IESG restructuring (Re: Example of the One Liners out of context)

[Eric Rescorla]

"Jeanette Hofmann" <jeanette at wz-berlin.de> writes:

> On 28 May 2003 at 14:24, Eric Rescorla wrote:
> 
> > "Jeanette Hofmann" <jeanette at wz-berlin.de> writes:
> > > On 28 May 2003 at 21:58, Harald Tveit Alvestrand wrote:
> > > The IETF could be interpreted as a polis in the modern sense. It is 
> > > supposed to care about the Internet as opposed to single companies or 
> > > applications. 
> > 
> > The problem, is that "care about the Internet" isn't really a
> > well-formed concept, any more than "the public good" is. 
> 
> Actually, I meant to point out the difference between care about the Internet 
> as a whole and more narrow minded interests. A Greek definition of politics 
> covers the comprehensive approach. I agree with you, concepts such as  care 
> for the Internet are in need of  specification. In any case, I made this whole 
> point in support of your remark regarding false oppositions between real work 
> and politics. 
Indeed. I was trying to sharpen the point rather than seem as
if I was directly contradicting you. My writing could have been
a bit better there :(

> One can, of
> > course, adopt any number of theories designed to give it concrete
> > meaning, but I doubt we could get consensus on any of them.
> 
> Are you implying that the IETF could not agree on a mission? Because that is 
> what I think a mission should also be about.

I'm having a hard time believing that the IETF is going to come
to some agreement on e.g., economic efficiency versus minimax
as the metric for good of the Internet. 

-Ekr

-- 
[Eric Rescorla                                   ekr at rtfm.com]
           Web Log: http://www.rtfm.com/movabletype