Open Knowledge

Rapid leaps in knowledge come from the free sharing of information.

When should Jiu-Jitsu coaches and competitors keep their knowledge secret? When should they charge for it? When should they give it away for free?

The idea of “secret techniques” has long been a staple of martial arts. Many old-school Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructors would notoriously keep “secret techniques” and refuse to share them with other schools, believing this forbidden knowledge was some sort of competitive advantage.

The instructional market, and later social video platforms like YouTube, completely disrupted the practice of secrecy in Jiu-Jitsu. When everyone else is sharing their knowledge, remaining closed off becomes a liability.

As quality Jiu-Jitsu knowledge became more accessible, we've seen massive increases in the quality of our training, the skill level of the average practitioner, and the excellence of world-class athletes. At a collective level, it certainly seems we're better off when we share our knowledge.

Yet this question of whether information should be secret, paid, or free remains a tricky one to answer in the context of Jiu-Jitsu. Here's why.

Information wants to be free

You’ve probably heard the hacker mantra, “information wants to be free.” It comes from a quote by Stewart Brand, which he shared with Apple co-founder Steve “Woz” Wozniak at the first Hackers Conference in 1984:

“On the one hand you have — the point you’re making Woz—is that information sort of wants to be expensive because it is so valuable — the right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information almost wants to be free because the costs of getting it out is getting lower and lower all of the time. So you have these two things fighting against each other.” —Stewart Brand

Celebrity businesspeople like Steve Jobs often get the credit for cool innovations, but the products Apple sells you are built on a mountain of free technology. This little miracle we're experiencing right now — where I can write a newsletter and instantly send it to thousands of people like you — is only possible because of decades of research and software that were freely provided to the community.

Jiu-Jitsu is no different. We can't deny that the technical knowledge of our sport exploded once coaches started making their knowledge available... but “available” is different from “free.” Coach gotta get that bag, right?

Information wants to be expensive, too

Despite the value of free information, Stewart Brand himself acknowledged there is a tension here: information also wants to be expensive. Despite all the free labor it's built upon, your smartphone only exists because someone was motivated to sell it.

We might feel that “free” and “paid” are opposites, but I think it's better to see them as synergistic. They work well together. The combination of freely available public research and private product development has led to some of the most incredible inventions of modern times.

The explosion of instructional sales taught us something interesting about Jiu-Jitsu: selling your knowledge won't kill your viability as an instructor or competitor.

We used to assume that giving away our secrets would render them useless. But in today's world, where the best athletes cross-train together, it's obvious that secrecy is overrated.

What we've now found is that the open sharing of information, whether free or paid, pressure tests all our ideas and makes everyone better.

Secret, paid, or free?

I look at “secret,” “paid,” and “free” as three phases in the evolution of information sharing. “Secret” only works until it encounters “paid,” and “paid” only works until it encounters “free.” The more openly and easily the information is shared, the less value there is in restraining it.

“Free” can be especially disruptive to information products because there's no cost to making copies. Think of how many more Jiu-Jitsu instructionals we could sell if YouTube didn't exist!

If you're looking to disrupt the sport, look for knowledge that's being restrained and figure out how you can make it more available. What “secrets” could you charge for? How could you replace expensive knowledge with cheaper alternatives? If I were looking to make an impact in Jiu-Jitsu, that's where I'd start.

Further study

• Robert K. Merton - Sociology of science - Wikipedia