Semantic Goals for Communication

该项目启动了对沟通中的语义问题的研究：沟通双方如何解决对他们正在交换的信息（比特）的潜在误解？这个项目的主要目标是产生一系列的数学定义捕捉的根本问题。此外，该项目旨在发现导致强大的沟通模式，没有误解。在这个项目的核心主要洞察力是，每个沟通的球员有自私的目标，描述了什么，它会期望从与其他球员的沟通。这样的目标是不平凡的（不能由一个玩家单独实现），并可由玩家验证。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。具体来说，它使用了过去几十年来复杂性理论在交互式证明和程序检查方面的研究，提出了一种方案，在这种方案中，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，并开始朝着共同的理解收敛，从而建立了一种理解理论。这个项目的更广泛的影响将是使数学方法来理解人类的沟通和语言的发展，也指导设计强大的协议，为inter-computercommunication。

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.