Clearer than I could explain it!
Here at Urtak, we have thrown ourselves heart and soul into our mission of bringing public opinion research to the level of the citizen. But at times, our commitment can mean that it’s hard to explain what we’re doing, or what our vision is.
That’s why it’s such a pleasure to see articles like this one in the Huffington Post. Adam has explained our concept better than we can!
As he says, Urtak is a “more honest way to poll.”
Here is the full report by the teenage expert for Morgan Stanley UK.
This is pretty funny to me because some have criticized us for having data that is not “scientific” enough, and here we have one of the world’s biggest banks publishing obvious nonsense based on no research at all.
What is clear is that there is a huge demand for behavioral and psychographic information that is not being met by the current research regime. We hope to fill the gap.
I agree with Marc: what a joke! It seems that by the same standards as Morgan Stanley’s report, I could report that 18% of teens have purple skin (http://urtak.com/u/maximum-x/questions/19613).
We were invited to present Urtak at the NY Tech Meetup, last Tuesday at FIT’s Haft Auditorium. Over 700 were in attendance - a packed house!
Here is a link to our short presentation and Q&A session. The gentlemen in the red shirt is Aaron, and I am to his left.
- Marc
This quote comes from a section where Le Cobusier discusses his proposal for modern housing, but reminds me a lot of my thinking on what is missing in contemporary discourse on “freedom:”
“Our crowded communal life is imposed on us by the very fact of there being towns, a fact which cannot be avoided; and as this interference with our liberty affects our happiness, we dream (though fruitlessly) of breaking through this collective phenomenon of which we are slaves.
“It is possible by a logically conceived ordering of these cells to attain freedom through order…
“Let us define this modern slavery.
“Your ‘number’ for the ‘bus (the number you tear off the block attached to the lamp-post) is a perfect example of modern freedom as a result of order. You may be weak or helpless, a porter or a boxer, but all the same you will get the seat in the ‘bus to which you are entitled. Remember how often liberty was abused before this innovation.” (p212-213, see previous posts; also he footnotes the ticket process: passengers take tickets when they arrive at the bus stop and the driver admits people to the bus in the order of their tickets)
So often the public discourse make appeals to “freedom” and its obvious appeal, yet rarely does anyone question or evaluate our common understanding of the term. Do we really all have the same understanding of freedom? It seems that classic Liberals and Libertarians align themselves with “freedom to;” however, this is not specific enough as this often precludes the freedom to act collectively. Perhaps this freedom is merely the freedom to compete. Or even more cynically, this freedom is the freedom that I see fit, not the freedom you see fit.
Does anyone ever think about Le Corbu’s freedom through order; or how about freedom from competition? Maybe we should stop using the word…
Again, from Le Corbusier’s The City of To-morrow:
“… Is it the mere fancy of some neurotic passion for speed? But, surely, speed lies on this side of mere dreams; it is a brutal necessity. One can only come to this conclusion; that the city which can achieve speed will achieve success—and this is a obvious truth. What is the good of regretting the Golden Age! Work to-day is more intense, and is carried on at a quicker rate. Actually the whole question becomes one of daily intercommunication with a view to settling the state of the market and the conditions of labour. The more rapid this intercommunication can be made, the more business be expedited. It is likely, therefore, that the working day in the sky-scraper will be a shorter one, thanks to the sky-scraper.
“Then perhaps the working day may finish soon after midday. The city will empty as though by a deep breath…” (Dover ed. 1987 p. 190)
Where have the proceeds of our hundred years of increasingly expedited business gone? Perhaps the working day with Microsoft Excel will be a shorter one, thanks to Microsoft Excel…
Reading Le Corbusier’s The City of To-morrow and its Planning (with 215 illustrations), I came across the quote below in one of his footnotes. In the context, Le Corbu argues for “rapid individual transit” in the design of his city and the importance of “speed” in progress and success.*
“Mankind is, in fact, one of the slowest animals in creation. A sort of caterpillar dragging himself with difficulty on the surface of the terrestrial crust. The most part of creation moves quicker than this biped so ill-constructed for speed, and if we imagined a race between all the creatures of the globe, man would certainly be among the ‘also rans’ and would probably tie with the sheep.” (From the “Reign of Speed” by Philippe Girardet, in the Mercure de France, 1923.)
I guess Mr. Girardet did not take Human Evolution** and learn that humans evolved to be persistence hunters. We can take out most other animals over long distances and even beat horses in marathons. Is this a classic case of short-term/short-distance shortsightedness? Maybe Mr. Girardet does/did know about human evolution and I am taking his quote out of context… but I’m not taking it out of the context of Le Corbu’s negative reflection.
* I agree with aspects of his call for speed, but must disagree with all the emphasis he places on individual motor vehicles (cars). I guess he could not have guessed the damage they would eventually cause to the world.
** A class at college that I did not take either… but had friends that did.
In the very complicated world we live in, how could there possibly be one type of evil? Consequently, I propose a simple solution:
evil-like-stalin vs. evil-like-hitler
