Social Initiative
Mankind has turned into a consumer society standing at the edge of a total loss of the conceptual guidelines necessary for further evolution. The majority of people are almost exclusively absorbed in merely maintaining their own comfortable lives.

Modern civilization, with its space stations, nuclear submarines, iPhones and Segways cannot save mankind from the limitations in the physical abilities of our bodies, nor from diseases and death.

We are not satisfied with modern achievements of scientific and technical progress. Science working for the satisfaction of consumer needs will not be able to ensure a technological breakthrough towards a radically different way of life.

We believe that the world needs a different ideological paradigm. Within its framework it is necessary to form a major objective capable of pointing out a new direction for the development of all mankind and ensuring the achievement of a scientific and technical revolution.

The new ideology should assert, as one of its priorities, the necessity of using breakthrough technology for an improvement of man himself and not only of his environment.

We believe that it is possible and necessary to eliminate aging and even death, and to overcome the fundamental limits of the physical and mental capabilities currently set by the restrictions of the physical body.

Scientists from various countries in the world are already developing technology that ensures the creation of an artificial human body prototype within the next decade. We believe the biggest technological project of our times will become the creation of such artificial human body and a subsequent transfer of individual human consciousness to such a body.

Implementation of this technological project will inevitably result in an explosive development of innovations and global changes in our civilization and will improve human life.

We believe that before 2045 an artificial body will be created that will not only surpass the existing body in terms of functionality, but will achieve perfection of form and be no less attractive than the human body. People will make independent decisions about the extension of their lives and the possibilities for personal development in a new body after the resources of the biological body have been exhausted.

The new human being will receive a huge range of abilities and will be capable of withstanding extreme external conditions easily: high temperatures, pressure, radiation, lack of oxygen, etc. Using a neural-interface humans will be able to operate several bodies of various forms and sizes remotely.

We suggest the implementation of not just a mechanistic project to create an artificial body, but a whole system of views, values and technology which will render assistance to humankind in intellectual, moral, physical, mental and spiritual development.

We invite all interested specialists: scientists, politicians, mass media personalities, philosophers, futurologists and businessmen to join the "2045" strategic social initiative. We welcome all who share our vision of the future and are ready to make the next jump.



The main objectives of our movement are:

1. To achieve the support of the International community and create conditions for international co-operation of interested specialists around the "2045" Initiative.

2. To create an international research center for cybernetic immortality to advance practical implementations of the main technical project – the creation of the artificial body and the preparation for subsequent transfer of individual human consciousness to such a body.

3. To engage experts in the selection and support of the most interesting projects in the quest to ensure technological breakthroughs.

4. To support innovative industries and create special scientific education programs for schools and institutes of higher education.

5. To create educational programs for television, radio and internet, to hold forums, conferences, congresses and exhibitions, and to establish awards and produce books, movies and computer games with the view of raising the profile of the initiative and spreading its ideas.

6. To form a culture connected with the ideology of the future, promoting technical progress, artificial intellect, “multi-body”, immortality, and cyborgization.

 

[Rosenberg]

Open Letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

An appeal by participants of the Second International Global Future 2045 Congress to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon


March 11, 2013


Mr. Secretary-General,

We, scientists, public figures and business leaders from Russia, the USA, the UK, and Canada as well as participants of the Second International Global Future 2045 Congress (15-16 June 2013, New York) would like to bring to your attention a number of serious issues.

The world stands on the threshold of global change. Ecological, political, anthropological, economic and other crises are intensifying. Wars are waged, resources wasted senselessly, and the planet is being polluted. Society is experiencing a crisis of goals and values, while science and technology are providing unprecedented opportunity for advancement. National leaders remain focused on short-term internal stability, without paying sufficient attention to the opportunities for the future of civilization.

Humanity essentially faces this choice: slide into the abyss of global degradation, or find and realize a new model of development, a model capable of changing human consciousness and giving new meaning to life.

We believe that to move to a new stage of human evolution, mankind vitally needs a scientific revolution coupled with significant spiritual changes, inseparably linked, supplementing and supporting of each other. The vector of future development provided by technological advancement should assist the evolution of the consciousness of humanity, the individual and society, and be the transition to neo-humanity.

This type of research will be discussed at the Global Future 2045 congress. Cutting-edge technologies will be showcased, many of which have already been developed and improved, but not yet available to the people who need them.

The key components of these studies are:

1. The construction of anthropomorphic avatar robots—artificial bodies.

2. The creation of telepresence robotic systems for long-distance control of avatars.

3. The development of brain–computer interfaces for direct mental control of an avatar.
Applications:
– rehabilitation of the disabled;
– replacement of people working in hazardous conditions, or those tasked with cleaning up during peacekeeping missions etc.;
– telepresence technologies for personal and business communications, as well as tourism.

The successful further development of the above three studies is expected to lead to further breakthroughs, including:

4. Development of life-extension technologies involving life-support systems for the human brain integrated with an artificial Avatar body.

(Note: Per the Global Trends 2030 forecast of the US National Intelligence Council, using replacement limb technology advances, people may choose to enhance their physical selves as they do with cosmetic surgery today.)
Application: the significant extension of the lives of individuals whose biological bodies have exhausted their resources.

5. A study of the main principles of the functioning of the human brain, and the creation of a functional model.

6. Development of prostheses for parts of the human brain.

7. Creation of a fully artificial equivalent of the human brain.

8. A study of human consciousness and the possibilities for its future embodiment in a non-biological substrate.
Applications:
– treatment of degenerative diseases and traumas of the brain;
– exploration of regions of outer space hostile to biological human life;
– radical extension of human life to the point of immortality.

