Brilliant

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Brilliant (also known as Brilliant.org) is a website and app by Brilliant Worldwide, Inc. providing online courses. Despite the “.org”, Brilliant is a regular for-profit corporation backed by venture capitalists. Brilliant is most known for its persistent parasocial advertisements on Youtube, in which presenters who are otherwise known for their evidence-based point of view, or are even known for scrutinizing and refuting pseudoscience and scams, make a sneaky transition into promoting Brilliant with glowingly positive claims not backed up by any evidence. Apart from sponsored segments, there are barely any videos about Brilliant on Youtube.

Professors? Overrated. We have a “content team”.

To solve this quiz question, drag the slider to point at the same place as the point marked on the curve, as instructed by the text before the quiz. The slider is initially in the wrong place just to force the user to interact with it, to keep up the illusion of learning by doing. Once the slider is in the right place, the illustration automatically shows the correct answer. Press the button with the same answer as displayed in the illustration. No thinking required.

Looking into Brilliant, it's obviously just a very mediocre math book with lots of buttons to click through to get to the next paragraph, and lots of simple quizes sprinkled between paragraphs. Some of the illustrations have a bit of interactivity, mostly just a slider that can be dragged around for no meaningful reason. These interactive elements are there to make Brilliant appear as something better than a math book in promotional segments on Youtube, but add nothing to the educational value that couldn't be achieved with non-interactive illustrations.

Brilliant never promotes itself as being appropriate to a particular audience studying for a particular goal. For this reason, Brilliant can work as a content farm and have a “content team” (officially called so) producing random courses without having to pay authorized teachers and professors to design and validate courses that are useful for passing a particular exam or applying for a particular job. Courses on Brilliant introduce a few basic concepts of each subject without providing any real education. Brilliant seems to have no purpose other than to push expensive subscriptions on people who don't need them.

Terms of use

Brilliant reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify or replace any of the terms or conditions of this Agreement at any time. It is User's responsibility to check this Agreement periodically for changes. User's continued use of the Service following the posting of any changes to this Agreement constitutes acceptance of those changes.

• Even if the consumer has payed for a full year of service, Brilliant can change its terms and conditions after the sale. Continuing to use the service that the consumer has payed for under the previous terms of service automatically constitutes acceptance of changes.

Access

Brilliant may change, suspend or discontinue the Services, including the availability of any feature, database or content, at any time. Brilliant may also impose limits on certain features and services or restrict User's access to parts or all of the Services without notice or liability.

• Brilliant may cancel access to the service that the consumer has payed for at any time without offering a refund.

User also certifies that User is legally permitted to use the Service and takes full responsibility for the selection and use of the Service. This Agreement is void where prohibited by law, and the right to access the Service is revoked in such jurisdictions.

• If the law grants the consumer rights that are illegally denied by the terms of use, the consumer is locked out from accessing the service.

Billing and payment

All fees are exclusive of applicable taxes (e.g. sales, use, or value-added tax), unless otherwise stated, and User is solely responsible for the payment of any such taxes that may be imposed on your use of the Service.

• The advertised price is not the actual price. The actual price has undisclosed additional taxes added.

User authorizes Brilliant to obtain updated or replacement expiration dates and card numbers for User's credit or debit card as provided by User's credit or debit card issuer.

• If the consumer cancels their payment card to prevent further charges, Brilliant may go directly to the card issuer to request confidential records of any new card belonging to the consumer.

Except as expressly provided in the “Refunds” section below, all fees are final and nonrefundable (including in the event any features or functions of any service that User has subscribed to are changed, modified, diminished or removed), except as otherwise required by applicable law.

• Again, Brilliant may cancel access to the service that the consumer has payed for at any time without offering a refund.

Automatic renewal

User's subscription to the Service will continue indefinitely until cancelled by User (via the cancellation mechanisms provided on the Site). After User's initial subscription period, and again after any subsequent subscription period, User's subscription will automatically continue for an additional equivalent period, at the price User agreed to when subscribing.

