{"product_id":"prophecy-prediction-power-and-the-fight-for-the-future-from-ancient-oracles-to-ai-9780385550970","title":"Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, from Ancient Oracles to AI","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom 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 products foisted upon us.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eToday'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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eVéliz 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. \u003ci\u003eProphecy \u003c\/i\u003eis an invitation to defy those orders and live life on our own terms.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Carissa Veliz\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Doubleday Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/21\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 384\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.23lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.52h x 6.54w x 1.27d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780385550970\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/01\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/02\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCarissa Véliz\u003c\/b\u003e is an associate professor at the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford. Her first book, \u003ci\u003ePrivacy Is Power\u003c\/i\u003e (Melville House) was an \u003ci\u003eEconomist \u003c\/i\u003ebook of the year and has been published in seven languages. Her academic work has been published in \u003ci\u003eThe Harvard Business Review, Nature, AI \u0026amp; Society, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe American Journal of Bioethics\u003c\/i\u003e, among others. She is the author of the forthcoming \u003ci\u003eThe Ethics of Privacy and Surveillance\u003c\/i\u003e (Oxford University Press) and the editor of the forthcoming \u003ci\u003eOxford Handbook of Digital Ethics\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"booksdeli.com","offers":[{"title":"Carissa Veliz \/ Hardcover \/ English","offer_id":47876585652381,"sku":"9780385550970","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0619\/5648\/9373\/files\/img_2d920ace-d81f-4e5c-9fbe-dc917724e325.jpg?v=1777382645","url":"https:\/\/booksdeli.com\/products\/prophecy-prediction-power-and-the-fight-for-the-future-from-ancient-oracles-to-ai-9780385550970","provider":"booksdeli.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}