I think what Amodei is probably thinking is that there's going to be a single breakthrough that cures all human maladies via the same mechanism. While this belief isn't strictly speaking scientific, the reality we're presently facing is a machine that can search the space of unknown unknowns, and if history has taught us anything it's that the scientific revolutions live in the unknown unknowns when a bolt of inspiration led a few people to starting seeing the entire world in a different light.

Is he right? We can't know now, obviously. But is he being utterly irrational? Not by any reasonable understanding of science history.