>Tom Stewart mentions disincentives to sharing knowledge, and how
>consequential a phenomenon that is.
>
>I suspect this phenomenon is rooted in our aversion to risk-taking,
>because sharing involves some modicum of risk. All the institutes,
>retreats, workshops, etc. whose goal is communicating are attempting to
>overcome this aversion, and perhaps supplant it with an openness of which
>we are also truly capable as humans.
>
>So is this a basal aversion (built into our bio-circuitry), or is it
>learned by hard knocks in society of the last umpteen centuries?
>
>Barry Mallis
I think the aversion towards sharing information is learned. This may be
rooted in the power knowledge gives to the knowledge owner (whe you refer
to Machiavelli's "Il principe" or even older Sunzi's "The art of war". I
think the invention of writing and specially the inention of bookprinting
developed it further on. To know something which another one does not know
makes you superior and gives you power. I think possessing power is one of
the fundamental wishes of people. The only way to overcome this is to make
people learn that the power of a team which shares knowledge is much
bigger than the individual power of every single person.
Thomas Bertels
-- tb@knipp.deUlrich-Jakobi-Wall-Str. 1 A 59494 Soest Germany
PHONE: +49 2921 15726 FAX: +49 2921 31627