● Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, from Ancient Oracles to AI
Carissa Véliz
Review via The Wall Street Journal
Oil and gas prices have been so erratic lately that the time-honored roller-coaster metaphor now looks sedate. Yet none of the price shifts have been in response to actual supply. Instead, the market has been making bets on what it thinks the consequences of the Middle East war will be.
Traders rely on prediction in the most unpredictable of circumstances. Energy markets are far from unique, as Carissa Véliz, a professor at Oxford University’s Institute for Ethics in AI, shows in “Prophecy.” Her sweeping account of prediction across history demonstrates why we would do well to approach most forecasts with the skepticism we now show to prophets.