Carissa Véliz

As the story goes, King Louis XI kept an astrologer in court.

One day, the astrologer predicted that a lady of the court would die within a week.

When she did, Louis was shaken.

Either the astrologer had murdered the woman to prove his accuracy, or he was so prescient that he could threaten Louis himself.

The astrologer had to be murdered.

The king ordered his servants that upon his signal, they were to throw the astrologer out the window to a certain death.

You'd be surprised, by the way, by how many seers in history have met this fate.

So advice to astrologers, keep away from kings and heights.

When the astrologer arrived to meet Louis, the king asked him one last question.

Given your prophetic abilities, tell me, how long will you live?

Not missing a beat, the astrologer replied, I will die three days before your majesty.

And Louis never gave the signal.

Did the astrologer find his answer in the stars?

I don't think so.

I think he understood the power of prediction and used it to get himself life insurance.

Smart astrologer.

Even though we tend to associate prediction with knowledge, I'd like to invite you to consider the possibility that most of the predictions that you encounter in an everyday setting are closer to the realm of power than that of knowledge.

It might seem that the days in which we sought astrologers and soothsayers to tell us about the future are very distant.

But often we use AI as the new Oracle of Delphi, and tech executives whisper in the ears of our leaders, much like court astrologers used to.

Granted, the technology is different, but the political role is not.