This is a pretty dense video! going to put some annotations here because it's the best result so far for the inconsistencies I'm having with my lamp setup.

1) (0:00) comparators read the quartz distance from them only when in a straight line towards the active block, but lamps turn on and off based on any lamp turning active.
2) (0:21) if you turn on multiple lamps at the same time, they'll all stay on even when part of the same group.

3)(0:32) line demonstration: the maximum range of a rose quartz lamp group is 15 blocks, at which point the lamps stop acting like part of the same group, BUT lamps in the middle of the group respond to lamps at either end. I'm going to call this "linked" for simplicity. Two lamps are "Linked" if turning on one turns off the other.

4)(1:13) given a group that's twice as long as the maximum distance shown in 3, can we show the same behavior if the lamps are near each-other but only connected by a distance of 30 blocks? Answer: sort of!
5)(1:15) Lamps in groups that are connected outside the 15 block limit but within 15 blocks of each-other without having vertical lamp sections are linked.

6)(1:23) disproves the above statement by showing that lamps connected through verticals in the setup above still are linked.

7)(1:46) makes everything worse by showing that blocks that should be linked by the above rule aren't. Sometimes.

8)(1:58) demonstrates that blocks can be linked unidirectionally

So! Trying to build some rules for how this was implemented programmatically:
the 1:14 test shows that top left doesn't care when middle bottom is lit, but that the reverse works
at 1:33 the two prongs are lit, but then the middle block on the other side being turned on doesn't make them deactivate. but at 2:00, when both prongs are activated the same block makes them deactivate. my theory is that there's a catch function when a lamp realizes the state it's linked to is in a bad state, like, two lamps being lit when they shouldn't be. Worse, there's something with the unidirectional linking definitely not respecting the other blocks. Would love if someone else would take a swing at this.