Communications of the ACM
The opinion archive provides access to past opinion stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
September 2017
From ACM Opinion
The Fake-News Fallacy
On the evening of October 30, 1938, a seventy-six-year-old millworker in Grover's Mill, New Jersey, named Bill Dock heard something terrifying on the radio.
From ACM Opinion
The Darkening Web: Misinformation Is the Strongest Cyberweapon
In late June, I was leaving for a flight from Kiev's Boryspil Airport as news broke that Ukraine was the victim of another massive cyberattack.
From ACM Opinion
How We Killed Expertise
Average Americans have never much liked eggheads.
From ACM Opinion
Stop Cyberattacks. Just Add Robots
"Are you a hacker?"
From ACM Opinion
What James Damore Got Wrong About Gender Bias in Computer Science
In August Google employee James Damore made the news and even Wikipedia by publishing his speculation that female software engineers are underrepresented due to inherent biological differences.
From ACM Opinion
Artificial Intelligence: The Future Is Superintelligent
Max Tegmark is a renowned physicist. He is also the irrepressibly optimistic co-founder of the Future of Life Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts (motto: "Technology is giving life the potential to flourish like never before…
From Communications of the ACM
When Does Law Enforcement's Demand to Read Your Data Become a Demand to Read Your Mind?
On cryptographic backdoors and prosthetic intelligence.
From Communications of the ACM
Why Agile Teams Fail Without UX Research
Failures to involve end users or to collect comprehensive data representing user needs are described and solutions to avoid such failures are proposed.
From Communications of the ACM
Multitasking Without Thrashing
Lessons from operating systems teach how to do multitasking without thrashing.
From Communications of the ACM
Digitocracy
Considering law and governance in the digital age.
From Communications of the ACM
Is That Social Bot Behaving Unethically?
A procedure for reflection and discourse on the behavior of bots in the context of law, deception, and societal norms.