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June 16, 2024
by Dr. David Fialkoff, Editor / Publisher
When asked why he robbed banks, career criminal Willie Sutton famously replied, "Because that's where the money is." In today's "information economy" the money is online. The vast profits of tech giants: Google, Facebook, etc., come from selling targeted advertising. But they couldn't do it without us.
Google searches our content, sells an ad next to those search results and keeps the profits. We upload our content to Facebook and other social networks. Then those social networks sell ads next to our content and keep the profits.
Marx, believeing that factory workers could get along better without the capitalist owners who built and managed the factory, declared, "Seize the means of production!" I, believing that our community can get along better without Big Tech extracting all the advertising profits from the local economy, declare, Seize the means of communication!
If we posted on Lokkal like we do on Facebook, then we would have a great local social network, a local "Facebook." If we collected all the local information on mezcal, chocolate, artisans and fashion, then we would have a local search engine for mezcal, chocolate, artisans or fashion that was better than Google. It would be better than Google could ever produce remotely, from Silicon Valley, even with all of their money and AI.
The key is local curation, boots on the ground, the city united. When it comes to local things, Collective Human Intelligence trumps Artificial Intelligence. Thank you Big Tech, but we don't need your pinche algorithm. We will present our own city to the planet.
We the people can make our own publicity platform, sell our own ads and keep the profits circulating locally. Lokkal is a local search engine and social network of, by and for the people, run as a public utility, with all profits returned to the community.
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Last week, up in colonia Allende, someone pushed open a part of my friend Veronica's outside gate at 3am. The thief was probably trying to get at two bicycles in her courtyard. That these two old bikes were locked together probably prevented the thief from riding off on one of them. Vero called the police and, the next morning, sent me a message asking me to pick up a padlock and a length of chain to better secure that part of the gate.
That same week, Ursula, a friend of Veronica's, while visiting Vero for the hundredth time, had her car window smashed because someone wanted to grab the nearly empty bag she left on her front seat.
Sure, there are the usual drug addicts to blame. But there is also crime of necessity. Crime goes up along with prices. Cost of living rises, while salaries stay the same. Times are tough and getting tougher. For me paying another peso per egg is manageable, but for poor folks it might be the last straw. The people are hungry.
The problem is that the money keeps flowing to the top. If a local business advertises on Google or Facebook, the money they spend is extracted from the local economy. Similarly, if you buy bananas at La Comer, 80% of the money you spend leaves San Miguel. But when you patronize the corner market, the money keeps making the rounds here in town.
