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RE: Is the IETF aging?

2012-04-27 10:57:37
From: Phillip Hallam-Baker [hallam(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com]

People can argue about process, RFC formats and governance but it
should be beyond argument that any institution that cannot recruit
younger members is going to die.

Well, the Internet as we know it is 30 years old now, and not changing
nearly as fast as it was in its infancy.  IPv4 is being displaced only
because we ran out of addresses -- IPv6 should be good for a couple of
centuries.

It's true that institutions that cannot recruit the young die.  But
most institutions recruit the young when positions of power open up --
that is, when older members start dieing, or there is a huge shift in
the politics or underlying needs of the "customer" population.  The
federal government of the United States was dominated by the clique of
its revolutionary leaders for 40 years, and hasn't had much trouble
recruiting enough new blood to maintain its power (if not its
agility).  Similarly with two of the oldest and most powerful
gerontocracies in the world, the government of China and the Roman
Catholic Church.

Dale

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