Sunday, December 27, 2009
is it possible to own knowledge? i do not exactly believe in intellectual property. it isn't possible to own an idea, or a thought. once someone else has the same thought, or comes to the same conclusion, they are in possession of the same knowledge. how do you enforce your possession over their possession? knowledge is knowledge. what can be learned by anyone rightly belongs to anyone who manages to learn it.
At work, i have gained certain knowledge. There are certain techniques and practices that i have gained. My job has claimed province over these things, even those ideas that i came to myself to enhance the business. When i leave, i cannot take these ideas with me to another job. They had me sign a document full of legal type words saying as much. Why would i sign such a document? Because i know it is a sham. I know they can't take this knowledge away from me. They do not own what i have learned. So i took this piece of paper, which i was told to sign if i wanted to keep my job, and signed it without even looking it over. I know what it was trying to say, and i knew then as i know now that it is a farce.
You can't claim ownership over what other people know. You can't claim ideas as yours alone. You can claim you know something, but once someone else knows as well, your sole entitlement to that idea is over. You can try to hide ideas so other people cannot use them, but then how can you claim to other people you know them?
Knowledge is an amorphous concept. It can't be incrementally commoditized the way physical objects can. You can't hold a thought in your hand and claim sole ownership through possession. It can reproduce infinitely and spread. So why do people cling to their concept of sole ownership? Do they fear the dilution of value of their completely theoretical property? You can pretty much make the counterclaim that ideas gain value as they spread and multiply.
how do you market something anyone can gain for free without you? Why should you claim the right to sell such a thing? Use that idea to produce something I need, then we can barter over the price. Or fail, and cry foul over how unjust the world is because it doesn't bend to the will of your greed and irrational delusions.
At work, i have gained certain knowledge. There are certain techniques and practices that i have gained. My job has claimed province over these things, even those ideas that i came to myself to enhance the business. When i leave, i cannot take these ideas with me to another job. They had me sign a document full of legal type words saying as much. Why would i sign such a document? Because i know it is a sham. I know they can't take this knowledge away from me. They do not own what i have learned. So i took this piece of paper, which i was told to sign if i wanted to keep my job, and signed it without even looking it over. I know what it was trying to say, and i knew then as i know now that it is a farce.
You can't claim ownership over what other people know. You can't claim ideas as yours alone. You can claim you know something, but once someone else knows as well, your sole entitlement to that idea is over. You can try to hide ideas so other people cannot use them, but then how can you claim to other people you know them?
Knowledge is an amorphous concept. It can't be incrementally commoditized the way physical objects can. You can't hold a thought in your hand and claim sole ownership through possession. It can reproduce infinitely and spread. So why do people cling to their concept of sole ownership? Do they fear the dilution of value of their completely theoretical property? You can pretty much make the counterclaim that ideas gain value as they spread and multiply.
how do you market something anyone can gain for free without you? Why should you claim the right to sell such a thing? Use that idea to produce something I need, then we can barter over the price. Or fail, and cry foul over how unjust the world is because it doesn't bend to the will of your greed and irrational delusions.
