Reverse engineering of biological complexity

Reading Reverse Engineering of Biological Complexity, Csete & Doyle (2002), Science, vol 295, p. 1664.

Sometimes I read something and I'm overjoyed with how well it’s written and how interest it is. This is one of those papers, mainly focused on how robustness needs of real-world systems drives the architecture in biological and engineered systems.

Advanced technologies and biology have extremely different physical implementations, but they are far more alike in systems-level organization than is widely appreciated. Convergent evolution in both domains produces modular architectures that are composed of elaborate hierarchies of protocols and layers of feedback regulation, are driven by demand for robustness to uncertain environments, and use often imprecise components.

Two further quotes:

[…] Escherichia coli have ~4000 genes, less than 300 of which have been classified as “essential” (32). The likely reason for this “excess” complexity is also the presence of complex regulatory networks for robustness.

And:

In terms of cost and complexity, the [Boeing] 777 is essentially a vast control system and computer network that just happens to fly. The consequence of good design is that its regulatory complexity is hidden from passengers (except when they use entertainment systems).