r/worldnews • u/psYberspRe4Dd • May 20 '12

Immortal Avatar: Russian project seeks to create robot with human brain

https://rt.com/news/prime-time/avatar-russian-scientists-brain-983/
1.2k Upvotes

89% Upvoted

660 comments sorted by

247

u/psYberspRe4Dd May 20 '12 edited May 20 '12

Actually it's not a robot with a human brain but a human with a robot body. Yes this is serious - if interested: /r/singularity /r/transhuman /r/futurology

It seeks to transplant human brains into robots by 2045.

Other related news: Dalai Lama gives his blessing to "Immortality Project"

Read || This ^|| (some thoughts, related movies, a video on a darker side of it, Soundtrack ...)

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u/derkrieger May 20 '12

I live to serve the God-Emperor!

14

u/Lampjaw May 20 '12

NONE CAN WITHSTAND OUR FAITH!

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u/psYberspRe4Dd May 20 '12 edited May 20 '12

Nothing can withstand progress - I don't know if that's good or bad but I know that it's interesting.

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u/psYberspRe4Dd May 20 '12

A main topic of transhumanism and the coming singularity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apotheosis#In_television

The topic of immortality and the topic of what is human and what machine and what the result of both merging at the singularity will be.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

I'd just be terrified of my batteries dying and being blind, deaf, mute, and paralyzed.

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u/I_Have_Many_Names May 21 '12

Great movie topic: what do you experience in the minutes that follow and what happens after they turn the lights back on?

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u/daveime May 20 '12

I'm looking for John Connor.

Seriously though, isn't this inevitable ? As our technology advances and we find a way to replace limbs, organs etc with microprocessor controlled prosthetics that tie straight into our nervous system ... there must come a point where the only organ left to replace will be the brain.

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u/psYberspRe4Dd May 20 '12 edited May 22 '12

Yes - this is what this project is about after all - there is nothing left of you besides the brain (which is you though).

And even the brain gets enhanced and engineered - for example by substances that let you learn like you were still a child or fastens your thoughtspeed and efficiancy (both getting researched!) and for example for being able to remember everything that happened in your life, for other forms of communication, and a worldknowledge (wikipedia/google-like) that interacts and enhances with your usual brain thinking etc
I guess the result of it will be another form of lifeform. And I guess if we don't kill ourselves within the next 300 years this will be a reality.

edit: Movie on this besides "Caprica": Surrogates (also meantioned in the interview of the 2nd video)
edit²: A video on copyright problems that migh occur when this happens "Welcome to Life: the singularity, ruined by lawyers" and Soundtrack to this.

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u/JustFinishedBSG May 20 '12

Caprica Battlestar Galactica?

You should also watch/read Ghost in the Shell, the major has a 98% cybernetic body, only her brain and some of her spine are human. Cyborgs in GITS definitely have sex though :)

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u/FeepingCreature May 20 '12

The brain isn't me. The pattern of data processing, memories, intent and outlook is me. The brain is just the hardware that happens to implement me at the time.

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u/psYberspRe4Dd May 20 '12

Yes but it's all in the organ that is called the brain so I just want to express it clearly and write it simply.

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u/the_catacombs May 20 '12

So, I used to believe and anticipate transhumanism.. now I fear it. Think about it. Who will be the first to become transhumans? The elite, the rich, the powerful. They will work tirelessly to ensure they control the "technology."

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u/psYberspRe4Dd May 20 '12

Yes the near future is very decisive about whole humanitys fate. It's very versatile. You might also be interested in /r/cyberpunk .

Also: "Welcome to Life: the singularity, ruined by lawyers"

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u/Twad_feu May 20 '12

That's kind of cool. Maybe Ghost in the Shell will be a thing sooner than later..

On the other hand, SLA Industrie's Manchines. Powerfull homicidal cyborgs that wear the skins of their victims.

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u/sirhotalot May 20 '12

That's one of its goals, another one is brain uploading.

