The Faith of the Technologist

The Worldview Behind Altman’s Idea of a “Better Life”

In the January 7, 2025, episode of ReThinking with Adam Grant titled “Sam Altman on the Future of AI and Humanity,” Adam Grant concludes with a deceptively simple question for the OpenAI CEO:

“With a child on the way, as a soon to be father, what kind of world are you hoping to see for the next generation?”

In his interview, he offers more than just a personal response. He offers a concise worldview about what constitutes a “better life” in the age of AI, something that is worth looking at in detail.

In this essay, I argue that Altman’s response reveals what we can call the “faith of the technologist”: the belief that scientific and technological progress, especially AI-driven progress, is the primary driver of prosperity, fulfillment, and human advancement. To illustrate this idea, I draw on Isabelle Stengers’s concept in Cosmopolitics (2010) that modern scientific projects depend on specific forms of “faith” that determine what constitutes reality and what is excluded.

I will approach this in three steps. First, I will unpack what “a better life” means in Altman’s framework. Second, I will use Stengers to demonstrate how this concept functions as a form of faith. Third, I will explore what this cosmology tends to omit.