Innovations seem to have a life and a sentience of their own. When conditions
are right, a radical new idea -- a paradigm shift -- may appear simultaneously
from many minds at once. Or it may remain secret in the thoughts of one man
for years, decades, centuries . . . until someone else thinks of the same
thing. How many brilliant discoveries die stillborn, or lie dormant, never to
be embraced by the Imperium as a whole?

-OMBUDSMEN OF RICHESE, Rebuttal to the Landsraad, The True Domain of the
Intellect -- Private Property, or Resources for the Galaxy?