I seems to me to be a lot presumptuous of us to decide that ONLY we know what's best for the rest of the world. With specific reference to domain-naming process, I believe that since there is already an international organization trying to address the many issues associated with this process, that we get out of the loop and provide whatever input we can to this organization. I do agree, obviously, that the US Government should get out of the direct process and hand it off to a private group. Granted there are probably good reasons for Mr. Magaziner to suggest forming a new organization. However, in the long run, I believe the global community would be better served if we took off our blinders and tried to listen to the rest of the world.
Telephone numbers are needlessly hard to remember and often far too long.
The current scheme of internet addressing is equally arbitrary, and evolved from programming convenience. It is, however, still young enough to be killed without major repercussions. Adding more area codes and prefixes allows for more phone numbers, but doesn't make the archaic system any easier to use. Adding more top level domain names allows for more site addresses, but this.is.not.a.good.idea.either.gov. I don't claim to know what the best way is.