It is an extraordinary concept, one which is both welcomed and ridiculed by scientists and faith leaders as well as members of the public who are aware of it: some see it as a daring and inevitable future while others view it with fear – and 2045, the target for implementation of the project, is not so far away.
There are many issues to do with an idea which is being expensively justified, through world-wide meetings and conferences, as a way to overcome human needs for food and warmth and emotional needs by replacing the body with a robot. For example, someone would be in charge of deciding how these artificial beings would operate and for how long they would live, and so there are questions of power and control over you – where would be your option to choose your avatar destiny? Could you opt out? Would you want to be just a mind forever – remembering that the mind is the creator and perpetuator of ego? What about relationships? Community?
Most importantly, the concept cuts across the core spiritual teachings about why we live on Earth and return for lifetime after lifetime to learn what it means to be human and in body, to balance that humanity with soul and Spirit, and to become at one with all that is having overcome the tyranny of the mind. It is about remembering that the role of man is to be the guardian of the Planet and to help Gaia with her journey to sacredness as we make ours too; and it is about achieving the Plan of God. The 2045 Initiative forgets about our karmic purpose and assumes that there is no life after death – for why live as a machine forever when a new wonderful life awaits you after human death?
And that is the irony in the idea of the 2045 Initiative: whatever you do or is done to you to become an avatar, your soul will not be stopped from its voyage of growth through experience. If your mind is locked into a machine during one everlasting lifetime, it will not, cannot stop the next one being planned and carried out even while your “old” mind carries on simultaneously. The soul cannot be constrained – but it can be hampered, and there is a point beyond which the madness of man is not permitted by Spirit to run free; this may be one of them.
I wonder how far Dmitry Itskov fears death, seeing it as the end to life forever?
(I am grateful to my friend Anita for forwarding me the recent New York Times article by David Segal on this subject.)
Claire Montanaro is a spiritual teacher, channel and blogger. Loves nature and wildlife. Author of Spiritual Wisdom.]]>
There is a film which shows this scary reality - it's called Surrogates. It illustrates our preoccupation with eternal youth and unblemished beauty, as the robots are perfected and enhanced versions of their operators. Although, of course, you have to have the money available for the top of the range models and so those who can't afford it just have metal skeletons. It's the virtual world taken to extremes and it changes nothing except that we are removed even further from the joyful experience of life and human experience - it's a bleak vision.
Thank you, Semele. I have not come across the film you mention, and may avoid it in view of what you say! Yes, a bleak vision indeed.
G'day, Claire!
Even androids die. One of several examples from Star Trek lore, for instance, is that of Data. In the film *Star Trek: Nemesis*, he sacrifices himself not only to save Capt. Picard but also humanity. Ponder how he procreated in that same film in order to leave something of himself behind.
Thank you, William - it is not a film I know. But we each of us leave something behind when we die, don't we? Though not necessarily to save humanity!