Paul Bettany is convinced the eerie technology featured in his new movie Transcendence will be commonplace within his lifetime.

In the film, Johnny Depp plays a terminally ill scientist whose mind is uploaded to a computer, granting him power beyond his wildest dreams - and his 42-year-old co-star believes the story isn't as far fetched as some people think it is.

Bettany tells Wenn, "I spoke to a professor at Cal Tech (the California Institute of Technology). He's a brilliant man. When I walked into the room he was looking at a slice of the human brain whilst listening to Wagner.

"I asked him, 'How far fetched is this technology?' and he said, 'In 30 years'. I said, 'You mean we will be able to upload human consciousness - thoughts, feelings, history...?' And he said, 'Yes'. I said, 'But you're talking about immortality?' And he said, 'Yes!'

"That is what I remember from the meeting. It was a terrifying thought that they are unified in the opinion that we have always been on a collision course with technology and the next stage of our evolution will involve machinery. That's a hell of a thought."