It ain't no fair that someone wins that race

In the competition for alternate world outcomes there are at least two races.

One seeks to come up with the ultimate in hypocrisy: Stop competition in order to promote competition.

The other one ...

... was established over 200 years ago ...

... to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to .. Inventors the exclusive Right to their .. Discoveries

by granting them patents as quid quo pro for their being first in a race to un-cover (dis-cover) that which they had found ...

so long as what they un-cover is any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof

However this opinion piece, "Patent law is holding back scientific advancement" would like us to believe that competition and winner take all is not the way to go if the 2nd runner up was close.

It would like us to believe that the publishing of patents hides and keeps secret that which the published patents dis-close.

In part it argues, "Unlike the informal system that scientists use for sharing intellectual credit, the patent system is winner take all. Whoever gets his or her application approved first gets all the money. That creates an incentive for secrecy -- if scientists' ideas leak out, someone else could file the patent more quickly."

Hugh?

Obviously that paradox sounds logical to some people.