Score:3

Hybrid argument without efficient samplability

sy flag

Let's say I have $k$ distributions, where $k$ is polynomially large, $D_1, D_2, \ldots, D_k$ such that each $D_i$ is computationally indistinguishable from the uniform distribution.

Is it true that the distribution $D_1 D_2 \ldots D_k$ is also computationally indistinguishable from $k$ copies of the uniform distribution?

This trivially holds if each $D_i$ is efficiently samplable. But let's say they are not.

Does the fact still remain true, by some clever way to bypass the samplability requirement?

Score:3
us flag

This is a very interesting question. I looked around and found a paper called Computational Indistinguishability: A Sample Hierarchy by Goldreich and Sudan. This contains a proof that it doesn't hold.

BlackHat18 avatar
sy flag
Just a clarification. This paper talks about two distributions, and the setting when we are given $k$ samples from any one distribution out of the two. But, here, we are either given one sample each from $k$ different distributions (each computationally indistinguishable from the uniform), or we are given $k$ samples from the uniform distribution. Do you think the techniques that work for the first setting (that of the paper) also work for the second setting (that of my question)?
Yehuda Lindell avatar
us flag
There are also references in the paper to previous work that deals with the more basic question. My intuition says that this should translate to similar settings, but of course intuition always needs to be checked.
mangohost

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.