Seductive Knowledge and Invention

Take a stand on the tension between open-source innovation and trade secrets.

Do you think, at the end of the day, that knowledge must be public, open, and shareable? Or do you think that knowledge requires the privacy and protection of trade secrets? While this might sound like a question that’s oriented towards business and corporations, see if you can approach it as a more theoretical question about epistemology. How does the question relate to other public forms of knowledge, like the policy decisions of governments? Reflect on your own assumptions and commitments related to epistemology.