ep13 - John Doyle, Part II: Architecture, Universal laws, Layers, Levels, Diversity & Sweet Spots

In this episode, we chat again with John Doyle about the frontiers of control theory. Starting from the fascinating interplay between bacteria, physics, and the Internet, we explore the universal laws that govern complex systems. We discuss the inner workings of phenomena like earthquakes, wildfires, and sepsis, emphasizing the vital role of control theory in understanding intrinsic tradeoffs and fragilities. Finally, we discuss the essential components of a full theory of architectures, including universal laws, layers, levels, and diversity-enabled sweet spots. Outline 00:00 - Intro 03:00 - Complex systems, physics, and the Internet 08:31 - On power laws 13:45 - SBML: Systems Biology Markup Language 18:51 - Layered architectures 21:38 - Earthquakes 26:17 - Wildfires 28:25 - Sepsis 37:18 - Essentials of a theory of architectures 54:10 - Universal laws, layers and levels 1:00:30 - Diversity enabled sweet spots 1:12:49 - Witsenhausen’s counterexample and SLS 1:21:25 - On the internal model principle 1:29:38 - Evolution vs intelligent design 1:33:37 - Fragility and societal implications 1:44:31 - Outro Links Highly optimized tolerances and power laws paper: Robust perfect adaptation in bacterial chemotaxis paper: SBML: Internet congestion control paper: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: Wildfires paper: Turbulence paper: Sepsis paper: Distributed LQG with delays paper: Diversity-enabled sweet spots in layered architectures paper: Mountain biking game: System-level synthesis paper: Internal feedback in biological control paper: Support the show Podcast info Podcast website: Apple Podcasts: Spotify: RSS: Youtube: Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: Acknowledgments and sponsors This episode was supported by the National Centre of Competence in Research on «Dependable, ubiquitous automation» and the IFAC Activity fund. The podcast benefits from the help of an incredibly talented and passionate team. Special thanks to L. Seward, E. Cahard, F. Banis, F. Dörfler, J. Lygeros, ETH studio and mirrorlake. Music was composed by A New Element.