That's the difference. Time is a limited resource, that costs - knowledge is
unlimited, not countable, invaluable and hence no price tag attached.
Acquiring knowledge costs time, hence hiring my skills is expensive. But once
I completed some work, and I have been paid for my time, I would conceive it
as unethical charging for it repeatedly and denying others free access to it.
Unethical because it delays progress, prevents scientific and social
evolution. Does that make sense?
Of course.
It comes down in the end to Ethics, which transcends for-profit vs. non-profit. All too often on this list, though, (whose members have a high degree of Ethics, seems to me) there is a tendency toward manichean dichotomies. It makes me uneasy and it seems unfair.
Denny Adelman