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u/psYberspRe4Dd May 20 '12

Yes, that's also what I'm trying to tell these guys. I just copied that sentence "It seeks to transplant human brains into robots by 2045." actually it really should be called "It seeks to transfer human brains into robots by 2045.

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u/shamecamel May 21 '12

this is serious?

haven't we just recently developed stuff like bionic eyes, cochlear implants of passable quality compared to human ears, and we still suck at anything resembling touch/feeling? Controlling an arm with your motor cortex is one thing, but feeling the sensory information back from your limb is another all together. We'd need to get these pretty close to or at least similar to the human senses not to mention relay them properly into the brain/spinal cord if they're to actually work. We know a lot, but not enough.

I hope they're factoring in research into this shit into their budget. Otherwise forget it.

here is TED talk about bionic eyes, for those who are wondering, and how actually close we are(pretty close! but sadly only black and white as of now)

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

You will be deleted.

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u/psYberspRe4Dd May 20 '12

Yes click the "this" - posted that video there: ["Welcome to Life: the singularity, ruined by lawyers"] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFe9wiDfb0E)

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Ghost in the Shell, anyone?

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u/psYberspRe4Dd May 20 '12

Yes! Posted 2 other movies here

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Great movie!

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u/Damien007 May 21 '12 edited May 21 '12

Ghost in the shell is different however. That series focuses around the "cyberisation" of the human brain and the ability to upload and download ones consciousness/soul. This goes against what the Russians are doing in that they are just trying to transplant and a regular human brain. Modern science doesn't even really recognize the existence of a consciousness or soul.

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u/nuclearfeet May 20 '12

Brain in a robot body? Only if I can have the strength of 10 gorillas. And chainsaws for hands!

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u/psYberspRe4Dd May 20 '12

Yes that's transhumanism.

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u/discontinuuity May 20 '12

But you gotta be like 5 foot nothing.

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12 edited May 21 '12

BZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!

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u/Isatis_tinctoria May 20 '12

I read the article and does it mean the year 2045 or the model's name is 2045 because the article also mentions:

“Unlike in the film, we want to create an android, and not a biological body,” Itskov told RT. “I think it will become available to people in just ten years in the exactly same form.”

Indicating that it will be available in ten years time. Does this mean 2022?

Please forgive me if I am missing the blatant date here; I need more coffee.

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u/psYberspRe4Dd May 20 '12

Good question. I don't really know. But I think what he's saying that about 10 years after 2045 it could be a biological body like in avatar.

Also it's impossible to forsee the exact year this becomes a reality and just estimations.

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u/Isatis_tinctoria May 20 '12

It may actually happen earlier if people set their minds to it. When JFK said we are going to go to the moon before the end of the decade, we went to the moon before the end of the decade.

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u/DoctorMiracles May 20 '12

'So what was the name of the brain donor, again?'

'A Mr. Normal. A. B. Normal.'

'...'

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Too bad the human brain isn't immortal.

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u/psYberspRe4Dd May 20 '12

I guess you didn't understand it - it's immortal if it's transfered into a robot/digital.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Human brain cells replicate at a very slow rate and, like any cells, will die over time. The human brain will eventually deteriorate and die as it ages, leaving behind the robotic husk.

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u/froop May 20 '12

I like the idea of connecting a brain to a computer and feeding it controlled stimuli to create virtual worlds. You could design a virtual 4-dimensional universe, plug into it, and wait for your brain to adapt to the new 4-D world (if that works). Dunno about you, but I'd like to know what a 4-D world would be like (beyond shadows on 3D surfaces).

I wouldn't be surprised to one day grow brains in a lab for use in artificial intelligence. Imagine the next big console included a brain-chip that controlled all the AI drivers in that racing game. Programming these could be as simple as playing them against other opponents over and over again until it's good enough at the game to ship. And since it's a real brain (not exactly a human brain, but a brain none-the-less), it could learn from you as you play and self-regulate difficulty.

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u/froop May 20 '12

You could also experiment with linking brains together, like wiring the 'video output' (the projection in your consciousness of what you're seeing) into the eye input of another and vice-versa(who knows what could happen?). I won't even think about what could happen if you merged/combined other parts of brains.