Participants of the Global Future 2045 congress include scientists, philosophers, representatives of different religions, public figures, business leaders, and philanthropists. We will demonstrate the realistic nature of Avatar technologies and launch a new science megaproject that will form the foundation of a new evolutionary strategy for humanity. This realization will make it possible to solve many of society’s problems once and for all, overcoming the biological limitations of humans, and creating a new civilization with high ethics, culture, spirituality, high technology and science.

This new strategy should become an alternative to nationally focused ideologies, transforming the inhabitants of our planet into citizens of Earth, and bringing nations together, making it the meaning of life for each citizen to serve high ideals and principles, and pursue constant self-development.

To carry out this important mission, your support is key for us. We invite you to take part in the congress personally, or send a recorded or written appeal to the participants.

We believe that in the near future, the UN General Assembly will gather not to regulate military conflicts, but to recommend that heads of state and leaders of national and transnational organizations take it upon themselves to realize the strategy for the transition to neo-humanity.

Signed by:

• Dmitry Itskov — Founder of the 2045 Initiative. President of the Global Future 2045 congress.
• Ray Kurzweil — Director of Engineering, Google; futurist and inventor, co-founder, Singularity University, and author of How to Create a Mind.
• Dr. James Martin — British author and entrepreneur and the largest individual benefactor to the University of Oxford in its 900-year history.
• Dr. Theodore Berger — USC Professor, brain prosthesis technology developer.
• Dr. Peter H. Diamandis — Founder and Chairman, X Prize Foundation, co-founder, Singularity University, author of Abundance.
• Dr. Robert Thurman — Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies at Columbia University. Author and tireless proponent of peace.
• Dr. Amit Goswami — Professor Emeritus from the Theoretical Physics Department of the University of Oregon.
• Dr. David Hanson — Robotics designer and researcher, creating androids: humanlike robots with intelligence and feelings.
• Dr. Alexander Kaplan — Psychophysiologist, founder of the first Russian Brain-Computer Interface laboratory.
• Dr. Ben Goertzel — Artificial General Intelligence researcher and entrepreneur. Founder, OpenCog Project. CEO, Novamente LLC.
• Dr. Natasha Vita-More — Human enhancement theorist, university lecturer, co-editor The Transhumanist Reader on the philosophy of self-directed human evolution.
• Dr. Randal Koene — Head of Carboncopies.org, author of the concept of Substrate-Independent Minds (SIM).
• Dr. Anders Sandberg — Researcher, Future of Humanity Institute, and science debater, futurist, author of the Whole Brain Emulation Roadmap.
• Dr. Stuart Hameroff — Neuro-anesthesiologist and professor at the University of Arizona. Co-creator of the Orch OR model of the quantum nature of consciousness and memory.
• Dr. Ken Hayworth — President of the Brain Preservation Foundation, and Senior Scientist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Farm Research Campus.
• Dr. David Dubrovsky — Russian philosopher, psychologist and expert in the field of analytical philosophy of mind.
• Dr. Witali L. Dunin-Barkowski — Head of the Russian project for reverse brain engineering. Professor. Founder of the Russian Association of Neuroinformatics.
• Dr. Alexander Panov — Astrophysicist, author of the Snooks-Panovcurve which describes the singularity.
• Dr. William Bushell — MIT-affiliated religious anthropologist.
• Lazar Puhalo — Archbishop (ret.) of Ottawa of the Orthodox Church in America.
• Swami Vishnudevananda Giri Ji Maharaj — Russian yoga master, philosopher, futurologist.
• Rabbi Dr. Alan Brill — Cooperman/Ross Endowed Professor in Honor of Sister Rose Thering at Seton Hall University.
• Nigel Ackland — Pioneering user of the world's most advanced bionic artificial arm.

http://2045.com/

 

[Rosenberg]

The future is hurtling towards us at a frightening speed. What will it mean to be 'human' in 100 years?

 

[derelict]

also known as the 'singularity', as popularized by ray kurzweil. it seems like some half-baked idea when you first hear of it, but it doesn't actually seem all that unlikely anymore. scary thought that we might just have our consciousness uploaded into the internet, or cyborg vessel and that we may be able to access all knowledge instantaneously. essentially becoming what we think of as godlike beings. the science is actually catching up to the fantasy. not sure if it'll happen by 2045, but it may well become reality in the not-too-distant future.

 

[forsaken]

That is some crazy shit. It's going to be like Ghost in the Shell if this happens!

 

[derelict]

it's certainly a possibility.

 

[Reaper]

One day... when I was bakin' balls on some killer shroomies :wtf: I saw the future. There was still "Low" people in "High" places... Pullin' the strings if you know what I mean ;) Same as it ever was :shifty:

 

[Rosenberg]

Yeah, I doubt that if these technologies come to pass, it'll be affordable for everyone. That would never happen.

 

[Reaper]

Even if it was (affordable) the connection doorway to something like this swings both ways and by example of N.S.A. Google, Facebook and your old school "Anonymous" hackers I would never connect to A system interface like this regardless of what it had to offer. To many ways to control and manipulate the user for my taste...

 

[QLTYlab]

Avatars already exist, DARPA has been developing them for years as are other high-tech firms. There is a large group of people that want so badly to create a new species and shed our humanity. I really don't understand where this comes from and why some are so eager to be machines.

 

[YarraSparra]

I consider myself a rational person, and try to look at things as objectively as possible. I agree that this seems like the stuff of a sci-fi movie at first, but if you read into it a bit, you'll see that it's actually not all that crazy. The idea is still out there, but the technology isn't entirely unrealistic. The entire premise of that date is based on the exponential growth in technology that we've witnessed in the last 30 or so years. It's this exponential growth that will see what's still theoretical become reality in another 30 years, if the predictions hold true.

YS

 

[Grow Up]

In a few hundred years, people will look back on our time like we look back on the Ancient Egyptians...