Adam Freeland

Do you know that 1000s of local newspapers have NEVER been digitized? Do you know there are 100s and 1000s of extremely well written stories that have historic value, that have never been digitally saved? Do you know that these stories, these journalists and these editors built very High Protein data because IT COST MONEY to print each word and it cost INTEGRITY to get things wrong? Do you know that at one time there were 100s of 1000s of local journalists and editors all that had to face their families and communities when they wrote each word? Do you know that fever dream hot takes, drive-by TLDR comments, single minded bifurcated polarized agendas were mostly not tolerated by most local newspapers and thusly had a better insight into contemporaneous events? Do you know that our honest history, science and technology was in those newspapers? Do you know that sometimes the ONLY account of this past is a single microfilm or microfiche from a library archive? Do you know that from 1977-2003 millions of these microfilm or microfiche were sent to the dumpster? Do you know that in 2025 this curated data is not just absolutely relevant for AI training but for the ability for humanity to know the past and to not be doomed to… Repeating the past mistakes… Over and over again. This is what I knew for decades. Do you now know why this is vitally important to save now, as the last of these archives are gone—forever? Do you now know ONE reason I say that it is vital that AI be trained on the can-do era of do-it-yourself mindset of the 1870s-1970s and not in “it cost me nothing to post” Internet Sewage by basement dwellers of Reddit and Wikipedia hidden behind screens with no code and no one to face for what they type? I am now very sorry because knowing this, what I have known for so many decades… It weighs heavy.