• Brilliant will surprise consumers who have lost their interest by coming back at them a year later when they have forgotten about Brilliant and charge them for another full year.
• Brilliant assumes that the consumer wants to use Brilliant uninterruptedly every day for more than a year, ignoring that people typically study during certain periods of the year, and would reasonably want to wait with paying for another year until a day when they are actually going to use it.
• When Brilliant lowers its prices, previous customers will still be charged the previous higher prices on renewal. (Hypothetically customers are also protected from price increases, but since Brilliant charges a very high price for a service that costs nothing to deliver and that second year consumers likely won't use much, this bet is purely a house advantage.)

User agrees that User's account will be subject to this automatic renewal feature.

• Brilliant decides what the user agrees with, and the user has no say.

By subscribing, User authorizes Brilliant to charge User's credit card, debit card or other payment method at such time and again at the beginning of any subsequent subscription period, including any sales or similar taxes imposed on User's subscription payments.

• Again: The advertised price is not the actual price. The actual price has undisclosed additional taxes added.

Refunds

All payments To Brilliant for the Services are nonrefundable. There are no refunds or credits for partially used subscription periods. However, Brilliant may grant refunds or credits on a case-by-case basis at Brilliant’s sole discretion. Brilliant’s grant of a refund or credit in one instance does not obligate Brilliant to provide a refund or credit in the future, under any circumstances.

• Brilliant grants refunds to people who make enough fuss in public in order to save face, while refusing refunds to people who don't have a public platform to make a fuss.

Promotions

Brilliant may offer promotions, such as free trials, discounts, or other special offers, to users from time to time (collectively, “Promotions”). Promotions may be subject to specific terms, including a defined period during which the Promotion must be redeemed and utilized (each, a “Promotion Period”). Unless otherwise stated, any use of a Promotion will automatically convert into a paid subscription for the Services upon the expiration of the Promotional Period. Users are responsible for canceling their subscription before the end of the Promotional Period to avoid incurring any charges (or, in the case of a discount Promotion, to avoid additional charges). Failure to cancel within the Promotional Period will result in the applicable subscription fee being charged to the payment method provided at the time of sign-up or as updated by User.

• The seven day free trial is not a seven day free trial, but is actually a one year paid subscription with a seven day cancellation period.

Site content=

Reproducing, copying or distributing any content, materials or design elements on the Site for any purpose is strictly prohibited without the express prior written permission of Brilliant.

• People can show Brilliant in Youtube videos only if they have been payed by Brilliant to only say deceptively positive things about it.

Termination

Brilliant may terminate User's access to all or any part of the Service at any time, with or without cause, effective upon notice thereof to User (provided that, if Brilliant determines there may be an immediate threat to Brilliant, it may terminate such access without notice).

• Brilliant may cancel access to the service that the consumer has payed for at any time, and does not have to let the consumer know why.

“Miscellaneous” (Forced arbitration)

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the state of Pennsylvania, as if made within Pennsylvania between two residents thereof, and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the state and Federal courts located in San Francisco, California.

• Local consumer rights don't apply. Consumers instead have to pretend to be residents of Pennsylvania, but not pretend so convincingly as to go to a court in Pennsylvania, but instead go to a court in California.

Notwithstanding the foregoing sentence, (but without limiting either party's right to seek injunctive or other equitable relief immediately, at any time, in any court of competent jurisdiction), any disputes arising with respect to this Agreement shall be settled by arbitration in accordance with the rules and procedures of the Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Service, Inc. ("JAMS"). The arbitrator shall be selected by joint agreement of the parties. In the event the parties cannot agree on an arbitrator within thirty (30) days of the initiating party providing the other party with written notice that it plans to seek arbitration, the parties shall each select an arbitrator affiliated with JAMS, which arbitrators shall jointly select a third such arbitrator to resolve the dispute. The written decision of the arbitrator shall be final and binding on the parties and enforceable in any court. The arbitration proceeding shall take place in San Francisco, California, using the English language.

• The consumer has no legal rights, but is instead to be judged by a private company that has to be selected in a way that is disadvantageous to the consumer.