How does the Internet keep running? A close-knit community of engineers has been developing and supporting the protocols that support it for more than forty years. During that time, new Internet services have emerged and scaled beyond recognition, and new features have been added, all without breaking the whole system.  Mirjam Kuhne has been closely involved with this for 20 years, and in 2020 became chair of the European forum for Internet development -  RIPE (Réseaux IP Européens, French for "European IP Networks").  Since then, Internet services have become crucial to the continued operation of society during the pandemic, and European Internet services have faced unprecedented technical and political challenges during the war in Ukraine.  Mirjam says the protocols take care of themselves. What you need is a community of motivated engineers to maintain them. RIPE is open to new members, and when you hear how it all works, why wouldn't you get involved?