Should technology be disseminated as quickly and extensively as possible?

Censoring the pursuit of knowledge has never really worked. It is very difficult to decide (and agree on) who should be allowed access to the information. Would it be better to accelerate the development of technology and move it to more people and educate them about its use?*

If we try to hold back knowledge and the use of technology, surely the information will flow onto the black market and be used by the very people we don’t want to use it. It would be impossible to hold it back. So wouldn’t it be better to educate people about it as widely as possible in order to make us more capable of putting it to use for the benefit of humanity?

This means we’d all become biogeneticists, making new creatures in our garages. Is there any way to stop it? If not, how do we counter the bad guys?

* Question based on this article: “A Life of Its Own,” Michael Specter, The New Yorker, September 28, 2009.