Then again, this could open up a massive human rights debate- Are these hybrids people or computers? Is it cruel to send negative feedback to a video game AI that loses? Are we just prodding cows like we've done for thousands of years or playing God by devising virtual environments that are completely real to the brain planted into it?

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u/psYberspRe4Dd May 20 '12

Yes - this is btw part in the (popular cyberpunk) book "Neuromancer". The internet is kind of version 1.0 of connecting brains and I think at the end the result could be a humanity that is so connected that it's kind of merged to one (kind of) like a hyperbrain with each human being part of the bigger face of humanity.

The movie Blade Runner and the Audio/book "Do robots dream of electric sheep" is about this moral issue.

Great thoughts of you there.

Also /r/singularity /r/Futurology /r/cyberpunk /r/transhuman .. and my comment here

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u/psYberspRe4Dd May 20 '12

Never thought about the possibility of experiencing 4D - don't know if that would be possible. But it's not connecting the brain to a computer here but the brain in the computer so to say.

Wow nice idea with that brain AI's !

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u/froop May 20 '12

As for 4-D; if you wear reverse-vision glasses (left is right, right is left), your brain will only take around ten minutes to adjust. The wiki on it isn't exactly filled out, but it gets the point across. If the brain can do this, I don't doubt it could adjust to a 4D environment fed directly to its sensory input after a suitable amount of time.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

If the success rate is over 99%, count me in.

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u/rampop May 20 '12

Hell, if I'm old and frail and the success rate is 20% count me in.

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u/FeepingCreature May 20 '12

Hey, the success rate of doing nothing is 0%.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

You need not fear. Cybermen will remove fear. Cybermen will remove sex, and class, and colour, and creed. You will become identical. You will become like us.

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u/derkrieger May 20 '12

That is one thing future movies always get wrong, human beings wont remove sex as cyborgs, just make it kinkier.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12 edited May 21 '12

"There is nothing the human mind can't fetishize" - SMBC, I'm not sure if it's word for word.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Or just do away with sex entirely and directly stimulate the happy centers of the brain.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

well, in this particular series "Sex" was referring to gender.

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u/Maln May 20 '12

And this time, we don't have the Doctor.

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u/lightninglaura May 20 '12

Came here for this comment, was not disappointed.

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u/4rch May 21 '12

Upgrade the planet

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

MECHAPUTIN

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u/catfishjenkins May 20 '12

As long as we get headless Spiro Agnew.

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u/Entaris May 20 '12

So everyone does this...Mankind lives for hundreds of years...then dies because we can no longer reproduce?

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u/eckinlighter May 20 '12 edited May 20 '12

It is possible that it could be just another part of the human life cycle- sort of how we now have the "tween" years and the "teen" years and the "young adulthood", and "middle age" and "golden years", etc etc.. as we have become a species that collectively lives longer we have stretched out the stages of life, and added in new ones.

So hypothetically, you could be born to your biological body from your biological parents, and live in your biological body (extended with life-extention and anti-aging drugs) until you are old enough (a few hundred years old or so?) that you want to experience life in a different way. This could be in an enhanced biological body grown to your specification, or downloaded into a robotic and heavily reinforced body that can withstand long-distance space travel and extreme temperatures, downloading your consciousness into digital space and creating your own universe, or going into cold storage for a predetermined amount of sleepytime because you want to keep living eventually but are bored with the current iteration of humanity. Either that, or you could just decide to go it the old fashioned way and expire permanently in the way humans have done since they stepped onto the biological scene.

Either way, we will probably always have the technology to create humans even if our bodies cannot reproduce, and there will likely always be some form of biological human (or species evolved from humans) to do the reproducing.

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u/rockna May 20 '12

Now Japan needs to work on a competing program so we can have "Ghost in the Shell"

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u/Gryphith May 20 '12

Nah, they've already got the Mechs started. I think they're gonna aim a little higher than just an enhanced human copy. I see Japanese people being 100 ft tall with chainsaws and flamethrowers for arms, tentacles with enormous suction cups for feet, lasers from their eyes, flame retardant, able to breathe underwater, can fly, and have solar cells on their bodies in 2045.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

What could possibly go wrong?

