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The super-rich will soon be able to "live forever" thanks to sophisticated scientific breakthroughs effectively bringing about the end of death, experts believe.

Speaking to Daily Star Online, futurologist and former Labour MP Dr Ian Pearson said that the next few decades will see the blurring of lines between humans and machines.

He argued that such technology is already here to some degree, with retina implants and microchips, but the coming years will see that technology take a massive leap forwards.

"Think of it as like adding an extension to the brain, similar to adding a conservatory to a house," he said.

Dr Pearson believes that by the 2050s, we will have achieved what he calls "electronic immortality".

(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

This will enable those with the means to afford it the ability to extend their minds into something resembling The Cloud.

Such a development could open up remarkable opportunities, including, Dr Pearson says, "telepathic communication".

Describing what this could look like, he explained: "Microscopic implants measuring just millimetres across could be inserted, linking up to our brains."

This would also see humans able to communicate across the world, by transmitting our brains via something like The Cloud to another vessel, such as a cloned human body, on the other side of the world.

Although this incredibly sophisticated technology is likely to be restricted to the super-rich for the foreseeable future, Dr Pearson believes that "by 2060, this could become more mainstream".

He added that it is most likely our brains would be transferred into Westworld-like robots.

"There would be no need for human cloning, we can create Westworld-style androids with rigid skeletons," he said.

"These would have muscle-like fibres grown to human flesh, and they would be 10-15 times stronger than human muscle."

(Image: Netflix)

This may sound straight out of science fiction, but Dr Pearson believes that such a human android could be produced as soon as 2050.

"You would need to create high-resolution silicon masks — and this technology will be here in the next 30 years," he added.

In fact, he is so confident in the development of androids, he believes that we could even hire them out if we wanted to experience life in another body for a week or so.

"You could even get to live as a pet cat if the android was created," he said.

(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

US conceptual artist and experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats also believes that such technology is on the horizon.

Speaking from California, he told Daily Star Online: "The way that technology is progressing, it is inevitable that our personalities will soon last beyond our death."

Rather than Dr Pearson's Westworld-style androids, Jonathon believes we will see what he calls "passive immortality".

This will mean that our bodies may die, but we will be able to "upload our conscience" to a memory stick.

That would mean we were aware of our surroundings, but may not need a physical form to experience life.

(Image: Getty)

Jonathon, who has previously written about copywriting our brains, believes that such technology could raise major privacy issues.

"If the human brain can be downloaded, then it is suddenly hackable," he explained.

"Suddenly we open our minds up to personal data breaches, fraud, and even imposters pretending to be us."

The possibilities of "passive immortality" could also transform the space industry, Jonathon said.

By cryogenically freezing our brains, he added, we could "keep the mind in stasis" as it travels the many lightyears across space.

(Image: Getty)

"Other planets could be used to 'park' our brains," he said.

But this raises a fresh issue of how to "reactivate the brain" once we reach our destination, Jonathon explained.

It may even be necessary to create a clone and give it a "epigenetic and experiential implant," meaning the empty clone could be brought up to speed on everything our original selves have ever thought or felt in our lives.

This chip could then be implanted into the clone, creating a replica of us which had all of our experiences.

This is not the first time experts have predicted that the super-rich will leave us lowly mortals behind.

Earlier this month, Daily Star Online reported that billionaires could leave Earth for space colonies to escape from climate catastrophe.

US media theorist Douglas Rushkoff has written that the overall direction of the wealthy is to quit the planet and create a new world just for the elite.

(Image: Â©2016 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. HBOÂ® and all related programs are the property of Home Box Office, Inc.)

In the Netflix original series Altered Carbon, by the year 2384 human consciousness is transferred into a cortical stack implanted into their spinal columns containing all their thoughts and memories.

This stack can be removed and transferred to a new body known as a sleeve.

The only way to truly die is if the stack is damaged beyond repair meaning the super-wealthy are able to survive for centuries.

For now, this is the preserve of science fiction, but one day soon this technology could become a reality.