When reading about scientific history, I noticed that many times, it was noted that several scientists stumbled across the same fact independent of one another.

When reading about scientific history, I noticed that many times, it was noted that several scientists stumbled across the same fact independent of one another. Several inventors independently conjured up similar solutions to a given problem years apart. These days, startup founders find that someone else may have had the same idea not long before (or not long after) they did. I have a feeling that many of us are somewhat in the "information wants to be free" camp (some to a higher degree of fanaticism than others). I fail to see how keeping information secret will keep other people from independently reproducing, reverse-engineering, discovering or inventing the same.