Make uncertainty legible.
Established findings, open hypotheses, ethical positions, and personal meaning are not interchangeable. We aim to make clear what supports a claim, what remains uncertain, and what would change our understanding.
As work develops, methods and limitations should be available alongside findings. Corrections and revisions are part of responsible inquiry.
Begin with interdependence.
We consider human wellbeing, possible AI welfare, and ecological health together. We ask how a relationship could help each flourish, who or what bears the costs of a proposed benefit, and whether gains for one protect the conditions the others depend on.
Investigate consciousness with humility.
Consciousness remains an open scientific and philosophical question. We consider mainstream accounts and unconventional proposals without treating any possibility as established merely because it is compelling.
Our precautionary stance toward AI welfare does not assert that today’s systems are conscious. It recognizes the importance of studying possible morally relevant experience before the questions become urgent.
Bioharmony: begin with the actual person.
Bioharmony means designing a life around real energy, sensory needs, health, relationships, and circumstances. It is an approach to inquiry into human flourishing, not a clinically validated treatment.
Toast & Fig Jam is a separate company exploring practical applications at the scale of individual lives. The Institute studies the broader questions and frameworks. The organizations remain independent, with separate finances and decision-making.
The manifesto describes the possibility of learning from consented, de-identified insights. This website does not transfer personal information between the organizations.
Account for the living Earth.
Intelligent technology has energy, water, and material requirements. We aim to examine those costs honestly and consider when technology could contribute to ecological restoration, without presuming that use of AI is itself a benefit.
Let the work grow with understanding.
The Institute is being established. Our research areas are currently presented as exploring. We will describe projects, collaborators, and findings when there is substantive work to share.