IBM Researchers Propose New Framework for Communication That Accounts for Reasoning

A team of researchers from IBM Research has proposed a new framework for communication that takes into account reasoning and logical deduction. This is a departure from traditional information theory, which focuses on transmitting information efficiently without considering what can be inferred from it.

The team's work is inspired by physicist Richard Feynman's idea that a single sentence could contain enough information to reconstruct vast amounts of scientific knowledge. They propose a new quantity called 'logical semantic entropy,' which measures the fundamental communication limits in the presence of reasoning capabilities.

One of the key findings from their research is that communication becomes more efficient when reasoning is allowed. Instead of transmitting every fact individually, a sender can provide information that enables a receiver to infer many additional facts.