We may come into the world with inherent knowledge, but the nature of this has always been a great topic for debate. What we do know is that we can build on the work of others, but must do so ethically! Thomas Jefferson once said in a letter to Isaac McPherson on August 13, 1813:
“If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of everyone, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it. Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the whole of it. He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me…”
I wrote a piece on this in 2016, but it seems you have to sign into LinkedIn to retrieve it. Here is the piece: PlagiarismArticleFeb2014
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