The Effective Altruists’ Castle Has Become a Culture-War Meme

It is plainly obvious to everyone that if you’re going to save the world, one of the first things you have to do is buy a 550-year-old British castle near the University of Oxford for about $15 million. This was the logic in 2021 when members of the so-called Effective Altruism movement’s signature institution bought a posh, 25-bedroom residence called Wytham Abbey as a place to have conferences and stage other various intellectual frolics. (Many of its most prominent members also went to Oxford.) This castle, previously owned by the Earl of Abingdon and later bequeathed to the university, would be the place where they could think deeply about ways to protect the future of humanity, particularly from the dangers of artificial intelligence.

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