So what you're saying is, intellectual property rights and the profit potential of excluding certain actors from using certain techniques is the source of our w

So what you're saying is, intellectual property rights and the profit potential of excluding certain actors from using certain techniques is the source of our woes. And there are those who say progress proceeds optimally in this arrangement! Hardly: only "innovation", which is distinct from progress, is optimized. Progress is the act of cleaning up the mess made by ineffective innovations (ie "minimum publishable units"), distilling them into a basis for the next paradigm shift. Progress, everyone's ostensible goal, is hampered by siloes and IP hoarding, as it multiplies the efforts made by many who should otherwise be working in tandem, by hiding them each in their own little silo so they all learn the same lessons completely separately.