Russia - He plans to be "immortal" by 2045.

Mr Dmitry Itskov, a 32-year-old Russian billionaire, believes that technology will help him achieve that goal.

With that in mind, he has formed a foundation called the "2045 initiative", which is described as the next step in evolution, the Daily Mail reported.

More than 20,000 people have signed up on Facebook to follow its progress, with global conferences planned to explore the technology needed.

The media mogul's plans include uploading his own brain and living forever in a hologram body.

"We are in the process of creating focus groups of experts," the Daily Mail quoted the Russian as saying. "Along with these teams, we will prepare goal statements and research programme schedules."

The foundation has already planned out its timeline for getting to a fully holographic human, and claims it will be ready to upload a mind into a computer by 2015, a timeline even he claims is very "optimistic".

"The four tracks and their suggested deadlines are optimistic but feasible,' he said of the foundation's site. "This is our programme for the next 35 years, and we will do our best to complete it." The ultimate aim is for a hologram body.

Said Mr Itskov: "The fourth development track seems the most futuristic one. It's intent is to create a holographic body. Indeed, its creation is going to be the most complicated task, but at the same time could be the most thrilling problem in the whole of human evolution."

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To help realise the lofty aim, he has set up the Global Future Congress last year. It is scheduled to meet again next month in New York, where it promises to unveil the most human-like robot.

"Modern civilization... cannot save mankind from the limitations in the physical abilities of our bodies, nor from diseases and death," the '2045' Strategic Social Initiative said in its manifesto.

"People will make independent decisions about the extension of their lives and the possibilities for personal development in a new body after the resources of the biological body have been exhausted."

The initiative also believes the first generation of "android" bodies will have superhuman capabilities.

'The new human being will receive a huge range of abilities and will be capable of withstanding extreme external conditions easily: high temperatures, pressure, radiation, lack of oxygen, etc.

'Using a neural-interface humans will be able to operate several bodies of various forms and sizes remotely.'

The project is also addressing the moral issues of living forever.

'We suggest the implementation of not just a mechanistic project to create an artificial body, but a whole system of views, values and technology which will render assistance to humankind in intellectual, moral, physical, mental and spiritual development.'

Photos: Video screengrabs, Facebook, Internet

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