A tech expert with a track record of predicting sea changes in the industry has made several eye-popping new forecasts in a new book. Google's Ray Kurzweil famously predicted the iPhone era and the fact that a computer would beat someone at chess by 1998. In his new book, 'The Singularity is Nearer', Kurzweil predicts that humans fully merge with AI, becoming immortal cyborgs, by 2045. He also predicts that advancements in AI will make it possible to resurrect loved ones and connect our brains to cloud technology, in what he calls the'fifth epoch' of human intelligence. Google's Ray Kurzweil believes immortality is around the corner (Getty) The singularity is the idea that artificial intelligence (AI) will eventually surpass human intelligence, fundamentally changing human existence.

For about a decade, we have heard rumors that a new generation of automated technologies has learned to do our jobs. If these tech prophecies were true, robots and algorithms should have been ready to step in during the lockdowns and finally prove that they can work more safely, cheaply, and efficiently than we can. But when COVID-19 raised the curtain on automation, people stepped into the spotlight. As the lockdowns begin to end, we must remember that today's crisis is not about automation. It's about how we value and protect the people whose labor sustains the world.