Not Just Talk 18 October 1998

Wow. I was browsing through weekend email, expecting nothing but real estate spams, and instead found this news:

Jon Postel, the director of the Internet Assigned Numbers Author, died yesterday. Dr. Postel was heavily involved with the beginnings of the Internet (then ARPANET) and played an integral part in the creation of almost all the major Internet protocols. Often referred to by such terms as "a God" and "the gold standard" by people who have worked with him, he had recently been immersed in the controversial attempts to move control of the Internet out of the hands of the government.

Damn. This is the guy who ran the root server, one of the league of quiet techies who invented the whole show. More than any of the technology, this is what has always amazed me about the Internet - amazed and heartened. Can you think of any other major player in society who could have as a motto, "Dedicated to preserving the central coordinating functions of the global Internet for the public good.", and you believe it?

Our time is running out. I hope his loss underscores that for everyone involved. We've been bequeathed a living example of how to act in the world effectively, and still operate on the basis of trust, optimism, and a simple, modest desire to do the right thing. Now is the time when we can try to keep that example alive and make it a model for the future, or bludgeon it to death with the business-as-usual clubs of commerce, politics, and selfishness.

The argument against political idealists has always been that their ideas never work out in The Real World. Well hey, folks, you're reading this, I'm writing it, and we're all in that Real World, and in large part what has made it possible is a huge idealistic effort by people all over the world. It works. There is another way. Beat that, Rapacious Corporate Landfuckers!

Willfully blind self-indulgent nebbish or amusingly quirky old coot? And how bout that local sports team? Discuss among yourselves.

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