Profecía : Lecciones sobre el uso y abuso de la predicción, desde los antiguos oráculos hasta la IA

The mystical and magical place once held by oracles, astrologers, and all manner of fortune tellers in antiquity is now occupied by algorithms. From our finances and healthcare to the news, social media, and the products we consume, we live surrounded by predictions that influence our every decision and generate a false sense of security. In this essay, philosopher and Oxford University professor Carissa Véliz shows how blind faith in predictions —whether human or digital— makes us vulnerable to scammers and self-deception. Drawing on medicine, weather, statistics, artificial intelligence, and even everyday life, the author dismantles the myths surrounding modern oracles —more data doesn't always mean better results, AI can increase risks instead of reducing them— to arrive at an inescapable conclusion: a free society doesn't need more predictions, but better preparation. In this illuminating essay, Carissa Véliz invites us to question the power of those who claim to know what will happen. Because the promise of prediction is not to know the future, but to control others.