3 ms·

That's fair enough. But I'm still having trouble seeing how this would pass the scrutiny of EA's philosophy on good charity other than for the fact its in house

That's fair enough. But I'm still having trouble seeing how this would pass the scrutiny of EA's philosophy on good charity other than for the fact its in house. Like there are already hundreds of universities with the abilities to do this or hose a workshop on it. And there's also no special reason to think that the assortment of people they will bring in will do good instead of talk in circles or come to the wrong conclusion. Like - it seems similar to the same thinking a large church does by bringing in religious leaders to talk about stuff?

eddsh1994 4y ago
It's expensive in that part of the country. Say I rent a room at an Oxford college for a conference which is subsidized, I'd be looking at 70 or 80 a night. Say it's five nights, that's 350/400 just on accommodation. Have 30 people and that's 12k per week saved, against a non-depreciating asset in an area that is very unlikely to reduce in value. On top of this you can do what you want with the place and have permanent work spaces etc. Seems sensible to me, even if my first instinct was WTF.
- lazyasciiart 4y ago
  Why would you limit yourself to running events only in one of the most expensive places on earth? Do they not intend to have attendees from elsewhere?
  - eddsh1994 4y ago
    CEA is based in Oxford, as is 80,000 hours, the Future of Humanities Institute, and many more orgs. In Cambridge you have similar organizations. At the same time there's transport links to Heathrow. All of this in a property that will appreciate in value due to Oxfordshires zoning laws and the general history of the place. If this was 15m sunk cost I'd agree it's crazy but owning a conference space that's cheaper than you'd find in the cities, close to a lot of the core orgs, and is a nice place that won't depreciate in value (and that was privately funded directly, this isn't using an aggregate of peoples infrastructure funds).
    - mcculley 4y ago
      I agree overall with many points you make, but I am not convinced about the property’s immunity to depreciation. Certainly the land can be expected to appreciate in value, but what is the annual upkeep on a historic castle? A castle can easily depreciate, depending on circumstances and maintenance.
    - cma 4y ago
      If the property will appreciate in value and they uniquely know about that then: rent out the property to someone else and make even more to spend on malaria bed nets, and have the conference in the cinderblock building or Nissen huts elsewhere. This is the center for effective altruism not center for building nerd Versailles.

eddsh1994 4y ago

It's expensive in that part of the country. Say I rent a room at an Oxford college for a conference which is subsidized, I'd be looking at 70 or 80 a night. Say it's five nights, that's 350/400 just on accommodation. Have 30 people and that's 12k per week saved, against a non-depreciating asset in an area that is very unlikely to reduce in value. On top of this you can do what you want with the place and have permanent work spaces etc. Seems sensible to me, even if my first instinct was WTF.

lazyasciiart 4y ago
Why would you limit yourself to running events only in one of the most expensive places on earth? Do they not intend to have attendees from elsewhere?
- eddsh1994 4y ago
  CEA is based in Oxford, as is 80,000 hours, the Future of Humanities Institute, and many more orgs. In Cambridge you have similar organizations. At the same time there's transport links to Heathrow. All of this in a property that will appreciate in value due to Oxfordshires zoning laws and the general history of the place. If this was 15m sunk cost I'd agree it's crazy but owning a conference space that's cheaper than you'd find in the cities, close to a lot of the core orgs, and is a nice place that won't depreciate in value (and that was privately funded directly, this isn't using an aggregate of peoples infrastructure funds).
  - mcculley 4y ago
    I agree overall with many points you make, but I am not convinced about the property’s immunity to depreciation. Certainly the land can be expected to appreciate in value, but what is the annual upkeep on a historic castle? A castle can easily depreciate, depending on circumstances and maintenance.
  - cma 4y ago
    If the property will appreciate in value and they uniquely know about that then: rent out the property to someone else and make even more to spend on malaria bed nets, and have the conference in the cinderblock building or Nissen huts elsewhere. This is the center for effective altruism not center for building nerd Versailles.