Episode Details

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, algorithms and statisticians 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 reassessment of the ways prediction shapes our everyday lives, Oxford professor Carissa Véliz will explain how putting too much stock in others' predictions makes us vulnerable to charlatans, con artists, dubious technology, and self-deception. Carissa will outline how a free and robust society requires not more prediction, but better preparation.

Join us to explore the hidden dangers of prediction in the age of AI, and what we must do to reclaim control of our lives.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices