In the new science-fiction thriller Transcendence, Johnny Depp uploads his mind to a powerful computer, melding his consciousness with artificial intelligence in a scenario many refer to as the singularity.

Far-fetched? Yes, but so is the idea of a brooding Depp as an awkward neuroscientist. That doesnt mean people are not trying to make it happen in real life, including Russian billionaire Dmitry Itskov, who makes immortality an explicit goal of his 2045 Initiative.

Two researchers who consulted on Transcendence, both professors of electrical engineering and neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, are not sure that is an attainable goal, but that does not mean its not worth pursuing.

Will what we see in the movie be happening in 30 years? I would have to say no, because we dont even understand what consciousness is, Jose Carmena told NBC News.

To upload the mind, you would have to build technology that would let you interface with the brain, added his colleague, Michel Maharbiz. The race to do try and do that could motivate a lot of technology along the way, and that could potentially help a lot of people.

In other words, before we get a virtual Johnny Depp, we are going to need to really understand how the brain works a goal that a lot of people have put a lot of money behind.

In April 2013, President Barack Obama announced the BRAIN Initiative, a $232 million collaboration between the government and private companies to map the human brain.

People with disabilities could benefit the most from this kind of research. Zac Vawter, a Seattle-area man who lost his lower right leg in a motorcycle accident, made headlines when he was outfitted with a prosthetic leg that he could control with signals from his brain.

Other scientists are looking into whether people like Stephen Hawking could communicate with the outside world without moving a muscle something made easier with technology that can measure brain activity without the need to connect electrodes to someones scalp. That same type of technology has also been used for the less noble cause of wriggling robotic cat ears.

Carmena and Maharbiz spent 10 hours in Los Angeles, followed by two more visits, going over the science in the script with "Transcendence" director Wally Pfister. This being Hollywood, plenty of the scenes include a bit of creative license, including one (spoiler alert!) involving a popular science-fiction trope called grey goo, a mass of self-replicating nanobots that can heal people and create matter out of nothing in a matter of seconds.

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Depp Impact: The Science Behind 'Transcendence'