Communications of the ACM
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How the “Frontier” Became the Slogan of Uncontrolled AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been billed as the next frontier of humanity: the newly available expanse whose exploration …
From Blog@Ubiquity
Your Science T-Shirt Doesn’t Fly
A few months ago Science sent many people a sample of the magazine and a solicitation to subscribe. As seems to be the manner in which these things are done, there...
From Blog@Ubiquity
The Funny Side of Science
Some people have the strange idea that science is too straight-laced to be funny. These people are not scientists. True scientists love to tell jokes about themselves...
From Blog@Ubiquity
Can Chatbots Replace Customer Service Reps?
Chatbots may be good at cosumer-focused tasks, but the verdict is still out are not whether a chatbot can completely replace human assistants. The post Can Chatbots...
From My Biased Coin
Postdocs (Rabin and other) for this year
The Theory Group at Harvard has put out its ad for postdocs again this year. It will be our second year for the Rabin Postdoc in theoretical computer science.here...
From Blog@Ubiquity
Can a Rubiks Cube Teach You Programming?
Em Rubik invented the Rubik’s Cube in 1974 and it became the worlds most popular puzzle. The cube consists of 26 cubelets that move and turn when the faces areRead...
From Blog@Ubiquity
My Robot Wants Your Job—No
Although AI technology is posed to disrupt jobs, there isn't any real cause for alarm. The future of work doesn't mean we will be ruled by robot overlords. The...
From Blog@Ubiquity
My Robot Wants Your Job—YES
Robots could redefine the future of work, but what does that mean for the jobs that are displaced? Could a tax on labor-replacing technology be the answer? TheMy...
From My Biased Coin
FOCS 16 Workshops/Tutorials Call for Proposals
I'm told that there's a call for proposals up for workshops/tutorials for FOCS 16. Here's a link to the call for those who are interested....Deadline is August...
From Blog@Ubiquity
Does Someone Have to Die First?
Digital technology changes fast, and organizations change slowly: First using the technology as an automated, digitized version of the old way of doing things,Read...
From Blog@Ubiquity
Can Mankind Survive Scientific Illiteracy?
Science is not taught as science at all. Students are taught how to do science, but not what science actually is. They suffer from scientific illiteracy. The post...
From My Biased Coin
STOC Theory Fest 2017 (Montreal June 19-23)
As SIGACT chair I announced at the STOC’16 business meeting that starting in 2017, STOC will turn into a 5-day event, a Theory Fest. This idea was discussed atspecial...
From My Biased Coin
STOC 2017 (and STOC 2016)
I'm starting to get asked about STOC 2017 dates -- we recently executed the hotel contract, and STOC will be June 18-23 in Montreal. (It will really "start" the...
From My Biased Coin
Class Evaluations, Again
I've not been blogging much, but I have an excuse now that class evaluations have arrived. By posting about the evaluations, the students know I read them. And...
From My Biased Coin
SODA Information
Phil Klein passed on that there's a delay at SIAM in getting the SODA 2017 CFP up, and of course we want to get out the relevant information out to the community...
From Blog@Ubiquity
Test Early and Often
Developing software requires a mix of analytical and creative approaches, involving different types of people who have different blends of thinking. But how can...
From Blog@Ubiquity
An Evolutionary Singularity
The drumbeats of the singularity advocates is getting louder with the constant refrain that humanity is doomed at the hands of machine intelligence. Although their...
From Blog@Ubiquity
Spike those “Luddite” Awards: Not all innovation is good
Luddites attacking powered looms, 1812 (Source: Wikimedia Commons) The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) published its annual “Luddite Awards...
From Blog@Ubiquity
Your Smartphone Can Kill You
Niall McCarthy of Statista.com uses data from Priceonomics to define a new category of accidental death by smart phone—the “selfie-fatality.” Forty-nine peopleRead...
From Blog@Ubiquity
Tim Cook at the Pearly Gates
By now almost everything that can be said about the Apple-FBI riff has been said. The FBI wants to open the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone and Apple’s CEO Tim...
From My Biased Coin