Thursday, June 10, 2010

Why Share Knowledge

I hope the idea given below is the prime reason for me to share knowledge in form of articles & posts.

"It is impossible to imagine a contemporary American who has demonstrated anything remotely resembling the breadth of interests of Benjamin Franklin. He was a central participant in the drafting of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and a signer of both. He not only established a fire company and an insurance company, but a library, an academy and college, a hospital, and a learned society, all the while running a successful printing business at which he made his living.

Like many entrepreneurs, Franklin was also an inventor, creating among other devices the lightning rod and the Franklin stove. He made no attempt to patent the lightning rod for his own profit, and declined the offer by the Governor of the Commonwealth for a patent on his Franklin stove. That "Pennsylvania fireplace" that he invented in 1744 to economize on fuel and improve the efficiency of home heating was designed to benefit the public at large. For Franklin believed that, "knowledge was not the personal property of its discoverer, but the common property of all. As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others," he wrote, "we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously."

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