Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Thinking in threes is a frequently occurring theme in human knowing, understanding, and problem solving, for example, three parts of a whole, three components of a system or a theory, three perspectives/angles of an issue, three stages/eras of evolution, three levels of understanding, etc. In 2009, the applicant suggested, and has been working on, a theory of three-way decisions for thinking and processing in threes. The proposed research program continues the investigation of the theory and its applications.Three-way decisions can have two purposes: (a) to build cognitive tools that aid us in thinking in threes or trichotomies, and (b) to design and implement intelligent systems based on the same principles. For these purposes, a long-term, broad objective is to formulate a theory of three-way decisions by framing it as a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary study. Another long-term, specific objective is to investigate the implications and applications of three-way decisions in designing and implementing intelligent systems. Following the philosophy of thinking in threes, short-term objectives and associated research activities are grouped into three integrative parts: Foundations, theory and models, and applications.My students and I will investigate a philosophy of thinking in threes and its cognitive basis and advantages by embracing ideas from different fields and disciplines. We will fully develop a trisecting-and-acting framework. Trisecting divides a whole into three distinctive and related parts and acting devises effective strategies to act upon the three parts. Within this framework, we will study concrete models, such as statistical models and sequential models. We will connect three-way decisions to other theories, in order to create novel methods of three-way analysis, three-way clustering, three-way classification, three-way recommendation, and many more. We will investigate three-way decisions for big data analytics. We will build prototype systems to validate the value of three-way decisions and our theoretical findings.Three-way decisions turn complexity into simplicity by using manageable and meaningful three parts, i.e., thinking in three granules, trisecting-and-acting, and trisect-and-conquer. Cognitive tools of three-way decisions can empower us to better deal with complexity. According to Kelly (IBM senior vice president), we are now at the “most transformational phase” of the cognitive era in the computing's evolution. By taking advantage of humans for insights and intuition and of machines for storage and speed, human-machine symbiosis embodying human thinking is a high-dividend research direction. Three-way decisions, as a special class of human ways to think, come at the right time and will rise in the future. The proposed research program is expected to have wide-range and long-lasting social, educational, and technological impacts.