When we put the application intelligence in the network. We have to upgrade the network to support new applications. I believe that's a mistake from the application innovation angle.
Putting middleboxes into an ISP is not the same thing as putting intelligence into the network. Think Akamai for instance.
Describing more accurately to the endpoints the properties of the network(s) to which they are attached is something that is perhaps desirable. most work in this area is historically done in the transport area, but congestion control is not really the only angle from which to approach the problem.
If the work focuses on making a P2P protocol that knows about ASNums and leverages middleboxes sitting in an ISP's network, then you would have a framework that can be used for more than just congestion control.
Host's treat network's as black boxes because they don't really have any other choice in the matter.
A router is a host that learns about the network topology by means of routing protocols, and then adjusts its behavior accordingly. Why can't other hosts similarly learn about the topology and adjust their behavior? --Michael Dillon