I'm curious that you're taking issue specifically with taking credit and reinventing the wheel. Avoiding those things is the same as not stealing. I don't think

I'm curious that you're taking issue specifically with taking credit and reinventing the wheel. Avoiding those things is the same as not stealing. I don't think it's academic at all. If you're using someone else's idea, and you just don't want to put some effort into finding the original owner of that idea, don't blame the author for it.