How Does Beware the Power of Prediction | Carissa Véliz | TED Work?

Beware the power of prediction is like having a super-smart friend who can guess what you're going to do before you even decide.

Imagine you have a toy box full of your favorite toys, cars, blocks, and dolls. Now imagine someone who knows exactly which toy you'll pick next time you go to play. That's prediction, knowing what will happen before it happens.

Carissa Véliz, the person talking in this TED talk, says that when we use predictions a lot, like when apps know what song you want to listen to or what movie you’ll watch, we start relying on them so much that we forget how to make our own choices. It’s like having your smart friend pick all your toys for you every day, soon, you might not remember which ones you actually like.

Prediction is everywhere, in your phone, your games, even your favorite videos. These predictions help you by making things faster and easier. But if we always let them choose for us, we might lose the joy of discovering new things on our own.

It’s like eating your favorite snack every day, it's great at first, but after a while, you might miss trying something different.