I believe they'll be playing Ubiquity University (https://www.ubiquityuniversity.org) in the Buzzword Bowl.
Interesting that you mention Ubiquity, John. I went through their nicely-illustrated blurb, as they said they were accredited. I figured "oh boy, then these are futurists to be reckoned with. Say, what accreditor feels confident to accredit all this newfangled stuff - wouldn't the usual accreditors wait 50-60 years to see if it took off? I guess the usual suspects are indeed waiting. Ubiquity is accredited - by none other than the ubiquitous ASIC, of the UK. ASIC is not recognized as either a Regional or National US accreditor by CHEA or USDoE (regardless of the fact that ASIC serves on a CHEA committee) and ASIC itself says that its accreditation does not confer any degree-granting authority. Have a look at Ubiquity's own statement about their ASIC accreditation: "Accreditation by ASIC conforms to the educational standards of Britain and the European Union. ASIC is also a member of the Council on Higher Education’s International Quality Group (CIQG) in the United States and is listed in their International Directory." If they say so. Whether or not ASIC conforms to whoever's standards is simply not relevant. ASIC itself states that its accreditation does not convey degree-granting permission and is not designed to do so. Yes - ASIC is listed as an "Overseas Accrediting Organization" by CHEA. That does not make ASIC a CHEA-recognized accreditor for US schools. I say again - it simply isn't. You can check here. http://www.chea.org/4dcgi/chea/search/index.html?MenuKey=main J.
No accreditor confers degree-granting authority. Moreover, accreditation doesn't instill academic legitimacy, it is independent confirmation of it.
I was unable to find any BPPE approval for Singularity University to operate as a postsecondary education institution. https://app.dca.ca.gov/bppe/default.asp It just seems to offer short-courses in its rather peculiar philosophy and doesn't appear to offer conventional university degrees, so it may indeed be exempt from the postescondary education laws. But at a quick glance I didn't see an exemption category that it would satisfy. http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=EDC&division=10.&title=3.&part=59.&chapter=8.&article=4. I just viscerally dislike Singularity University. It seems to combine some of the least attractive aspects of contemporary Silicon Valley culture. It seems to be organized around causing massive disruption in history, culture, tradition and in how other (lesser) people live their lives. (Which I find exceedingly arrogant.) And it seems to be based a blind quasi-religious faith that Change is Good, hence more change has to be better. https://su.org/concepts/ And it all seems to be based on rather doubtful fake science, specifically "Moore's Law" and Ray Kurzweil's own "Law of Accelerating Returns", neither of which are laws of nature as physics understands the term. They are philosophical speculations (or a rather amateurish and techno-apocalyptic sort). It's a bit reminiscent of Karl Marx, the dream of an inevitably coming paradisical Kingdom of (No)God at the End of Time, all guaranteed by the inexorable unfolding of (unidirectional, deterministic) history, a faithful belief in the existence of "progress", underwritten by what's purported to be science. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Singularity_Is_Near https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Spiritual_Machines Kurzweil is famous for his remark "Does God exist? Well, not yet". God will be an omniscient, omnipotent (and omnibenevolent) AI, initially created by us, before it becomes infinitely self-modifying and proceeds to work grand-scale changes in the universe itself. We will download our selves into it so we achieve life everlasting and become one with God, the goal of many religions. The Singularity University idealization of massive disruption suggests that they haven't comprehended the fact that it's much easier to break things than to construct them in the first place. History is compounded from billions of people making small incremental improvements in their own circumstances so as to make life more comfortable for themselves and those they care about. Our current circumstances are a hard-won accomplishment, the work of everyone who came before us. Singularity University seems to think that a few intellectually post-adolescent visionaries can overturn all that and make life better for everyone (whether everyone desires those changes or not). Except that reality doesn't work that way.
I've heard singularitarians describe how the moment is coming for over twenty years. It would seem better to err on the side of not expecting it.
Right 2x, Steve. Thanks for telling me (again). My reason for the statement: Schools without recognized accreditation sometimes (gasp!) suggest subtly (or not) that their "accreditation" does in fact enable them to confer not just "degrees", but degrees equivalent in standing to the very finest. A lot of people who apply to schools with unrecognized accreditation just DON'T know those suggestions are not true. Many have a fervent desire to believe them, so their dream won't come crashing down - as it eventually does. So it does no harm (I think) to point out specifics, whenever I think it might help someone. (1) As I said, some schools or accreditors would like people to think accreditation does confer degree-granting authority and is the seal of academic legitimacy - and some tend to make misleading statements. Not-so-wonderful schools make claims like "We're accredited (by whatever unrecognized agency). That makes us conform to US standards / European ones." ASIC is up-front enough to say that their accreditation doesn't confer degree-granting authority. Their word is good enough for me - and people who might be otherwise persuaded by something misleading they read on some DL marketing site (or a school's web page) are forewarned. (2) True - accreditation is independent confirmation of academic legitimacy. There are accreditation mills (e.g. those of Axact) and substandard / unrecognized accreditors - I name no names. They often confirm academic legitimacy which does not exist.
By setting up shop and doing it until somebody stops them. In California, if a post-secondary school doesn't offer degrees, it doesn't need to be accredited. But unless they qualify for an exemption, they seemingly do need to be licensed by the BPPE (Bureau of Private Postsecondary Education). In true California fashion, the legislature has supplied the BPPE with no end of laws regulating almost all of the most minute aspects of what private postsecondary education providers can and can't do. While at the same time, the BPPE has almost no enforcement power. So lots of schools appear to me to operate in violation of the fine-print details of the law, and they seemingly do it with impunity. It helps if the school has celebrities involved and has influential/powerful friends.
But Ubiquity University, apparently registered in California and (probably elsewhere), but not with the BPPE, does offer degrees. Is the answer pretty much the same? In California, there are several schools that blatantly claim they are accredited by ASIC or other agencies, but little or no effective action has been taken.
Singularity University Radio - it's a podcast thing https://singularityhub.com/2019/07/25/introducing-singularity-university-radio-the-home-for-su-podcasts/
cuts on the horizon as the ceo departs https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2019/11/13/job-cuts-coming-at-singularity-university-as-ceo.html
