Russian billionaire and media mogul Dmitry Itskov made a big splash last year when he created the 2045 Initiative, which brought 30 top Russian scientists on board to create an international research center to study immortality. The 31-year-old president of New Media Stars, a Russian company that runs several online news outlets, has implored other billionaires to start funding "cybernetic immortality and the artificial body." His plan: transfer the human consciousness to a remotely controlled avatar, or a synthetic brain -- what he sees as the next step in human evolution.
These stories of no-holds-barred competition, contempt, and all-out conflict shaped the modern business world.
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