Sharing Ideas is a good idea
Nice NYTimes write-up of Johnny Chung Lee, the guy who released all those cool videos of wii controller modifications (remember that incredibly cool 3D screen manipulated by a helmet mounted wiimote?).
Turns out releasing all his ideas so openly, via YouTube videos (6ml viwers!), and how-to build guides, worked out pretty well; his self(less) promotion lead to multiple job offers (he chose Microsoft).
The Times story concentrates on how giving away ideas becomes a harbinger of unexpected benefits, weaving Lee's story into the wider history of communities based on open sharing of ideas, such as the famous 1970's PC HomeBrew club.
Although the story doesn't mention it, I immediately think of Linux as the canonical example of a community driven by openly shared ideas. In these (often engineer?) communities, the idea drives intellectual pleasure, community recognition and approval, and most importantly the extension of the original idea through peer review. I personally practice this model of open idea sharing; informally, my social group tends to follow a FriendDA approach.
I'm getting increasingly interested in the development, storage and transmission of ideas - I like the NYTimes story as it's a lovely contrast against the closed IP/patent approach of a brain-trust such as Intellectual Ventures set up by ex MS founder Nathan Myhrvold, where all ideas are precious and private gems, immediately cocooned by a lawyers protective clasp.
Is this open sharing model limited to computer geeks? How about gardeners (with techniques and cuttings)? I wonder how many pharmaceutical students take this approach for example? Or salesguys?
Reminds me of that famous Aiken quote:
"Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats."
