Someone else can explain this philosophy better than I, but it goes something along the lines of...
"My value and power is based on my knowledge. I therefore shall not share it, for in doing so reduces my advantage."
Easy provocative answer: Most of our accidental knowledge and ideas (say 99.9%) cannot be used by ourselves
directly. But if we put some of 'em in a Wiki-system, there is a great chance that each participant gets more knowledge and ideas in his specific range of activities that s/he can use to their advantage (for a
fraction of the cost of an alternative way of searching for that knowledge). And, by the way, transferring freely your accidental knowledge and ideas is a way to find new friends (
and make our fortune:-) --
FridemarPache
See also:
TheSecretOfPower,
ImbalanceOfPower
Also:
PeopleWhoDontNeedToKnow for an interesting related discussion