---

Is meaningful communication possible between two intelligent parties without a common language or background? In this work, a theoretical framework is proposed in which it is possible to address when and to what extent such semantic communication is possible.

---

Is meaningful communication possible between two intelligent parties who share no common language or background? In this work, a theoretical framework is proposed in which it is possible to address when and to what extent such semantic communication is possible: such problems can be rigorously addressed by explicitly focusing on the goals of the communication. Under this framework, it is possible to show that for many goals, communication without any common language or background is possible using universal protocols.
This work should be accessible to anyone with an undergraduate-level knowledge of the theory of computation. The theoretical framework presented here is of interest to anyone wishing to design systems with flexible interfaces, either among computers or between computers and their users.

---

Chap. 1, Introduction.- Chap. 2, Theory of Finite Goal-Oriented Communication.- Chap. 3, Verifiable Goals for Communication.-
Chap. 4, Conditions for Efficiency in Finite Executions.- Chap. 5, Computational Complexity of Goals.- Chap. 6, Theory of Goal-Oriented Communication in Infinite Executions.- Chap. 7, The Power of Relaxed Models.- Chap. 8, The Error Complexity of Strategies in Infinite Executions.- Chap. 9, Towards Applications: Communication with a Changing Network.- Protocol.- Chap. 10, Conclusions and Directions for Future Work.- App. A, Background in Probability.- App. B, Background in Interactive Proof Systems.- App. C, Additional Background.- Bibliography.

---

Dr. Brendan Juba completed his PhD on the related work under the guidance of Prof. Madhu Sudan at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and together with Prof. Oded Goldreich they have since presented papers and lectured on the topic of the book at the key international conferences on theoretical computer science and distributed computing. Dr. Juba is currently a postdoctoral researcher with a joint position at Harvard University and MIT.

---