Virtual immortality possible by 2050?

Immortality might be less than 50 years away, according to a futurologist. However he says not our body but our mind might gain immortality, by downloading it into a virtual world. Ian Pearson, head of British Telecom's futurology unit says rapid advances in computing power might make cyber-immortality a reality by 2050.

He illustrates this with the PlayStation 3, which is 35 times more powerful than the PlayStation 2. Pearson states the PS3 is one percent as powerful as the human brain, if this evolution continues a PlayStation 5 will probably be just as powerful as the human brain.

Pearson believes that a brain-downloading technology would become available by 2050 for rich people and it will take another 25 to 30 years before it might become available for the masses.

He further adds that a fully conscious computer with superhuman levels of intelligence might come as soon as 2020, supplemented with "virtual worlds". More details at CNN