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Discovery

Diverse Intelligences

A global, multidisciplinary exploration of a world alive with brilliance.

Our universe brims with intelligences. By exploring other minds, we can see ourselves in this dazzling constellation. Questions about intelligence are explored in a broad range of disciplines—neuroscience, philosophy, biology, computer science, anthropology, and many others. But researchers in these fields rarely have opportunities to work together.

Templeton World Charity Foundation’s Diverse Intelligence (DI) initiative seeks to break down disciplinary boundaries and build a new scientific community. DI is a multiyear, global effort to understand a world alive with brilliance in many forms. Its mission is to promote open-minded, forward-looking inquiry in animal, human, and machine intelligences. We collaborate with leading experts and emerging scholars from around the globe, developing high-caliber projects that advance our comprehension of the constellation of intelligences.

The initiative is focused on three challenges:

DI RFP
Fellowship Program
New Request for Proposals

The Templeton Emerging Scholars Fellowship in Diverse Intelligences will catalyze bold thinkers and ambitious researchers who are driven to push the boundaries of knowledge around diverse intelligences, humble enough to seek mentorship, inspired to engage in interdisciplinary research, expand their professional networks, and develop their leadership capabilities. 

Open Jan 14 / 2025
Close Mar 5 / 2025
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What we seek to accomplish
1
Map the contours of intelligence in diverse forms and faculties found in the natural world: their nature, structure, purpose, and evolutionary origins.

2
Investigate ways to nourish the many dimensions of human intelligence, including such under-explored domains as social, moral, and spiritual intelligence.

3
Encourage practical and positive engagement with applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
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What is Diverse Intelligences?

Watch this video to learn more about Diverse Intelligences.
 

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Stories of Impact

Stories from our grantees
 

By studying the songs of humpback whales, Laurance Doyle (SETI Institute) aims to uncover the vast wellsprings of communications that exist throughout Planet Earth—and beyond.