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Josh Jones-Dilworth
MARFA — While Marfa was packed this past weekend with visitors — from big weddings and the Marfa100 bicycle ride — another large group headed into town last night for what organizers call an “intimate gathering of the most intriguing people in the science world.”
This invite-only gathering, named Penrose Far West, is in its inaugural year. The website penro.se lists many of the speakers and discussion moderators — a diverse group wouldn’t be household names for many, but include physicists, tech entrepreneurs, doctors, data professionals, climate specialists, evolutionary biologists, journalists, astronomers and authors, to name a few. Visitors will arrive Tuesday and attend discussions and events on Wednesday and Thursday before heading out Friday. The attendees will participate in a variety of discussions at the St. George Hotel as well as an itinerary of local sites like the McDonald Observatory, Ballroom Marfa, and the Chinati Foundation, and self-guided tours of places like Pinto Canyon Road.
The gathering takes its name from Sir Roger Penrose, a British mathematician, philosopher and Nobel Laureate in physics who has placed high importance on collaboration in his fields, especially those who might seem out of place like artists and musicians.
Penrose is the brainchild of Josh Jones-Dilworth, an Austinite who dabbles in a lot of pursuits but whose two primary passions are co-owner of Nautilus magazine — what he calls “kind of a New Yorker for science” — and his firm, JDI, which uses storytelling to “bring emerging technology and science-driven companies to market.” Throughout 25 years of engaging with some of the top scientific minds in the world, Jones-Dilworth started germinating an idea — getting an ongoing group of individuals together who are committed to addressing the challenges and promises of our world.
“Unfortunately, if you are a pediatric oncologist, you go to the pediatric oncology annual meeting,” Jones Dilworth said. “Or you’re a geothermal scientist, and you go to this really cool conference on geothermal. But the sciences are pretty siloed. They don’t mix.”
Jones-Dilworth said professional specialties are always going to have their own organizations and gatherings, but he wants to push those specialties to explore collaboration at a higher form. “Most of the problems these days are interdisciplinary in nature, and most of the breakthroughs are coming from interdisciplinary collaboration,” he said. “So, cancer is for better or worse mostly an AI problem right now, or geothermal is mostly a materials problem and a political problem. The theory behind Penrose has always been that if we bring together a heterogeneous group, some magic could happen.”
Jones-Dilworth then began collaborating with more and more people and formed a steering committee that ultimately helped put together this year’s gathering, which he expects will draw a little more than 100 people.
Many of the logistics in putting together a successful program are the result, he said, of Risa Fielder, his chief of staff at JDI, and Autumn Rich with the Panacea Collective, who has managed scores of complex events like Austin City Limits.
Jones-Dilworth said he knows the Marfa area well after visiting over the years and in his role on the Board of Visitors for the McDonald Observatory — which played a key role in his decision to start the Penrose gathering in Marfa. “Being in the center of the world’s largest dark sky reserve and having the opportunity to go up the mountain on Thursday night, we thought would be an opportunity to get people to make the trek here,” he said. “I’ve always thought of this region as a home to science and am very aware of the geothermal innovation that’s happening. I think of this as a place that has been very friendly to nerds and scientists, and everyone has been really cool about it.”
An intersection with art also played a role. Penrose commissioned a UT theater chair professor and winning playwright named Kirk Lind to perform a play about the Wright brothers figuring out how to fly. “It’s a mix of science and entrepreneurship and just, really, irresponsible pluck and a lot of trial and error,” Jones-Dilworth said. “And people think of science as being correct, but science is really a process of continuously being wrong.” Those attending will also receive a signed print from local artist Julie Speed and a year-long membership to the Chinati Foundation.
Jones-Dilworth said his final consideration for Marfa was that he “wanted to have it somewhere totally unique and remarkable where attendees would have a sort of soulful, inspiring experience. If you have it in Austin, it’s just not the same. It’s easier to get people there, but once you’re here, you’re here. It’s a real commitment to come here. If you’re trying to build community, then you have a very different context letting your guard down and making friends.”
Penrose Far West isn’t a secret, as many Marfans have heard rumors of it, but Jones-Dilworth said they purposely didn’t seek any publicity and are going to operate their discussions along the lines of Chatham House Rules, which intend to create a trusted environment and means attendees can share information without revealing where it came from. No video or audio recordings will be made.
“It’s like, get real, get off your speaking points, let your guard down,” he said. “This is a safe space. And there’s some things we need to talk about that will benefit from candor and saying spicy stuff if necessary. There’s a lot of posturing in science, and people are really careful for understandable reasons. And science is increasingly politicized, and funding is politicized … Let’s talk about solutions in energy. Let’s talk about solutions in education. Let’s talk about solutions in storytelling and media.”
Penrose’s own materials admit the $4,995 ($1,195 for nonprofits) attendance fee is pricey. It includes all meals but not travel or hotel costs, but Penrose goes to great lengths on its website to encourage people who can’t afford the registration to contact the organization to see how they could attend. Jones-Dilworth said several Marfa ISD science teachers and professors from Sul Ross State University were invited to attend for free.
He said he hopes the gathering will give at least a little boost to the Marfa economy, and his team called stores and restaurants listed in their materials and encouraged them to be open on Wednesday and Thursday.
Jones-Dilworth said his future vision for the gatherings would be to form a group of people that continue to collaborate. “If Penrose is lucky enough to be successful, it will be a consultancy and a magazine and a conference, which I think makes a really lovely combination and sort of puts us in the right place to steward that community,” he said.
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