"Olivier" == Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <ocl(_at_)gih(_dot_)com> writes:
Olivier> "Ole Jacobsen" <ole(_at_)cisco(_dot_)com> wrote:
>>
(except it's not a joke)
Olivier> As someone who has confronted some of these gentle people
Olivier> at IGF, let me tell you it is not a joke.
Olivier> I am always flabbergasted about what I hear, and never
Olivier> understand whom they get their information from. It is
Olivier> often full of inaccuracies, cognitive biaises,
Olivier> generalisations, misunderstandings and old world thinking,
Olivier> which, would you believe it, actually makes up for a rather
Olivier> "amusing" view of the Internet.
A few years ago I was going to the airport from an IETF and happened to
be in a shuttle with some BT folks talking about NGN. It was very
amusing to listen to their descriptions of us and our bogus thinking,
lack of understanding of critical issues, and how serious work on the
NGN could not take place in such an environment.
Really though, listening to this discussion, I still cannot bring myself
to describe the Chinese desire as "most bogus ever." They are wanting
to map an existing world view onto something new. It is, as several
people have pointed out a very problematic mapping, and one that for
various technical, social and political reasons we oppose. That doesn't
make someone at a high level "most bogus ever," for having the idea,
even if we believe we have enough information to conclude they are
wrong.
We can point and laugh at how wrong-headed someone is, sure in the back
of our minds that they are doing the same about us, or we can understand
where they are coming from and try to engage. Some days, I'm not sure
which option is better:-) Pointing and laughing, is easy and if you're
in a group that mostly agrees with you can use the mob mentality to make
you feel good and important. Engaging on the other hand often feels
like fighting an up-hill battle that never really seems to make as much
progress as it must. It does, however, in my view have the moral high
ground.
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