Dmitry Itskov to Make Film Sensation Avatar a Reality

A Russian media mogul has launched a project in which the human brain will be transported to robots, other bodies and even holograms in a venture resembling the film Avatar.

Dmitry Itskov says that by creating avatars for the brain to be transferred into, a person and their personality can stay alive for between 200 and 300 years.

The company's website says that the project will consist of four stages which will develop over the next 40 years.

Stage one, called Avatar A, aims to create a robotic human that can be controlled by the brain. This is likely to be completed by 2020.

Stage two, Avatar B, is to create a biological avatar in which the human brain can be transplanted at the end of their life. This work is to be completed by 2025.

Avatar C hopes to create a biological avatar with an artificial brain which a human personality or consciousness can be transferred to at the end of their life. This will be completed by 2035.

Avatar D will transfer a human personality or consciousness to a holographic avatar and will be completed by 2045.

Itskov told RT: "Our main goal is to preserve personality and prolong life.

"Scientists say that if it weren't for certain diseases and degradations of the cardiovascular system, our brains could live for two or maybe even three hundred years."

"Our civilization is experiencing growing pressure in the form of natural and technological disasters - we're becoming hostages of the technologies we've created," he added.

"In the future, society will change radically, mostly because humans will move on to the next step of evolution.

"This definitely can be used to help disabled people. We already ran some experiments. A subject without a hand tried this technology. He said the hand worked for him. All it takes is to attach electrodes to the undamaged part of the arm so they can read the muscle activity."