People on HN have this view that the whole world is software. Reverse engineering may be practical and indeed trivial in software, but aren't for the circuits buried in an F-35. And publication is tremendously valuable for inventions that have cross-disciplinary value. Not many people working on artificial hearts would have the time or think to reverse engineer mechanical equipment used in a factory, even if there might be applicable inventions.
Reverse engineering has been applied to all the fields that you cite. The F-35 is a funny example in the sense that if there is one item that would be reverse engineered in its entirety down to the last transistor then it probably would be that plane if one accidentally made its way to China somehow. Nothing motivates more than a perceived gap in weapons systems ability. Reverse engineering of electronics is a solved problem, even though it may be a lot of work.
Is there some proof that someone got a useful idea on how to make an artificial heart out of a patent published about mechanical equipment used in a factory?
If you want to keep something secret, keep it to yourself. Monkey see, monkey do!
It has been applied, but it's much less practical in those fields than it is in software. I'm just saying people on HN tend to see everything through the lens of software, and other engineering fields aren't the same.
