Maybe it's that to some people, earning something or creating something is more satisfying than stealing it, while to many other people it doesn't matter where it comes from. This is true in all walks of life. I never cheated on a test, but plenty of kids I knew did. Those people have no problem taking shortcuts because they don't understand the satisfaction of doing something right.
When a whole civilization falls victim to that mentality, we end up with zero responsibility and intellectual collapse.
This is an incredibly bad metaphor. Nobody, no sane person at least, is claiming that they invented the alphabet and are therefore responsible for everything downstream of that.
The point about cheating on tests is that an exam is supposed to prove that you have internalized knowledge and are able to reason about it adequately. Cheating means that you reproduce the output of that understanding, without actually having done the work of understanding. Chinese Room.
No, the alphabet was secret knowledge belonging only to the initiated priest class before people stole it and divulged it to the public. Now you owe their descendants royalties for a lifetime use of the alphabet, unless you're a thief.
When a whole civilization falls victim to that mentality, we end up with zero responsibility and intellectual collapse.