Communications of the ACM
The opinion archive provides access to past opinion stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
September 2019
From ACM Opinion
Don't Fear the Terminator
The fear that artificial intelligence machines could become our overlords — or perhaps wipe us out altogether — reflects a misunderstanding of AI.
From ACM Opinion
Hackathon Victor on Laying Foundations and CS Support Systems
Oluchi Chukwunyere, a computer-science major at North Carolina A&T State University, helped lead a team of four students to a First Place victory at the Black Enterprise 2019 BE SMART Hackathon. She discusses the competition …
From ACM Opinion
The Danger of Thinking We're All 'Addicted' to Tech
Telling ourselves that devices and platforms "hijack" our brains promotes passivity instead of empowerment.
From ACM Careers
Computer Scientist David Gelernter Wants To Revolutionize Social Media
David Gelernter, a computer science professor at Yale, is concerned with the amount of power Facebook holds thanks to the data handed over to the social media giant by its users.
From ACM Opinion
How STEM Education Must Evolve
STEM curricula must be enhanced so graduates have a deeper understanding of how their work affects humanity.
From ACM Opinion
How the Firm Behind Many Store Credit Cards Is Using AI to Fight Fraud
Synchrony deploys AI to speed up operations including credit approvals and fraud detection. Chief Information Officer Carol Juel has led the undertaking.
From ACM Opinion
A Day in the Life of a Programmer
DataSine co-founder and CTO Chris Loy and Front End Engineer Jenny Wem answer questions about life as a programmer, the challenges they face, how things have changed, and what advice they have for programmers of the future.
From ACM Opinion
How to Build Artificial Intelligence We Can Trust
Computer systems need to understand time, space and causality. Right now they don't.
From ACM Opinion
Why American Workers Need to Be Protected From Automation
Bill de Blasio, New York City mayor and a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, says that as president he would issue a robot tax for corporations displacing humans, and create a federal agency to oversee…
From ACM Opinion
Hackers Needed To Defeat Hackers
In an online world infested with hackers, we need more hackers.
From ACM Opinion
Wouldn't It Be Great If People Could Vote on the Blockchain?
Mobile voting could increase voter participation, but it's plagued by security issues in search of a solution.
From ACM Opinion
Big Tech's 'Innovations' That Aren't
Silicon Valley's giants are no longer producing better products and services. They're exploiting people.
From Communications of the ACM
Internet Immunity and the Freedom to Code
A call to preserve the capability of developing the next generation of Internet services.
From Communications of the ACM
Online Voting: We Can Do It! (We Have To)
Seeking to make online voting more secure than today's flawed paper systems.
From Communications of the ACM
An Interview with Andrew Odlyzko on Cyber Security
Is a "Cyber Pearl Harbor" any greater a risk than a natural disaster? How shall we prioritize our preparations for a cyber disaster?
From Communications of the ACM
Bitwise: A Life in Code
Data science as a paradox.
From Communications of the ACM
Inspired by the Home of the Future
2018 ACM Prize in Computing recipient Shwetak Patel pushes old tools to new heights.