On 1/9/23 15:36, Tony Rutkowski wrote:
What has been forever amazing over the past 25 years, however, is how
a virtual internet concept devised by Louis Pouzin and imbued with
lots of funding for tinkering by DARPA and then NSF, became the
foundation for a religious cult that views themselves as the
all-powerful guardians of some self-implementing specifications that
are the salvation of humankind. You have to admit, that is freaky.
If you're going to start listing religious cults with freaky origins,
seems like there are far more obvious ones out there. For example, the
religious cults that worship only destructive power. Or one that
worships only the ability to make money by exploiting people. Or the
cult that says that the world needs to be under pervasive surveillance
for its own good, and what's good for the spies is also inherently good
for the world. As cults go, IETF is better than most, and I say that
with a huge awareness of its flaws.
You can either try to make the world better as best you see fit, or you
can leave it up to others and passively accept the world that they
create, or (of course) you can join forces with the Dark Side.
Ultimately, all progress depends on "unreasonable" people who don't
passively accept the status quo, even though those people's results
inevitably fall short of their goals.
Keith
