I think Luke may have been trying to take after Singularity University, which doesn’t use “the”, because that seems to be the convention for universities? But yes, I agree the lack of a definite article here is grating. It creates impression that writer of sentence is Russian.
...Singularity University, which doesn’t use “the”, because that seems to be the convention for universities?
Specifically, it’s the convention for university names following the formula “X University” (as opposed to “University of/for/in X”). These should be thought of as analogous to geographic place-names (which is what they basically are): “Hamilton County”, “Bikini Atoll”, “Harvard University”, etc. (“Singularity University” would be analogous to “Treasure Island”.)
There are a few rare exceptions: The George Washington University, The Ohio State University (both articles often “mistakenly” omitted!), the Bering Strait.
Anyway, why in the world would SI want to “take after” SU? The risk of confusion between these two organizations is large enough as it is.
I think Luke may have been trying to take after Singularity University, which doesn’t use “the”, because that seems to be the convention for universities? But yes, I agree the lack of a definite article here is grating. It creates impression that writer of sentence is Russian.
Specifically, it’s the convention for university names following the formula “X University” (as opposed to “University of/for/in X”). These should be thought of as analogous to geographic place-names (which is what they basically are): “Hamilton County”, “Bikini Atoll”, “Harvard University”, etc. (“Singularity University” would be analogous to “Treasure Island”.)
There are a few rare exceptions: The George Washington University, The Ohio State University (both articles often “mistakenly” omitted!), the Bering Strait.
Anyway, why in the world would SI want to “take after” SU? The risk of confusion between these two organizations is large enough as it is.