Global Future 2045: Part 1: The Avatar Project
By Debra Rae
web posted July 15, 2013
Whether by economic or political upheavals, armed conflicts, breakdown of the earth's ecosystem, pandemics, lawlessness, acts of terror, or rampant religious deception and persecution, "a whole lot of shaking" is going on. While earth groans under obeisance to the second law of thermodynamics, its inhabitants face irreversible aging and certain physical death. In response, trans humanist movements are gaining momentum under the watchful eye of an international social network of scientists, scholars, researchers, financiers, and managers. Who better than they to intervene on behalf of humanity? Bio-design is, after all, the wave of the future.
Global Future 2045 Congress (15/16 June 2013)
This June, participants in the Global Future 2045 congress included scientists, philosophers, public figures, business leaders, representatives of different religions, and philanthropists. Their charge was to solve many of society's problems by mapping a new trajectory for civilization whereupon nationally focused ideologies bow to cosmic citizenry. They purpose to overcome biological limitations and, then, fashion a new civilization with high ethics, high culture, high spirituality, high technology and science.
To this end, the 2045 congress launched a science megaproject that offers an innovative evolutionary strategy for humanity. In time, android robots will serve people in their homes and replace them in industry. Beyond creating "a new mankind" that no longer wastes resources, futurists expect to develop manageable matter and new energy sources. Flying cars and artificial intelligence round out their vision that culminates in transferring an individual's personality into a more advanced, non-biological carrier. Focusing on nano-, bio-, info-, cognitive-, genetics-, and robotic- technologies, GF2045 neuro-scientists, neuro-engineers, and futurists call upon the U.N. General Assembly to facilitate transition to what's dubbed "neo-humanity."
To the contrary, senior technical writer and project leader Rob Argento argues, "Technology is very good at solving many problems. Transforming human nature is not one of them. … The quandaries of post-modern—some say post-human—civilization are not essentially technicalin nature and do not fit neatly into a technical solution." Coupled with 18 years experience in Silicon Valley, Argento's degree in physics led him to understand that technology cannot rehabilitate the human situation. His assessment fits that of the apostle Paul, but trans humanists advance an entirely different gospel.
Enhanced Brain Functionality
Inspired not by the Holy Spirit, but instead by science fiction writers, Dr. Marvin Minsky seeks creative ways to enhance brainpower—e.g., by means of a brain co-processor that allows two-way interface of a machine working alongside the human brain. Because the brain is at the heart of one's identity, what post-humans will look like is yet to be determined.
It's believed that future embodiment in a non-biological substrate could lead to new treatments for mental and/or neurological disorders and degenerative diseases or traumas of the brain. Moreover, it could facilitate exploration of outer space regions hostile to biological human life. With virtual bodies that can be exchanged routinely, humans will have become increasingly non-biological. If all goes as planned, they will morph into machines with replacement parts.
2045 Initiative; The Avatar Project
Organized by a strategic social movement to ensure survival of civilization, the original Moscow 2045 congress introduced this strategy to ensure a humane, ethical, high-tech, and spiritually enlightened future: With brains transplanted into avatars, human life will be expanded. Sensations from all five sensory robotic organs will be transmitted to the operator. Then, re-brain reverse engineering will enhance understanding of the principles of consciousness; and human personality will be transferred to an artificial carrier.
Bodies made of nano-robots will take any desired shape and abide alongside hologram bodies; and by 2050, prerequisites for human expansion to space will be well established. To ensure their participation, many look to the science of cryopreservation. Stored in liquid nitrogen (cryostasis), member patients of the Cryonics Institute expect to emerge whole, revived, and rejuvenated to a greatly extended life span free from the aging process, disease, and God Himself.
GF2045 founder Russian multimillionaire Dmitry Itskov pioneers the race for immortality by advancing a model capable of changing human consciousness. His is a four-part attack against death, known as the Avatar Project. According to plan, Avatar A will be achieved with creation of a robot controlled by a human brain. The transition avatar purportedly retards aging, eliminates diseases, and hastens immortality. Avatar B will be a synthetic body with a transplanted brain and, once the content of a person's brain is uploaded into a synthetic one, Avatar C will be achieved. The last milestone, Avatar D will have replaced human bodies with holograms.
For a trans humanist, this spiritually enlightened scenario bears no resemblance to biblical truth. Though with care and thought nations seek what people need, futility of the human mind cannot add one cubit—not even the least measure—to his days. God alone extends life, as He did for Hezekiah. "Wandering of desire," or chasing the wind, to extend the life of unregenerate humanity is to no avail. In a word, it's but vanity.
More to come in Part 2. 
Debra Rae is a regular contributor to The Intellectual Conservative. © 2013