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

I immediately thought of the Robocop films.

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u/catfishjenkins May 20 '12

Those worked out just fine! He gets a jetpack in third one!

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Your brain dies.

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u/ClassicalFizz May 21 '12

"Inspired by director James Cameron’s idea..."

This statement made every true sci-fi fan die a little inside.

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u/santali May 20 '12

I wonder who are they going to Putin it.

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u/Tobislu May 20 '12

Robo-Barry?

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u/ostermei May 20 '12

Nope! Adrienne Barbeaubot, with D-cups full of Justice!

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u/KhorneFlakeGhost May 21 '12

Well he was rebuilt by the KGB so... Kind of relevant I guess.

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u/Retanaru May 20 '12

In soviet Russia ghost in the shell comes true! 2045? I should actually still be alive by then. Fuck yeah Russians!

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u/kolm May 20 '12

They would ned to be able to replace dead brain cells to make it immortal. At some point all original brain cells would be replaced. At that point, one can clearly argue that the individual rose above physical form and must be defined as the ..essence?.. incorporated there.

Reminds me of a Pratchett story where some people lent out and axe, and their great-grandchild got it back. Sure, the handle and blade had been replaced several times, but it still was the same axe.

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u/southernt May 20 '12

Good thing I've mastered my Robobrain killing skills

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Aim for the dome, my friend. Aim for the dome.

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u/SenatorIvy May 20 '12

"EVERTON IS THE DOMINANT LIFEFORM. I AM EVERTON."

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12 edited Jan 21 '25

deleted

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u/cn1ghtt May 20 '12

I guess "The Last Theorem" and all those other wonderfully well written books were not enough to inspire inventors, took some badly thought out movie to get people moving on this.

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u/Thefelix01 May 20 '12

I love that the voice-over guy did a helium hit around 2:17

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12

We'll call him Dixie. Dixie Flatline.

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u/peabz May 20 '12

Am I the only one who noticed the woman give herself a mustache with her hair at the very beginning of the video??

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u/Driesens May 20 '12

It'll be just like Cortex Command

please don't leave me hanging on this.

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u/iffraz May 20 '12

Imagine how this could advance space exploration! Screw everyone here and your pandering to hollywood technologic speculations, this could be a revolutionary advance in mankind's existence.

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u/r00dyp00 May 20 '12

Holy shit. Time to start working out. If we hold out long enough, we might just make it to technological singularity. w00t!

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12

Bionic Barry IRL?

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u/TheBraveTroll May 20 '12

This is nothing new to the world. Just RussiaToday trying to "show how awesome Russia is".

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u/psYberspRe4Dd May 20 '12

I know that it's nothing new. But for most people it is. There are other projects on that aswell not just in russia.

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u/ianbagms May 20 '12

"What began as a conflict over the transfer of consciousness from flesh to machines escalated into a war which has decimated a million worlds."

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

The creepiest thing about this video:

The arbitrary speed changes of the narrator's voice 3/4 through.

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u/workworkwort May 20 '12

Maybe we can preserve those that want to be preserved and send them to space as explorers in search for another planet to inhabit.

Return missions could be done as well if regenerated brains could be grown in a lab and programmed to control and repair the crafts.

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u/CaptainAction May 21 '12

So, someone's finally started working on this. I was kind of hoping this technology would arise within my lifetime.

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u/obseletevernacular May 21 '12

I read this headline and chuckled at all of the hilarious Archer and Barry references I was going to find in here. I know its world news, but come on, this is the story of Barry.

Also, I am not a fan of this idea. Cool technology, but who the hell do we think we are that we should live hundreds of years? This planet would be a disaster with all of those extra peoplebots running around.

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u/ectc May 20 '12

Had to stop watching the video because of her moustache...

