Prophecy : prediction, power, and the fight for the future, from ancient oracles to AI / Carissa Véliz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Véliz, Carissa, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Forecasting.

Prophecies.

Physical Description:

xxvi, 354 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First Doubleday hardcover edition.

Other Title:

Prediction, power, and the fight for the future, from ancient oracles to artificial intelligence

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Doubleday, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2026.

Summary:

"From an award-winning University of Oxford professor comes a brilliant, urgent new look at prophecies--the predictions that determine our lives, from our personal finances and the quality of our healthcare to the news and social media we consume and the produces foisted upon us. Today's computer scientists play the same role as the oracles of the ancient world and the astrologers of the Middle Ages. Modern predictions not only advise on war, crop output, and marriages, but algorithms and statisticians also now determine whether we can get a loan, a job, an apartment, or an organ transplant. And when we cede ground to these predictions, we lose control of our own lives. In this powerful, refreshing new look at the many ways prediction shapes our everyday lives, University of Oxford professor Carissa Véliz explains how putting too much stock in others' predictions makes us vulnerable to charlatans, con artists, dubious technology, and self-deception. Examining a wide range of subjects both personal and societal, including medicine, climate, technology, society, and others, Véliz uncovers a number of insights: predictions about humans tend to be self-fulfilling; more data doesn't guarantee better outcomes; AI is more likely to increase risk than decrease it; and a free and robust society requires not more prediction, but better preparation. Véliz argues in this incisive and bracingly original book that the main promise of prediction is not knowledge of the future, but rather power over others. Prophecy is an invitation to defy those orders and live life on our own terms"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Overture : what's in a prediction?

Prophets and power : a brief history of prediction, or why astrologers get thrown off cliffs

Conquering uncertainty and taming risk : the mathematization of decision-making

The ultimate prediction machine : artificial intelligence is the new oracle of Delphi

Likeness to truth : why educated guesses are not facts

When predictions become verdicts : on the tyranny of surveillance and self-fulfilling prophecies

The crystal ball is cracked : why the unforeseeable is never going away, and how forecasts can increase risk

Truth, virtue and beauty : why ideals outdo predictions

Defying the odds : on using creativity, humor, and resilience to flip the script

How to thrive amid uncertainty : curiosity, fearlessness, and philosophy as antidotes to prophecy

Epilogue : ten lessons in prediction

Postscript : AI ethics 101 : digital tech's original sins.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version Véliz, Carissa Prophecy

ISBN:

9780385550970

0385550979

9780385552776

0385552777

OCLC:

1574786586