[chapter-delegates] Cerf/Kahn evening

[Alejandro Pisanty]

Hi,

on behalf of ISOC Mexico I respectfully submit the text that follows. It 
seems reasonable to ask Lynn to help collect these texts and deliver them 
to Vint and Bob, and to the ACM leadership. And I guess more than one 
among us in the chapters is ready to assist in editing that collection, 
and eager to point to it once it is online in the ISOC webpage, from our 
own.

Here goes the text:

A note from ISOC Mexico on the occasion of the ACM Awards for Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn


Alejandro Pisanty


Vint, Bob, 

may I be so bold as to presume that you'll be reading or hearing this note. 

The last few years have given me occasion to see some of the workings of the system you so much contributed to create, and on some brilliant opportunities, to actually watch you closely at work in it and for it. It's been a privilege. 

Some years ago I realized that my first contact with what would become the Internet occurred in 1979. At the time I was spending a summer in Bloomington, Indiana, in a workshop on quantum-chemical computational methods. Coming from a punched-card-and-teletype environment, it was quite astounding for me (and for a few other participants) to see that we were using computers in Livermore, and that colleagues from Lafayette were able to bring their data files over the network to process during the workshop. Little did we know then what this whole thing, supported on the ARPANet, would become.

I did get one prediction right at the time; on seeing something called the Texas Instrument Silent 700, a small, thermal-paper-and-no-screen teletype with two bulky rubber pieces to join it to a telephone handset and connect to a computer through phone lines and chirping sounds, and learning that the colleague with it could actually loan one out of her university and take it home, I said “this thing can ruin your family life forever even if you live alone!” Proof of the prediction is that I am writing and sending this note close to midnight, from home where my wife, recovering from an illness, has fallen asleep. 

The Internet has done so much for us in my environment – empowered millions of people, let businesses thrive, friendhips grow, expanded opportunities of access to knowledge and human contact all over the world, contribute to a global effort in organizations such as ICANN, ISOC, WGIG; moved young and old from confined, deprived environments to membership in global communities, in Castells's “space of flows,” created true citizens of the world. 

Yes, also challenged us with spam, cheats, threats, spurred us to improve our security work and our systems understanding, with new forms of transnational domination and new forms to beat it when unfair. And challenged us to make our locally developed language, insights, and experiences to bear globally, by force of reason, of listening and understanding; challenged us to profoundly admit what we don't understand, and learn from others; to manage conflict, differences in outlook – literally of Weltanschauung -  and still to obtain and add value in our interactions. 

We are not only talking to you two about the original inventions and contributions that sparked so much of this. It is also to the building of mechanisms, organizations, institutions, of the ability to continously evolve, and your profound sense of stewardship that we make a reasoned but also a deeply heartfelt tribute. The many that made this a collective effort will start being recognized at higher levels thanks to this breakthrough evening.


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     Dr. Alejandro Pisanty 
Director General de Servicios de Computo Academico
UNAM, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Av. Universidad 3000, 04510 Mexico DF Mexico
Tel. (+52-55) 5622-8541, 5622-8542 Fax 5622-8540
http://www.dgsca.unam.mx
*
---->> Unete a ISOC Mexico, www.isoc.org
 Participa en ICANN, www.icann.org
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