Dmitry Itskov: It’s Time To Think About Who We Are And What Is Our Place In The Universe

Yesterday I was very fortunate to get a rare English language interview from Dmitry Itskov – the elusive Russian entrepreneur spearheading project Avatar and Global Future 2045. The first time I saw Itskov was at the recent Singularity Summit where he revealed his uniquely ambitious project. I don’t know Dmitry well but he may just turn out to be one of those soft-spoken, under-the-radar and camera-shy people who actually make things happen. I was impressed by his breadth of knowledge and courage to conduct our interview entirely in English. Itskov also impressed me as a very thorough person who makes the effort to respect all sides and points of view yet without sacrificing his personal integrity and commitments. That is why I will follow his progress with interest. During our discussion with Dmitry we cover topics such as: his humanitarian motivation and the interesting fact that he initially was not even familiar with the concept of the singularity; the ongoing goals and recent success of the Global Future 2045 congress recently launched in Moscow; his project Avatar – its goals, timeline and benchmarks; brain and head transplantation and the 1960’s experiments of Dr. R. J. White and his Soviet counterparts; our fear of the future and his advice to focus on the benefits and dream more often rather than the risks only; the general resolution that he is working on submitting to the UN general assembly; religion and Dmitry’s genuine desire to engage all major traditions in discussing the project and especially its political and ethical implications.