Exit
decades. It aspires to change human evolution as we know it, and
Itskov has drawn up an ambitious timeline for this transition
to “neo-humanity”: By 2045, his
manifesto maintains, we’ll have
“substance-independent minds”
housed in non-biological bodies.
In 2011, he stepped back from
his work as an internet entrepreneur to lead the project, which he
runs from his home in Moscow. He
traveled to New York last month to
host a conference at which luminaries such as Marvin Minsky and
Ray Kurzweil discussed this new
evolutionary approach.
Though his endeavor immediately conjures up visions of
robotic humanoids and artificial
organs, Itskov is most concerned
with how immortality will reshape the mind.
“Immortality is a side effect,”
he explains, describing eternal
life as a means of transforming
and improving human consciousness. Decoupling the mind from
the needy human body, which
demands food, medicine and
shelter, can curb our negative
inclinations and pave the way for
a more elevated and sublime human spirit, he believes.
“Sometimes the way people live
TECH
HUFFINGTON
07.28.13
makes me think that they’re just
following programs,” he says. “We
should try to look for the opportunity to develop spiritually.”
Itskov is preparing for eternal
life by training himself to attain a
higher state of consciousness, and
he gives the impression of someone who considers his body only
insofar as it hinders or helps his
By 2045, his manifesto maintains, we’ll have “substanceindependent minds” housed
in non-biological bodies.
mental pursuits. He spends several hours a day meditating, doing yoga or engaged in breathing
exercises, all part of a spiritual
practice he says helps him “discover some different states of my
consciousness.”
His diet is guided by how different foods affect his energy.
Meat gives him an energy he’s
“not comfortable with,” he says.
Alcohol “affects the consciousness” so “you stop feeling the
real nature of it.” Even ice water
is off limits because it lowers energy, Itskov tells a documentary
filmmaker who’s offered him a
cup of ice water while her crew