This is the first of a series of posts that accompany the EA Hotel fundraiser, which will run over the course of January. It will cover the broad narrative of its inception, its current state, and its future. The next post will be an in-depth statistical analysis of impact.

1. Inception

By 2017, there had been various initiatives that had attempted to reform EA and Rationalist housing. The idea was simple: find a place that is dirt cheap, then all move there together to lower our cost of living considerably without losing most of our network. Existing hubs like London and the Bay were always great for finding connections and capital, but at the price of a living cost that forced many to commit to low-risk, short term strategies. People talked about moving out together, but no project managed to get off the ground.

Blackpool was a popular holiday resort in the 80s. When international holidays became cheaper, it fell out of fashion. But the council held on to the city’s main source of income. Many of the hotels back in the day did not get permission to convert to residential. They’re still around today, and most of them are completely vacant. This means that hotels in Blackpool are among the cheapest real estate in the developed world.

By the end of 2017, aspiring effective altruist Greg Colbourn made some successful crypto investments. He used that money to decisively turn these latent intentions into reality. He bought a hotel in Blackpool, and the EA Hotel was born.

2. Current state

Those that want to do independent EA work are invited to apply to the hotel. From the pool of applicants, the EA hotel selects those that meet a minimum bar for expected impact. The bar depends inversely on availability. Those that are selected are given free room and board, free housekeeping, and a stipend. Any worldly obstacles they may have are taken away for them to focus freely on their work.

Right now, all of the hotel’s rooms are occupied with people working on EA projects.

Once a week, residents are asked to talk to the management in a one-on-one conversation to help them keep themselves accountable. We keep track of their work and advise them where we can.

In the meantime, the operations team works to continuously upgrade the environment, creating a space that is more conducive to productivity and well-being than anyone could ever create on their own.

All of...

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