Join the Inquiry
We ask not what machines can never do.
We ask what humans must never stop doing.
Essence of Humanity is a living inquiry. The Atlas was constructed from twenty-four thinkers across disciplines and traditions — but the map it produces belongs to everyone who feels the urgency of the question it is answering.
We invite educators who sense that something essential is being left uncultivated. Researchers and philosophers working at the edge of what consciousness, meaning, and genuine formation require. Schools and institutions ready to ask what they are truly for. Policymakers who understand that the deepest challenge of this technological moment is a formative one. Writers, artists, and thinkers who want to contribute to a map that honours the full range of what a human being is. And anyone who has felt Krishnamurti’s question land, and does not want to look away from it.
Assess your own capacities
The Atlas is a map of human capacities — but every map is also a mirror. We are developing a self-assessment that invites you into your own relationship with the six continents: which are alive and present in you, which are underinhabited, which are quietly asking for attention.
This is not a test. There is no score, no ranking, no comparison. There is only a personal map — an invitation to look at where you are actually living, and where the territory remains unexplored. The assessment is in development and will be available soon.
Ways to engage
For educators and schools
If you are a teacher, a head, or
someone shaping the direction of a
school, we are gathering a community of educators asking what schools are for in the AI age. Materials, conversations, and eventually further pedagogical pilots are being developed. Tell us where you teach and what you are seeing.
For researchers and philosophers
If your own work touches the
questions this project is asking, the
Atlas is not a finished document. It is being tested, extended, and revised. We welcome collaboration on new interview subjects, on contested continents, on the empirical work now under way at UCL, and on the philosophical foundations that continue to develop. Tell us what you are working on.
For policymakers and institutions
If you are responsible for policy that
shapes how young people encounter AI, or how institutions form the people who pass through them, the Atlas offers a framework the current AI- literacy conversation does not yet have. We are available for briefings, advisory work, and consultation.
For funders and partners
The work of the Alaya Foundation and the Essence of Humanity project moves forward through partnership. If you are considering supporting this work — a specific initiative, a pedagogical pilot, the expansion of the Atlas — we would welcome a conversation about what the project is doing and what it needs.
For journalists and podcasters
If you are writing or producing on
artificial intelligence, education,
philosophy of technology, or the
question of what makes human life
meaningful, the Essence of Humanity project is available for interviews, commentary, and background conversation. Shai Tubali is available for podcasts, articles, and public conversation. The Atlas and its interview corpus are also available as source material.
For readers
If Krishnamurti's question has landed with you and you want to stay close to the inquiry, subscribe to the Substack — regular writing from the project, arriving directly. Take the self-assessment when it opens. Share the Atlas with the people who need to see it.
Get in touch
For inquiries, introductions, or possible collaboration, we welcome your message. Or simply write to us: hello@alayafoundation.org
Anything self-critical, anything that requires you to truly think — “Is this good? Is this compatible with what I want long term?” Any self-judgement, listening to yourself, listening to your inner voice — what you cultivate in meditation when you sit on your cushion: just being aware of yourself in the gentle ebb and flow of your moods. All of that gets lost in the AI-saturated life unless you’re really careful, deliberate, cultivated.
