你会投资永生吗？

    他不是唯一一个怀着这种想法的人。今年，“2045行动”将在纽约举办第二届全球未来2045大会（Global Future 2045 Congress），演讲嘉宾包括著名的未来学家和投资人雷•库兹韦尔，艾克斯奖基金会（X PRIZE Foundation）前主席和企业家彼得•戴尔蒙迪斯博士，共同创立人类基因组计划（Human Genome Project）的分子生物学家乔治•丘奇博士，以及一大批在商业、机器人技术、神经系统科学和灵学领域具有影响力的思想领袖。包括库兹韦尔和戴尔蒙迪斯在内的几位支持者最近在一封寄给联合国（UN）秘书长潘基文的信件上签字，邀请他参加今年6月召开的2045大会。这次大会将探讨人类和“2045行动”的未来。

    伊茨科夫可能会在这届大会上宣布创建自己的永生公司。“2045 行动”的永生技术在21世纪40年代成熟时，该公司的投资者可以优先享用该技术。“我想，如果我们接触那些对神经系统科学感兴趣的高净值人士，他们肯定会抓住延年益寿、同时把这项技术带给人类的机会，”伊茨科夫说。“如果他们把这项技术带给了每个人，他们为什么不应该优先获得人工躯体呢？”

    玄机在于：虽然伊茨科夫正在为“2045行动”寻找早期投资者，但按照他的想法，这个公司实体（以研究中心的身份面世，然后随着意识、脑机接口和永生技术的发展而逐渐扩大为科技孵化器）将先以非盈利模式运行十年，把所有收益都再投资于这项研究，十年后才会转为盈利模式，开始为投资者创造回报。

    当然，这里的真正回报不是在未来上市后股价上涨的机会，而是使个人意识摆脱肉体、永世长存的机会。可以把它称为回报无限大的长期投资。（财富中文网）

    译者：千牛絮

    He's not the only one. Speakers at this year's Global Future 2045 Congress in New York City—the second annual event put on by the 2045 Initiative—include legendary futurist and investor Ray Kurzweil, former X PRIZE Foundation chairman and entrepreneur Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, and Dr. George Church, the molecular biologist who helped initiate the Human Genome Project, as well as a long list of influential thought leaders in business, robotics, neuroscience, and spirituality.. Several of these backers, including Kurzweil and Diamandis, recently signed a letter sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon inviting him to join the 2045 Congress when it convenes in June to talk about the future of both humanity and the 2045 Initiative.

    It's at this Congress that Itskov will likely announce the launch of his immortality business, which will quite literally allow investors to purchase a place at the front of the line once the initiative's immortality technology matures in the 2040s. "I think if we approach some high net worth individuals with an interest in neuroscience, they would seize the opportunity to both extend their own lives and to bring this technology to humanity," Itskov says. "And if they are responsible for bringing this technology to everybody, why don't they get their artificial bodies first?"

    There is a catch: Though Itskov is looking for initial investors to get in on the ground floor, he envisions this corporate entity—which will enter the world as a research center but expand into a technology incubator as the consciousness/brain-machine-interface/immortality space grows—operating like a non-profit for the first ten years, investing all profits back into the research. After a decade it would shift to a for-profit model and begin paying off for investors.

    Of course, the real payoff here isn't the opportunity to dump shares after some future IPO, but the chance to keep one's consciousness alive indefinitely, long after the biological body has given out. Call it a long-term investment, and one with incalculable ROI.