Biologically-inspired concepts for self-management of complexity

Inherent complexity in large-scale applications may be impossible to eliminate or even ameliorate despite a number of promising advances. In such cases, the complexity must be tolerated and managed. Such management may be beyond the abilities of humans, or require such overhead as to make management by humans unrealistic. A number of initiatives inspired by concepts in biology have arisen for self-management of complex systems. We present some ideas and techniques we have been experimenting with, inspired by lesser-known concepts in biology that show promise in protecting complex systems and represent a step towards self-management of complexity