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>they bought mansions for team building They bought one mansion to host fundraisers with the super-rich, which I believe is an important correction. You might

>they bought mansions for team building They bought one mansion to host fundraisers with the super-rich, which I believe is an important correction. You might disagree with that reasoning as well, but it's definitely not as described.

notahacker 1y ago
Wytham Abbey was bought mainly to host internal workshops and "retreats", as outlined by the people who bought it https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/xof7iFB3uh8Kc53bG/why-did-cea-buy-wytham-abbey?commentId=u3yJfbm2pes8TFpYX https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/xof7iFB3uh8Kc53bG/... https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/yggjKEeehsnmMYnZd/announcement-on-the-future-of-wytham-abbey?commentId=26bN5pZyzkj6eB9sy https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/yggjKEeehsnmMYnZd/... As far as I know it's never hosted an impress-the-oligarch fundraiser, which as you say would at least have a logic behind it[1] even if it might seem distasteful. For a philosophy which started out from the point of view that much of mainstream aid was spent with little thought, it was a bit of an end of Animal Farm moment. (to their credit, a lot of people who identified as EAs were unhappy. If you drew a Venn diagram of the people that objected, people who sneered at the objections[2] and people who identified as rationalists you might only need two circles though...) [1]a pretty shaky one considering how easy it is to impress American billionaires with Oxford architecture without going to the expense of operating a nearby mansion as a venue, particularly if you happen to be a charitable movement with strong links to the university... [2]obviously people are only objecting to it for PR purposes because they're not smart enough to realise that capital appreciates and that venues cost money, and definitely not because they've got a pretty good idea how expensive upkeep on little used medieval venues are and how many alternatives exist if you really care about the cost effectiveness of your retreat, especially to charitable movements affiliated with a university...
- ToValueFunfetti 1y ago
  Ah, fair enough! I had heard the "hosting wealthy donors" as the primary motivation, but it appears to be secondary. My bad. >As far as I know it's never hosted an impress-the-oligarch fundraiser As far as I know, they only hosted 3 events there before deciding to sell, so this is low-information.
  - freejazz 1y ago
    Surely you've learned in your life that whatever people might say is not true, nor is it the best reflection of their intentions...
- Filligree 1y ago
  > If you drew a Venn diagram of the people that objected, people who sneered at the objections[2] and people who identified as rationalists you might only need two circles though...) I’m a bit confused by this one. Are you saying that no-one who identifies as rationalist sneered at the objections? Because I don’t think that’s true.
  - notahacker 1y ago
    Nope, I'm implying the people sneering at the objections were the self proclaimed rationalists. Other, less contrarian thinkers were more inclined to spot that a $15m heritage building might not be the epitome of cost-effective venues...

notahacker 1y ago

Wytham Abbey was bought mainly to host internal workshops and "retreats", as outlined by the people who bought it https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/xof7iFB3uh8Kc53bG/why-did-cea-buy-wytham-abbey?commentId=u3yJfbm2pes8TFpYX https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/xof7iFB3uh8Kc53bG/... https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/yggjKEeehsnmMYnZd/announcement-on-the-future-of-wytham-abbey?commentId=26bN5pZyzkj6eB9sy https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/yggjKEeehsnmMYnZd/... As far as I know it's never hosted an impress-the-oligarch fundraiser, which as you say would at least have a logic behind it[1] even if it might seem distasteful. For a philosophy which started out from the point of view that much of mainstream aid was spent with little thought, it was a bit of an end of Animal Farm moment. (to their credit, a lot of people who identified as EAs were unhappy. If you drew a Venn diagram of the people that objected, people who sneered at the objections[2] and people who identified as rationalists you might only need two circles though...) [1]a pretty shaky one considering how easy it is to impress American billionaires with Oxford architecture without going to the expense of operating a nearby mansion as a venue, particularly if you happen to be a charitable movement with strong links to the university... [2]obviously people are only objecting to it for PR purposes because they're not smart enough to realise that capital appreciates and that venues cost money, and definitely not because they've got a pretty good idea how expensive upkeep on little used medieval venues are and how many alternatives exist if you really care about the cost effectiveness of your retreat, especially to charitable movements affiliated with a university...

ToValueFunfetti 1y ago
Ah, fair enough! I had heard the "hosting wealthy donors" as the primary motivation, but it appears to be secondary. My bad. >As far as I know it's never hosted an impress-the-oligarch fundraiser As far as I know, they only hosted 3 events there before deciding to sell, so this is low-information.
- freejazz 1y ago
  Surely you've learned in your life that whatever people might say is not true, nor is it the best reflection of their intentions...
Filligree 1y ago
> If you drew a Venn diagram of the people that objected, people who sneered at the objections[2] and people who identified as rationalists you might only need two circles though...) I’m a bit confused by this one. Are you saying that no-one who identifies as rationalist sneered at the objections? Because I don’t think that’s true.
- notahacker 1y ago
  Nope, I'm implying the people sneering at the objections were the self proclaimed rationalists. Other, less contrarian thinkers were more inclined to spot that a $15m heritage building might not be the epitome of cost-effective venues...