Contrasting Views of Complexity and Their Implications For Network-Centric Infrastructures

There exists a widely recognized need to better understand and manage complex "systems of systems," ranging from biology, ecology, and medicine to network-centric technologies. This is motivating the search for universal laws of highly evolved systems and driving demand for new mathematics and methods that are consistent, integrative, and predictive. But the theoretical frameworks available today are not merely fragmented, but sometimes contradictory and incompatible. We argue that complexity arises in highly evolved biological and technological systems primarily to provide mechanisms to create robustness. But this complexity itself can be a source of new fragility, leading to "robust yet fragile" tradeoffs in system design. We focus on the role of robustness and architecture in networked infrastructures, and we highlight recent advances in the theory of distributed control driven by network technologies. This view of complexity in highly organized technological and...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: TSMC
• Authors: David L. Alderson, John C. Doyle
• Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Network-centric Technologies, Systems, Technological Systems, TSMC 2010