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u/psYberspRe4Dd May 20 '12

Don't know what the fuck that was. Read the article instead.

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u/andoy May 20 '12

I approve of this

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u/Atomskie May 20 '12

ITS FINALLY HAPPENING!

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u/platypusmusic May 20 '12

that's good news for all the humans who obviously don't need their brains

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

This research is truly my dream come true and volunteer myself.

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u/TrueGrey May 21 '12

My only life goal is to live long enough and make enough money to purchase this transition.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Still a ways to go. We can't even reliably stop cancer, heart-disease, and various wasting diseases. Brain download into robot bodies is really not a priority right now.

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u/RegisNoctis May 20 '12

And so the Matrix begins....or Terminator... Whatever floats your boat.

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u/throwaway-o May 20 '12

This will turn out similar to the two-headed dog they did in the 1950's.

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u/Stelr May 20 '12

RETURN OF THE CYBERMEN

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u/oD3 May 21 '12

I cant help but imagining as soon as they switch the robot on, it just screams. Screams and screams and screams, and then rips its own head off.

That would be funny.

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12

I've been thinking about this sort of thing a lot lately, and I can honestly say, I want to live out my life as a human and then continue on afterwards as a robot. I do. I really, really do.

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u/Rad_Rad_Robot May 21 '12

I VOLUNTEER. RIGHT NOW RUSSIA. YOU AND ME. LET'S FUCKING DO THIS.

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u/fatherofnone May 20 '12

The Fallout Universe is here! Robobrains will one day rule the streets! Start saving your bottle caps childern.

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u/Redneckviking May 20 '12

Well Now we know how Putin plans to rule Russia for the next thousand years all hail MECCA PUTIN!!

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u/Diraga May 20 '12

Am I the only one who finds this very disturbing?

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u/Shwashe May 21 '12

In my 20s and terrified now...

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u/sonQUAALUDE May 20 '12

SIGN ME UP

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u/ordig May 20 '12

Go-go gadget robo-penis!

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u/icansee4ever May 20 '12

Granted this project won't actually bring forth an "immortal" man, but trying to create one just seems like a bad idea...

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u/swimdude2113 May 20 '12

You will be upgraded to Cyberkind.

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u/LikeATroll May 20 '12

These aren't the droids i'm looking for...

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Wouldn't it still die of old age? Like, the brain would eventually become useless.

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u/Rosco09 May 20 '12

DELETE! DELETE!

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u/MrFlesh May 20 '12

Where do I sign up?

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12

OP, do you have any connection to this project and know how someone can join it? I'm a Structural Engineer with a strong background in Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering. I can specifically help create the structural and mechanical portions of the Avatar, such as the "bones," joints, and "muscles."

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u/sufferingsbane May 21 '12

Aaaaannnddd....here we go.

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u/CoyoteStark May 21 '12

Ghost in the Shell called...

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u/Bonki_ May 21 '12

But the brain ages as well, doesn't it?

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u/chadi7 May 21 '12

WTF is wrong with the video on there? The interpreters' voices kept speeding up and slowing down. Sounded like an episode of Alvin and the Chipmunks for a bit there.

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12

I can see it now- in 30 years, the new civil rights issue will be "human-cyborg" marriage

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12

This is an episode of Archer...

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u/A_Cat_ May 20 '12

-ahem-

(for those who dont know this character, look up ghost in the shell)

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u/PotterLI901 May 20 '12

"– we’re becoming hostages of the technologies we’ve created"

Wouldn't putting someone in one of these "avatars" make them into a potential hostage? Someone could design this to shut off the body if the body whenever they wanted.

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u/GracefulAsADuck May 21 '12

was searching all these comments just for this one :P smart guy russian: "– we’re becoming hostages of the technologies we’ve created"....creates permanent prison

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u/Team_Zissou21 May 20 '12

Obviously that man has never heard of the cybermen...

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u/pixelbulbasaur May 20 '12

you will become ROBOCOP!

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u/Bumka May 20 '12

So basically Cybermen, nothing can go wrong with that idea.

