Response from V Arvind

E-mail: arvind@imsc.ernet.in

Recently, some leading TOC researchers in the USA wrote a position/perspective paper titled `Theory of Computing: Goals and Directions'. Their so-called `position statement' has been aptly summarized elsewhere as follows:

``It is essential for the TOC community to strengthen communication with the rest of computer science and with other disciplines, and to increase its impact on key application areas.'' Aho et al., Theory of Computing: Goals and Directions.''

It is fairly clear that the main purpose of this position paper is to `re-unify' TOC with other branches of computer science (and other areas) in order to improve research funding in TOC in the USA, which (one hears) has steadily been dropping over the years. The ambivalent tone of the paper makes its message rather confusing. On the one hand the authors assert that there must be work in `core theory'. In the rest of the paper the authors advocate `applied theory' as thrust areas strongly and issue many warnings to theoreticians who work only in `core theory' of being left isolated in research. Moreover, the actual suggestions in the paper for `strengthening communication' with these other branches are rather disappointing. The paper has, not surprisingly, apparently had a self-defeating effect. The immediate response of funding agencies in the USA (notably the NSF) has apparently been to slash down theory funding further!

This paper evoked a strong response from Goldreich and Wigderson who, in their paper, essentially state that TOC is a full-fledged science which is flourishing and should be allowed to flourish in its own right. There have been several other `position papers' recently. Their position is essentially midway between the Goals-and-directions paper and the Goldreich-Wigderson response.

Conclusion:

The `position papers' are essentially unanimous in the opinion that TOC (or core theory as some papers refer to the area) has emerged as a fundamental science in the last few decades and has shaped into a field that is ``.. a vital part of our scientific endeavors, much as is our investigation of particle physics and the structure of the universe.''

The real crisis is a funding crisis. The TOC community in the USA is facing serious funding cuts that has been building up over recent years. TOC is being denied funding (at sustained levels) (apparently) by the rest of the CS community in the USA. Europe does not seem to be facing similar funding problems, probably because there are enough theory people at the right places who ensure the right level of funding.

Question:

Should the TOC community in India bother? From the point of view of funding: not yet, because the structure of our research institutes is quite different. But unfortunately, whatever happens in the USA will be reflected in India too, sooner or later, whether we like it or not. We shall wait and watch, with great interest, how the theory community in the USA handles its problems. We can learn from their mistakes!