An interdisciplinary workshop on logic, topology, probability, and distributed systems
Sala de Seminarios Fernando Salmerón
Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas
Mexico City, Mexico
Abduction and dynamic epistemic logic
Topological semantics for knowledge and belief
Probabilistic reasoning in distributed systems
Consensus, agreement, and impossibility results
Knowledge-based analysis of distributed algorithms
Learning, uncertainty, and belief revision
Connections between logic, topology, and concurrency
Logic is indeed at the intersection of the research institutes of UNAM Instituto de Matemáticas and Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas, and there have already been previous efforts in organizing related events:
Programs, minds and machines– First joint workshop by the Mathematics and the Philosophy Research Institutes of UNAM, August 6–9, 2018, organizers: Luis Estrada-González and Sergio Rajsbaum.
Annual Meeting of the International Association for Computing And Philosophy (IACAP), June 5–7, 2019, Institutos de Matemáticas y de Investigaciones Filosóficas, UNAM, Mexico, organizers: Sergio Rajsbaum, Luis Estrada-González, Nancy Núñez-Hernández and Francisco Hernández-Quiroz.
Connections between Epistemic Logic and Topology (CELT 2022), October 24–26, 2022. Affiliated with LICS, part of Federated Logic Conference (FLoC 2022), Haifa, Israel, 2022.
Seminario Inteligencia artificial y lógica , 2025, organizer: Atocha Aliseda, IIFs-UNAM.
Atocha Aliseda, IIFs, UNAM
Armando Castañeda, IMate, UNAM
Sophia Knight, University of Minnesota Duluth
Luis Estrada-González, IIFs, UNAM
David Lehnherr, University of Bern
Diego Velázquez Cervantes, Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM
10:00 David Lehnherr, An Introduction to Simplicial Semantics
Abstract: Simplicial semantics is an emerging alternative to the traditional graph-based models of modal logic. It is motivated by by the celebrated combinatorial topology approach in distributed computing. This approach is especially intriguing because it represents the views of agents in a structural way, and lets us apply powerful topological tools.
In this talk, I will give a solid introduction to simplicial semantics and show how it captures the standard topological formulation of distributed tasks using dynamic epistemic logic. I will also provide a brief overview of existing research in this area. Finally, I will discuss possible future directions for the field.
11:30 Sophia Knight, An Introduction to probabilistic multi-agent epistemic logic
Abstract: TBA
13:00 Atocha Aliseda, On Abduction in Dynamic Epistemic Logic
Abstract: In this talk, I shall review a proposal of incorporating abductive reasoning into dynamic epistemic logic by Nepomuceno et al. (2022). After presenting my own interpretation of abduction as an epistemic process for belief change, I shall provide a critical analysis of incorporating abductive reasoning in dynamic epistemic logic.
Aliseda, A. Abductive Reasoning: Logical Investigations into Discovery and Explanation. Synthese Library. Volume 330. Springer, 2006. http://www.springerlink.com/content/978-1-4020-3906-5/contents/
Nepomuceno-Fernández, A., Soler-Toscano, F. And Velázquez-Quezada, F.R. Abductive Reasoning in Dynamic Epistemic Logic. In: Magnani, L. (eds) Handbook of Abductive Cognition., pp. 269-293. Springer, Cham. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10135-9
Lunch
16:00 Diego Velazquez Cervantes, Communication patterns and consensus
Abstract: We can describe certain types of distributed systems using infinite sequences of sets of graphs.
These, known as communication graphs, represent the interactions between agents during a specific communication round.
This talk begins with an overview of pattern models: a dynamic epistemic logic designed to represent knowledge updates within distributed systems. Pattern models update epistemic models with a set of communication graphs.
Finally, we present a condition for testing consensus unsolvability in oblivious models, which can be fully characterized by just a set of communication graphs.
Joint work with Armando Castañeda, Hans van Ditmarsch, and David Rosenblueth.
16:45 Armando Castañeda, Unbeatable Consensus
Abstract: In a seminal work by Halpern and Moses at the beginning of the 1980s, it was identified the crucial role knowledge plays in distributed multi-agent systems. Since then, the knowledge approach has been fruitful, providing a unique insight at the core of distributed interactions. This talk will present yet one more application: the design of unbeatable (i.e. without room for improvement) distributed algorithms for the consensus problem (a fundamental coordination problem at the core of technologies like blockchain), through a principle that exposes a close relation between knowledge and actionsof agents in distributed systems.
Joint work with Yoram Moses (Technion) and Yannai A. Gonczarowski (Harvard).
17:45 Luis Estrada-González, A plea for logical relevance
Abstract: Alison Duncan Kerr, in “A plea for KR”, argued that even if both positive and negative paradoxes —A→(B→A) and A→(~A→B), respectively— are indeed paradoxes of relevance, other implicative theorems of classical logic are not, contrary to what relevance logicians have claimed for scores. She evaluates whether it is a mistake to believe the antecedent and not to believe the consequent of a given implicational theorem of classical logic: if it is a mistake to do so, the implication is not a paradox; if it is not a mistake to believe the antecedent and not to believe the consequent, the implication is a paradox. In this talk we will argue that her conclusion is no wonder, since she allows herself to go from the mistake of believing A to the mistake of believing A and not believing B (for any B whatsoever) and then to the admissibility of believing that A implies B. This, inadvertently, is reasoning by negative paradox, which, by her own lights, is bad reasoning.
Joint work with Fernando Cano-Jorge.
Atocha Aliseda, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Sophia Knight, University of Minnesota Duluth
Sergio Rajsbaum, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Option A: By Pumabús (recommended)
Get off at Universidad (last station on Line 3).
Exit the station toward Ciudad Universitaria (west side).
Go to the Pumabús terminal outside the station.
Take Route 3 (toward Centro Cultural Universitario).
Get off at “Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas” and that's it!
You can get off earlier, at “Hemeroteca y Biblioteca Nacional”, then walk through the Zona Cultural until you reach the Instituo .
Option B: Walking (longer, ~30 minutes)
Exit Metro Universidad toward Ciudad Universitaria.
Walk along the main internal roads toward the Centro Cultural Universitario area.
Continue to Circuito Mario de la Cueva and follow signs to Ciudad de la Investigación en Humanidades.
The Instituto is clearly marked.
Option A: Walking (easy, ~10–15 minutes)
Get off at Centro Cultural Universitario (CCU) station.
Enter Ciudad Universitaria through the pedestrian access.
Walk toward the Hemeroteca and Biblioteca Nacional.
Continue to Circuito Mario de la Cueva.
The Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas is in the Humanities Research Area nearby.
Option B: By Pumabús
From the CCU Metrobús station, go to the nearby Pumabús stop.
Take Route 3 or Route 10.
Get off at “Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas.”
Walk from the Instituto de Matemáticas to the nearest Pumabús stop.
Take a route that goes toward Centro Cultural / Circuito Mario de la Cueva (commonly Route 3, 10, or 13, depending on stop).
Get off at “Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas.”
Exit the Instituto de Matemáticas area toward Circuito Exterior.
Follow signs toward Centro Cultural Universitario.
Turn onto Circuito Mario de la Cueva.
Continue to the Ciudad de la Investigación en Humanidades until you find the Instituto.
Park in the Instituto's visitor parking areas.