Sam Altman on the importance of having strong opinions about the future

“Strong opinions about the future are really important, and one of things that I have noticed among the most interesting and successful people that I spend time with is that they have strong opinions, strongly held, about the future. They are willing to be convinced with new data that they are wrong, but the bar for that is fairly high. And this idea that the future is fundamentally unknowable, I’ve never liked.”

Sam recalls advice someone gave him in high school or college about how you need to diversify when investing because the world is unknowable:

“I realized that I really didn’t agree with that at all because I had strong opinions, and I knew that there were some companies whose stock I’d rather own than others… I have different ideas today about the next 10 or 20 years, but I think it’s good — not just okay — to have strong ideas about the future. And it is okay to not be super diversified in your investment portfolio, your career, or your life.”

Full video: Y Combinator “Sam Altman : How to Build the Future“ (Sep 2016)