> Companies probably contribute to the loss of information over time
I agree with what else you said, but I see much of the opposite process in corporations actually. I have worked in a couple of very large corporations and what I have seen is less of information hiding (and "not invented here") and more of cooperation through partnerships, open source software and standardisation of processes.
Of course, it isn't all bad or good, and I was just writing down my train of thought. Corporations also contribute to maintaining that information: by grouping together individuals skilled in the same domain, they can foster the exchange of ideas, and by training new employees, they perpetuate those skills. Patents are another mechanism that forces them to contribute back to society.
Once you start training algorithms instead of people, though, you attach that knowledge to the company, and it may not leave. In my experience, open source software and standards are the exception rather than the norm.
Fair point, I didn't think that deeply about trade secrets. I guess it could be even more hidden with various forms of machine learning, even the engineers themselves possibly couldn't explain how or why it worked when they left the building.
I agree with what else you said, but I see much of the opposite process in corporations actually. I have worked in a couple of very large corporations and what I have seen is less of information hiding (and "not invented here") and more of cooperation through partnerships, open source software and standardisation of processes.