From Katie Drummond at Wired: “According to Dmitry Itskov, a 31-year-old Russian media mogul, the U.S. military’s Avatar initiative doesn’t go nearly far enough. He’s got a massive, sci-fi-esque venture of his own that he hopes will put the Pentagon’s project to shame. Itskov’s plan: Construct robots that’ll (within 10 years, he hopes) actually store a human’s mind and keep that consciousness working. Forever.

‘This project is leading down the road to immortality,’ Itskov, who founded New Media Stars, a Russian company that runs several online news outlets, tells Danger Room. ‘A person with a perfect Avatar will be able to remain part of society. People don’t want to die.'”