Should Information Be Free?

Composed in Las Vegas, Nevada--

I'm listening to an awesome audio program titled, The Great Courses:  Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition.  Part 1 highlights the great philosophers from Socrates to Cicero.

Attendees at my conference here in Vegas are learning how to be speakers, authors and consultants, but they're also being exposed to information from The Great Courses.  Because it's on my mind, it's in the lesson.

Most people know that Socrates was a Greek teacher famous for asking lots of questions, but here's something you may not know. 

He did not charge for this service.  This is probably fair because if you learned something from Socrates, you probably did most of the work. 

It turns out that Socrates never wrote anything down.  One of his students, a guy named Plato, captured the essence of Socrates after the great one was put to death.

The leaders of the day killed Socrates for asking too many questions.  In fact, his last words were a question.   Someone handed him a cup of poison hemlock and Socrates asked, "What's this?"

Anyway, after the Greeks tired of the question routine, a technique known as "Socratic dialog," a group of philosophers called the sophists came forward.  The sophists believed that information was worth something.  Socrates may have donated his intellectual services, but the sophists wanted to be paid. 

I'm trying to convince the people at my conference that they should be compensated for their knowledge.  My friend Dan Poynter says, "Everyone has a book in them."   

I agree and that book is worth something, so don't be shy about naming a fair price.

Comments

[Michael Angelo Caruso]

I've heard from one of the masters. I wonder if Socrates will respond . . .

[Dan Poynter]

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