A better question to answer this is to ask yourself why some people stop themselves from sharing knowledge?
To begin with, some people believe that the old coinage “knowledge is power” also implies that those with knowledge hold power over those without. But, I think other more prevalent reasons like the lack of trust, lack of time and not realizing how useful certain knowledge is to others is more to blame for the knowledge hoarding movement in our culture.
For example, and I am sure we have all been there at one point in our life, especially during our schooling years, that people are sometimes afraid to share knowledge because they are afraid that others will pass it off as their own without acknowledging the true source.
The internet has made it very easy for people to “borrow” information and label as their own original thought. For example, in college a former class mate tried to pass the lyrics of a Jewel song off as her own original poem. We were all stupefied at her brazen lie and in the end, the student got kicked out of college for plagiarism.
In such a massive universe of technology, unlike the previous example, it is sometimes hard to prove without a shadow of a doubt where the information originated. But, as most mothers allege, “cheating is only cheating yourself,” so this must also encompass stolen knowledge.
Still regardless of the outcome, sharing your knowledge with others is more advantageous than knowledge hoarding. My first step in starting this tutoring service is to share my knowledge with others, and hopefully along the way inspire others to share what they know too.