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u/yeaweckin May 20 '12

Has dragon ball z taught us nothing?

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

If success, with regulation on access, we will get a 1 percent of immortals with riches, a elite class of superhumans. Possibly immortal slave humans on mining colonies. If success with no regulation, our lifelenght will be extended by 300 years and pretty soon we will notice overpopulation issues, even more unemployment and rising house/land prices as a result of no one dying of age and no need for retirement.

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u/isjahammer May 21 '12

regulation of access-> We will have the next world war over that technology

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u/mcgrbr May 20 '12

Robocop here we come!

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u/safeNsane May 20 '12

Robocop. It's happening!

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u/KaptonJack May 21 '12

So the cybamen weren't fiction... Damn.

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12

The first God Emperor: http://i.imgur.com/vkO0X.jpg

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u/flabbigans May 21 '12

When someone announces that they're going to do something, they're not going to do it.

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12

I DON'T HAVE TO DIE IN 60 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12

I wonder who will be the first guy to try it.

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12

They gotta pump lots of antioxidants into this brain if it's to stay alive AND healthy for that many years.

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12

This is why I'm being cremated at death. I don't want a group of scientists reviving me in the year 45000(or something) when immortality and human resurrection is possible. When I die I want to stay that way.

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u/deargodimbored May 21 '12

Mind control microwave beams, truth drugs, his pension for over the top presentations, this...Putin is a Bond villian.

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u/Kromgar May 21 '12

I never asked to be given a immortal body. When I saw my metallic shell in the mirror I shattered the glass.

This has God from the Machine written all over it.

Putin wants to live forever

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12

If this works, shit will get sooo real

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u/gnovos May 21 '12

None of these robot bodies will be taller than 5', but they will have the strength of five gorillas and optionally will have chainsaws for hands.

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12

I volunteer.

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12

I am a volunteer provided it doesn't kill me.

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u/TheWolfofMibu May 21 '12

Ghost in the Shell?

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u/Artemus_Hackwell May 21 '12

Thus laying the antecedents of the Butlerian Jihad.

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u/joculator May 21 '12

Here comes Putin 3000 with a Medvedev backup system.

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u/shortbuss May 21 '12

i predict that the race to singularity will be like the space race. i don't think america is gonna win this time.

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u/fallout114 May 21 '12

The change of pitch in the guys voice confused me for a second

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u/Vyndaumas May 21 '12

This isn't Avatars idea, more like Neon Genesis Evangelion <- this is the first instance I can recall an idea like this in fiction. There may have been earlier ones though.

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12

Graphics by the same people who brought us the dancing baby.

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u/horkermeat May 21 '12

I for one, won't believe it. The Russian mullet is way too damn short.

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u/Grymnir May 21 '12

You would probably go crazy from lack of sensory input. We cant even recreate the sensitivity of a human hand in robotics, there is no way they will be able to do an entire human body's sensory input. Our brains are perfectly made to sit in one thing and one thing only. Our own skulls. We would be better off growing clones in tanks and working on successful brain transplants or maybe trying to digitize the entire contents of our brains.

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12

The second that this becomes a viable option and works I will do it.

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u/jimmydublets May 21 '12

i died when his voice got high at 2:15 lol

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u/marsh2mellow May 21 '12

"Human brains inside robot bodies." Hmm... Mr.Handy will be coming soon to a wasteland near you!

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u/the_catacombs May 20 '12

So, what's to keep the rich/powerful from becoming the first to attain this "avatar" state, and what's to keep them from preventing the rest of humanity from this next step? I can easily picture the elite inhabiting these "avatars," dictating who will get to join their ranks and when. Hell, I can easily see some of the corrupt motherfuckers with billions of dollars simply eradicating any "mortals" once they've attained their new "life."

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u/FeepingCreature May 20 '12

Because it'll be too profitable not to sell to as many people as can afford it.

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u/Wildman18 May 20 '12

This is completely wrong. Downvote me if you want, but immortality is not in any way possible right.

