Join us for this Ethics Exchange featuring Carissa Véliz, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford. Dr. Véliz will discuss her new book Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, from Ancient Oracles to AI, available on April 21, 2026.
About Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, from Ancient Oracles to AI
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.
About Carissa Véliz
Carissa Véliz is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and the Institute for Ethics in AI, and a Tutorial Fellow in Philosophy at Hertford College.
Dr. Véliz completed her DPhil in Philosophy at the University of Oxford. She was then a Research Fellow at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics and the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities at the University of Oxford. To find out more about Carissa’s work, visit her website: www.carissaveliz.com
About The Ethics Exchange
Ideas take on a different shape when they’re shared around a table. The Ethics Exchange gathers our community over lunch in the Dennis F. Thompson Seminar Room to think aloud about questions that matter. Building on the traditions of Ethics in Your World and Ethics Mondays, the series alternates between two formats: some sessions are open conversations, guided by a short reading or prompt; others feature invited speakers who share their work before opening the floor for dialogue. The aim is not to deliver neat answers but to create a space for genuine exchange—of ideas, perspectives, and disagreements—in an informal and engaging setting. Come with curiosity, and leave with sharper questions, new connections, and of course, full bellies.
This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.
All attendees must agree to the Chatham House Rule: participants are free to use information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speakers may be revealed.
LOCATION:Dennis F. Thompson Seminar Room, Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART:20260427T160000Z DTEND:20260427T170000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR