Open Knowledge

Knowledge is a valuable thing. We all use our knowledge for our own good and for the society as a whole. One could even say that a society lives on the overall knowledge of its members.

So one should think that there is a common interest to make knowledge freely and widely available to all members of the community.

But this is not the case. In history knowledge was hidden and often used to maintain religious or policial power. Today knowledge is typically available, but we have to pay a lot in terms of money, time to university, ... Even now there is still lot of information hidden to manipulate people (perhaps better don't tell people that product xxx damages your health) or to hinder the transparency that democracy needs to work.

Whatever we may think, the spread of knowledge is one of the most valuable things and one of the most important tasks of a society. E.g. the development of underdeveloped countries is typically limited by their ability to improve their educational systems.

Obviously there are now ways to produce and spread knowledge much more efficiently than in the past. We see e.g. OpenSource and IMO we should consider this not a a singular phenomenon (that may succeed or fail) but as one of the primary steps of a much larger evolution towards OpenKnowledge that will make all knowledge available to everyone interested (over the Internet or its successors) because this is of tremendous advantage for mankind as a whole.

-- HelmutLeitner

We should be aware that there is much knowledge that is not open at all, not even if you can pay, and other knowledge have very high prices. As example of the former (I never really know if I am using former in the right way), we have secrets of state, as example of the latter, we have millions of dollars of research in chemistry and pharmacy that are locked in vaults for some economical reason. One could even think in a ConspiracyTheory where both are mixed together in warehouses on the America desert.

On the subject of third world countries, one should notice the government x education problem. In many countries, government is not interested in education. However there is always a higher class that will look for education, and education tends to foster education in the long run.

One must always be aware that education is always controlled by the government. American have a rather radical attitude against communism, which is much more accepted in Europe and South America, mostly because what they are taught in the early school years (together with the "per fect way of life" of these countries).

-- GeraldoXexeo

I can easily think up types of knowledge that should not be freely available on the internet (not even available at a high price). For example, I would not want a google search for "nuclear weapon blueprints" to yield a plan for building tactical nukes in your back yard.

Why not? The plans were given to Tom Clancy after all.

Because PeopleWhoHaveBackyards are not interested in destroying their neighbors, whether they be proximate or distant. They look for and find beauty in their backyards, including flowers, birds, trees and sunrises/sunsets. They look for ways to enjoy life, not destroy it.

What? Perhaps this is a fallacious ArgumentByAnalogy. . . Especially since I've seen neighbors more than willing to torch each other I haven't, but then I had the luxury of choosing where I live, a product of having been brought up to love, accept and respect the beauty of things around me.