Communications of the ACM
The opinion archive provides access to past opinion stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
May 2018
From ACM Opinion
One Space Between Each Sentence, They Said. Science Just Proved Them Wrong.
In the beginning, the rules of the space bar were simple. Two spaces after each period. Every time. Easy.
From ACM Opinion
Avengers: Infinity War and the CG Effects Behind Thanos
Avengers: Infinity War is packed with dozens of beloved characters we've watched and loved over 10 years of Marvel movies. But one character stands—literally—head and shoulders over everyone else: Thanos.
From ACM Opinion
Chinese-American Elites Lament a Brewing Trade War
It's not easy to promote closer US-China ties these days.
From ACM Opinion
Why Silicon Valley Must Go to War
Should technologists prevent their tools from being used to wage war? This question was answered with a furious yes at Google recently, when more than 3,000 employees signed a memo protesting the use of the company's algorithms…
From ACM Opinion
AI Can Help Cybersecurity, If It Can Fight Through the Hype
Walking the enormous exhibition halls at the recent RSA security conference in San Francisco, you could have easily gotten the impression that digital defense was a solved problem.
From ACM Opinion
Nazis Pressed Ham Radio Hobbyists to Serve the Third Reich, but Surviving Came at a Price
When people have free and unfettered choices of activities, they both entertain and express themselves through their pastimes—whether stamp or coin collecting, scrapbooking, gardening or tinkering with electronic gadgets.
From ACM Opinion
Wikipedia Founder Says Internet sers Are Adrift in the 'Fake News' Era
At any given moment, volunteers and paid workers are writing fictional narratives that they present online as news stories, and some of those will get picked up and shared—perhaps thousands of times—on social media.
From Communications of the ACM
The March Into the Black Hole of Complexity
Addressing the root causes of rapidly increasing software complexity.
From Communications of the ACM
Science, Policy, and Service
Some thoughts on the way forward.
From Communications of the ACM
Is the Law Ready for Driverless Cars?
Yes, with one big exception.
From Communications of the ACM
Scale or Fail
Moving beyond self-selected computer science education in Switzerland.
From Communications of the ACM
Putting Trust in Security Engineering
Proposing a stronger foundation for an engineering discipline to support the design of secure systems.