
The Man who wants control on the Internet - dedalus
http://discovermagazine.com/2007/nov/this-man-wants-to-control-the-internet/article_print
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bayareaguy
_"These Internet engineers weren't control theorists, but they built this
incredibly robust network," Doyle says. "Man, that's awesome." Then again, the
engineers were doing something that evolution figured out long ago._

I know the intended audience for this article is probably elementary school
students, but it always disappoints me when someone says biological evolution
"figures out" something, and I'm equally disappointed when someone says it's
"awesome" that engineers can do something.

I guess I shouldn't expect much from a magazine that publishes puff pieces
like "Long Live Closed-Source Software"
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=93716>

~~~
bitwize
It's the fact that they built a network that's incredibly robust from a
control-theoretical standpoint _without the benefit of control theory_ that's
awesome.

~~~
bayareaguy
Just because some aspects of the current internet can be described by control
theory doesn't mean a knowledge of control theory is beneficial or even
necessary.

I remain skeptical until someone shows me how control theory leads to a better
solution to a problem we currently have with the internet.

------
bitwize
Incredible stuff, but I can't get out of my head the fact that that guy looks
like he should be selling me a Muscle Boy Tom[0] instead of telling me how mah
internets should work.

[0] <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRRg9Llx32w>