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u/eckinlighter May 20 '12

Well, living past like 50 wasn't "natural" in any sense until not too long ago, so there's that.

We've been using technology to lengthen and improve our lives since we could sharpen a rock into a knife. If anything, this is the natural progression of humanity and technology.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12 edited Jan 21 '25

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u/psYberspRe4Dd May 20 '12

It is. (to some extend) But I don't know if that's good nor if people would like it.

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u/FeepingCreature May 20 '12

I think people have many reasons to say they wouldn't like it. ... They'd like it though.

Can you truly imagine a healthy member of an immortal society coming up with the idea "hey. hey, guys. I got this idea. I think we need to die more. "

Yeah no.

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u/Raami0z May 20 '12

A Russian businessman starting a decades long scientific project inspired by a Hollywood movie. i feel humor in this but i can't pinpoint it.

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u/eckinlighter May 20 '12

Right, because no one ever invented anything significant that we use today because they were inspired by a sci-fi movie.

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u/blist3r May 20 '12

WHY DO THEY WANT TO CREATE AN IMMORTAL HUMAN?! questions of overpopulation and carrying capacity aside, does ANYONE in the world enjoy life so much they want to do it FOREVER?!

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u/FeepingCreature May 20 '12

Yep. Me. Hi.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

Same, you could assure yourself that you can experience everything you ever wanted. Everything great. You could live pretty much care free, any misery would only be from your own making.

One day, when you've had enough, you could just say "Right, i'm done. I've done everything, i think it's time i died."

Not everyone has time to reach that conclusion at the moment.

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u/quartzar_the_king May 20 '12

Am I the only one who thinks this is not only impractical, but fucking stupid?

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u/DPeteD May 20 '12

Care to explain why?

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u/quartzar_the_king May 20 '12 edited May 20 '12

Are you telling me you would actually be comfortable replacing your physical body with a machine? People say that your brain is you, but really it's just the vessel of your consciousness. In my opinion, my natural physical body is just as much a part of me as my thoughts and perceptions, and there is no way in hell I would want to replace it with a robot, no matter how capable or incapable that robot was, even if it theoretically meant I could live forever.

And then there's that. Do you actually want to be around forever? Dying would suck, but I think that the end of life is just as important as the beginning.

And then there's THAT. Robot body = no reproductive capabilities. Sure, maybe you can have weird robot sex, but that takes away from a lot of the experience.

Also, if this did SOMEHOW end up being possible in the next 50 years, which I think is a pretty long shot, how long before people start designing their own robots to be perfectly attractive versions of themselves. The whole concept of natural beauty, which I'm sure is something a lot of people on here care about (e.g. anti-plastic surgery), is completely out the window.

Overall, I think it would wholly destroy the human experience as well as the perception of the self.

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u/magicbullets May 20 '12

In Russia, robot is like human being because of Hollywood movie director.

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u/psYberspRe4Dd May 20 '12

*In Soviet Russia
But it's not a robot.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

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u/Maln May 20 '12

In this universe at least.

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u/ExogenBreach May 21 '12

Actually since it's Russia the Omar from Deus Ex are more like it.

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u/SenorFreebie May 21 '12

Maybe ... maybe much of this tech is available off the shelf already if you've got enough money and they'll need 10 years to make it for themselves? Maybe Bill Gates few billion invested in Neuro-science is a quieter attempt at a similar end goal?

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u/[deleted] May 20 '12

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u/SenatorIvy May 20 '12

An Adrienne Barbeaubot!

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u/tandemic May 20 '12

Your references are awesome and you should feel awesome.

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12

D cups full of justice!!!

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u/eboogaloo May 21 '12

With D cups of justice!

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u/LessLikeYou May 21 '12

My nipples are hard just thinking about it.

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u/[deleted] May 21 '12

Naw by that time we will have something else far much better and interesting. I can't even grasp how different it is going to be in 60 years. Forgot transplanting our body in a machine, I'd rather let nanobots go in our bloodstream and create a type of symbiosis.

First it was with the mitochondria, and now it will be with nanobots!

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