22 Leading Scientists, Technologists, Entrepreneurs and Spiritual Leaders Issue Open Letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

NEW YORK, March 12, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Participants of the Second International Global Future 2045 (GF2045) Congress have appealed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to support the forming of a new evolutionary strategy for humanity and the Avatar Project of the 2045 Initiative.

The Open Letter to the UN Secretary-General is signed by GF2045 president Dmitry Itskov and 22 of the world's leading scientists, technologists, entrepreneurs, spiritual leaders, futurists and philosophers who will gather at Lincoln Center in New York, June 15-16, for the Global Future 2045 congress.

"The world stands on the threshold of global change. Ecological, political, anthropological, economic and other crises are intensifying. Wars are waged, resources wasted senselessly, and the planet is being polluted. Society is experiencing a crisis of goals and values. National leaders are concerned with short-term internal stability, yet pay insufficient attention to the problems and opportunities of the future of civilization. Human civilization essentially faces this choice: slide into the abyss of global degradation, or realize a new model of development, a model capable of changing human consciousness and giving new meaning to life."

Global Future 2045 is premised on the notion that in order for civilization to move to a higher stage of development, humanity vitally needs a scientific revolution and significant spiritual changes that will be inseparably linked, supporting and supplementing each other.

The basis of this scientific and technological revolution is in the evolution of Avatar technologies, anthropomorphic telepresence robots, neuroengineering, brain-computer interfaces, bionic prostheses, and cybernetic life-extension.

"The importance of high technologies for our civilization cannot be overstated as they are widespread in industry, everyday life and medicine," said Dmitry Itskov, founder of the 2045 Initiative. "The integration of technologies into our body is irreversible, and already having an effect on the quality and length of life, and essentially assists in restoring lost functions of the biological body."

"We are about to take a new evolutionary step," continued Itskov, "With the assistance of new technologies, humans will be able to change as a species, transforming us not only in a physical sense, but a spiritual one as well, thus ensuring the survival and development of our civilization. In order to make proper use of these new capabilities, it is vitally important that we have the attention of national leaders and transnational organizations, like the United Nations."

Signatories of the open letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon include:

• Dmitry Itskov — Founder of the 2045 Initiative. President of the Global Future 2045 congress.

• Ray Kurzweil — Director of Engineering, Google; futurist and inventor, co-founder, Singularity University, and author of How to Create a Mind.

• Dr. James Martin — British author and entrepreneur and the largest individual benefactor to the University of Oxford in its 900-year history.

• Dr. Theodore Berger — USC Professor, brain prosthesis technology developer.

• Dr. Peter H. Diamandis — Founder and Chairman, X Prize Foundation, co-founder, Singularity University, author of Abundance.

• Dr. Amit Goswami — Professor Emeritus from the Theoretical Physics Department of the University of Oregon.

• Dr. David Hanson — Robotics designer and researcher, creating androids: humanlike robots with intelligence and feelings.

• Dr. Alexander Kaplan — Psychophysiologist, founder of the first Russian Brain-Computer Interface laboratory.

• Dr. Ben Goertzel — Artificial General Intelligence researcher and entrepreneur. Founder, OpenCog Project. CEO, Novamente LLC.

• Dr. Natasha Vita-More — Human enhancement theorist, university lecturer, co-editor The Transhumanist Reader on the philosophy of self-directed human evolution.

• Dr. Randal Koene — Head of Carboncopies.org, author of the concept of Substrate-Independent Minds (SIM).

• Dr. Anders Sandberg — Researcher, Future of Humanity Institute, and science debater, futurist, author of the Whole Brain Emulation Roadmap.

• Dr. Stuart Hameroff — Neuro-anesthesiologist and professor at the University of Arizona. Co-creator of the Orch OR model of the quantum nature of consciousness and memory.

• Dr. Ken Hayworth — President of the Brain Preservation Foundation, and Senior Scientist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Farm Research Campus.

• Dr. David Dubrovsky — Russian philosopher, psychologist and expert in the field of analytical philosophy of mind.

• Dr. Vitaliy Dunin-Barkowskiy — Head of the Russian project for reverse brain engineering. Professor. Founder of the Russian Association of Neuroinformatics.

• Dr. Alexander Panov — Astrophysicist, author of the Snooks-Panov curve which describes the singularity.

• Dr. William Bushell — MIT-affiliated religious anthropologist.

• Lazar Puhalo — Archbishop (ret.) of Ottawa of the Orthodox Church in America.

• Swami Vishnudevananda Giri Ji Maharaj — Russian yoga master, philosopher, futurologist.

• Rabbi Dr. Alan Brill — Cooperman/Ross Endowed Professor in Honor of Sister Rose Thering at Seton Hall University.

• Nigel Ackland — Pioneering user of the world's most advanced bionic artificial arm.

The Second International Global Future 2045 Congress to be held on 15-16 June 2013 at Lincoln Center in New York City, will be dedicated to a discussion of the new evolutionary strategy of humanity, directed towards the challenges of civilization in the 21st century. At the congress, a vision will be presented for the spiritual transformation of humanity, and new technologies will be demonstrated which will likely form the basis for a technoscientific revolution. Discussions are also planned for the Avatar Project, a move toward the gradual transition from the biological body to an increasingly advanced artificial carrier of the human self.

The first GF2045 congress took place in Moscow in February 2012 and involved 1,500 participants, with 50 speakers from countries around the world, including the United States, the Netherlands, Russia and Australia.

The 2045 Initiative, organizers of the GF2045 congress, was founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011, with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the fields of neural interfaces, robotics, and artificial organs and systems. The goals of the 2045 Initiative are the creation and realization of a new strategy of development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges, creation of conditions for the spiritual transformation of humanity, and the realization of a new future based on five principles: spirituality, culture, ethics, science and technology. The key project of the 2045 Initiative, the Avatar Project, seeks to create technologies for transferring one's personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life to the point of immortality. The organizers devote particular attention to enable a truly collaborative dialogue between spirituality, science and society.

The Second International Global Future 2045 Congress is open to the public. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit: www.GF2045.com

NOTE TO MEDIA: Credentialed members of the press wishing to cover the Global Future 2045 congress in New York must pre-register at www.GF2045.com. For interviews, contact: Connie Connors, PR@2045.com, 212-219-9188. Skype: connie.connors4. For general information on the congress, group ticket sales and sponsorship, contact: info@GF2045.com

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