I never said it can't ever work in practice. Either it will or it won't. But then again, I'm not the one who's calling to abolish a working system that has served science for decades.

There is a small detail however that probably warrants the abolition of this "working system that has served science for decades": thanks to the Internet, distribution costs are kinda non-existent now.

And I tend to think that, where sharing costs you nothing, the socialist dream is quite possible.

Let's just drop the word "socialist". There is nothing socialist about free exchange of ideas without an overseeing authority.

Many Socialists would disagree with you about that, although of course they'd like people to exchange more than just ideas.