In this 'Back to Basics' video, Peter explains the concept of static stability in AWS systems. He uses an analogy of multiple alarm clocks to illustrate how a statically stable system doesn't need to react to lost functionality. Peter discusses how to make systems more resilient by relying on data plane actions to isolate problem areas, using Availability Zones and the circuit breaker pattern. He demonstrates this approach with a load-balanced application, explaining how to turn off cross-zone load balancing for better failure isolation. The video covers detecting failures through health checks and using Amazon CloudWatch Synthetics for more nuanced monitoring. Peter also introduces the concept of zonal shift with Route 53 Application Recovery Controller to avoid problematic AZs. He emphasizes the importance of planning for AZ loss and maintaining equal capacity across zones for a truly statically stable system.