Semantic Goals for Communication

交流的语义目标Madhu Sudan麻省理工学院CSAIL这个项目启动了对通信背后的语义问题的研究：通信双方如何解决关于他们正在交换的信息(比特)的{\em解释}的潜在误解？本项目的主要目标是产生一系列捕捉潜在问题的数学定义。此外，该项目试图发现导致稳健沟通的范例，而不会产生误解。该项目核心的主要见解是，每个沟通参与者都有自私的目标，这些目标描述了他将从与其他参与者的沟通中期待什么。这样的目标不是微不足道的(一个球员不可能单独实现)，而且是可以由球员验证的。该项目探讨了使用这些可验证的目标来实现相互理解的可能性。具体地说，它利用过去几十年关于交互证明和程序检查的复杂性理论的研究，提出了一些场景，在这些场景中，交流的参与者可以在没有任何先前的共同背景的情况下开始，并开始收敛到共同的理解，从而建立了一种理解理论。这一项目的更广泛影响将是能够用数学方法理解人类通信和语言的发展，并指导设计计算机间通信的可靠协议。

Semantic Goals for CommunicationMadhu SudanMIT CSAILThis project initiates the study of semantic issues underlyingcommunication: How do two communicating parties resolve potential misunderstandings about the {\em interpretation}of the information (bits) that they are exchanging?The principal objective of this project is to produce a series of mathematical definitions capturing the underlying problem. Furthermore the project seeks to discover paradigms that lead to robust communication, without misunderstanding.The principal insight at the core of this project is thateach communicating player has selfish goals that describe whatit would expect from the communication with the other players. Such goals are non-trivial (can not be achieved by one playeralone), and verifiable by the player. The project explores the possibility of using these verifiable goals to enable mutual understanding. Specifically, it uses research from the last several decades in complexity theory on interactive proofs andprogram checking to suggest scenarios in which communicating players could start without any prior common background andstart to converge towards a common understanding, thereby establishing a theory of understanding. The broader impact of this project would be to enable a mathematical approach to understanding human communication and development of language, as also to guide the design of robust protocols for inter-computercommunication.