Max Planck Institutes had a dedicated conference center in the Alps (Schloss Ringberg) that is hugely inspirational, and that promotes intensive collaboration, brain-storming, and discussion very effectively.
Likewise for the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford—the panoramic views over the San Francisco Bay, the ease of both formal and informal interaction, and the optimal degree of proximity to the main campus (near, but not too near), promote very good high-level thinking and exchange of ideas.
I’ve been to about 70 conferences in my academic career, and I’m noticed that the aesthetics, antiquity, and uniqueness of the venue can have a significant effect on the seriousness with which people take ideas and conversations, and the creativity of their thinking. And, of course, it’s much easier to attract great talent and busy thinkers to attractive venues. Moreover, I suspect that meeting in a building constructed in 1480 might help promote long-termism and multi-century thinking.
It’s hard to quantify the effects that an uplifting, distinctive, and beautiful venue can have on the quality and depth of intellectual and moral collaboration. But I think it’s a real effect. And Wytham Abbey seems, IMHO, to be an excellent choice to capitalize on that effect.
The problem to me seems to be that “being hard to quantify” in this case very easily enables rationalizing spending money on fancy venues. I’m also not convinced that non-EA institutions spending money on fancy venues is a good argument for also doing so or an argument that fancy venues enable better research. These institutions probably just use fancy venues because it is self serving. As they don’t usually promote doing the most good by being effective, I guess that nobody cares much that they do that.
Personally, I think that a certain level of comfort is helpful, e.g. having single / double rooms for everybody so they can sleep well or don’t needing to cook etc. However, I’m very skeptical of anything above that being worth the money.
I don’t want to be adversarial, but I just have to note how much your comment reads to me and other people I spoke to like motivated reasoning. I think it’s very problematic if EA advocates for cost effectiveness on the one hand and then lightly spends a lot of money on fancy stuff which seems self serving.
Agreed. The whole founding insight of the EA movement was the importance of rigorously measuring value for money. The same logic is used to justify every warm and fuzzy but low value charity. And it’s entirely reasonable to be very worried when major figures in the EA movement revert to that kind of reasoning when it’s in their self interest.
Yes. It seems very plausible that conferences are good and also that conferences in attractive venues are better, but it seems surprising that this would be the most effective use of the money.
Owen—this sounds totally reasonable to me.
Max Planck Institutes had a dedicated conference center in the Alps (Schloss Ringberg) that is hugely inspirational, and that promotes intensive collaboration, brain-storming, and discussion very effectively.
Likewise for the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford—the panoramic views over the San Francisco Bay, the ease of both formal and informal interaction, and the optimal degree of proximity to the main campus (near, but not too near), promote very good high-level thinking and exchange of ideas.
I’ve been to about 70 conferences in my academic career, and I’m noticed that the aesthetics, antiquity, and uniqueness of the venue can have a significant effect on the seriousness with which people take ideas and conversations, and the creativity of their thinking. And, of course, it’s much easier to attract great talent and busy thinkers to attractive venues. Moreover, I suspect that meeting in a building constructed in 1480 might help promote long-termism and multi-century thinking.
It’s hard to quantify the effects that an uplifting, distinctive, and beautiful venue can have on the quality and depth of intellectual and moral collaboration. But I think it’s a real effect. And Wytham Abbey seems, IMHO, to be an excellent choice to capitalize on that effect.
The problem to me seems to be that “being hard to quantify” in this case very easily enables rationalizing spending money on fancy venues. I’m also not convinced that non-EA institutions spending money on fancy venues is a good argument for also doing so or an argument that fancy venues enable better research. These institutions probably just use fancy venues because it is self serving. As they don’t usually promote doing the most good by being effective, I guess that nobody cares much that they do that.
Personally, I think that a certain level of comfort is helpful, e.g. having single / double rooms for everybody so they can sleep well or don’t needing to cook etc. However, I’m very skeptical of anything above that being worth the money.
I don’t want to be adversarial, but I just have to note how much your comment reads to me and other people I spoke to like motivated reasoning. I think it’s very problematic if EA advocates for cost effectiveness on the one hand and then lightly spends a lot of money on fancy stuff which seems self serving.
Agreed. The whole founding insight of the EA movement was the importance of rigorously measuring value for money. The same logic is used to justify every warm and fuzzy but low value charity. And it’s entirely reasonable to be very worried when major figures in the EA movement revert to that kind of reasoning when it’s in their self interest.
Yes. It seems very plausible that conferences are good and also that conferences in attractive venues are better, but it seems surprising that this would be the most effective use of the money.