The Tragic Story of Doctor Faust and Algoretics (pt. 1)

The first written document that tells the legend of Faust is the Faustbuch (The Book of Faust), published anonymously in 1587 in Germany. This prose text, known as Historia von D. Johann Fausten (“The History of Doctor Johann Faust”), compiles various stories and legends about Faust, portraying him as a man who makes a pact with the devil (Mephistopheles) in exchange for power, knowledge, and earthly pleasures.

Algoretics, as defined by its main spokesperson, theologian and academic Paolo Benanti, means placing “ethical guardrails on the technology of algorithms.” This subject is more relevant than ever in relation to AI, as we briefly discussed in a previous article (The Pope at the G7 to talk about AI: between hopes, good intentions, and perhaps a touch of resignation).

Faustian Technology

The term “Faustian technology” or “Faustian science” refers to a concept inspired by the legend of Faust—a character from German literature who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge, power, and pleasure.In general, these terms are used to describe an approach to science and technology characterized by:

• Unlimited ambition: An insatiable desire for knowledge, power, and control over the natural world, without moral or ethical boundaries. The Faustian approach is driven by the idea of surpassing all human limits through scientific and technological progress.

• Ethical and moral risk: Like Faust in the legend, Faustian science involves the risk of losing moral or spiritual integrity. It is the pursuit of knowledge and innovation without adequately considering ethical, environmental, or social consequences.

• Domination over nature: A worldview in which science and technology are used to dominate, manipulate, and exploit nature, often ignoring long-term negative effects.

• The pursuit of power through knowledge: Faustian science or technology sees knowledge as a means to gain power, often at the expense of other considerations such as human well-being, social justice, or environmental sustainability.

This concept is often used in a critical context to warn against an approach to science and technology that may become dangerous or destructive—for both humanity and the planet.

Eugène Delacroix Faust and Mephistopheles in the Studio

These principles bring us back to Extropianism and Transhumanism, which we discussed in our article Principles of Extropianism: An Evolutionary Framework Toward Posthumanism, where we wrote: “Transhumanism is a humanism enhanced by technology, which on the one hand accelerates its evolution, and on the other provides fantastic scenarios. Scenarios that, in order to be fully imagined, require a complete rethinking of the history of evolution—no longer necessarily centered on man and his biology.”

Technology is no longer an imposition upon the external world, as Massimo Cacciari reminds us by quoting Sophocles, but rather it makes us the object of its interest.Man becomes an experiment—something to be improved and cured. This was already happening with genetics, even before the rise of AI. Cacciari states: “Disease must be removed from our being before it even appears.”

Max Weber also aligns with the direction of Faustian technology: the modern world is dominated by science, which is the soul of technology.For Weber, technology fits into a broader process of rationalization, which is one of the key features of modernity. Rationalization involves the application of logical, scientific, and systematic criteria to the organization of social, economic, and political life.

Giorgio Tentolini, Artemide Efesia, 2023, Hand-cut black wire mesh layered over aqua green and taupe background, 100 × 100 cm

In this context, technology is seen as a tool for achieving objectives more efficiently and predictably through the use of scientific and rational methods.Weber argues that modernity is characterized by the “disenchantment of the world” (Entzauberung der Welt)—a process in which magical and religious explanations are replaced by scientific and technical ones.

Weber speaks of society and process—but Faust has gone further. Technology is taking man, and it is taking everything.