Complexity and robustness

Creators: Carlson, J. M.; Doyle, John

Abstract

Highly optimized tolerance (HOT) was recently introduced as a conceptual framework to study fundamental aspects of complexity. HOT is motivated primarily by systems from biology and engineering and emphasizes, (i) highly structured, nongeneric, self-dissimilar internal configurations, and (ii) robust yet fragile external behavior. HOT claims these are the most important features of complexity and not accidents of evolution or artifices of engineering design but are inevitably intertwined and mutually reinforcing. In the spirit of this collection, our paper contrasts HOT with alternative perspectives on complexity, drawing on real-world examples and also model systems, particularly those from self-organized criticality.

Additional Information

© 2002 by the National Academy of Sciences This paper results from the Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium of the National Academy of Sciences, "Self-Organized Complexity in the Physical, Biological, and Social Sciences," held March 23–24, 2001, at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center of the National Academies of Science and Engineering in Irvine, CA. This work was supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and National Science Foundation Grant No. Division of Materials Research-9813752, Air Force Office of Scientific Research Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative "Uncertainty Management in Complex Systems," and EPRI/DoD through the Program on Interactive Complex Networks.

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