It seems similar to Kalman filter/Luneberger observer methods (i.e. model reference methods), which have largely been abandoned in aircraft flight control system design because of their tendency to produce widow makers. Modern science is far too compartmentalised to be of any use to anybody, as everybody must be a specialist. The polymath, having a shallower (but still significant) understanding of each associated discipline, is the one who can see the big picture.