Somewhere in the North, some years ago, there were two brothers. The older brother had inherited a 100-acre family farm. The younger had built a software program and lived on customer subscriptions.

Older brother: “I own 100 acres of land, but you don’t own anything real, yet this year you have had the same revenue as I have from harvesting my 100 acres of land”, the older brother said.

Younger brother: “Yes, you can say I own 100 acres of land in a new digital world. If you look at it that way, we are equal landowners”.

Older brother: “Hmm, then you have a great advantage. You have the same opportunities as our ancestors had when they settled here centuries ago when there was plenty of uncultivated land. Now all land is fully occupied, but in the digital world you can just take another 100 acres of digital land, can’t you.”

Younger brother: “I could, yes. But brother, the digital world is very similar to how this world was some centuries ago. There are digital tribes, nations and empires and conquests, wars and neighbor clashes over land take place, also in the digital world. Right now, it is like when Europe colonized Africa, Asia and the Americas. Over centuries they conquered the lands and built their empires and wealth by oppressing the original people and exploiting their lands. That is no different than what happens now in the digital world. The same conquest is taking place as we speak. And greed for money, power and title deeds of land rules above justice and all that is right and wrong.”

Older brother: Yes, and those title deeds, in this world, what are they truly worth? I may own the farm and land on the title deed, but the banks can raise the interest and make it impossible for me to pay back. And they have the right, at any time, to cancel my credit and take the title deed if I can’t pay my debt in full in a day. So, in this world, have I not become a slave of debt. Isn’t my title as landowner just an illusionary creation on paper? Is the reality not, that the land belongs to banks. And that my family and I are owned as slaves and exploited by banks and capital?”

Younger brother: “I can’t tell you wrong brother, I’m sorry, because what you say is the naked truth.”

Older brother: “In this real world, the small farmers have always been exploited by the ruling class. There have been revolts, but never with any real change in power. Are similar revolts happening in the digital world? Is it any different? I mean, the digital lands, as you call it, it is not real, so it cannot be physically conquered, can it?”

Younger brother: “You are hitting the nail right on the head, because there is a big difference. A difference that gives us who are small a major advantage. It is one thing the rulers fear and seek to keep hidden and subdued at all costs, because it can shake the dynamics of power in its core fundament.”

Older brother: “Vauw – I’m listening – what?”

Younger brother: “In short: the free will, the freedom of choice. Because the land of the digital world is not the software – it is the users of the software. Like my customers now, they pay me for using the software. So, when I’m harvesting my land, I’m harvesting what we have agreed they give me. So, in that way, it is them who have the true power. So, if they decide to stop using my software, I will have no land to harvest.

Older brother: “So what you say is, that your land is almost like an invisible layer, a surface ten meters above land surface. And if I used your software, a circle of that surface above my head could be given your color, forming an image of a piece of your land in the digital world. So, your land is not one piece of land, but one circle of land for each customer using your software, right?”

Younger brother: “That is a very good way of imagining it, yes”

Older brother: “So what you say is, that if I find an alternative and stop using your software, you will lose a piece of your digital land. I can imagine seeing that from above: oops, there was a circle that turned color from green to another color.”

Younger brother: “Just as I can imagine, during a drought, seeing a piece of your land turning from fertile green to worthless dry brown, yes, it is very similar.”

Older brother: “And I can imagine Facebook or Google having conquered their digital land layer almost globally, but it is the same for them. If I stop using their software, they lose me as a customer and a little circle will, for them, turn from Facebook blue into worthless dry brown.

 Younger brother: “Exactly. That is what they fear – the power of the free will”

Older brother: “But that’s also where the catch is, isn’t it? Mobile Pay is also an example. There are no alternatives, so we are slave-bound to use their system. We don’t really have a free choice, do we?

Younger brother: “Spot on, that is where the war is fought in the digital world. The imperialists absorb or fight the alternatives. Just as they do and have successfully done for farmers: You can sell your milk, potatoes or livestock to one or very few – there are no alternatives. And you are forced to buy your seeds from one or a few sources, there are no alternatives. Isn’t that how it has become?

