Trade secrecy stalls are becoming increasing hindrances to progress that will benefit humanity. We have already alluded to this in the literacy example where the Chinese kept moveable type a secret for 100 years. Competition makes people afraid to collaborate and share ideas with each other for fear of having their ideas stolen.

One of the most obvious and troubling areas where this occurs today is in biotechnology companies and pharmaceutical companies. The result is a longer time for life saving drugs and procedures to become available to the public. One problem making this occur is that patent rights are so limited. There needs to be an increased commercial advantage for going public with knowledge. One of the reasons that photography quickly became so widely available was that the French government paid Daguerre for his scientific secret. This meant that photography became an open science from the time it was invented.

We welcome your comments and questions.

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