Figuora

Framework

Human Capability Map

A research-in-progress attempt to inventory human capabilities that matter for civilization—and which are most exposed to automation.

Research In ProgressOpen QuestionResearch In ProgressUpdated August 4, 2026Human CapabilityFrontier TechnologyProgress

Problem

Public debate about AI and education often treats 'human capability' as a slogan instead of a map with parts that can atrophy, transfer, or remain essential.

Map human capabilities across perception, modeling, craft, care, judgment, coordination, and meaning-making—then track exposure to automation versus need for human stewardship.

Model

Problem

Without a map, we cannot tell whether a tool expands us or empties us. "Skills" is too vague for a transition as large as AI.

Model

Research in progress: draft a living map—perception, world-modeling, craft/physical skill, caregiving, moral judgment, coordination, meaning-making. For each, ask: amplifiable? automatable? necessary for legitimacy? necessary for resilience?

This is a research program, not a complete atlas.

Limitations

Maps freeze moving targets. They risk Western professional bias. Figuora publishes this as an incomplete working artifact meant to be corrected by evidence, not worshipped as a framework finished product.

Assumptions

  • Capabilities are plural; IQ-like scalars are insufficient.
  • Some capacities are complements to tools; others are substitutes.
  • Civilizational resilience requires fallback competence, not only peak automation.

Evidence

  • Automation literature documents heterogeneous complementarity across tasks.
  • Skill fade observed in over-automated control environments.

Predictions

  • Generative AI will pressure modeling and drafting layers first; care and legitimacy judgment slower.
  • Maps that ignore embodiment will misforecast robotics impacts.

Limitations

  • Taxonomies multiply endlessly without discipline.
  • Cross-cultural capability valuations differ.
  • Measurement instruments remain immature.

Counterarguments

  • Capabilities are situational performances, not inventory items.
  • Focus on human uniqueness is species vanity.
#skills#cognition#map

Sources

  1. 1. Range — David Epstein (2019)
  2. 2. Thinking, Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman (2011) · Cognitive dual-process research; contested replications in places.