The headline of this-- "Information wants to be free"-- is not an aphorism that I believe. First of all, information doesn't want anything, it's the (human being) recipient who wants to interact with the world, and information is the way she does it. But, even with that said, there does seem to be a natural desire of people to want to share what they know with others. Maybe this desire comes from one of these forces:
- Other people's opinions and insights might validate my understanding
- Other people might find what I tell them useful
- Other people might disagree, uncovering something that my incomplete understanding could not have foreseen.
From an evolutionary standpoint, maybe those who kept information to themselves have died off, leaving a legacy of this instinctive desire to talk with each other.
In any case, one great manifestation of our impulse to share is Wikipedia, the largest encyclopedia on the planet, with half a million articles. I have already linked to this resource dozens of times, and Wired has just written an article about how it came to be.
Just thought I'd share that with you.
7:55:00 AM 
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