Older brother: “True, that is exactly how it has become. As a farmer you are dictated whom you sell to, at what price you sell. Even worse for milk farmers. Bovaer is an example, that you can even be forced to poison and mistreat your livestock and products. Not because the customers want it, but because those in power dictate you to do it, because some crazy scientists claim that cows’ farts is a major cause of damage to our planet. It is crazy, but we are powerless, aren’t we? We do not have the power to build alternatives and even if we did, they would buy them out, absorb them – or destroy them. That is the game, and I think most people know. So, what is different in the digital world?

Younger brother: “You are right in everything you say, and it is basically the same game in the digital world. BUT there are some major differences. Costs of production and scalability are different. You see, if all milk farmers in the country joined forces in creating a new dairy, one dairy would cost millions and because milk needs to be transported, it could only serve farmers in close proximity. You’d need many new dairies – and likely more capital than a farmer’s alliance would be able to come up with. And going to banks, well you know whose side they are on.

Older brother: “Oh yes, banks would have the power. I would not even consider that route. And I think most farmers are already in debt to the banks, so if they or somebody above them don’t like the plans, they could destroy all hope, before it even got started.

Younger brother: “Right again, and that is where software is very different. You know I developed my software myself, without other investments than a laptop and some software subscriptions. That was before anybody heard about Artificial Intelligence. Today, just one clever programmer, aided by Artificial Intelligence, can develop in months what I took years to develop.

Older brother: “OK, so where the farmers need millions to build a Dairy, you say the costs of an alternative software would be much lower. That is different, I agree.

Younger brother: “Yes, so comparable low costs, but what is even more important is scalability. Because, where many Dairies would be needed to serve the farmers in just our little nation, a software can be copied and rolled out in every region and nation of the world.

Older brother: “So comparable, if we were to make a dairy, we would be maybe 100 farmers to spread a double digit million investment out on, while you can spread a much smaller investment out on thousands or maybe even millions. That makes sense. But one thing, my dear brother, is it truly realistic that you and small-scale software enthusiasts can develop true competitive alternatives to Tech Giants’ solutions. They dominate the world already. What would make people use an alternative that may not be as good as what already exists?

Younger brother: “To that question, I’d ask you as a farmer and consumer: If you had invested in a Dairy and thereby had become one of the owners, even if the products were not competitive from the beginning, would you then not choose to buy the products from that Dairy anyway?

Older brother: “Of course I would, but that would be because I had put money into it. I’d demand improvement to become competitive and expecting to get money out of it in the end. It would become like a baby to me – I’d do my very best to help it succeed. But that’s because it would be “part of my life”. I can feel in myself, that it would be different if I was just a micro investor in some global software, something distant that I don’t really know, neither understand.

Younger brother: That is their fear, my dear brother. They fear that you’d come to see and understand this, because if you did and many did, you’d BECOME the unbeatable Tech Giant. Even with superior technology, Tech Giants would never be able to fight a real Giant – because that is what a software owned by and supported by the people would become.

Older brother: “I’m starting to see what you mean. Imagining how digital land would change color from Facebook blue to Fertile Green. Pop-pop-pop, and then slowly pops spreading to other parts of the world.

Younger brother: “Yes, and if you can imagine that and you know my small business, then you can probably also imagine capital starting to flow in – and maybe you can even imagine how it could lead to building alternative milk Dairies. But even more importantly, the software would also be the tool to spread the information about e.g. a new Bovaer free milk alternative. This is their real fear, because the fundament of their power lies in the control of the spread of information.”

Older brother: “Are you going to make this brother, because if you are, I think you can count me in. And many more than me. We need something – something like this!”

Younger brother: “I don’t know brother. Maybe one day in the future. I don’t think people are ready for it yet. And it needs to be very well thought out and it will take a lot of time and energy. But one day… maybe.